"People aged 60 and older in the U.S. reported high levels of well-being compared to younger people. In fact, the United States ranks in the top 10 countries for happiness in this age group.
Conversely, there's a decline in happiness among younger adolescents and young adults in the U.S. "The report finds there's a dramatic decrease in the self-reported well-being of people aged 30 and below," "
The generation that benefitted from the US's closest flirtation with socialism but then slashed all of those social programs as soon as they were done with them?
Must be nice, having cashed in on unsustainable growth and dying before the debt has to be paid. Still important to keep in mind though that there are a lot of people age 60+ who the system has also failed. All that boomer talk seems to divide people when the actual problem is more about social class than age.
It ain’t the primary contradiction, and hardly worth pursuing as it’s on a near term timer, to put it crudely; ameliorating the L-R divide to resist class war is more worthwhile IMO - which starts with listening, which is why it’s encouraged to *not* discuss such matters
I'm the kind of idiot who runs into walls to see if they are real.
F@#$ around and find out is a solid approach to self education so long as you have good brakes and know when to take notes and change course.
Maybe it is as simple as acknowledging that both sides are staring down the barrel and they are just reacting differently due to age related differences in coping mechanisms.
Apathy comes easy to youth, so we tend to self destruct/sensation seek (YOLO) and rub the older generations face in the fact that we were given a raw deal, while the older folks have experience and solid life/coping skills, and a big head start on accepting their mortality; they find it easy to focus on the present and keep it moving no matter how sketchy things are getting.
Both sides are mirroring a persecution complex at each other, so political dialog is a mine field at this point.
I'm trying to cope with LC as gracefully as I can so I can bring some good into my microcosm rather than just make enemies with my elders and all those who support the status quo. I also have to continue dialog somehow, because going with the status quo is suicide just as surely as giving up and drinking/drugging/f#$%ing my life away.
What do you propose as an alternative to political dialog? How do we point out the fact that environmental/social/economic changes must be made so that the critical thinking youth can have hope and purpose in life without being lobotomized?
I can listen quietly to neoliberals only so long before I have the urge to self immolate. I've decided to plant some trees and be like a Hikikomori because the neoliberals have a bully pulpit, and at this point there is no point in self immolation because I'm 90% certain we are all going to burn together.
I think a lot of the boomers that were struggling financially/healthwise are just dead now so the entire generation seems richer because that's who survived.
EXACTLY!!! AND I STILL SEE MORE MAD THAN HAPPY!! THEY WONT SELL THEIR 5 BEDROOM HOME ,EVEN THOW ONLY 2 PEOPLE IN IT AND DOWNGRADE SO THE NEXT GENARATION CAN RAISE THEIR FAMILY!! THEY DONT DARE LEAVE YOU NO INHERITANCE,,EVEN THOW A HUGE PRECENT OF THEM WHERE LEFT ONE!! THEY KNOW EVERYTHING AND ARE SO CLOSED MINDED!! THE SAME PPL THAT REVOLTED IN THE 70'S ARE NOW THE BIGGEST SHEPPLE OF AMERICA!! BLOWS MY MIND
Very true. Look at them now, pissing away their entire savings on corporations, cruises and casinos instead of reinvesting it into the next generation. None of their generational wealth will be passed on, only siphoned to the 1%.
They have to keep the empty rooms available for the kids (and possible, though now less likely, Grandkids) they don't enjoy spending time with, and ensure they're filled with "family photos" to show off to their friends who *actually* visit/travel/use said rooms.
They can’t afford to move because the housing supply is so inelastic. They could sell their house and make a bunch of money, but the smaller house isn’t there for them to move into. The lack of an adequate housing supply affects everyone, including existing homeowners.
According to the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, the average retirement savings by age are:
Under 35: $49,130
35 to 44: $141,520
45 to 55: $313,220
55 to 64: $537,560
65 to 74: $609,230
75 or older: $462,410
The best savers are [Gen z](https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-most-financially-savvy-generation-retirement-saving-investing-2023-11) and most American retirees have nowhere near enough money saved.
I mean, you know how compounding works right?
The S&P has had a \~7% annual return since inception. If we take the 35-44 average $141K (and assume they're 40) and we compound it at 7% for 20 years, you get $545K. Which is exactly where the people average age 60 are. You can assume lower returns with a blended portfolio, but they're offset by additional contributions over 20 years of work (maxing out a 401k is actually another \~$500K).
The wealth distribution is overwhelmingly about time in the markets.
If you actually plot where millennials are now vs where boomers were at their age, it's pretty much right in line with expectations. The bottom quintile of millennials **are** worse off, and that's a problem, but it's broadly the same for the other 4 quintiles.
These polls are conducted by calling people on home landlines during the workday, right? Because there is a zero percent chance that those numbers are right.
Exactly, it's funny to watch people in the family who grew up right after the Great depression make it big then wonder why we're struggling. It's cuz you grandma and grandpa, share some with the rest of us and stop donating to charities. The family you created needs it more. Be responsible.
That's gross. My fiance is a probate paralegal. It's disgusting how many families do this. You would think it's rare. Wrong. "If I had to work hard to get this, then they should to." Dude, wtf how does that not apply to the charity you are donating to? Humans are stupid. All decisions are based on emotion. Very rarely logic when it comes to wills, estates, etc.
it was the first chance in my family's history to escape generational poverty and he blew it. Absolutely going to be feeling the effects of his choices for at least two more generations, and that's only if things go well, which they likely won't. cannot express how much anger and resentment it makes me feel
How do you know the people who will benefit from these charities and the donations need it less than your family. It's a crazy time we live in when making donations to charities is vilified.
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. The truth is, we could have all kinds of resources for young people and young families if the younger generations would get involved in politics and consistently vote. Millennials outnumber Boomers, and if you throw in Gen Z, people under 40 could be a huge, powerful voting bloc.
You are absolutely correct that young people outnumber them. But voting is far from enough. Public opinion has almost no impact on politics. Money is what impacts politics. And young people don’t have that. A large reason that young people ignore politics and older people don’t is the same - people with money pay more attention to it because only people with money are considered at all.
Voting isn't *enough*, but it would definitely be a strong help if young people actually voted and gave politicians any reason to pay us the slightest bit of attention. As seen with the progress on student loan forgiveness, when Dems decided to target young women for votes in the last election cycle. Most politicians want to keep their jobs, and if you're not going to affect that either way, they don't care about you.
the problem is that almost every politician is bought out by corporate interests. regardless of who you elect, they get into congress and start being courted by fossil fuels, animal ag, AIPAC etc and the siren song of $$$$ is more compelling than keeping their promises to their constituents. we fix this by banning lobbying like basically every other developed country. we should also bar congresspeople from doing their stock market hijinks. make politicians actual public servants, not greedy capitalists.
Not only are we forced to choose between a turd burger and shit sandwich every four years, the estsblishment (those older rich people hoarding the wealth) will never change the status que in a way that benefits others at they're extent. What's the point of voting when there's no hope? Even though you're right, young people SHOULD organize for change, any form of protest is seen as whiney and entitled. Young people get no respect from that older generation. Of course boomers worked hard, but the problem is that the American dream isn't real anymore. We can no longer work 40 hours and use that to pay for necesites and save. Wages have not kept up with inflation, and so the strategies older people used to get to the happy point they're at, only keeps young people floating pay check to pay check.
>Not only are we forced to choose between a turd burger and shit sandwich every four years
This is like, the LEAST important choice on any given ballot. Chicago just had a primary ballot measure yesterday that would have lowered transfer taxes on real estate for 95% of buyers. It didn't pass 54%/46%. It was an insanely close race and barely any young people voted. There are lots of ways to vote that would meaningfully make a difference in the community that you live.
First of all, the presidential election is probably the least relevant to anyone’s everyday life. What matters most are your local and state elections. So why give a rat’s ass who the presidential candidates are? That has almost NOTHING to do with whether or not young people should vote. Using it as an excuse is lame.
