[ryandrake]

Gen X here, just turned 40. If you compare how I'm doing with how my parents (who were solidly middle class) were doing, it's not even close. At 40, they had multiple homes, were secure in their savings and retirement through generous pensions, and practically debt free. This was on school teachers' salaries!

Me? Student loan debt set me back years, crippling housing costs, and a crappy 401(k) that is probably worth around what I put into it due to multiple deep recessions during my prime working years. I can't even begin to imagine how bad it is for you under-30s!

This is not sustainable. All the value captured through productivity increases is being captured by shareholders and asset owners now rather than the working class.

[madaxe_again]

My father was an employee of a series of banks. Nothing hugely special - earning the equivalent of about £100k today at that point - but the lifestyle they had by my age is astounding.

By 34 they owned a huge house in the country, several large holiday homes abroad, three cars, private education for the kids, first class flights (for them - I always flew alone to school, economy), motorbikes, you name it.

At the same age, I've done very well for myself compared to my cohort - I own a basement flat and a one bedroom cottage with no roof up a mountain, and have savings - this was from being a director and founder of a 50-ish person business with £MM turnover. I am incredibly concerned for the rest of this generation - if I feel insecure - how does someone renting on a zero-hour contract feel?!?

Part of the myriad resasons I quit my business to wander the world is that I'm done paying for the lavish lifestyles our ancestors enjoyed. Bluntly, it isn't fair, and I'm fed up, and I'm not taking it any more.

[icebraining]

Be careful about generalizing from your own experience. Only 0.4% of Brits own a second house, let several large holiday homes. While there were certainly some years of rapidly increasing consumer welfare, most of their gains were in stuff we take for granted today, not luxuries.

[madaxe_again]

I'm not generalising - as I say in my comment I know I'm exceptionally fortunate.

[icebraining]

No, I'm talking about the lavish lifestyles of our ancestors.

[golergka]

It is quite fair when you take into account the change in the wealth of people all around the world, not only first world countries.

That's the issue with this thread: it's only first world perspective, about the time when the difference in income between countries around the globe was completely radical. With globalisation, it jist evens out.

[ctchocula]

If you put your money into an S&P 500 index fund in 2006 and reinvested dividends every distribution, you would have 6.89% annual return even taking into account recent recessions. In other words, if you had $10,000 in your 401(k) in 2006 and stopped adding any payroll to it, it would be worth over $19,000 now. If your 401(k) isn't in an index fund, it might be worth switching it into one rather than keeping it in a managed fund that charges higher expense ratios, but has worse returns.

[ixacto]

Student loans are stupid unless taken for CS or Medicine. Otherwise the military or community college is just fine. Don't follow your passion unless you have a trustfund with >1mm and can pay for college.

It's not that hard, you put 23k/yr total in the roth IRA & Roth 401k in VFIAX. I do not work in the tech industry anymore and am still doing this, just stop eating out, live cheap.

Compound this over 40-45 years and you and I are multimillionares.

[Frondo]

The military is fine until you're sent to Afghanistan and you're assigned to missions where you end up killing people. They're dead, and you're messed up for a long, long time. Happened to a couple friends of mine. One of them is de facto permanently disabled (though refuses help from the system itself), bounces from one job to the next, spends every waking moment high, because of the things he did over there.

As for the rest, asking someone to live cheap until they're 65, as a way to compensate for systemic malfunction, ehh...nope, let's get political and fix the system.

[ap22213]

Many of my friends and some relatives joined the armed forces in the early 90s. The world seemed relatively safe then, trending upwards, and it seemed like a stable path to a middle class life.

Then the never-ending wars came. And, many of these people now have serious injuries and most have PTSD. They came back changed.

Now, I would never let a relative join the armed forces. Maybe it was a heroic thing to do at one point; I don't know. But, nowadays they're exploited and used carelessly for missions of dubious purpose.

[Pseudosudowoodo]

1990 child here. To avoid a lengthy block of text I've deleted it all and decided on a short sum.

While I can only speak from my own experience, many of my friends and colleagues (EE) have left the country already. There are lots of good arguments on both sides and plenty of stories to each end. That said, it comes to this, the people in my generation with real skill are leaving. Not all of them, but enough that it's becoming noticeable. Maybe it's always been this way, maybe not, needless to say my sample size is low so draw conclusions at your own risk. That's just my two cents on it (in reference to what it is like for under-30's).

[sebcat]

People I knew when I was younger later went on to get a good education and moved to the U.S.A. for work.

They still have student debt, but with practically no interest adjusted for inflation, and they didn't have to pay for university. They won't be spending their future worrying about their loans.

Grow up in a country with ~30% income tax and ~25% VAT, get universal healthcare and free education, then emigrate and take a job and pay (less) taxes in another country where working actually makes you money.

[lucker]

Where are your friends and colleagues going, if I may ask?

[MarchHare]

Which country are they leaving and where are they going?

[Cephlin]

I'm going to leave my country too, it's full of people with opinions I cannot relate to.

[dursk]

If you've been investing in index funds for the past 20 years, your 401k is certainly worth more than what you put in. Hell, even if you invested two lump sums right before the dot-com bust and the 07/08 recession, you're still net positive. The markets are currently at all-time highs.

[Amezarak]

Unfortunately, you don't always get that choice. my 401(k) doesn't offer a US stock market index fund option.

[uptown]

Just in time for people's 401k/retirement contributions. Where to invest that cash when markets are frothy?

[jdminhbg]

Same index funds as always. Don't try to time the market, especially a quarter century before you retire and start withdrawing.

[uptown]

Which funds do you buy?

[marcosdumay]

> All the value captured through productivity increases is being captured by shareholders and asset owners now rather than the working class.

That's how living in a poor country feels. You still have good enough institutions and human capital to turn things around, but if you wait for too long, those will be gone.