This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.

Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"

(For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)

Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.

[removed]

Totally agree. Well said! As a gen AA (sorry bra size oops) I can totally support this with Jamie Lee Fox showing her tits in protest of the AAMA tribute awards 1994. NSFVV

[removed]

This is not statistically accurate. Gen Z experiences more anxiety than any other generations.

https://healthmatch.io/blog/the-gen-z-mental-health-wave-what-is-causing-the-surge

Yes the boomers that lived through the most prosperous, easiest times and bought a house on one salary that are now in retirement are much happier than the young people who will never own a house and retire and who will have climate change affect their live significantly with none of these things being properly adressed by politicians.

Your point?

[removed]

I guess anxiety affects reading comprehension because that is exactly what the post says

The post is barely comprehensible. I'm guessing "later" is supposed to be "latter" so it means what you say, but that's not what's written.

She says “the fact is that the later [generations] are apparently happier, less anxious, and more content with what they achieved or failed to”

What part of that did I miss?

If one letter in one word is what is making this barely comprehensible then why did both of our brains automatically fill it in and perfectly comprehend it?

Later is a typo for latter (my phone just autocorrected that to later and I had to manually fix it).

I concede that that is a viable interpretation though. My bad dawg

Ahhh.. yes. I absolutely agree with you here.

Younger generations lived through so many terrible events at such a young age. 911, columbine and subsequent school shootings, a depression, etc.

The older generations or “boomers” had a much easier time financially as well which is clearly a stressor.

I think the financial part is the biggest factor. Inflation calculators are neat and depressing tools to play with. $30K in 1970 is roughly $230K this year. Wages are absolutely not keeping up with inflation.

I was a troubled and anxious millennial until I graduated and got an engineering job. Seriously did not feel like life truly began until I had a steady income in my mid 20s. I'm a totally different person with financial stability, but you could get the same level of security from being a cab driver "back in the day"

Lol right? It's really no surprise that the generations that had a much easier go of life are happier and less anxious. If I could work part time at an entry level job and buy a house and support a family I'd be a lot happier too. But that has become an impossibility.

I legitimately had to read the post multiple times to understand it. The grammar is just plain wrong, there is barely any punctuation, and in this case the difference between "latter" and "later" is pretty significant with both being real possibilities.

Maybe you were able to comprehend it easily right away, but that's not because it was properly written.

Being advised to skip meals if they’re struggling to get their boss a new car.

[deleted]

[removed]

You can’t leave crap like this on Reddit! People will burn you to the ground.

How dare you post something that contradicts popular opinion.

I am not a boomer and made it through multiple crashes.

The problem is post boomer generation focus on successes not failures. Plenty of boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z and those tweenees have had failures as well.

And they are complaining about them in the internet.

The difference with prior generations was the use of credit. In my 20’s, I never had $5K CC to spend on whatever I want. It was strictly cash. And that is what I do now. $0K CC balance and cash only.

It’s like a strategy for living within you means

Absolutely true.

Personally I’m jealous of the older generations who were able to buy a home, support a household on a single income, “keep up with the Joneses,” afford all the costs that come with large families,etc.

Most of us live paycheck to paycheck, no savings, and plenty of debt, and it’s not from lack of effort. Two of my best friends make over 100k a year and they still struggle with debt (although to be fair one is a compulsive shopper and the other has a shit-ton of student loans to pay off.)

My problem with the older generations is that generally they don’t understand why the younger aren’t living up to their own financial standards. We’re just lazy and don’t want to work, welfare queens, etc. I love my job, and I bust my ass, but I’m still not paid a living wage.

The world ha s changed , older generations, not all but most, do no comprehend how the world is rn; therefore less stressed.

The problem is they open their mouth and talk about how to do things in a world that doesn't exist anymore, hence pity at best.

You actually think that access to credit that Gen Z has is the reason they can’t afford rent or a mortgage on a now wildly priced home? Lmao

People can’t live within their means because corporations prioritize endless growth and profits over paying people more. Meanwhile landlords live off the back of this labor, all the while shrugging that it’s just the market as they steadily raise rents and grow their empires endlessly. Corporate/landlord greed is what keeps most people constantly struggling not the fancy coffee they buy every once in a while w their credit card to feel something other than hopelessness about their financial prospects (to say nothing of the environmental destruction this same greed is exacerbating—see the train derailment in Ohio for example).