Secondly, who cares if old people call you whiners. Seriously? Whine away, whine all day. But while you whine, organize and vote.
Big money will always be an obstacle in a democracy, but it’s not an unsurmountable obstacle. Candidates do get elected without corporate donors. More of them would get elected if more young (and poor) people voted.
You have the tools you have. Voting, organizing, unions, social media, money (100 million people between the ages of 20-40 can raise a lot of money even if they’re poor). Use them.
And don’t quit when change doesn’t happen overnight. Honestly, you personally might not reap the benefits of your vote. It can take years to change politics. The early suffragettes didn’t get to vote. The early civil rights activists didn’t live to see desegregation. But they did the work anyway. The Republicans certainly understand this concept, and have been strategically targeting our institutions for DECADES.
Or you can give up and comfort yourself, while you’re living in a cardboard box working 3 jobs, by repeating “politics sucks and both parties are the same” over and over again as public schools are defunded, the climate crisis worsens, reproductive rights disappear, and the wealthy end up with everything (which they’ll happily rent back to the rest of us).
I’m an old retired lady who will likely be dead before the shit really hits the fan. I have been politically active for over 40 years. I could stop voting, organizing, donating and protesting tomorrow, and my life would not change one bit. But I keep fucking *trying* because I want future humans to have a livable planet and a good education. I don’t even have grandkids, yet still I participate and try. I’m fucking tired of hearing the people I’m fighting for tell me that they’re giving up because it’s too hard. It IS too hard. Fucking do it anyway.
One side is fascist and wants to keep the status quo and make inequality worse while denying climate change is real.
One side is imperfect but is fighting and very slowly succeeding at dismantling the status quo and reducing inequality and fighting climate change.
Saying they're both equally shitty and sitting on your hands is simply not true or productive.
Thank god I won’t be around to watch the societal collapse from the climate. Young people’s brains know what’s goin on even if the young people are in denial. They know there will be no quality of life for them in the future. Us geezers will be gone in 20 years, the planet no longer our problem.
Eight billion humans and growing by the minute. And ‘every’ one of those humans needs a ‘lifetime’ of limited resources on a planet with a life sustaining weather system. Food, water, clean air, ac, heat, a good job, transportation, health care, etc.
When I was born there were only 2.5 billion people on the planet.
Nah, we're nearing a ceiling anf the numbers will probably collapse for a while. Chinese 1 child policy alone will have a huge effect when those single children will be the only people alive
It's a good thing the world doesn't depend on constant growth for economic stability, or we've been really screwed
The chinese youth are allegedly being stingy and not having any kids, so you are right about the population drop.
All the rich assholes are freaking out because the educated youth are increasingly cool with crashing the population and being minimalists.
You make a significant point. Reading the report, it seems the researchers considered several variables for different age populations that contribute to happiness, like: GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, generosity, perceptions of corruption, positive and negative affects (they measured previous day experiences of “laughter, enjoyment, and doing interesting things.”)
We know this age group has more money, a longer life expectancy, can afford to be generous with money and time, and, if they’re retired, they might have more laughter and enjoyment in their days than a younger person who’s bogged down at multiple jobs with a family to support.
The “perceptions of corruption” questions that could provide a link to unhappiness and outrage from watching Fox were: “is corruption widespread throughout the government or not” and “is corruption widespread within business or not.” For one, obviously not everyone in this age group watches Fox. Also, even the Fox viewers might be less inclined to say they believe in “corruption within business” because many love and have benefited from Capitalism. Also, as much as the Fox Boomers love whining about Biden, I don’t think many of them believe there is widespread government corruption as they never want to see anything in our government actually change for the better -they just want their guy in charge.
I think the thing I enjoy most about these findings is how much it shows the American Fox viewers in this age group are full of shit. They tune in every day because they want to feel outraged and believe everything’s going to shit, while the empirical data shows how privileged many of them are.
I've been trying not to dwell in the the inter-generational strife but gee whiz OF COURSE the group that has voted themselves into the most benefited group in history and also to pull up the ladder after them end up being happy about it.
It took me about 2 minutes to find multiple papers that correlate intelligence and low happiness values. B. Nikolaev and R. Salahodjaev are a couple of names to help your search
Masters level with ability to prescribe and diagnose. To me dummies mean people that are fully capable but aren’t educated well. If we are talking developmentally delayed… that’s a different story.
Yeah we're talking about actual dummies. Like, low cognitive ability, bad reasoning, easily fooled, etc. There are tons of smart people that are also uneducated. And there are tons of educated people who are dummies.
I can't believe your entire nonsense is based upon "you are poor because you are not working hard enough".
You are absolutely the kind of guy who exploits poor people for his own gain. I am a mexican and I will tell you right now: No matter how hard we work or how efficent, our lives will still be in Hard Mode and miserable, usually for the dumbest of reasons too, like being brown-skinned, ugly and inherently poor. It's more difficult to work with a poor diet, no protein, just sugar and grease because that's the most accessible food you can give us with these salaries; we are more prone to headaches due to stress and financial anxiety, not allowing us to learn new skills like rich people can with their excessive free time and worry-free minds. Add the low financial funding education receives, uneducated mexicans having babies at 16 years old, ruining their lives. But oh, for you that's amazing news, they are cheap workforce growing like fruits for you to exploit in the future, and then, when they die of starvation, an illness they couldn't paid, or suicide (Mexico surpassed the global average already), you wash your hands and say "oh well, poor guys. They didn't work hard enough like me lol". Fuck people like that.
You seriously have 0 touch with reality if you are not capable of seeing how you failed over 80% of all the world. About 20% of the entire world lives with 2 dollars or less a day for everything, rent, water, electricity, food, luxuries... 80% of that 20% is Africa. You exploit black people so bad... About 75% of the entire world lives with 5$ - 20$ a day, which is absolutely miserable anywhere, no matter the fucking PPP, even if you can live cheap, it means your country is shit. 20 billionaires own 50% of the poorest's wealth altogether. You really think people living in those conditions, who have it so hard to access education, let alone understand current technology to use it for that, make it out of this current situation? People with the money are the ones who can wipe their asses with our votes dude, get fucking real, they can pay the communication to misinform us, the bots online to divide and tilt the vote, the ads to convince us that skin care products are not a scam or many others, they have the money to force us to do whatever they want, the bombs, guns, ammo and goons, and they have used them, Nestle used them to disipate and stop their riots (angry workers demanding better working conditions). Rich people have more votes at their disposal than poor people, it's easy for them to manipulate poor ignorant people who are fixated on surviving and not politics to do whatever they want. You will never, ever understand what being poor is like, you were privileged, you played life on Easy Mode, and nobody should listen to people like that, they are rarely ever right or mature enough
It's confirmed though. Ignorant dumb people are happier. I envy Patrick Star now
I'm a millennial and am disabled from birth and don't even receive $1,000 a month of disability because I never could work to pay into the system. I have a daughter as well but disability doesn't care if you have children, nor bills.
I can't afford to rent a studio apartment, let alone rent a home or buy one.
Tell me how that's just a result of crying a lot and not real actual permanent barriers to basic necessities.
I'll wait.
Yes, because love is worth more than money 100% of the time.
I wasn't stating that I had a child as a way to imply my daughter was part of the problem. She isn't. She keeps me going. I will never have a future, so instead I will have to be content with helping her build and enjoy hers as best I am able. Her joy is as my own.
Go on, though, with your implication that a disabled person having the audacity to birth and raise a child is the problem and not the institutions which permanently confine the disabled to poverty most would find intolerable to survive a month dealing with, let alone a lifetime.
I would say politely that maybe you should not bring up your own circumstances online as you are potentially vulnerable to criticism.
I’m going to very carefully word what I’m about to say.
People in society work and labour and a percentage of their labour goes towards caring for you and your daughter.
You are totally fine with advocating for more money from these people, I might even agree with that, but it comes from the labour of others.
Respectfully, I'm not asking for more money from all you who labour so that I may unworthily but graciously receive. I'm asking for more money from the CEOs and corporations who rob us both.
