Erin over at Existential Ergonomics wrote a great piece called “The Boomer Mentality,” in which she details the grasping, materialistic, selfish nature of the various Boomers she and her boyfriend encountered on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. It’s a post worth reading, and Erin handles the contentious subject matter deftly and with humor and grace. It is clear she does not hate Boomers, but she certainly recognizes their idiosyncrasies and hypocrisies for what they are.
I, too, do not hate Boomers. My parents and most of my aunts and uncles are Boomers. Many of my colleagues are Boomers. Boomers have been among the kindest, most supportive people I have ever known.
I also do not like intergenerational politics. They seem like another way to divide us and to pit us against once another. It also seems like a game that is targeted specifically towards Americans and other people in Western countries. You never hear about Vietnamese kids complaining about their Boomer parents, for example.
All of that said, the Boomer generation—those born between 1946-1964—are a difficult bunch. Both stingy and lavish, they horde housing, blow their wealth on frivolous luxuries, and seemingly refuse to help their struggling Millennial children, a generation (mine) that really got screwed economically. At the same time, the Boomers as a group refuse to acknowledge how easy they had it from an economic perspective, and are baffled that the rest of us can’t just make a fortune in sales overnight (or what have you).
Of course, it’s not their fault, exactly. They are the product of their parents’ choices, the so-called Greatest Generation. That generation faced a major world war and a devastating Great Depression before that, so they overcompensated and created one of the most spoiled generations in the history of the world. They also lavished this generation with high-paying jobs that required few skills, coupled with generous healthcare benefits and fat pensions.
So, in response to Erin’s very mild and humorous post, the Boomers came out of the woodwork. Boomers are either the heroes or the victims of their stories—they are never the villains. Remember, this generation grew up believing they were going to change the world (and, in many ways, they have) for the better, and that their self-indulgent lifestyles were some manner of high-minded idealism. We all know the aging hippie Boomer who refuses to believe that the 1960s are over.
One of the comments was from a woman who has this picture for her Gravatar:
Can’t you just feel the smug self-righteousness oozing from that tiny picture? It looks like she carries lemons around in her purse so she can maintain her pucker all day.
Her comment was no better, and written with the subtlety of a rant on Facebook:
This comment goes against the excellent advice that if you don’t have something good to say, don’t say anything. However, as one of the oldest Boomers living, I’m going to make an exception to that advice. Boomers are currently between 60-78 years of age. The reason so many are travelling is because at least in the 65-78 group many/most are retired and finally have the time to travel. Fortunately, everyone younger than 60 is pleasant, drives perfectly, and is committed to working well together. As soon as we Boomers have kicked the bucket the world will be a better place. Or … is the problem with having old people around that they’re old? As post-Boomers grow old, how much do you want to bet that they annoy young people just as much as (some) current old people annoy you?!
So, dear readers, I offered up my own scathing critique to this smug old lady:
Classic Boomer cope. Yes, we Millennials are not perfect; yes, we favor quality-of-life over eighty-hour workweeks.
The issue is not enjoying the fruits of your years of labor. I sincerely think most Boomers do not appreciate how easy their path in life was. Yes, y’all were an exceptionally hardworking generation, but the constant self-indulgence and this weird desire to work until you die is putting a massive strain on the rest of us.
I love Boomers—my parents are Boomers, and do not fit the negative stereotypes—and the elderly. I think older Americans have every right to enjoy their twilight years. At the same time, reserve some fraction of the massive resources—valuable homes, pension plans, 401(k)s, cash reserves, bloated Social Security benefits, etc.—for your children and grandchildren to make their lives easier.
I don’t know about Erin (the author of this excellent and very fair post), but I came out of graduate school in 2009 amid the Great Recession. Both of my brothers also found themselves looking for work shortly thereafter, in the fields of higher education and law. We are all very hardworking and have excelled in our respective fields (I’m a schoolteacher and musician). But landing a job was nigh-on-impossible in 2009. Yes, I know some of the older Boomers lost huge chunks of their 401(k)s in those years and had to forestall retirement, or engage in the penny-pinching that has become the lot of their offspring, but many did not suffer the way that Millennials did when hitting the job market for the first time.
