Poll: What generation are you?

[FI_RElater]

I prefer this version of Boomers....I think the life experence is different between Boomer I and Boomer II? (I'm a Boomer I) I think our parents were more involved in WWII.
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I tend to believe in the older age breakout--- "boomers" ending in '63, as that was the "end of camelot" (post JFK), which is a somewhat defining moment in history versus just a date (sort of like post-911 would be later). {I was still in elementary when he was shot... so boomer}

The one characteristic that would favor the Boomer 1 end age is the last year ('54) would have been the last to be potentially called up for Nam (or served, assuming age 18 entry), although the last years (52-54) never got called up. BTW, the actual number drawing was televised (I remember it); '75 was the actual last drawing, but was neither televised nor actually used. Still have my draft card from then, and you needed to show it to get your college scholarship back then, and later years didn't even have to sign up.

I agree the experiences were definitely different: early boomers tended to be entrenched in the good jobs by the time we got out, and "climbing the ladder" over them was almost impossible. We also were the ones where the defined pensions started being eliminated and replaced with other benefit plans, most of them far less generous.

We were more Jefferson Starship than Jefferson Airplane, more The Who than The Animals, and though we remember when the "White Album" came out it wasn't as significant to us. We were too late for the "Summer of Love", Woodstock was the same___ and our tape decks were cassette versus 8-track. We had the gas lines ('73) versus the gas wars of the earlier 60's (do remember them, just didn't have a need for gas).

 

[Beststash]

The Vietnam draft era differentiator is a good point. I graduated from HS in '68 but was only 17, my birthday was in December. I enrolled in college and got my get-out-of-jail-free card (2S status). It was a good incentive to keep a good GPA If I remember correctly after I graduated in '72 I went in the lottery but they never called my number. I wish I still had my draft card I don't know what happened to it.....

Those days definately defined a generation.

 

[Andre1969]

Gen-X here. However, I have an issue with their thresholds for Gen-X, Millennials, and Gen-Z.

For the longest time, Gen-X was always 1965-1983. But around the time of the Great Recession, they started shrinking it, and then moving the Millennials down a few years. I'm convinced they did that, so they could start with those news stories about how bad Millennials in the workforce were getting affected by the Great Recession. If they had the Millennials start at 1984, that means the oldest ones would have only been 24, and not that many in the workforce yet. Most of them were still in college, high school, or middle/elementary school! But, take a few years off of Gen-X, and give it to the Millennials, and suddenly you have a lot more workers to pull your stats from!

Or, is it just the norm to shrink the more recent generations to 16 years? In all fairness, those earlier generations weren't the same length, either. I guess I just think of 19 years as the default, because that's what the Baby Boomers are, and it seems like that was the generation when the government and media and such started paying attention to these generations.

In more recent years, I've thought of Gen-X as more like 1965-82, Millennials as 1983-2000, and then 2001 and up I just sort of lump them together.

But, regardless, was born in 1970, so I'm still gen-X, no matter how they fiddle with the end-points. As for the Baby Boomers, I'd have to agree on a split, somewhere. Someone born in 1946 could have been off fighting in the Vietnam War, while at the same time someone born in 1964 was probably watching "Gomer Pyle: USMC."

I think Gen-X has a break point, too. The older ones remember a time before video games and home computers, and a lot of us outgrew home video games, thanks to the "Great Video Game Crash" of 1984. We got tired of our Atari VCSs, Odyssey2s, Intellivisions. and ColecoVisions. But then the younger ones only have a faint memory of those early systems, and were raised on Nintendo and then Sega Genesis. And, even other things, like the older Gen-X, when they got a hand-me-down car from their parents, were probably accustomed to having to pump the gas pedal before starting, and putting on snow tires in the winter, whereas the younger ones were more likely to get a car that was fuel injected, with all-season radials.

But, all generations have nuances like that within them.

 

[sparky08]

I’m late baby boomer, and I really don’t identify with folks 10 years older than me.

Same here

Me three. I have never associated with the 'true' boomers.

 

[scrabbler1]

Although I may be technically a Boomer (born in 1963), I always considered myself a Gen-Xer. When I first heard the term "Boomer," it was part of a longer description of that generation: "Post-War Baby-Boomer," referring to those born to at least one parent who served or was old enough to serve in WWII. My parents were born in 1931 and 1935, neither old enough to have served in that war. I was the firstborn, so I had no older relatives who served in Vietnam, for example.

I don't associate myself to the (1960s) issues Boomers usually associate themselves with, such as the assassinations, Vietnam. The Beatles, the Space Race, and the Civil Rights era. I can relate more to the 1970s GenX issues such as Watergate, energy crisis, Bicentennial, Women's movement, and US Hostages in Iran.

 

[street]

Yep, Baby Boomer here also.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I’m a baby boomer and my kids are all gen x. My parents were from the greatest generation and my grandparents the lost generation.

 

[ClarkeK]

I was born at the end of 1963 so technically a Baby Boomer but I align more with Gen X. I don't refer to myself as a Baby Boomer.

I think part of the reason is that my parents, both born in 1943, are still with us and call themselves Baby Boomers.

However, I did vote as a Baby Boomer.

 

[Car-Guy]

I knew this was an older crowd but wow, "at this time" >80% of the voters are over ~60...My guess is well over 60.