One of the common questions that comes up in r/personalfinance is how to budget.

A common responses is, please provide your monthly income and all of your expenses.

Then we can explain what is wrong with their budget.

There are always spending issues and sometimes the answer is get a second job.

I have worked second jobs and this has allowed me to get a head.

We call it the side hustle, it has allowed some of us to buy that house, car, have children and live comfortably within our means.

This is true.

There are a lot of miserable people now a days who have it far better than their ancestors yet handle everything far worse. It could be the victim mindset that modern media has implanted into the new generation, whether it be to reap power and wealth, or whatever, but the fact is too many people now are miserable and it will lead into terrible future decision making that will inevitably lead to war/violence/mass death. The cycle will continue.

Yeah. I'll take my anxiety if it means I don't have to die in a few years like the elderly.

Yeah no one likes hearing that its a you problem not a them problem. I love buying stuff so i work a lot and therefore dont have to budget. Most people could save a bit of they tried, but its more fulfilling to bitch that they dont make enough.

My wife has 3 kids. Survived before we were together making 65k a year with zero financial support from the baby daddy. Now she lives free of rent ($2k/mo at her old appt) but can barely save anything. Theoretically she now has $24k of after tax money she should be saving. Magically though, she has almost none. Gee whiz. Cant possibly be a spending problem now that she has less financial pressure can it?

>The problem is post boomer generation focus on successes not failures.

typical boomer thought. Instead of accepting that factually the current teens will have it 10 times worse than you you instead push the blame on them.

okay boomer.

Haha sure. No one thats 40 50 60 or 70 has lived a life with stress so they can't possibly know what that is. People bitch today about getting 6% mortgage rates and houaing prices when it was EIGHTEEN PERCENT in the early 80's. That's just one data point obviously. Plenty more out there though.

Yet you don't bing salaries and qol in the eqasion, I have this feeling I don't want to talk with you, especially the "haha" at the beginnging

It’s like we are having two different conversations. Oh well. Nothing to see here but record profits and trying to make it all about personal responsibility and the side hustles (lolol) of the underpaid while the rich get richer. Absolutely some people spend irresponsibly. But you are seriously deluded if you think this is the only issue. It’s weird frankly, like you got yours and so you can’t even fathom that there are these other factors when clearly people just need to eat out less and get a second or third job.

Not a boomer.

Then why are you trying to act like thigns arent significantly and factually more expensive and dire than in the youth of boomers?

this is about the majority of young people nowadays genuinely and factually not being able to ever own any sort of place to stay, not being able to pay for families while inflation is constantly rising. If you can pay rent and live in this environment then you are more wealthy than most 20 year olds today. Thats not a joke or an exaggeration. This isnt because they buy lattes its because prices are rising while wages arent.

Until someone starts providing actual statistics that are tied to the resolution, there will be pushback.

Using terms like “crippling”.

My home sells 3 times that value than I paid for it.

My salary is 2 times the salary of when I paid for it.

The same thing happened to the boomer generation.

>Until someone starts providing actual statistics that are tied to the resolution, there will be pushback.

https://dqydj.com/historical-home-prices/

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-inflation-rates/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/50-years-of-us-wages-in-one-chart/

​

>My home sells 3 times that value than I paid for it.

My salary is 2 times the salary of when I paid for it.

What? those sentences both simply do not make sense and i dont know what youre trying to say.

[removed]

For all youve posted in here, you come off like a seriously salti boii. Your input could be summed up as 'I HAD IT HARDER', with little evidence to suggest that you actually did, and completely disregarding all evidence given to you that later generations got shafted

Tl;dr troll harder scrub

Or fact

Are you trolling me?

You'll never know

[removed]

so i give you the sources you want and now you wont respond? Almost like you realised i was right.

With how bad mental health care was back then, all the people who were struggling back then died young. A sort of survivors bias.

What sources are you talking about?

Here is a different viewpoint about home prices.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/23/how-much-housing-prices-have-risen-since-1940.html

As for inflation. The prices of a home is not controlled by inflation but by supply and what people are willing to pay.

Your wages only go back to the 1960's. You need to go back further as to understand what has happened to the Nuclear Family.

Prior to the 60's, women were an auxiliary workforce. Once the Student Loan Program kicked in, more women got degrees and joined the working world. In essence the earning value of a family increased by at least 1/3. The ripple of this is being felt to this day.

