Did the baby boom generation have the best opportunites?

Question

They all seem to be doing very well for themselves, but people under the age of say 40 seem to be mostly really struggling, and it looks like we will be paying to support the baby boomers into their retirements too! What happened? Got any historical facts about unemployment, house prices etc? Thanks.

Answer 1

But all the baby Boomers are old people now , think that you are young and you have a lot of chances that they don't have on this days .

Answer 2

You cannot blame the baby boomers for supporting them into retirement. That was a con trick perpertrated by the government, the working population pay to support the retired population. If they were paying into their own pension rights, they would probably be supporting themselves.

Like you, I looked at the generation/s ahead of me and thought they had enjoyed a better lifestyle than I was/am enjoying. In the end, life is like that, it is not always fair.

At the end of the 50's Macmillan is quoted as saying 'You never had it so good', he probably had a point. That was probably the point at which financially there was more equity. It has not been like that for a considerable number of years, including in my youth.

I have just done a calculation based on what I remember of house prices from my youth. I was earning £750.00 per year, the price of a house was at least 10 times my salary. I now earn £30,000 a year, the price of a similar house is around 8.5 times my salary further outside of where I grew up. If I wanted a house around where I grew up, the price gap was even wider both then and now.

Answer 3

I don't know about best opportunities, but they made the best with the opportunities given them.

Consider that the parents of the Baby Boomers were coming back to a largely rural nation, one in which much wealth was untapped. Furthermore, they were living in the only industrialized nation not substantially degraded by war. As such they were in a unique position to drive the recovery of the West, which put the U.S. in a primary position for hegemony and economic superiority.

The Baby Boomers witnessed:
1) The rise of the University system, and cheap, quality education for all.
2) A powerful union environment that meant substantial promises to all workers (despite that many of these promises have been renegged upon out of economic necessity).
3) The growth of value and wealth in the form of real estate (which many owned).
4) The rise of an inexpensive and comfortable lifestyle due to technology and convenience.
5) An increase in life expectancy and quality of life, due to advances in medical technology.

I think people under 40 are struggling because:
1) You generally struggle quite a bit until about 40 or so just because you are raising kids, finishing education, moving up in the work force, paying off a house, paying college tuition, and dealing with the health problems that come with it. After 40, the house is paid off (hopefully!), the kids are out of the house, and your pressures increase while your freedom increases. Life becomes more enjoyable.
2) The rise of easy credit preceeded the rise of responsible usage, and debt is massive burden.
3) An amoral environment has led to significant unhappiness - people are partying too much to know who they really are, and spend much more time searching for answers later in life.

Answer 4

I think it is more simple than that. Number one, you are comparing apples and oranges. Look at that generation when they were under 40. Were they economically in a similar place to people who are under 40 now? That generation was also raised to work very hard toward a goal, achieve that goal and set new goals. Whereas todays generation is very geared toward iinstant gratification. There are many reasons why, but mostly I believe it has everything to do with work ethic, personal economic practices (they saved money, this generation spends it like water).
Lastly, we keep looking to the government to fix this problem or our problems. Have you noticed how much money you are now spending in taxes compared to say... 30-40 years ago? It's always more expensive and less effective to let government do anything. Have any idea what the overhead for medicare and social security is? Not the payouts, the supervisory $$.

In short, set specific goals and work hard to achieve those goals. Save your money and practice delayed gratification. Money can only accumulate if you stop spending it as fast as you get it.
Don't let the government "solve" your problems. You will always spend more for less if you do this AND you trade your personal/financial freedom to do it. If you were to apply the same amount of money to a comprehensive investment plan that you are spending each year to support medicare/social security, you would retire in style. You would have MUCH more than a paultry social security retirement that everyone complains about.

Luck = when preparation and opportunity meet.

Answer 5

Without a doubt the baby boomers accepted an acceleration of "usury" that destroyed the collective future of Western countries.

There are always opportunities if you "think out of the box".

Answer 6

not in the New York State area in the field of Elementary teaching- lots of education majors, but not lots of jobs- meaning some of our dreams to do what we do best in life, no matter how much we tried to find employment, were not realized. WE might have jobs in the field and make a big difference in the lives of youth- it is very exciting and a reason to feel good, but i would not have minded working in a small city or suburban school for a couple of years-

Answer 7

There are more opportunities Now than ever before. Raise you level of awareness so you will see them.

Answer 8

YES PUT WE NEVER TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY

Answer 9

Who really knows!

Answer 10

no, they just took advantage of them, most now are to lazy. to many video games.............