Whatever happened to Generation X?

[JoeWras]

For decades, literally, we have heard of the trials and tribulations of "Baby Boomers." We still are, as thousands per day go on social security.

Lately, all the buzz centers around "Millenials." We've had multiple topics here right on this forum about this generation. At w*rk, they don't even hide their desire to hire nothing but Millenials. "What can we do to attract more Millenials and diversify" is said out loud.

So, what ever happened to "Generation X?"

A search of this forum finds a few topics earlier in the century, then nothing. I'm a 1963 baby and find myself in generational limbo. Some include me as a Boomer, others as a Gen-X. I think I identify more with Gen-X than Boomers, although the movie Reality Bites never connected that strongly with me. Come to think of it, neither The Big Chill (Boomer) or Reality Bites (Gen-X) connected. These were the quintessential generation movies. It just shows the gap we early 60's babies are in.

Ultimately, I think we'll be known as the quiet, get-things-done-while-these-other-generations-babble generation.

Gen X has a few unique challenges when it comes to ER:
- Started careers with pensions only to see them ripped away
- First solid IRA and 401k generation: did they fully participate?
- Went from 0 to 100 in health care costs: what's their plan for insurance?
- Didn't experience the horrific 70s stock market like Boomers. Too much trust in market?
- Inflation has been tame. Overlooked?

I'm sure there are more.

What I see in my life, and on this forum, centers much around the transition of pensions and insurance. Many (not all, I know) Boomers have Megacorp/Govt insurance or pensions. Gen Xers started with them, and saw them clawed away (Boomers got some of this too). That hurts. So, what's the plan in light of that? Millennials, meanwhile, are like "What insurance, what pension, what social security?" They'll be ready to handle it simply because it was always absent. In my opinion, they will make something universal happen.

My gut feeling is that Gen X is in for a lot of pain in the health insurance area. Many co-w*rkers casually tell me they are going to keep working because of it.

My next gut feel is that Gen X is going to get some heat on the social security front. They were the first Generation to have the year moved up. Guess what? Not enough, something else is going to happen and it may hurt. I think the attitude many Gen Xers have to NOT trust Social Security and plan for 0 is wise.

Alright. Enough for now. Time for me to get out my Nirvana CDs and grunge up a bit.

 

[Aerides]

Well I'm a few years younger than you, and squarely in the GenX demo, but I don't think I ever saw Reality Bites. We sort of came of age on the John Hughes movies in the 80's. Maybe Singles, in 92.

But yes, little/no pensions, early IRA/401k adopters, health insurance a bigger concern (and a longer period to bridge to MC). We still grew up in the shadow of the 70's, enough to see our parents concern, and gas lines, and the inflation/interest of the 80's. And then of course Black Monday and the S&L crisis, then the recession following the first Iraq War. Of course we also saw Wall Street in those formative years...

I think we'll see less ER among the GenX'ers vs. boomers. My peers are still raising kids as they generally started those a bit later as well. (more first time parents in their 30's vs. earlier generations). The cost of education and wanting to avoid having their kids saddled with student loans...529 plans, all that. And more of our parents are living longer so some are dealing with both ends at once.

But..shhh. We know we're ignored. We're quiet, and we like it that way. We don't want to wake up to 17 articles everyday criticizing how much we spend on coffee and avocados.

 

[CaptTom]

Funny how, when I was a kid, "boomers" were those kids born right after the troops came home from WWII. I was never one of those!

Now, the "boomer" title has been stretched to the 1960's. Wait, what?

The troops came home in the 40's. What did all those horny guys and gals DO for twenty years before popping out kids?

At any rate, I sometimes resent being grouped in with all those who were born in the 40's and grew up in the 50's. Not saying either group is better or worse, but things really were different then, compared to the 60's and early 70's.

But mostly, I don't really care what you call me. Whatever it is, I'm sure I've been called worse.

 

[Lukeee]

I’m firmly smack in the middle of gen x. Didn’t experience the 70s crisis as an adult but the 2000 dot com and 2007 downturn shaped me. Missed the inflation journey but remember the cheapest Honda Civic being under $10K and the decked out one now is around $30K.

Planning for SS to only pay whatever is being collected (70-80%?) I think we ALL got shafted on health insurance and prescription drugs, so I refill overseas when on vacation.

When all this talk of automation come to fruition, I worry about the next generation or 2 where many jobs become obsolete but unlike George Jetson, jobs won’t be as simple as a push of a button at work.