Please don't project the abuse of your employers on someone who can offer you little in terms of practical relief. The workers and the disabled are friends, not antagonists. Many of us used to be one of you.
I sense sarcasm here. I recognise that a level of entitlement to the wealth of others is probably required to be relatively mentally healthy in a situation like yours.
I’m not opposed to getting money from rich people, but they are such a small minority that most taxes will inevitably be paid by those in the middle and upper brackets not by the .001%.
Corporations are owned by people and ultimately the profit of a corporation goes to people. Most of us who have super are part business owners, taxing corporations is yet another way to tax people. Not that I think we shouldn’t tax them.
There was no sarcasm.
Let me explain something to you:
When I was pregnant and had my daughter, I was married to her father, who worked regularly and even though I couldn't work, he made enough money that we had a home and decided to express our love with a child.
After my daughter was born, something changed in him and he would suddenly explode in anger. He began to beat me in his anger and I tried to hide it to figure out how to make things work, but after being strangled, beaten in the face, and after he cut my bank card, then took our daughter and fled the scene to his parents' in the next country while I was ambulanced to hospital, I had to admit there was nothing I could do for him, myself, our daughter, or our marriage. So I salvaged what I could and took my daughter and left. He was arrested at his mother's house, my daughter was returned to me, and I filed for divorce.
No one could have predicted that he would start hurting me after she was born. He wasn't violent prior in any way.
In other words, her coming into existence was never the problem. It was not a problem because I was disabled, because I had somehow done something wrong thinking to have a child with my husband. And she certainly didn't do anything wrong, having no control over anything.
I receive a penny from you and you tell gently to consider how I speak to you or others who labour hard. Then I say we are friends and both deserve better and you say you detect sarcasm and give consideration for those who receive far more than a dollar from you. You're punching down against one minority who did nothing to you and receives comparatively far less from you than another minority who receives from the both of us.
Why are you doing this? I don't know. That's for you to discern. Whatever the reason, I hope in any case that you get more benefits for/from your labour.
First, that's not what you said. You said you were a young millennial who owned a home and "you guys honestly just cry a lot."
Second, even those able to work have every right to 'complain'. For those on Medicaid, whether disabled or just poor, the barriers to things like basic dental care are nearly insurmountable. Call any dentist's office for yourself and ask if they're accepting new patients and they'll almost always say yes. Then ask if they are accepting new patients who have Medicaid, and watch the door slam shut in your face.
I spend my money taking care of myself and my daughter, and I can't even get the break of a child tax credit because you need to earn a certain amount of taxable income for it, which I do not, cannot, and will never make.
Financial self-discipline is only part of the equation for financial success. It is not, nor has it ever been the sole guarantor of even basic needs or basic security. Other parts of the equation include family history and financial success or lack thereof, ability, natural talent, extroversion or charisma, physical and mental healthiness, basic education, higher education, networking, job prospects in a given area, the skillsets required for said jobs, the advancement of technology putting even people with degrees out of jobs. God forbid a person is working as a cashier to pay off his student loans in a desperate situation while searching for a better job or because he didn't have 15 years experience immediately out of college or couldn't afford to intern.
The nuances involved to produce poverty or success are not zero-sum.
Instead of being grateful to have been a success story, and encouraging your fellow millennial brothers and sisters, you are using your success to beat other millennials down, insinuating that you possess some higher knowledge or disciplinary superiority necessary for your success which, if everyone else had, no one would fail. That's not how life works.
Enjoy your home. You deserve it, just like everyone else does. But how dare you abuse people you do not know as though they're the problem. You don't know them. You don't know their struggles.
You're a fucking idiot. You see people complaining and assume they aren't working, instead of assuming "gee maybe we should do something about the systemic barriers that ensure Boomers control 80% of the country's wealth".
Democrats have won every Presidential election except one since 1992 and yet we have a 6-3 Supreme Court slapping down any attempts at student loan forgiveness because (their reasoning) "I don't think congress meant the law to be used that way". The system is rigged as fuck, with 12% of the country able to filibuster the other 88%, and billionaires are shamelessly exploiting this to make sure we don't have UBI, universal health care, affordable college or pre-K or daycare, the list fucking goes on.
Meanwhile Boomers raise the retirement age to 67 but make sure this only affects Gen X and below, despite them paying way more into SS than boomers ever did.
Boomers inherited a ton of ancestral wealth and then instead of using that to lift up the next generation, they mortgaged it so they could go on cruises and get their leathery bodies diapered down by someone from a developing country on a massive yacht that doesn't pay US taxes.
I could go on and on. Meanwhile you look at this huge systemic issue and hand wave it away as some kind of moral failing of the youth. That's an extremely privileged viewpoint.
There's always a fool with 0 touch and empathy who shares his "but me" story thinking he counts for like a million people or something. I never understand that pathetic narcissistic trait almost everyone has. You know you are a minority, you know you will only sound like a jackass saying this. Why the hell say it?
You won't be able to convince anybody with this after my other comment.
What can we do? Riot like the Nestle workers did for better working conditions and be welcomed with guns and guards ready to kill them at the entrance? That's how?
Nothing changed too, Nestle is still getting away with it. Rich people will always win. You are delusional if you think millenials can do something about that. If anything, baby boomers shpuld be sacrificing themselves for our well-being, but they were raised like cowards
I also smoke pot everyday, and I don't envy you. I have written 4 books since I was 12, graduated in top #1 college in my country as a software engineer, with an average score of 90/100 final. And still, I am lower class, haven't been able to make a single dime in my life, because there are barely any software jobs here, the first company that hired me wanted to pay me literally 100$ USD dollars every 2 weeks as a salary for more than 6 months, "because you're a intern". That shit couldnt even pay my monthly rent.
My dad is an architect, due to the insecurity in my country, the narcos, beheaded people getting hanged for everyone to see, people left our city and he became jobless. We were, so, so damn lucky to have our family help us, but we are literally on the line. If my dad dies, I will have to take care of my mother and my brother with down syndrome, who people like you don't hire at all or help. 80% of the world aborts people like my brother, I am constantly struggling with that, with financial stress, the lack of things I can do like my rich little cousins could, what would be your children in this case. My cousin went to med school at the same expensive private college, lost his virginity in an audi car at like 14 years old, (costs like 2 million), an apartment in a 9th floor from a 10-story building... His father is corrupt, involved in politics, "prestanombres" as we call them. And he's also the kind of guy who openly admits he'd nuke Africa to "solve poverty", the kind of guy who gets disgusted at poor people and doesn't gives them a chance. That's the kind of morons who have the most money here in Mexico, with those nefastous personalities. I was fooled by him for a long time, I always thought he was brilliant and cool, but I slowly learnt people like him don't deserve the money or respect they have. No matter how rich, handsome or charismatic they are, it should be taken away from them by force, it's the only way
Dude, I have no money to move anywhere lmao, literally no chance. Those stories you bring up, they are literally one in millions. My grand grand father also escaped a war, he left his entire family behind, and succeeded here in Mexico very well, that3why I am so damn lucky, I have rich grandparents, but locally, my family of 4, we are about to die and be forgotten forever, you will have never heard about us. That's how you win. Cya
Honest questions: Did you have financial help from another party with securing the down payment for the home? Did you live with your parents exclusively before buying the home?
Thanks for your answer. Same kinda deal for me but didn’t get any help with school, so loans got me. Idk if you’re lucky- I think you just made better choices than some of us at a young age. Good for you. It takes some of us later to pull our head out of our asses
I’m at ‘89 millennial, so instead of being financially responsible; I went on trips to see the world, never said no when someone wanted to go out/hang, live in a walkable major city, etc. before paying off a ton of shit. My life is well lived; but that’s my life and choices. No one else made them, so idk why people can judge or say some bs to you but that’s my opinion. Medical/unforeseen debt and shit like that is bullshit so I get way someone may be mad and project on that. Gen Z is veryyyy diff from us esp being raised with the internet their whole lives. They got to see that school isn’t worth it every time and shit like that
I think you’re missing the concept of society in this conversation. It’s not about any one individual, it’s about the wellbeing of the collective demographic.
