[papasmurf]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

we were all kids once too. So don't be too hard on Big Jake.

But this a generational thing for sure. I've been having some issues with some millenialls who report to me. I was taken by surprise at how drastically their attitudes on well just about anything involving work and money have changed vs. guys who are about 8-12 years older. I seem to view it this way now: My father is pre war (WWII). My mother is a boomer. The less you had growing up of as far as the basics, the harder it is for you to take what you did not earn and easier you are to please. A small house will do. One TV in the house is not just good enough but a real privilege. A car in the driveway is amazing, no matter the year or model. One vacation every 5 years is something to look forward to. Spending money really is a last resort thing. Having access to any kind of food in the supermarket is winning the birth lottery (unlike a billion living in India).

Then you have the boomers. They grew up with prosperity and an expectation that their lives would get better. All they had to do is work. <--major game change in America. They wanted a somewhat bigger house (still modest), a color TV, a newer car (but still one car). Summer vacations were expected. Interest rates were high so consumption was still capped.

After that it all goes down hill. The better the economy you grew up in, the more you had in the house. Multiple cars, houses with larger foot prints, multiple bathrooms, flat screen TV in multiple rooms, a vacation home or regular out of state trips, toys (atvs, boats, etc.) and waist lines bulged to the point where not just one person in the home is 20 lbs or more overweight but many family are this way. Those millenials who grew up during the economic boom of back to back bull markets (80's and 90's) were all of the above but on steroids. And now we have the the kids that grew up in the 2000's. Their parents (Gen X'ers) gorged on low interest cheap credit and filled the house with all manner of things their incomes could not sustain in the long term. Pizza for Junior's dinner again? "Oh what the hell I'm tired." So now their kids are consumption focused. Very little as far as saving/investing, belt-tightening was imparted on them.
We've gone full circle from the pre-war kids to the Barney generation.

It was never fun when I was a teen and all the other kids hung out at the pool all summer and I had to mow lawns all summer but the reality of the real world at a young age made entering the work force full time years later so much easier. It is sad how many young people have never had any kind of job until after they graduate college (taking 8 years to get a 4 year degree on daddy's credit cards). Most of the people I work with, live from paycheck to paycheck partly because they have poor jobs and partly because they lack financial common sense. Every time tax season rolls around you can guarantee that they will blow their income tax return in a weekend or two.