I am probably in the 1% of my generation because I save scrupulously; teach upwards of 20-25 music lessons a week on top of my normal job; own my house free-and-clear; and paid cash for my used compact car. I’ve negotiated incredibly aggressively for higher wages in the field of private education in the American South, where these schools do not charge much for tuition. I’ve squeezed every penny I can. I’ve managed to do some traveling and to own a dog.
But there’s no way I could support a family of four on my salary the way a Boomer could in the 1970s. I don’t get basic health insurance from my employer (I buy my own). I max out retirement contributions so I can qualify for tax breaks and government subsidies to help pay for health insurance. And I doubt seriously Social Security will be there for my generation when I hit my 60s (or it will be vastly reduced).
My parents are good stewards of their money, and I hope they live many, many more years. They will have a real legacy to pass to my brothers and me, and we, in turn, will pass it along to our children.
But, yeah, the Boomer RVers snatching magnets from a woman’s hand and demanding parking spots and toppling their oversized hotels-on-wheel in the desert are the heroes.
You Boomers need to take stock. Never has the world created a more vain, hapless, selfish, foolish, narrowminded, and myopic generation. Always the hero or the victim, never the villains. Or, perhaps more accurately, never willing to take responsibility for the reckless way you’ve squandered the greatest economic conditions in the history of the world in a never-ending orgy of spending and self-indulgence.
In the interest of parsimony, maybe Boomers and Millennials—after all, we Millennials are just aspiring Boomers—can maybe work together past some of this bitterness and resentment. I think Millennials tried that, and were rewarded with poor-paying jobs and high health insurance costs. But when the Boomers do kick the bucket, let’s hope this generation of fiddling Neros doesn’t squander all of that wealth at the bingo parlor.
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The Portly Politico 
My parents are boomers, but I love them. They’re pretty humble, flexible and open so that’s nice. They’re basically only critical of me and my “weird” decisions 😂. Not really, but it’s good that they worry.
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My parents are also Boomers, and wonderful people. I think it’s those original Boomers that are the super spoiled ones, haha.
Well, and, really, it’s only a portion of the Boomers that are so difficult, but, dang, that portion does a number on everyone else!
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Yeah, there’s probably many Karens in that generation 😂.
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Hahahaha, yes—I think the Boomers originated the “Karen” phenomenon. Or maybe it was Katherine Hepburn. Regardless, yes, I’m afraid Karenism is a by-product of Boomerism that is here to stay.
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😂 you might be right about that!
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I guess I am old enough to be your daddy, Tyler, I’m a Boomer from 1960 and proud of it. I believe that our generation was the last to enjoy being children without the internet and social media, it was a blessing that we never knew we had until now.
Why would anyone dislike boomers? Because we have common sense, respect for others and our elders? Because we love America and respect our constitution? Because we aren’t full of hate that young people today appear to be?
It’s disturbing that these people are the future of America.
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My parents are Boomers and are awesome. They and you do not fit that selfish Boomer stereotype that I am highlighting here.
I am sure there are some young people who find Boomer patriotism cringe. I am not one of them (although I do suspect that many Boomers are unable to wake up fully to the current political Reality in part because they believe so strongly that the Constitution cannot ultimately be violated, even though we know it has been, repeatedly).
What I’m targeting in this piece/rant is the grasping, hypermaterialistic Boomers who have zero thought for the future and steadfastly refuse to help out or support their children and grandchildren, who are objectively worse off.