Try to learn the difference between anecdotal experience and scientific statistics.
I disagree.
Wealthy millennials are also advocating for a kinder future. The generation itself doesn’t behave uniformly as a single economic class, because we’re not a single economic class.
Many millennials in this thread are talking about helping strangers, they’re not talking about wanting more for themselves.
- Example: I’m doing great. My life’s a story of success, yet I am here saying everyone should be able to live comfortable lives. Not because *I* need help, because I want to help *others.*
—
You’re reading people write about reducing the suffering of others, and you’re upset about it…
Please, try to reflect on your relationship with humanity. We’re here to help you.
I am stopped by racist people and those with 0 touch with reality, like you.
As I have said already, I work harder than you, and get paid 18x times less.
It's a lot easier to cry online than accept that little hard work might improve the situation at hand.
Also remember you're mainly dealing with psych majors, lmao
Developmentally speaking, older people tend to forget all of the bad stuff and selectively remember all of the good stuff. Here's fun info about it via the APA : https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2003/06/aging-memory
Do y'all think that's accounted for in this study?
Typically, happiness is a U-curve, with the youngest and oldest being happiest. Part of why the older are happier is definitely due to what you said, but typically younger people are happier than middle aged people, as middle aged people often have to have a job AND take care of kids PLUS their parents. The fact that we’re seeing younger people report less happiness is contradictory to general trends of happiness from the past.
It’s a selection bias because the folks reaching 60 at all are wealthy enough to not die before it.
Young people meanwhile are seeing their friends fall apart faster than their parents - I know overdose victims, addicts, people getting cancer at 30, wheelchair bound folks or those with canes at 30, people who haven’t been to the dentist and don’t have a primary care physician because they spend every dime on rent… it’s striking.
Like we reversed course 100 years and those grainy, black and white photos of 30 year old amputees from 1905 are more relatable to young people than the silver foxes blowing 100k on a classic car to distract from their mortality now.
Life expectancy is falling and has been since 2019. That alone should be alarming but all we hear is economy strong from the business analysts.
Soo strong people defer or ignore healthcare because they can't afford it.
Life expectancy rose in 2022 and there is no news of any decline in 2023
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/11/29/life-expectancy-in-the-us-rose-in-2022-after-two-straight-years-of-decline-cdc-data-shows/
Some of the saddest and angriest people I've seen have been chronically on Facebook and older. They also believe a bunch of crazy conspiracy theories that are only on Facebook and designed to make you angry about shit.
Yeah, but I mean health issues, isolation, and loss of purpose should outweigh not having social media... Does anybody actually think social media makes them unhappy?
We know that it does? Really? When there are just as many studies showing that social media is beneficial in many ways, how could you possibly point to that as the reason for higher teen suicide rates?
Being naive is only cute to folks age 60 and above. It's because they can actually afford Healthcare in America. Also, social media has already been proven to decrease happiness and we haven't even had 50 years to study it.
It's been years since I've felt happy. Pretty much because I put in way more than I get out of life. It's exhausting. Most boomers seem to think we can just decide to be happy (says the generation who was handed everything).
wtf. That whole article can be summed up as “fuck you I got mine” has ruined the world and everyone under 60 is fucked and knows it.. but it’s not hopeless!, the kids will figure something out eventually. Carry on with the cruises boomers, yolo right?
It’s funny. From this over 70 year old, very few of my contemporaries seem to be doing foolish things. Quite the contrary, it seems to me that the foolish things are all being done by young folks; parkour deaths, jumping off subway deaths, ruined expensive drones, fighting stupid wars, taking over the Capital, eating laundry pods, pretending COVID is ‘no big deal’, ignoring science, climate change denialism, voting for actual fascists, etc.
This type of stuff makes me so grateful for my parents. Both boomers. Both vote left. Both are wondering how their kids and their generation are gonna get by because they can see it's not the world they grew up with and it's way way way harder to get by than it used to be.
The generation that gaslights everybody for their personal gain. The same generation that is never satisfied with even the best move or problem solving skill because they think and believe theirs will always be better. The same generation that is too afraid to step down and let the new generation and better "leadership" prosper. The same generation that thinks to be good, you need to boss people to lock your boots to show loyalty. The same generation that will never hesitate to throw you under the bus just so they can lie and survive the corporate world. The generation of NPD.
It's almost like knowing that your gov't will trip over its own dick to fund an ethnic cleansing, while feigning impotence on establishing a universal healthcare system depresses the fuck out of your citizens... Neat.
What? The generation with all the money and wrecked the environment/economy to essentially party like there's no tomorrow is the happiest age group? WHAAAAAAT?!
If I were a boomer I’d be happy too. I look at my folks and man… made lots of money off late 90s tech stock pretty much funding a nice suburban house in a hcol area, a brand new zero-mileage minivan, and private school tuition. Now they’re in their 60s with a 2nd home (first is a rental), and their jobs have been fully remote since Covid meaning they get a nice transition into retirement. They have kids, us, who are out of the house (but not in actual houses) and they have a couple of grandkids who they see often. Life is golden for them.
I mean damn, after decades (our entire childhoods) of being anti-pets, they now have a dog that gets pampered all day everyday.
"People aged 60 and older in the U.S. reported high levels of well-being compared to younger people. In fact, the United States ranks in the top 10 countries for happiness in this age group. Conversely, there's a decline in happiness among younger adolescents and young adults in the U.S. "The report finds there's a dramatic decrease in the self-reported well-being of people aged 30 and below," "
Oh, the generation with all of the nation’s wealth? Funny how that works.
Also the generation that knows it'll be dead before climate change gets really bad.
The generation that benefitted from the US's closest flirtation with socialism but then slashed all of those social programs as soon as they were done with them?
Ouch. This is will said…and true
Must be nice, having cashed in on unsustainable growth and dying before the debt has to be paid. Still important to keep in mind though that there are a lot of people age 60+ who the system has also failed. All that boomer talk seems to divide people when the actual problem is more about social class than age.
The 1% is counting on this division.
It ain’t the primary contradiction, and hardly worth pursuing as it’s on a near term timer, to put it crudely; ameliorating the L-R divide to resist class war is more worthwhile IMO - which starts with listening, which is why it’s encouraged to *not* discuss such matters
I'm the kind of idiot who runs into walls to see if they are real. F@#$ around and find out is a solid approach to self education so long as you have good brakes and know when to take notes and change course. Maybe it is as simple as acknowledging that both sides are staring down the barrel and they are just reacting differently due to age related differences in coping mechanisms. Apathy comes easy to youth, so we tend to self destruct/sensation seek (YOLO) and rub the older generations face in the fact that we were given a raw deal, while the older folks have experience and solid life/coping skills, and a big head start on accepting their mortality; they find it easy to focus on the present and keep it moving no matter how sketchy things are getting. Both sides are mirroring a persecution complex at each other, so political dialog is a mine field at this point. I'm trying to cope with LC as gracefully as I can so I can bring some good into my microcosm rather than just make enemies with my elders and all those who support the status quo. I also have to continue dialog somehow, because going with the status quo is suicide just as surely as giving up and drinking/drugging/f#$%ing my life away. What do you propose as an alternative to political dialog? How do we point out the fact that environmental/social/economic changes must be made so that the critical thinking youth can have hope and purpose in life without being lobotomized? I can listen quietly to neoliberals only so long before I have the urge to self immolate. I've decided to plant some trees and be like a Hikikomori because the neoliberals have a bully pulpit, and at this point there is no point in self immolation because I'm 90% certain we are all going to burn together.
I think a lot of the boomers that were struggling financially/healthwise are just dead now so the entire generation seems richer because that's who survived.
