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> Gen Z’s economic outlook is bleak That really depends on what one means by ‘outlook.’ If one means their perception of the present and future, then yeah, it
by eadmund 3y ago
> Gen Z’s economic outlook is bleak
That really depends on what one means by ‘outlook.’ If one means their perception of the present and future, then yeah, it’s bleak. But if one means their actual present and likely future, then my understanding is that Gen Z are wealthier than the Millennials were at their age; the Millennials in turn are wealthier than Gen X were at their age; Gen X are wealthier than the Baby Boomers were at their age; and of course the Baby Boomers are wealthier than preceding generations.
Compounding interest really is a miracle, and it’s not just a financial one.
- crote 3y agoThis is no longer true. Gen Z and late-stage Millenials are the first generation since WWII who are worse off than their parents. Education and housing have become completely unaffordable to them, and wages have been stagnant for decades. Compounding interest doesn't mean crap when you have no wealth to receive interest from in the first place.
- eliasmacpherson 3y agoWhat formed your understanding? My understanding is that the opposite is true, I've read numerous articles to that effect, here's but one example: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charting-the-growing-generational-wealth-gap/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charting-the-growing-genera... One quote: "But the difference is as much in assets as it is in opportunity. In 1989, Baby Boomers and Generation X under 40 accounted for 13% of household wealth, compared to just 5.9% for Millennials and Generation Z under 40 in 2020."
- MattPalmer1086 3y agoIf you take Gen X to range from 1965 to 1980, everyone in Gen X would be under 40 in 1989. The oldest would be only 24, and most of them would still be children. So unsurprising they don't account for much household wealth in that time!
- eliasmacpherson 3y agoThe point is the comparison shows that previous generations were wealthier at a given age, not how much Gen X (<=24 years) or Gen Z(<=24 years) held at that point in time.
- MattPalmer1086 3y agoYes, I guess that's right. It's just weird to include generations that were mostly children in a calculation of household wealth.
- eadmund 3y ago> What formed your understanding? Articles like https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/05/millennial-generation-financial-issues-income-homeowners/673485/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/05/millenn... and https://www.cato.org/commentary/american-wealth-machine-its-misguided-discontents https://www.cato.org/commentary/american-wealth-machine-its-...
- eliasmacpherson 3y agoThanks for the interesting article on the atlantic, I had to go through google to read it, the usual sites to unlock it didn't work. There may be trouble ahead: https://www.statista.com/statistics/591435/house-price-to-income-ratio-usa/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/591435/house-price-to-in... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/realestate/housing-market-interest-rates.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/realestate/housing-market... Almost uniquely in the west, American millenials can enjoy fixed interest rates for multi-decade mortgages, so that may soften the blow for current homeowners.