....typing all this on the latest iPhone while sipping a $10 coffee and $10 avocado sandwich ��....not.

 

[MichaelB]

Didn’t Gen-X’ers invent the selfie stick? ‘Nuff said.

 

[scrabbler1]

JoeWras, as a 1963 baby like you, I can relate to what you posted.


While those of us born in 1963 may technically be Boomers, I feel more like a Gen-Xer. I recall first learning about the names of each generation back in the 1980s. The original description for Boomers was "Post-War Baby Boomers" and it referred to the generation born to the soldiers who returned from service in WWII, got married, moved to the suburbs, and started families. This presupposes, does it not, that Baby Boomers are born to dads who served in WWII or whose dads were at least old enough to do so. My dad was born in 1931, not old enough to have served in WWII, so I never thought of myself as a Boomer.


Also, I could see how one's view on generational limbo (nice term) could be shaped by the presence of siblings. I have one brother who is 5 years younger than me, and he surely is a Gen-Xer (born in 1968). I would surely find it odd if I were a Boomer but he, someone born and raised in the same household, were a Gen-Xer.


The issues which united Boomers were pretty much unknown to me as I was growing up. Things like the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, the civil rights movement, and Vietnam (the draft ended in 1973) all happened when I was very young. My earliest memories of big events were in the 1970s like Watergate, the bad economy, the Iran hostages, and the energy crisis.


As for your ER issues, I can agree, mostly. We saw our pensions cut off or frozen, often too young to not get grandfathered into existing plans (like many Boomers did) but old enough to have had them dangled in front of us in the 1980s as a good fringe benefit. Same for retiree health plans. We are still several years from Medicare and will have to face several expensive years of buying our own health insurance, unlike our younger cohorts who are either still working or would pay less for their HI now.


We saw SS reform move the goalposts for retirement early in our working years and are fearful they will get moved again. I am glad I am 55 which seems like the magical age for grandfathering into a current system and becoming immune to some big retirement system changes. That being said, I do expect to get a haircut in some way.


I was fortunate enough to have worked for a company and had my highest earnings years when it had (a) a non-frozen pension (at the time), (b) its highest company match, 75%, on 401k contributions, and (c) its ESOP program with low-priced company stock shares. This trio all existed together from 1997-2001.

 

[Lukeee]

Didn’t Gen-X’ers invent the selfie stick? ‘Nuff said.

He did it to exploit the Millennials

Wayne Fromm is the Inventor of the modern selfie stick - Business Insider

 

[Bamaman]

You are absolutely right about Generation X. Your generation may have difficulties going into ER.

The Millennials are very talented but totally spoiled. Their first 15 years after college will be spent paying student loans and driving BMWs. They don't seem to realize that us Baby Boomers are going to spend all the funds in our big fat IRA/401k accounts, especially if we ER'd. They are especially in trouble and don't realize it.

 

[Nemo2]

As a War baby, (1942), I've never understood any of you kids.

 

[Bigdawg]

I'm 10 months late to be a boomer. I sort of look to boomers for experiences/advice. I had 2 older sister's and always learned what to do or what not to do by their actions/inaction. On this forum I look to the boomers for advice. I do read some of the younger folks (Fuego) but am more interested in the folks who have gone before. I also feel like I am squarely in the Gen X because DW is 6 years younger than me. Joining the military at 24 vice 18-19 also teamed me up with a bunch of folks in the 5 years younger range. Attending OCS at 33 teamed me up with a bunch of then 22 year olds who are close friends. Fortunate to have a military pension and tricare medical. Star Wars for my 12th birthday, Top Gun and Breakfast Club in HS. Interesting how we mark our lives with movies. Trading Spaces got me interested in the market. Orange Juice futures anyone?

 

[Anna J]

But..shhh. We know we're ignored. We're quiet, and we like it that way. We don't want to wake up to 17 articles everyday criticizing how much we spend on coffee and avocados.

I agree with all you said and really like your last couple of lines....How true!

 

[aja8888]

As a War baby, (1942), I've never understood any of you kids.

I'm a war baby too (1943) and I fully agree with you. (i'm still chasing them off my lawn)

 

[timo2]

The Gen X's are working hard at living their lives. This happens to most generations, when they are kids the older generations complain about them, then the kids move into normal lives never to be heard from again.

 

[eytonxav]

You could be considered a Generation Jones, those at the end of baby boomers and beginning of GenX:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers

 

[Cobra9777]

I was born in 1961. My parents were born in the early 1930s and my Dad served in the Korean conflict. I usually identify with boomers but definitely toward the end, and near the beginning of Gen X. I was 6 years old during the summer of love. Definitely not a classic baby boomer.