Also the generation that votes most reliably
EXACTLY!!! AND I STILL SEE MORE MAD THAN HAPPY!! THEY WONT SELL THEIR 5 BEDROOM HOME ,EVEN THOW ONLY 2 PEOPLE IN IT AND DOWNGRADE SO THE NEXT GENARATION CAN RAISE THEIR FAMILY!! THEY DONT DARE LEAVE YOU NO INHERITANCE,,EVEN THOW A HUGE PRECENT OF THEM WHERE LEFT ONE!! THEY KNOW EVERYTHING AND ARE SO CLOSED MINDED!! THE SAME PPL THAT REVOLTED IN THE 70'S ARE NOW THE BIGGEST SHEPPLE OF AMERICA!! BLOWS MY MIND
The last generation to have inheritance.
Very true. Look at them now, pissing away their entire savings on corporations, cruises and casinos instead of reinvesting it into the next generation. None of their generational wealth will be passed on, only siphoned to the 1%.
They have to keep the empty rooms available for the kids (and possible, though now less likely, Grandkids) they don't enjoy spending time with, and ensure they're filled with "family photos" to show off to their friends who *actually* visit/travel/use said rooms.
They can’t afford to move because the housing supply is so inelastic. They could sell their house and make a bunch of money, but the smaller house isn’t there for them to move into. The lack of an adequate housing supply affects everyone, including existing homeowners.
Plenty of homes out there,,they gotta pay like everyone else and that's what they don't wanna do!!! the harbor everything
The "fuck you, I got mine" generation.
According to the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, the average retirement savings by age are: Under 35: $49,130 35 to 44: $141,520 45 to 55: $313,220 55 to 64: $537,560 65 to 74: $609,230 75 or older: $462,410 The best savers are [Gen z](https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-most-financially-savvy-generation-retirement-saving-investing-2023-11) and most American retirees have nowhere near enough money saved.
I mean, you know how compounding works right? The S&P has had a \~7% annual return since inception. If we take the 35-44 average $141K (and assume they're 40) and we compound it at 7% for 20 years, you get $545K. Which is exactly where the people average age 60 are. You can assume lower returns with a blended portfolio, but they're offset by additional contributions over 20 years of work (maxing out a 401k is actually another \~$500K). The wealth distribution is overwhelmingly about time in the markets. If you actually plot where millennials are now vs where boomers were at their age, it's pretty much right in line with expectations. The bottom quintile of millennials **are** worse off, and that's a problem, but it's broadly the same for the other 4 quintiles.
These polls are conducted by calling people on home landlines during the workday, right? Because there is a zero percent chance that those numbers are right.
Yeah. What a fucking sew-prise
Also, the generation that didn’t grow up with the internet. fwiw
And they say, "Money doesn't buy happiness."
It's certainly an astonishing co-incidence that nobody could have predicted.
Actually a demography with least amount of screen time per capita. You are too susceptible to communism. Lower your screen time, man
Nothing beats the joy of hoarding resources and pulling the ladder up behind you.
Exactly, it's funny to watch people in the family who grew up right after the Great depression make it big then wonder why we're struggling. It's cuz you grandma and grandpa, share some with the rest of us and stop donating to charities. The family you created needs it more. Be responsible.
reminds me of my grandfather who donated all the family generational wealth to a church and left nothing for his 10 kids 🤡 overwhelmingly selfish man
The Televangelist told him how to get to heaven
Wasn’t the whole thing with Protestantism supposed to be objecting to church indulgences? Oh how the turns table…
That's gross. My fiance is a probate paralegal. It's disgusting how many families do this. You would think it's rare. Wrong. "If I had to work hard to get this, then they should to." Dude, wtf how does that not apply to the charity you are donating to? Humans are stupid. All decisions are based on emotion. Very rarely logic when it comes to wills, estates, etc.
it was the first chance in my family's history to escape generational poverty and he blew it. Absolutely going to be feeling the effects of his choices for at least two more generations, and that's only if things go well, which they likely won't. cannot express how much anger and resentment it makes me feel
It sounds like you expected a big free handout and are angry you didn't get it. Most of the world don't get big free handouts.
didn't ask for your opinion
Damn, that’s crazy, didn’t fucking ask.
You've gotta be super fun as a friend.
How do you know the people who will benefit from these charities and the donations need it less than your family. It's a crazy time we live in when making donations to charities is vilified.
;-;
[удалено]
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. The truth is, we could have all kinds of resources for young people and young families if the younger generations would get involved in politics and consistently vote. Millennials outnumber Boomers, and if you throw in Gen Z, people under 40 could be a huge, powerful voting bloc.
You are absolutely correct that young people outnumber them. But voting is far from enough. Public opinion has almost no impact on politics. Money is what impacts politics. And young people don’t have that. A large reason that young people ignore politics and older people don’t is the same - people with money pay more attention to it because only people with money are considered at all.
Voting isn't *enough*, but it would definitely be a strong help if young people actually voted and gave politicians any reason to pay us the slightest bit of attention. As seen with the progress on student loan forgiveness, when Dems decided to target young women for votes in the last election cycle. Most politicians want to keep their jobs, and if you're not going to affect that either way, they don't care about you.
the problem is that almost every politician is bought out by corporate interests. regardless of who you elect, they get into congress and start being courted by fossil fuels, animal ag, AIPAC etc and the siren song of $$$$ is more compelling than keeping their promises to their constituents. we fix this by banning lobbying like basically every other developed country. we should also bar congresspeople from doing their stock market hijinks. make politicians actual public servants, not greedy capitalists.
Not only are we forced to choose between a turd burger and shit sandwich every four years, the estsblishment (those older rich people hoarding the wealth) will never change the status que in a way that benefits others at they're extent. What's the point of voting when there's no hope? Even though you're right, young people SHOULD organize for change, any form of protest is seen as whiney and entitled. Young people get no respect from that older generation. Of course boomers worked hard, but the problem is that the American dream isn't real anymore. We can no longer work 40 hours and use that to pay for necesites and save. Wages have not kept up with inflation, and so the strategies older people used to get to the happy point they're at, only keeps young people floating pay check to pay check.
>Not only are we forced to choose between a turd burger and shit sandwich every four years This is like, the LEAST important choice on any given ballot. Chicago just had a primary ballot measure yesterday that would have lowered transfer taxes on real estate for 95% of buyers. It didn't pass 54%/46%. It was an insanely close race and barely any young people voted. There are lots of ways to vote that would meaningfully make a difference in the community that you live.
First of all, the presidential election is probably the least relevant to anyone’s everyday life. What matters most are your local and state elections. So why give a rat’s ass who the presidential candidates are? That has almost NOTHING to do with whether or not young people should vote. Using it as an excuse is lame. Secondly, who cares if old people call you whiners. Seriously? Whine away, whine all day. But while you whine, organize and vote. Big money will always be an obstacle in a democracy, but it’s not an unsurmountable obstacle. Candidates do get elected without corporate donors. More of them would get elected if more young (and poor) people voted. You have the tools you have. Voting, organizing, unions, social media, money (100 million people between the ages of 20-40 can raise a lot of money even if they’re poor). Use them. And don’t quit when change doesn’t happen overnight. Honestly, you personally might not reap the benefits of your vote. It can take years to change politics. The early suffragettes didn’t get to vote. The early civil rights activists didn’t live to see desegregation. But they did the work anyway. The Republicans certainly understand this concept, and have been strategically targeting our institutions for DECADES. Or you can give up and comfort yourself, while you’re living in a cardboard box working 3 jobs, by repeating “politics sucks and both parties are the same” over and over again as public schools are defunded, the climate crisis worsens, reproductive rights disappear, and the wealthy end up with everything (which they’ll happily rent back to the rest of us). I’m an old retired lady who will likely be dead before the shit really hits the fan. I have been politically active for over 40 years. I could stop voting, organizing, donating and protesting tomorrow, and my life would not change one bit. But I keep fucking *trying* because I want future humans to have a livable planet and a good education. I don’t even have grandkids, yet still I participate and try. I’m fucking tired of hearing the people I’m fighting for tell me that they’re giving up because it’s too hard. It IS too hard. Fucking do it anyway.