Again, you’re somewhat proving my point: the Boomer mentality is that they are either heroes (“we have common sense and respect and patriotism!”) or the victim (“people hate us for no reason!”). I don’t hate Boomers—again, I love my parents, I like you and Audre and the other Boomer readers of this blog quite a lot, etc.—but if there is so much frustration with the generation, perhaps some Boomers could practice genuine self-reflection and wonder why.
I think you and many Boomers have done that. But I think there is a huge, sadly representative swathe of Boomerdom that refuses to do so, and they just say, “Work harder, you lazy bum.” Yeah, that works until it doesn’t.
I, too, worry about the future of America. My generation, the Millennials, are a lot of radicalized losers. But why did they get radicalized? The American Dream, which was so easily achievable for their Boomer parents, has become virtually impossible to achieve. Thank God I had Boomer parents who supported me and helped me purchase a house in 2018, way before home prices shot up. Otherwise, I’d be stuck paying usurious rents.
The Boomers had ample opportunity and time to accumulate wealth, even in lower-paying careers, but a large group seems hellbent on hording it, dragon-like, until blowing it in one last orgy of good times. God Forbid their children or grandchildren enjoy any of the fruits of their lifetime of labor!
I guess my main issue is that total lack of concern for the future among a large contingent of Boomerdom. It really does feel like an entire generation of self-indulgent Neros fiddling while Rome burns.
Again, let me reiterate—not all Boomers are like that. But enough are that it’s become apparent to a lot of us.
Ultimately, Boomers, all I am asking is that you engage in some self-reflection; acknowledge how much easier economic conditions were in your heyday; and maybe pass some of that accumulated wealth along to your descendants so that they can have health insurance and a home.
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One coda: I think this woman whose comment I took such issue with really got to me because you can even see how clueless she is in her picture. I imagine in her mind she’s smiling and it’s a pleasant photograph. But just examine it—nostrils flared, lips tight in a smug downward “smile,” eyes beady. Maybe I am being unfair, but the entire picture exudes a smug self-righteousness—and it’s what the lady chose for her Gravatar!
It strikes me as the perfect image for the self-assured, smug Boomer (again, not you, John): condescending, imperious, out-of-touch with reality.
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P.S.—a friend of mine remarked that the “patriotic” Boomers were the same ones shouting “Baby Killers” in airports at Vietnam War vets returning home. I hastened to add that you would have been fourteen or fifteen when the Vietnam War ended; I think it’s those 1940s-born Boomers that have embodied some of the worst stereotypes of Boomerism.
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Yes, I was still very young…
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Yeah, you avoided a lot of the foolishness that the older Boomers fell into. Thank goodness!
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I agree with Tyler here. There is a subset of insufferable Boomers, but most I know are amazing people. You certainly sound like one of the good ones! My parents and relatives are all wise, respectful, and care very much about the legacy they will leave behind. I’m a proud descendant of several militia men of the American Revolution and, actually, a lot of my good friends are former special forces Boomers who I talk Constituionalism with. I have a lot of respect for good people of any generation.
Like Tyler, my main issue is also that lack of concern some Boomers have for their children and grandchildren, proudly and vocally taking out reverse mortgages and spending every last dime of their hard-earned money, when a small sliver of that could be life-changing for their kids, even though their own parents helped with home down payments or achieving other life milestones.
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Amen. Thank you, Erin. Thank goodness we had the good Boomers for parents!
Yes, if you’ve got four or five million socked away in various retirement accounts—and, let’s face it, most Boomers should have pretty tidy nest eggs stored away if they managed their money properly (I’m closing in on half a million in retirement, and that’s in spite of all the difficulties our generation has faced)—you could easily help with a down payment, or to clear off some college debt. Even if you’ve just managed to scrape together $50,000 or $100,000 (which, I have to wonder, how did you mismanage your finances that badly as a Boomer?), you don’t have to blow it all on RVs.
Reverse mortgages are a nightmare and should be illegal. If you want money for your house, sell it! Do what most elderly people have done in the past and downsize. It’s not going to kill you to live in a smaller house in your golden years.
