Doomed is a strong word. Behind the 8 ball maybe is better considering education and housing costs. However, maybe gen z will be the biggest beneficiary of an AI boom in the coming decades. Maybe.
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Yah, every generation gets a different hand delt.
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I think there's something to the idea that expectations are growing faster than prosperity is and that's making people feel worse about how they're doing economically.
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I think reality hurts and debt allows you to ignore reality.
They are the first digitally native generation and you only ever see the success stories on social media. Maybe that is resulting in a lot of ‘keeping up with the influencers’ spending?
They saw their parents generation broken on the wheel for next-to-no benefit compared to the preceding boomers… why not splurge what you have on fillers and holidays while you can still enjoy it. Spending it isnt going to bring lasting happiness though.
(Sorry - stream of consciousness writing in response to your comment)
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Might have something to do with the debt levels as well. Are they racking up debt to just meet their needs or are they racking up debt because they want to live their expected lifestyle.
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It would be interesting to know.
I've seen some coverage of Gen Z having very unrealistic expectations about starting salaries, but I don't know how that's actually manifesting.
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I remember my first corporate management job. Paid 50k a year plus a small bonus. I was thinking "big money". Then I bought a condo and at the end of the month after paying all my expenses I barely had $100 dollars left and I was not thinking "big money" anymore. But on the bright side a couple years later I had done well and been given more responsibility and had my salary up to 65k plus bonus and I had started my business as a side hustle and things were on the upswing.
The real world comes at you fast when you are young.
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We're raising a generation of wards of the state, sustained not by productive work but by debt and handouts.
I wonder what this guy is doing to create productive work for young people. His tone really screams “You kids get off my lawn” and smacks of someone who has never even had a conversation with a “Gen Z” kid.
Those I’ve met who are not “success posturing” are relatively listless and have little understanding of what’s important to them and what could be important. I suspect (young) people panic to fulfill independence when they are told that they cannot achieve it and make mistakes along the way. More and more I consider debt a (potential) Faustian bargain for the future and it boggles me that “Buy Now Pay Later” is legal.
I say potential because there are situations in which taking on debt COULD make sense - a lower/middle income family taking out a mortgage to own a home still makes sense to me! Where is the literature for young people what is good debt and what is bad debt? Where’s the Sesame Street special on that…
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Gen Z could be making more money inflation-adjusted meaning they can leverage even more of it with credit, I don't think previous generations could lever up their salaries that much for anything other than a house, but now you can do it for a lot of purchases
if you can service the monthly payment you can access a lot of capital, look at the crazy 7 year car loans, buy now pay later deals, pay day loans, and all these fintech apps where younger generations are aping into assets and liquidating when they need cash flow.
Also these generations like Millenial and gen z have given up on buying a home so that capital that would be locked up in a house floods into other things, like experiences, or other consumption items
If gen z is doomed so are the boomers desperate for yield whose investment firms are buying this high interest debt to try and cover shortfalls, they better hope gen z keeps servicing that debt.
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Gen Z also ramp up a lot of dating debt
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Oh man, we will see how everything pans out. Boomers were supposed to have so much money, its coming out that they fucked their money off into oblivion.
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Gen Z will do well if they can make use of the AI tools for efficiency. Not that others can't follow, but the amount of bureaucracy and years of system baggage at work would make it hard to catch up.
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I just imagine how such data comes out! There are many people who maybe poor beggars but not included in the survey for data?
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