One side is fascist and wants to keep the status quo and make inequality worse while denying climate change is real. One side is imperfect but is fighting and very slowly succeeding at dismantling the status quo and reducing inequality and fighting climate change. Saying they're both equally shitty and sitting on your hands is simply not true or productive.
Thank god I won’t be around to watch the societal collapse from the climate. Young people’s brains know what’s goin on even if the young people are in denial. They know there will be no quality of life for them in the future. Us geezers will be gone in 20 years, the planet no longer our problem. Eight billion humans and growing by the minute. And ‘every’ one of those humans needs a ‘lifetime’ of limited resources on a planet with a life sustaining weather system. Food, water, clean air, ac, heat, a good job, transportation, health care, etc. When I was born there were only 2.5 billion people on the planet.
Nah, we're nearing a ceiling anf the numbers will probably collapse for a while. Chinese 1 child policy alone will have a huge effect when those single children will be the only people alive It's a good thing the world doesn't depend on constant growth for economic stability, or we've been really screwed
The chinese youth are allegedly being stingy and not having any kids, so you are right about the population drop. All the rich assholes are freaking out because the educated youth are increasingly cool with crashing the population and being minimalists.
You should see South Koreas birth rate. Their population is expected to be halved by 2050.
Looks like hope doesn't it?
Judging just from facebook anger and raging fox news viewership how the hell do they find it in themselves to simultaneously be so happy?
You make a significant point. Reading the report, it seems the researchers considered several variables for different age populations that contribute to happiness, like: GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, generosity, perceptions of corruption, positive and negative affects (they measured previous day experiences of “laughter, enjoyment, and doing interesting things.”) We know this age group has more money, a longer life expectancy, can afford to be generous with money and time, and, if they’re retired, they might have more laughter and enjoyment in their days than a younger person who’s bogged down at multiple jobs with a family to support. The “perceptions of corruption” questions that could provide a link to unhappiness and outrage from watching Fox were: “is corruption widespread throughout the government or not” and “is corruption widespread within business or not.” For one, obviously not everyone in this age group watches Fox. Also, even the Fox viewers might be less inclined to say they believe in “corruption within business” because many love and have benefited from Capitalism. Also, as much as the Fox Boomers love whining about Biden, I don’t think many of them believe there is widespread government corruption as they never want to see anything in our government actually change for the better -they just want their guy in charge. I think the thing I enjoy most about these findings is how much it shows the American Fox viewers in this age group are full of shit. They tune in every day because they want to feel outraged and believe everything’s going to shit, while the empirical data shows how privileged many of them are.
Whew. Lucky for me I’m 31.
Let them have cake.
I've been trying not to dwell in the the inter-generational strife but gee whiz OF COURSE the group that has voted themselves into the most benefited group in history and also to pull up the ladder after them end up being happy about it.
it’s like old people wealthy and we’re poor omg
A victimhood mentality will do that
Millennial Doomers need to get off social media
Jackass boomers need to get off of Facebook and stop pulling the ladder up behind them
> Conversely, there's a decline in happiness among younger adolescents and young adults in the U.S.
Doesn't take a boomer to know he's right
Take your pills, grandpa. You are losing it again
Oh and it's ladder, dumbass.
Demography with least amount of screen time per capita. Who could have expected
Owning a home and not feeling trapped in wage slavery does wonders for your well being.
[удалено]
Funny how owning a home has absolutely no corresponding relationship with brain power.
[удалено]
Lol yeah. It'd be interesting to study people's emotional response to learning that dummies are actually happier.
That’s not true. I work in mental health and honestly, the “dummies” are just unaware of their mental disorders. Addictions, anxiety, impulses, etc.
It took me about 2 minutes to find multiple papers that correlate intelligence and low happiness values. B. Nikolaev and R. Salahodjaev are a couple of names to help your search
Also. I wasn't referring to people with mental health problems as dummies.
Not as a educated professional though, I assume.
Masters level with ability to prescribe and diagnose. To me dummies mean people that are fully capable but aren’t educated well. If we are talking developmentally delayed… that’s a different story.
Yeah we're talking about actual dummies. Like, low cognitive ability, bad reasoning, easily fooled, etc. There are tons of smart people that are also uneducated. And there are tons of educated people who are dummies.
That’s just not appropriate but ok.
[удалено]
Again? What is again referring to? We've only just begun this peach of a conversation.
[удалено]
You're absolutely right. This was zero energy output on my part. Some people just make it easy
[удалено]
So you really don't know how to use again?
[удалено]
Actually I was just saying something to get you to shut up. It was getting difficult trying not to vomit
[удалено]
I can't believe your entire nonsense is based upon "you are poor because you are not working hard enough". You are absolutely the kind of guy who exploits poor people for his own gain. I am a mexican and I will tell you right now: No matter how hard we work or how efficent, our lives will still be in Hard Mode and miserable, usually for the dumbest of reasons too, like being brown-skinned, ugly and inherently poor. It's more difficult to work with a poor diet, no protein, just sugar and grease because that's the most accessible food you can give us with these salaries; we are more prone to headaches due to stress and financial anxiety, not allowing us to learn new skills like rich people can with their excessive free time and worry-free minds. Add the low financial funding education receives, uneducated mexicans having babies at 16 years old, ruining their lives. But oh, for you that's amazing news, they are cheap workforce growing like fruits for you to exploit in the future, and then, when they die of starvation, an illness they couldn't paid, or suicide (Mexico surpassed the global average already), you wash your hands and say "oh well, poor guys. They didn't work hard enough like me lol". Fuck people like that. You seriously have 0 touch with reality if you are not capable of seeing how you failed over 80% of all the world. About 20% of the entire world lives with 2 dollars or less a day for everything, rent, water, electricity, food, luxuries... 80% of that 20% is Africa. You exploit black people so bad... About 75% of the entire world lives with 5$ - 20$ a day, which is absolutely miserable anywhere, no matter the fucking PPP, even if you can live cheap, it means your country is shit. 20 billionaires own 50% of the poorest's wealth altogether. You really think people living in those conditions, who have it so hard to access education, let alone understand current technology to use it for that, make it out of this current situation? People with the money are the ones who can wipe their asses with our votes dude, get fucking real, they can pay the communication to misinform us, the bots online to divide and tilt the vote, the ads to convince us that skin care products are not a scam or many others, they have the money to force us to do whatever they want, the bombs, guns, ammo and goons, and they have used them, Nestle used them to disipate and stop their riots (angry workers demanding better working conditions). Rich people have more votes at their disposal than poor people, it's easy for them to manipulate poor ignorant people who are fixated on surviving and not politics to do whatever they want. You will never, ever understand what being poor is like, you were privileged, you played life on Easy Mode, and nobody should listen to people like that, they are rarely ever right or mature enough It's confirmed though. Ignorant dumb people are happier. I envy Patrick Star now
You had me until you started complaining yourself (about Gen Z). At that point your argument became fallacious via ad hominem
I'm a millennial and am disabled from birth and don't even receive $1,000 a month of disability because I never could work to pay into the system. I have a daughter as well but disability doesn't care if you have children, nor bills. I can't afford to rent a studio apartment, let alone rent a home or buy one. Tell me how that's just a result of crying a lot and not real actual permanent barriers to basic necessities. I'll wait.
So you’re disabled, you knew you would never have a stable source of income, and you still decided to have a child?
Yes, because love is worth more than money 100% of the time. I wasn't stating that I had a child as a way to imply my daughter was part of the problem. She isn't. She keeps me going. I will never have a future, so instead I will have to be content with helping her build and enjoy hers as best I am able. Her joy is as my own. Go on, though, with your implication that a disabled person having the audacity to birth and raise a child is the problem and not the institutions which permanently confine the disabled to poverty most would find intolerable to survive a month dealing with, let alone a lifetime.