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I am a Gen Xer born in 1970. The Boomers were the first generation in this country that got older but not wiser. Of course, this is a gross overgeneralization of Boomers. Their crime is giving ridiculously bad advice to the younger generations to survive in a world they set on fire.
The Boomers that I find are the exception to this are churchgoers, blue collar, and Republicans. That trifecta of awesome is rare in that generation, but some got a clue between Nixon and Reagan. This is my way of saying we need to get a clue, too. We didn’t start the fire, but we’re not putting it out either.
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Amen, Charlie—you summed it up better than I could: “The Boomers were the first generation in this country that got older but not wiser.” It’s very, very true.
My parents are very wise, as are many of my Boomer readers. We were avid churchgoers (almost to the point of church burnout!), blue-collar-moving-into-the-middle-class, and Republicans/conservatives. So was almost everyone I grew up with, or at least in my family (the joys of growing up in the American South!).
I think the Boomers are clueless as to what Millennials have had to face (and Gen X, for that matter). And it makes sense: they had it so much easier economically, it must be hard for them to grasp what’s wrong. They look at Millennials and say, “Well, you just have to get in there and buckle down and you’ll be fine,” and while that is decent advice, it often no longer applies. We don’t live in that world anymore, and you’re correct—the Boomers lit the match to the very world they think we’re still living in. It’s like that meme of the dog in the room on fire, and he’s saying, “This is fine.”
All I am asking is for Boomers to practice some introspection and take stock. They might not be able to stop the fire, either, but they can certainly hose it down a bit, and maybe contain it. Maybe if they don’t blow all of their wealth, their children and grandchildren can have health insurance and houses.
Or we’ll have a glut of RVs on the resale market, and we can just live in the discarded campers of the Boomers’ twilight years.
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I take my lessons from the Great Depression survivors. That was the last generation that got wiser as they got older.
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My fear is that we’re all going to end up as “Great Depression survivors” to some extent. But God Is Good!
I also have to practice some introspection: I have had it much easier than many of my peers (while others have had it much better than me). That’s because my parents and I have worked exceptionally hard. They instilled in me a sense of work ethic and a sense of obligation: do the job you promised and do it well.
I’m fortunate to have a house that is paid off in full at the age of 39. I paid it off just in time for inflation to catch up and eat away at the additional cashflow, haha. Oh, well. God’s Timing Is Perfect (to be clear: I’m not blaming God for inflation, just that He Helped me get to where I could weather the storm more easily).
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I hear about Boomers that think nothing of not leaving any semblance of “wealth” to their kids when they die, like it is some badge of honor. Thinking that inheritance is a bad thing.
(The contrary, it helped my Gen X friends stabilize their lives. My best friend’s mother was kind and wise in this way).
The reverse mortgage thing is some icing on a dog piss ice cream cake.
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Reverse mortgages should be illegal. What a scam. I also hate the way they’re advertised so aggressively towards gullible Boomers.
Yes, there was a lot of propaganda against “inherited wealth” when the Boomers were coming of age, I think. There certainly was when I was in school. But we’re not talking about the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts here—a middle manager at Sears for forty years passing on an inheritance to his sons is not going to create some kind of new aristocracy. Bullcrap.
I think that’s all a mask, though, for these hyper-selfish Boomers (again, probably the highly-visible minority of Boomers) to squander their wealth in one last orgy of partying. I’ve worked for Boomers most of my career, and, dang, do they love a company party—and booze in outrageous quantities.
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Ohhh, this is right: Their crime is giving ridiculously bad advice to the younger generations to survive in a world they set on fire. In my teens, I was a national math champion, yet no one suggested I study STEM in college. Instead? Do what you love and the money will follow. Not true.