My parents were boomers.

I am Gen X. Since both parents worked, I was raised by my Grandparents.

After Gen X, the grandparents had not retired so all age levels are working. So now there are additional expenses for a family
such as daycare etc...

Which created more income.

Which created Higher Prices.

Anyone who throws out the word "Boomer", is parroting buzzwords...

What exactly can you hold the boomer generation accountable for something that was never in their control?

The ones i linked literally one comment above.

All youre saying is a major cope. i gave you the sources and you talk about something different.

I gave you sources that challenged your sources.

It's actually how I learned to Cope.

The extra was a gift. There have been quite a few studies about that additional information. Its impact of a dual income family was huge to the economy. It has nothing to do with the Boomers. But its more comfortable to throw the buzzword on the table.

1940's economy. 1 income all classes of workers in the same boat.

1960's economy. 1 income all classes of workers in the same boat. Creation of the Educated Middle class.

1970's economy. 2 incomes people are able to purchase more.

1980's economy. 2 incomes people are able to purchase more.

1990's economy. 2 incomes people are able to purchase more. Younger generations creating bidding war and creating property ladders. Non-educated class removed from the American dream. Educated Class is OK.

2000's economy. All generations working. Younger generations still creating bidding war and creating property ladders. Boomers are out. Non-Educated Lower class are ignored by the Educated Class.

Now... The educated class can't get past what all of the prior generations have done since the 1970's.

Coping is a mechanism all generations must learn.

>I gave you sources that challenged your sources.

No you gave me a link to an opinion piece while i gave you links to hard data that cant be argued with. You simply cant admit youre wrong so you try to chnage the subject but i dont care for that.

Haha salti boi that's better than the usual insults i get. And I'm not saying i had it harder than anyone else. I paid for my own education (loans). Worked through highschool, college, grad school. Did 50 credit hours of community college to mske it cheaper. Harder than anyone? No. But if i need more money, i work more, instead of posting reddit messages about how bad life is. Houses were cheaper when i was a kid or my parents. So what? They also made less. My dads dad died when he was 5 and his mom got run over when he was 19. My moms dad died when she was 18. Plenty of woe is me stories to be had (and far worse than my family's predilection for early death) but so what. Life isnt fair, my kids have it 20x easier than i ever did (I'm successful and they will benefit from that) but they're going to be as happy or unhappy as they decide to be, and currently dont really want to be happy.

You thinking I'm a troll at least makes me chuckle. People out there get bent outta shape if anyone isnt suffering as much as everyonr else seems to think they are.

Whats your reason that life sucks?

The haha is because it is laughable to think people who have lived life have no idea of stress and anxiety. The statistical fact of the world is that far far fewer people by percentage live in poverty than even 40 years ago. The literacy rates, education rates, and health rates have all improved (although more fat people currently is lowering that).

So, things are objectively better as a whole even if the individual doesnt think so.

[removed]

The fact you have to ask is just golden

Just because your links support you position does not make them any more or less qualified than mine.

I don’t have to admit that I am wrong when I have proof of my position. You have to refute my sources.

I don’t know why people in the internet are mean…

they are data provided by the government idiot. your "source" is an opinionwritten by someone with noe experience or qualifications abotu the topic.

Only the last one quotes a US government source and it doesn’t go back to the 40’s which is less than the scope that I am addressing.

Which means I have hit a nerve as you are now throwing insults in the conversation as opposed to refuting my sources or responding to my challenge of yours.

im insulting you because youre a fucking dumbass and the conversation was over the moment i gave you sources and you just didnt accept them.

But I provided sources and don’t feel the need to be insulting.

It’s like you fire all of your bullets and missed the target every time.

You mocked everyone and just expected them to be nice and with you

And then the young generation will become the older generation. Rinse and repeat. Content comes with age and experience

Please stop arguing. People understand the flaws of society for the current generation and downvoted you because you failed to provide an accurate solution for what the guy above you was saying. Please get help and pray for forgiveness.

Solution?

This is shower thoughts. There are no solutions here. Just exchange of ideas.

As for the complaints about prior generations.

The generation prior to the Boomers fought in A world war.

The generation. Prior to that lived thru the depression.

2 generations prior to that, people were stealing land from the native Americans.

The current generation is just as accountable for their actions as prior ones.