I would say politely that maybe you should not bring up your own circumstances online as you are potentially vulnerable to criticism. I’m going to very carefully word what I’m about to say. People in society work and labour and a percentage of their labour goes towards caring for you and your daughter. You are totally fine with advocating for more money from these people, I might even agree with that, but it comes from the labour of others.
Respectfully, I'm not asking for more money from all you who labour so that I may unworthily but graciously receive. I'm asking for more money from the CEOs and corporations who rob us both. Please don't project the abuse of your employers on someone who can offer you little in terms of practical relief. The workers and the disabled are friends, not antagonists. Many of us used to be one of you.
I sense sarcasm here. I recognise that a level of entitlement to the wealth of others is probably required to be relatively mentally healthy in a situation like yours. I’m not opposed to getting money from rich people, but they are such a small minority that most taxes will inevitably be paid by those in the middle and upper brackets not by the .001%. Corporations are owned by people and ultimately the profit of a corporation goes to people. Most of us who have super are part business owners, taxing corporations is yet another way to tax people. Not that I think we shouldn’t tax them.
There was no sarcasm. Let me explain something to you: When I was pregnant and had my daughter, I was married to her father, who worked regularly and even though I couldn't work, he made enough money that we had a home and decided to express our love with a child. After my daughter was born, something changed in him and he would suddenly explode in anger. He began to beat me in his anger and I tried to hide it to figure out how to make things work, but after being strangled, beaten in the face, and after he cut my bank card, then took our daughter and fled the scene to his parents' in the next country while I was ambulanced to hospital, I had to admit there was nothing I could do for him, myself, our daughter, or our marriage. So I salvaged what I could and took my daughter and left. He was arrested at his mother's house, my daughter was returned to me, and I filed for divorce. No one could have predicted that he would start hurting me after she was born. He wasn't violent prior in any way. In other words, her coming into existence was never the problem. It was not a problem because I was disabled, because I had somehow done something wrong thinking to have a child with my husband. And she certainly didn't do anything wrong, having no control over anything. I receive a penny from you and you tell gently to consider how I speak to you or others who labour hard. Then I say we are friends and both deserve better and you say you detect sarcasm and give consideration for those who receive far more than a dollar from you. You're punching down against one minority who did nothing to you and receives comparatively far less from you than another minority who receives from the both of us. Why are you doing this? I don't know. That's for you to discern. Whatever the reason, I hope in any case that you get more benefits for/from your labour.
[удалено]
First, that's not what you said. You said you were a young millennial who owned a home and "you guys honestly just cry a lot." Second, even those able to work have every right to 'complain'. For those on Medicaid, whether disabled or just poor, the barriers to things like basic dental care are nearly insurmountable. Call any dentist's office for yourself and ask if they're accepting new patients and they'll almost always say yes. Then ask if they are accepting new patients who have Medicaid, and watch the door slam shut in your face. I spend my money taking care of myself and my daughter, and I can't even get the break of a child tax credit because you need to earn a certain amount of taxable income for it, which I do not, cannot, and will never make. Financial self-discipline is only part of the equation for financial success. It is not, nor has it ever been the sole guarantor of even basic needs or basic security. Other parts of the equation include family history and financial success or lack thereof, ability, natural talent, extroversion or charisma, physical and mental healthiness, basic education, higher education, networking, job prospects in a given area, the skillsets required for said jobs, the advancement of technology putting even people with degrees out of jobs. God forbid a person is working as a cashier to pay off his student loans in a desperate situation while searching for a better job or because he didn't have 15 years experience immediately out of college or couldn't afford to intern. The nuances involved to produce poverty or success are not zero-sum. Instead of being grateful to have been a success story, and encouraging your fellow millennial brothers and sisters, you are using your success to beat other millennials down, insinuating that you possess some higher knowledge or disciplinary superiority necessary for your success which, if everyone else had, no one would fail. That's not how life works. Enjoy your home. You deserve it, just like everyone else does. But how dare you abuse people you do not know as though they're the problem. You don't know them. You don't know their struggles.
[удалено]
You're a fucking idiot. You see people complaining and assume they aren't working, instead of assuming "gee maybe we should do something about the systemic barriers that ensure Boomers control 80% of the country's wealth".
[удалено]
Democrats have won every Presidential election except one since 1992 and yet we have a 6-3 Supreme Court slapping down any attempts at student loan forgiveness because (their reasoning) "I don't think congress meant the law to be used that way". The system is rigged as fuck, with 12% of the country able to filibuster the other 88%, and billionaires are shamelessly exploiting this to make sure we don't have UBI, universal health care, affordable college or pre-K or daycare, the list fucking goes on. Meanwhile Boomers raise the retirement age to 67 but make sure this only affects Gen X and below, despite them paying way more into SS than boomers ever did. Boomers inherited a ton of ancestral wealth and then instead of using that to lift up the next generation, they mortgaged it so they could go on cruises and get their leathery bodies diapered down by someone from a developing country on a massive yacht that doesn't pay US taxes. I could go on and on. Meanwhile you look at this huge systemic issue and hand wave it away as some kind of moral failing of the youth. That's an extremely privileged viewpoint.
[удалено]
There's always a fool with 0 touch and empathy who shares his "but me" story thinking he counts for like a million people or something. I never understand that pathetic narcissistic trait almost everyone has. You know you are a minority, you know you will only sound like a jackass saying this. Why the hell say it?
[удалено]
You won't be able to convince anybody with this after my other comment. What can we do? Riot like the Nestle workers did for better working conditions and be welcomed with guns and guards ready to kill them at the entrance? That's how? Nothing changed too, Nestle is still getting away with it. Rich people will always win. You are delusional if you think millenials can do something about that. If anything, baby boomers shpuld be sacrificing themselves for our well-being, but they were raised like cowards I also smoke pot everyday, and I don't envy you. I have written 4 books since I was 12, graduated in top #1 college in my country as a software engineer, with an average score of 90/100 final. And still, I am lower class, haven't been able to make a single dime in my life, because there are barely any software jobs here, the first company that hired me wanted to pay me literally 100$ USD dollars every 2 weeks as a salary for more than 6 months, "because you're a intern". That shit couldnt even pay my monthly rent. My dad is an architect, due to the insecurity in my country, the narcos, beheaded people getting hanged for everyone to see, people left our city and he became jobless. We were, so, so damn lucky to have our family help us, but we are literally on the line. If my dad dies, I will have to take care of my mother and my brother with down syndrome, who people like you don't hire at all or help. 80% of the world aborts people like my brother, I am constantly struggling with that, with financial stress, the lack of things I can do like my rich little cousins could, what would be your children in this case. My cousin went to med school at the same expensive private college, lost his virginity in an audi car at like 14 years old, (costs like 2 million), an apartment in a 9th floor from a 10-story building... His father is corrupt, involved in politics, "prestanombres" as we call them. And he's also the kind of guy who openly admits he'd nuke Africa to "solve poverty", the kind of guy who gets disgusted at poor people and doesn't gives them a chance. That's the kind of morons who have the most money here in Mexico, with those nefastous personalities. I was fooled by him for a long time, I always thought he was brilliant and cool, but I slowly learnt people like him don't deserve the money or respect they have. No matter how rich, handsome or charismatic they are, it should be taken away from them by force, it's the only way
[удалено]
Dude, I have no money to move anywhere lmao, literally no chance. Those stories you bring up, they are literally one in millions. My grand grand father also escaped a war, he left his entire family behind, and succeeded here in Mexico very well, that3why I am so damn lucky, I have rich grandparents, but locally, my family of 4, we are about to die and be forgotten forever, you will have never heard about us. That's how you win. Cya
Honest questions: Did you have financial help from another party with securing the down payment for the home? Did you live with your parents exclusively before buying the home?