I think even the simple acknowledgement that things are harder today would be enough. I saw earlier today that the median home cost in 2004 was 4.3 times the median salary, where in 2024 the median home cost is 9.8 times the median salary. Salaries have risen 29% in 20 years and home prices have risen 500%. Millennials can’t outrun the financial dismality of the situation. Yet, we’re simply told we don’t work hard enough.
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Amen on both counts, Erin: the bad advice (and I heard that “follow your heart” thing from a lot of Boomer authority figures growing up, in spite of my Dad’s warnings to the contrary) and the unwillingness or inability to acknowledge how much more difficult things are for their children and grandchildren.
I was just getting to a point in my finances and career to where I felt like I had a good handle on things. Then this crazy inflation hit and, while I am still doing well (own my house free-and-clear—thanks in large part to my parents, for example), I have to work almost twice as hard just to maintain the already-minimalist quality of life I enjoy.
I do think very old Boomers (70+) who are financially capable of doing so should phase out of the job market and open up opportunities for younger generations. I also think Boomer stewards of these large companies and institutions should—within what their means allow—make sacrifices to improve wages for their employees.
I’m no socialist, but many members of our generation are because the Boomers have been so stingy with jobs, pay increases, etc. They have no sense of the social contract at the heart of what makes a society, much less an economy, work.
But, yes, let’s just get a weekend job at the hardware store. That’ll fix it!
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I agree on all counts. I’m making six-figures and we’re still living on a shoestring budget because we’re trying to save for retirement and get ahead of all the inflation. We work hard, but are lucky to get a 2% cost of living adjustment per year, when inflation is 10-20%; in reality, many workers have less buying power each year. All the while, high paid Boomer CEOs are taking a huge cut of a company’s profit. UGH. I get frustrated with the socialist becuase they don’t actually understand socialism, but I get where they’re coming from 100% because–unless you’ve smart, socially competent, and lucky–there’s no clear solution. Some Boomers just have no clue… this isn’t an issue we can “second job” our way out of. I’m glad to know I’m not alone!
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Yes. You and Dr. Zeus and I are fortunate in that we’re hustlers and savers. Not everyone has the willpower to be those things, or the smarts, if we’re honest. Does that mean they should be forced to live a life of drudgery? No.
Socialism is not the answer. What we need, though, is some sense of moral and social obligation to the people in our lives.
I don’t have children of my own (yet, and I might not ever get them); if I never have children, I am going to do everything I can to ensure that my niece and nephews have a big fat inheritance from Uncle Tyler so that they won’t have to worry about housing and debt and all that. That’s the bare minimum I can do. I’ll certainly enjoy some of my hard-earned cash along the way, but why squander it all on myself? Lord Knows I’ve been plenty self-indulgent already. You’d think the Boomers would eventually say, “Okay, we’ve done it all, we’ve experienced everything. Let’s save some money for our kids.”
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The boomers I have known came from a generation of people that created efficiency experts and consultants that stripped personality/culture out of workplaces, then they were puzzled when no one wanted to do the jobs.
If you teamed that up with “make everyone a contractor” or other jive hustles, it hurt other boomers and their kids. (Often financially and socially).
By the way, when people say “Boomer”, I think of Boomer Esiason or a ballistic missile submarine.
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Great point re: the consultants. What bites me is that these Boomers now refuse to leave the job market, even well into their 70s. I understand there are a few that might still need to work to survive—I’ve known some in that situation—but for the most part, I think they’re happy guzzling down those outrageous consulting fees while double-dipping from their retirement.
To be fair, I’d do the same thing! The issue is that there are so many of them, they’re creating a massive bottleneck for employment. Also, let’s be real—when you’re over 70, it’s probably time to hang it up and maybe pick up a part-time gig if you’re just that addicted to work (which, again, I can also understand).
Yes—we live in the “gig” economy now. I have enjoyed some of the opportunities of that economy, but there seems to be this notion that everyone should just work a string of inconsistent part-time “gig” jobs to get by. What happened to working for the same company for forty years and having decent health insurance and a good pension?