Nevertheless, I have a corporate DB pension. DW has a hybrid cash-balance pension from a municipality in Texas. We both have employer-subsidized retiree health insurance. In retirement planning, I usually discount our SS benefits by 30-50% but that's probably conservative. We should probably be spending more.

I started at Megacorp in 1989. They eliminated the DB pension for new employees in the late 1990s. Existing employees could either stay in or opt out, in exchange for the new DC plan (401K with higher matching). I stayed with the DB pension and very glad I did. Retiree health insurance is still offered to all employees, although the subsidy amount is based on age at retirement and years of service.

 

[JoeWras]

But..shhh. We know we're ignored. We're quiet, and we like it that way. We don't want to wake up to 17 articles everyday criticizing how much we spend on coffee and avocados.

True!

As a War baby, (1942), I've never understood any of you kids.

There were some threads on this forum from the mid 2000s about Gen X that sound a lot like our Millennial threads today.

Turns out maybe I should be a Boomer. Dad served in WWII and I was a late baby. I think I understand why they made this arbitrary cutoff of about 1964.


DW is also '63 baby with a WWII dad. She has nieces and nephews closer in age than her oldest siblings! It is strange to have more in common with them that siblings.

 

[JoeWras]

I have a friend who is a Xennial. He is proud of this identification as he cannot relate to Gen X or Millennial. They are best described as "remembering the non-digital age, but barely."

I think for "Gen Joneses" the same applies regarding Vietnam. We remember it, but didn't participate like the core Boomers did.

Anyway, my Xennial friend is firmly in the Millennial finance camp. He says time and time again that pensions are impossible so he's gonna spend it all on experiences now, while young. Maybe not a crazy idea.

 

[brewer12345]

I am smack in the middle of Gen X. My generational cohort pretty much got the cornhole over and over. The boomers ruined all the good stuff (pensions, retiree healthcare, SS, Medicare, etc.), and their kids (Millenials) are the ones being catered to. Not a lot I could ever do about it except keep my head down and work hard. Regular applications of KY to the appropriate orifice ease the discomfort.

 

[JoeWras]

I am smack in the middle of Gen X. My generational cohort pretty much got the cornhole over and over. The boomers ruined all the good stuff (pensions, retiree healthcare, SS, Medicare, etc.), and their kids (Millenials) are the ones being catered to. Not a lot I could ever do about it except keep my head down and work hard. Regular applications of KY to the appropriate orifice ease the discomfort.

Brewer: Millennials may be changing the world by making us destroy our straws, but you, Gen X were instrumental in the come back of REAL BEER.

 

[BeachOrCity]

Born in 1965. One year too late to be a boomer. When they first coined the gen x term they said it started in 1966. So I was truely the lost generation. Since then they have moved gen x back and now demographers say early 60s is gen x.

I spoke to a friend who put it best “what music do you listen to?”

This more than anything defines what generation you belong to.

 

[Nemo2]

I spoke to a friend who put it best “what music do you listen to?”

This more than anything defines what generation you belong to.

So, if you listen to Beethoven you're 200 years old?

 

[audreyh1]

I’m a boomer. But most of my neighbors here are 10 years older and also boomers. I can tell you, that 10 years makes a huge difference in attitude and outlook.

I tend to think of my neighbors as being “coddled” during their adult lives. They seem to expect things made easy for them and handed to them. You can tell during community meetings. I realized quickly that they many retired from long secure jobs, pensions and other benefits that became history once I joined the workforce. Probably did not have to work more than 40 hours a week either.

OK - I’m not counting the few who served in Vietnam.

 

[audreyh1]

So, if you listen to Beethoven you're 200 years old?

Yeah, I routinely listen to music from the early 1600s!

But damn, they won’t quit playing that baby boomer music in public! I’m always telling my haircut people - this song was a hit when I was in high school!!!

 

[Eagle43]

As a War baby, (1942), I've never understood any of you kids. [emoji23]

+1

 

[CaptTom]

I realized quickly that they many retired from long secure jobs, pensions and other benefits that became history once I joined the workforce. Probably did not have to work more than 40 hours a week either.

Interesting. I never thought of it this way, but it does seem like we (the US, anyway) have come a long way in the wrong direction. No more 40-hour weeks, no more pensions, and no more 100% paid health insurance.

As a kid, I was always lead to believe things would keep getting better. I'm glad I'm not in the work force today.