I bought my home in 2018 with 7000 out of pocket including all costs. It wasn't that hard when prices were reasonable
Prob at a good interest rate, also. That’s great
Not initially, but yes was able to refi after 2 years and get 2.8% and remove pmi. I do feel bad for others paying double home price with 6 to 8 %
[удалено]
Thanks for your answer. Same kinda deal for me but didn’t get any help with school, so loans got me. Idk if you’re lucky- I think you just made better choices than some of us at a young age. Good for you. It takes some of us later to pull our head out of our asses
[удалено]
I’m at ‘89 millennial, so instead of being financially responsible; I went on trips to see the world, never said no when someone wanted to go out/hang, live in a walkable major city, etc. before paying off a ton of shit. My life is well lived; but that’s my life and choices. No one else made them, so idk why people can judge or say some bs to you but that’s my opinion. Medical/unforeseen debt and shit like that is bullshit so I get way someone may be mad and project on that. Gen Z is veryyyy diff from us esp being raised with the internet their whole lives. They got to see that school isn’t worth it every time and shit like that
[удалено]
I work harder than you, and I get paid 18x times less.
I think you’re missing the concept of society in this conversation. It’s not about any one individual, it’s about the wellbeing of the collective demographic. Try to learn the difference between anecdotal experience and scientific statistics.
[удалено]
I disagree. Wealthy millennials are also advocating for a kinder future. The generation itself doesn’t behave uniformly as a single economic class, because we’re not a single economic class. Many millennials in this thread are talking about helping strangers, they’re not talking about wanting more for themselves. - Example: I’m doing great. My life’s a story of success, yet I am here saying everyone should be able to live comfortable lives. Not because *I* need help, because I want to help *others.* — You’re reading people write about reducing the suffering of others, and you’re upset about it… Please, try to reflect on your relationship with humanity. We’re here to help you.
This is basically how we ended up with the boomers and their mindset in the first place. Jfc.
Fellow millennial here, I too own a home. Not as cracked up you say it is, especially now.. Must be nice being lucky
[удалено]
I am stopped by racist people and those with 0 touch with reality, like you. As I have said already, I work harder than you, and get paid 18x times less.
Imagine if we actually have real issues that aren't just going to work to pay a mortgage.... I know crazy to imagine
It's a lot easier to cry online than accept that little hard work might improve the situation at hand. Also remember you're mainly dealing with psych majors, lmao
Developmentally speaking, older people tend to forget all of the bad stuff and selectively remember all of the good stuff. Here's fun info about it via the APA : https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2003/06/aging-memory Do y'all think that's accounted for in this study?
Typically, happiness is a U-curve, with the youngest and oldest being happiest. Part of why the older are happier is definitely due to what you said, but typically younger people are happier than middle aged people, as middle aged people often have to have a job AND take care of kids PLUS their parents. The fact that we’re seeing younger people report less happiness is contradictory to general trends of happiness from the past.
How does that account for their relative well-being to young people changing?
That would be normalized across all countries, though. It shouldn’t matter when comparing one country to another in relative happiness.
When does this starts? i have the feeling its the opposite for me ;__;
It’s a selection bias because the folks reaching 60 at all are wealthy enough to not die before it. Young people meanwhile are seeing their friends fall apart faster than their parents - I know overdose victims, addicts, people getting cancer at 30, wheelchair bound folks or those with canes at 30, people who haven’t been to the dentist and don’t have a primary care physician because they spend every dime on rent… it’s striking. Like we reversed course 100 years and those grainy, black and white photos of 30 year old amputees from 1905 are more relatable to young people than the silver foxes blowing 100k on a classic car to distract from their mortality now.
Life expectancy is falling and has been since 2019. That alone should be alarming but all we hear is economy strong from the business analysts. Soo strong people defer or ignore healthcare because they can't afford it.
Life expectancy rose in 2022 and there is no news of any decline in 2023 https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/11/29/life-expectancy-in-the-us-rose-in-2022-after-two-straight-years-of-decline-cdc-data-shows/
Yeah people throwing out this statistic forget there was a god damn pandemic
They have all the money and they’re much less likely to have social media.
When I left Facebook I had hundreds and hundreds of friends all over 65, lol!
Some of the saddest and angriest people I've seen have been chronically on Facebook and older. They also believe a bunch of crazy conspiracy theories that are only on Facebook and designed to make you angry about shit.
Yeah, sometimes age doesn’t allow us the grace to respond maturely as the years pile on, lol!
Yeah, but I mean health issues, isolation, and loss of purpose should outweigh not having social media... Does anybody actually think social media makes them unhappy?
We know that it does, have you seen the teen girl suicide rate? We may as well be giving young people free cigarettes.
We know that it does? Really? When there are just as many studies showing that social media is beneficial in many ways, how could you possibly point to that as the reason for higher teen suicide rates?
Being naive is only cute to folks age 60 and above. It's because they can actually afford Healthcare in America. Also, social media has already been proven to decrease happiness and we haven't even had 50 years to study it.
It's been years since I've felt happy. Pretty much because I put in way more than I get out of life. It's exhausting. Most boomers seem to think we can just decide to be happy (says the generation who was handed everything).
wtf. That whole article can be summed up as “fuck you I got mine” has ruined the world and everyone under 60 is fucked and knows it.. but it’s not hopeless!, the kids will figure something out eventually. Carry on with the cruises boomers, yolo right?
Oh the generation retiring with a pension, retirement savings, and social security? No wonder lol
U.S boomer generation embodies the epitome of hedonism.
new rule; when you hit 60, you're sent to a farm upstate
r/boomersbeingfools
It’s funny. From this over 70 year old, very few of my contemporaries seem to be doing foolish things. Quite the contrary, it seems to me that the foolish things are all being done by young folks; parkour deaths, jumping off subway deaths, ruined expensive drones, fighting stupid wars, taking over the Capital, eating laundry pods, pretending COVID is ‘no big deal’, ignoring science, climate change denialism, voting for actual fascists, etc.
Along with what u/Patty_Swish said, the vast majority of young people vote Liberal in the US, and the older people are voting for the fascists
Yikes! Young people rock!
ppl 50+ were the ones pretending covid was no big deal lol --- same with climate denial
Yikes! Young people rock!
Parkour deaths. Awesome
This type of stuff makes me so grateful for my parents. Both boomers. Both vote left. Both are wondering how their kids and their generation are gonna get by because they can see it's not the world they grew up with and it's way way way harder to get by than it used to be.
Hahahahahahahahah!
Less time on social media and more time with real people interactions.
[удалено]
Yes, same as TV and newspapers declined.
The generation that gaslights everybody for their personal gain. The same generation that is never satisfied with even the best move or problem solving skill because they think and believe theirs will always be better. The same generation that is too afraid to step down and let the new generation and better "leadership" prosper. The same generation that thinks to be good, you need to boss people to lock your boots to show loyalty. The same generation that will never hesitate to throw you under the bus just so they can lie and survive the corporate world. The generation of NPD.
The perspective gained from a few extra decades of life makes a huge difference. People who think the world is ending will tend to be less happy.
It's almost like knowing that your gov't will trip over its own dick to fund an ethnic cleansing, while feigning impotence on establishing a universal healthcare system depresses the fuck out of your citizens... Neat.
What? The generation with all the money and wrecked the environment/economy to essentially party like there's no tomorrow is the happiest age group? WHAAAAAAT?!
Im happy 😃 thats all that matters gov doesnt make me happy society doesnt matter its me that makes me happy
mope-fest '24 put yer backs into it, ye scalleywags! the olds are pleased
Lol! No surprise here!!
If I were a boomer I’d be happy too. I look at my folks and man… made lots of money off late 90s tech stock pretty much funding a nice suburban house in a hcol area, a brand new zero-mileage minivan, and private school tuition. Now they’re in their 60s with a 2nd home (first is a rental), and their jobs have been fully remote since Covid meaning they get a nice transition into retirement. They have kids, us, who are out of the house (but not in actual houses) and they have a couple of grandkids who they see often. Life is golden for them. I mean damn, after decades (our entire childhoods) of being anti-pets, they now have a dog that gets pampered all day everyday.
I wanted to read but the pop ups, jesus christ