Hahaha, nice!
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The smug Boomer’s comment was one paragraph, in which she used the word “old” five times. I think I found the problem. Boomers never say die! (Unless it’s to smugly tell you that they’ll be dead when all of the financial problems they’ve caused come home to roost.) The youth culture they grew up in created a generation of Dorian Grays, who greedily want to stay young forever and experience literal envy for the actual youth they see in the Millennial generation (I’m Gen-X, we don’t even count.) Ergo the open hostility the writer of the linked article experienced. Granted, one sees a more concentrated form of that type of bad behavior in the RV Hell of a national park, but the struggle is real!
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YES! I think you have hit the nail on the head, KC. The Boomers fear aging and death. One of my pet theories is the reason we locked down so much and for so long during The Age of The Virus is because many Boomers fear death. When you’ve spent your entire life partying and indulging in every conceivable vice and sin, you’re likely not excited about the prospect of Eternity.
But even the more modest Boomers seem to possess this fear (my parents being the usual exception). There seems to be this desperate attempt to cling to life and faded youth as long as possible.
I can only pray I won’t be the same way. I turn 40 in January 2024. But I am prepared to meet Jesus; I’d just like a bit more time here first, haha!
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P.S.—I think you are correct re: the concentration of “bad Boomers,” let’s call them, in the National Parks. They are the ones with the disposable wealth and the self-centeredness to buy oversized RVs (and I’m not opposed to RVs, to be clear) and crash them in the desert, and to bicker with people over magnets and parking spots. So stupid and shallow.
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KC, I think you’re spot-on. Most of my Boomer relatives are exceptions to the rule, but the “Bad Boomers” really do seem to have a fear of aging and death, which surely influences how they interact with others in the world, especially those younger than them.
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Yes, that fear of dying drives a lot of this orgy of materialism, I think. Of course, when you’ve been materialistic you’re entire life, that surely has something to do with it as well.
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I think most of the commenters here must have lived on some other planet. I’m a boomer. I was born in 1952. Let me tell you about my parents. My mother and father were 9 years old at the start of the Great Depression. Old enough to understand about poverty and no work and fear for the next meal. To the day she died, my mother feared poverty. My father often worked three jobs to raise us four kids. In the little bit of time he had at home, he didn’t sleep – he spent time with us kids, did the kind of fixing around the house mom didn’t know how to do, spent some time with his own mother and spinster sister. We never knew want – we had enough; my parents made sure of that. Mom wore the same winter coat for more years than I can count. Dad drove that old Ford til he finally had to give it the last rites. We weren’t taught it but we learned to be happy with our lot in life and to be grateful for anything given to us. We were taught manners, civility, cleanliness, and love for Jesus. The very few vacations my parents had always included us kids and lasted just a few days but they made the effort to take us away from the city to places where we could run and be loud in the fresh air and green environs.
As adults, we’d all had issues in the early years of our marriages and Mom and Dad were right there – not intruding but there if we needed them. Not cash but bags of groceries to get us through.
When we were established in our marriages, Mom and Dad lived the way they had always lived, under their income instead of up to it. Money put aside whenever they were able. Their vacations were trips to see us kids, in the different States we’d wound up in. When they passed, there were no bills to have to deal with except that current month. They’d provided for their burials so we had no drain on our own incomes. They took care of business their whole lives.
My sisters and I live much the same way as our parents did. I’m proud of my parents. I’m proud of the life they gave us. I’m glad I was able to take into the bigger world the civility and manners we were taught. I worked whatever overtime was available and socked it away for that inevitable rainy day. If that makes me selfish and cheap, that’s on you. My sisters and I have always been there for our grown children. My house and cars are paid in full and have been for many years – if there’s something wrong with that, like the old rock song says, I don’t wanna be right.
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Your experience is the exception to the negative stereotype, Audre. Again, as I made clear many times, not all Boomers fit the stereotypes. Your parents did—and you have done—exactly what you needed to do, and what all people should strive towards: civility, modesty, thrift.
But, again, for many of your generation, economic conditions were easier than now. Jobs often came with lavish (by today’s standards) benefits; homes were affordable (and also constantly growing in value); work was plentiful.
The Millennial generation started their careers with both hands tied behind their backs. Many Boomers now steadfastly refuse to sell their homes and downsize (as most elderly folks do); instead, they’re buying even bigger houses, on the assumed premise that “because I have a bigger house, I must be doing something right.” There is a weird pathology among many—again, not all!—Boomers to lord their wealth and assets over their children and grandchildren.
Being thrifty is admirable; being greedy and hording is not. No one owes us anything in this life, it’s true, but you’d think that Boomer parents and grandparents would want to preserve their wealth for future generations. Kudos to you for doing so. Kudos to your parents for doing so. Kudos to my parents for doing so.
But we’ve also managed to create an economy that is fundamentally stingy. I’ve worked my fingers to the bone just to afford a house and a dog.
Again, I would love for just one Boomer—even the good ones, like you—to come on here and say, “Yeah, we worked hard, but we definitely enjoyed unprecedented economic upward mobility. Some of us probably are overly materialistic. You Millennials are probably so radical because we didn’t make a place for you. I can understand why y’all are upset.” Just a tad bit of introspection.
Instead, it’s always, “we were victims! People hate us because we’re old.” False. Try to empathize with us, instead of expecting us to play by the same playbook that worked in 1960.
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Here: read this and get back to me: https://brianniemeier.com/2017/11/lost-generations/
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The key paragraph from the linked piece:
“The generation that won the culture war and is now firmly entrenched in the halls of power, the Baby Boomers, have a general tendency to project their own peculiar attitudes and perceptions onto other generations en masse. They also run Hollywood, academia, and the media, so you get constant color commentary about nihilistic Gen Xers, Millennial snowflakes, and the stodgy, repressive Greatest Generation–who’ve become noble and heroic now that they’ve given the Boomers all their stuff.”
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I feel a little bad because I generally like the Boomer featured here, but that comment caught my attention for the same reasons, though I wasn’t going to start drama LOL.
This is a great post, and you really captured the essence of the lighthearted jab perfectly. I think our fresh-outta-college experiences are very similar, as is our lifelong financial caution and frugality as a result of that slightly traumatic stumble into the workforce. We’ve found our way, but the simplest acknowledgement that Millennials worked hard to claw our way up would really go a long way. Alas, it’s also heroes and victims… and so little sense of responsibility.
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Yes—I feel that same twinge of guilt, too. What is humorous to me is that every Boomer has commented on this piece (and, granted, it’s only been two) have done the same kind of poor-mouthing and patriotism-boasting they always do. “We worked so hard! We love our country!” But the older Boomers were spitting on Vietnam War vets and getting high in San Francisco—then went on to cushy jobs in business and academia.
A little bit of graciousness and sympathy would go a long way. Look, I sympathize with the Boomers—they’re getting older, and life is tougher now. I just wish they’d extend that same sense of understanding to us.
Yes, we have very similar experiences. I max out all of my retirement contributions, including my HSA and IRA, every year. The 403(b) (non-profit equivalent of the 401(k)) contributions take up about two-thirds of every paycheck, but they are worth it. Now I’m just struggling to save up the $7000 each year to make the IRA payment. I easily make that in lessons, but a lot of my lessons money goes towards just paying the bills (and keeping my dog alive, haha).
Hang in there, Erin! I hope you and Dr. Z are doing well.
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Yes, I had to chuckle at that, too! It was by no means an attack, and you and I both (I think!) made that clear in our respective posts, but many of the responders seemed to have been so riled up that they overlooked that minor detail. Oh boy… I 100% agree about a little graciousness and sympathy. If they don’t want to help out financially, so be it, but just acknowledge that makes Millennials aren’t living in a world of butterflies and rainbows, squandering every opportunity out of laziness. Even people I know personally who have seen my work ethic have comments like that, and it’s offensive.
Congrats on approaching the half-million mark! I’m almost there, too. The saving is worth it for future financial security, but it is tough when–after retirement–all the remaining goes to bills and there’s so little left for leisure activities. My in-laws always remark snidely that Dr. Z and I “live like paupers” because we don’t buy new clothes, go to sports events, or do fancy dinners with friends… but we can’t afford any of that without sacrificing retirement savings. And I don’t trust there will be inheritance, social security, or anyone other than my own handmade safety net. My biggest hope now is that our socialist peers don’t vote to double-dip on our post-tax retirement contributions… I have some serious concerns there.
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Yes, there were definitely a lot of knee-jerk reactions, which I think is fairly telling about the Boomer mentality. To be fair, my post was much more strident and polemical in tone than yours, so I can understand people getting frustrated about how I wrote my post, but yours was very humorous and light-hearted—kind of like poking gentle fun at a good friend.
Thank you. It kind of snuck up on me. I earn in the mid-five-figures—ha!—but supplement that with music lessons and gigs. Last year my lesson revenue was down, but just slightly; I think my all-time high was the year I earned around $21,000 from lessons alone. Of course, the taxes on those destroy me; I think I owed the federal government around $2000 that tax year—d’oh! Fortunately, I’ve made some adjustments to my withholdings and don’t get hit quite so bad now (I think last year I owed the federal government $54 and the State of South Carolina $18—something like that).
I started extreme budgeting in 2016, when I started maxing out all of my retirement accounts. I was able to work out deals with people to get by, and was paying $450 a month in rent (that was two years before I bought my house). For example, a late colleague of mine did not have a working car for a time, so I would drive him to and from school. In exchange, he would take me to dinner two or three times a week and cover the cost (back when a restaurant meal was like $7, haha). I would try to get at least two meals out of every meal eaten out. I think that year I managed to spend $100 on groceries. Nowadays, $100 in groceries is jack-diddly!
But that was really extreme. I negotiated very hard in 2018 for a big pay increase, and got it (spread out over two years), which had the time was borderline life-changing. Lessons were pretty healthy, too. Then COVID hit and lean times were back for a bit, but lessons bounced back by Fall 2020 and I was teaching around twenty a week—double what I’d had before The Coof.
I also worked nights and online as an adjunct teacher at a local community college from 2014 until probably 2018 or 2019 (the improving economy meant less enrollment, so I was not getting classes anymore, sadly). I just about killed myself in 2014, when I’d finish my school day around 4 PM, then head to the community college to teach night classes—until 10:15 PM! Imagine working from 7:30 AM to 10:15 PM. It was just twice a week, but by the time Thursday would roll around, it felt like the weekend because I’d finished classes for the week on Wednesday night, even though I still had two more days of my day job. I basically had to draw the line after two semesters of that, but by then, they were encouraging more online classes.
Aaaaaaaanyway, yes—as our experiences indicate, Millennials are not lazy scumbags suckling at the government’s teat (well, not all of us), ending up in penury because we’re eating avocado toast.
I have loosened the purse strings in recent years, and should probably tighten them up a bit. I was just getting to where I could indulge mildly in some travel and the like, but now it feels like inflation has eaten away at all those hard years of negotiating and hustling. Yes, I have this glorious retirement portfolio, but I can’t touch that for at least two more decades. I guess I’ll live like a French duke when I’m 70—then the Zoomers and Alphas can complain about what a self-indulgent Millennial I am! : D
I, too, worry that our embittered peers will shoot themselves—and you and me!—in the foot. Again, we can’t entirely blame the Boomers for that, but they’ve been in charge for so long now—at least fifty years!—that they can bear some of the blame. They could have done so much better for future generations.
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