I'M GOING TO START TYPING IN ALL CAPS SO YOU GUYS & GALS CAN HEAR ME!

 

[Christine]

We don't use these groupings in Norway so I always found it confusing. If we use anything we say she was born in the sixties or he's from the fourties.


But now I learned that I am a mysterious X.

 

[Calico]

Baby Boomer. Born in 1955.

 

[StillFiguringItOut]

Another Joneser here. One sibling also a Joneser and the other the first year of Gen X. All of us born in the 1960s.

 

[USGrant1962]

Gen Jones here, not a boomer. Little in common with the bulk of those folks.

I was a little kid for Vietnam, Woodstock, the Beatles - and what's a pension? Heck, the assassination of JFK was the top bad event of the generation - I was one year old and it was history to me all my life. And, my parents were too young to be involved in WWII so them starting a family on return from the war (the archetypical boomer) didn't happen. Dad was 10 and mom was 6 when the war ended.

 

[audreyh1]

I agree the experiences were definitely different: early boomers tended to be entrenched in the good jobs by the time we got out, and "climbing the ladder" over them was almost impossible. We also were the ones where the defined pensions started being eliminated and replaced with other benefit plans, most of them far less generous.

That’s my impression based on my neighbors (55+ community). Most of them 10 years older retired with generous pensions and healthcare and moving here I got the impression they expect to have things (benefits) handed to them. My cohort experienced pensions nonexistent or disappearing, heavy transfers over to 401Ks, and thus having to manage retirement funds, increased FRA, much less job security overall and I believe longer hours worked. We didn’t expect to be spoon fed.

 

[mebden]

I'm just a Gen xer to

 

[Ronstar]

Baby Boomer. Born in 1955.

Same here. A good generation to be part of.

 

[rodi]

Baby boomer by what has become the standard for the years... but when the term was first coined it cut off early (1959 or 60 IIRC)... Because it was defining the boom in kids born to families returning from WWII. My dad didn't serve in WWII, but served in Korea. I've always related more to Gen X than to boomers... but the chart says boomer.

My kids love saying "ok boomer"... which is probably another reason I don't like the label.

My husband, almost 10 years older than me, qualifies as boomer by every definition. His dad came back with a purple heart from WWII, married his mom, and, being good Catholics, had 6 kids in short order.

 

[DrRoy]

I guess we're largely a Boomer group.

 

[Aerides]

I guess we're largely a Boomer group.

Never possible to determine board-averages from polls. 124 responses vs. 1000's usually logged in at any time.

Often the poll itself attracts some more than others too.

 

[Andre1969]

Never possible to determine board-averages from polls. 124 responses vs. 1000's usually logged in at any time.

Often the poll itself attracts some more than others too.

My guess is that it would skew heavily toward Boomers, though. The youngest of the Silent Generation would now be 78-79, while the youngest members of the Greatest would be 96-97. There just aren't that many of those cohorts left, and I imagine a good number of them simply never embraced this new-fangled internet thingie.

I'm kinda surprised there isn't more representation from the younger generations, though. Although I wonder if, to them, we look like "old people?" Many young people, regardless of generation, tend to dismiss and rebel against those older than them, and argue. We all probably did it, when we were younger.

Some of these young'uns tend to get easily brainwashed by some of these senseless word-salad memes that they take for the Gospel. I've lost track how many times I've seen, and tried to de-bunk the one about how the Boomers were buying 4-bedroom houses, and paying cash for a new Cadillac convertible when they were 30. Nevermind the fact that Cadillac didn't even MAKE convertibles by the time the typical Boomer turned 30! The end of the line, 1976 Eldorado convertible started at around $11,000, and you didn't have low-interest, long term loans in those days. In those days, if you bought a new Cadillac, you were pretty well-off. In 1977, if a 30-year old wanted a Cadillac convertible, they bought a Coupe DeVille, which started at around $10K if you wanted a stripper, and then paid another $8-10K to have an aftermarket company modify it. Not too many people, PERIOD, were forking over that kind of money, so I doubt very many 30-year olds were.

Cadillac did dabble with convertible a bit later on, with cars like the '84-85 Eldorado (done by an outside source), the Allante, and that thing they had a couple years based on the Corvette. But I can guarantee very few 30-year olds were buying those, either. And by the time that Corvette-based thing came out, a 30-year old was Gen-X.

I also seriously doubt too many people bought a 4-bedroom house at the age of 30. Unless it was something modest like a Cape Cod, where you might have two small bedrooms on the main level and two bedrooms upstairs. Or a small 3br rambler, with a 4th bedroom added in the basement.

 

[Car-Guy]

I guess we're largely a Boomer group.

Looks that way to me too.

 

[Eagle43]

I never heard of it. but I guess I'm from the Silent Gen. I was stationed in Ramstein Germany when JFK was shot. Three years later I was sent to Vietnam. My high school class is more than 50% gone, so I am lucky.

 

[frayne]

Proud boomer here, born in 51 and working hard to keep the old man out at 73.

 

[Alan]

I’m bang in the middle of the boomer generation (1955) but I do have a sister who is a Gen X’er (1971)

 

[gauss]

I'm kinda surprised there isn't more representation from the younger generations, though. Although I wonder if, to them, we look like "old people?" Many young people, regardless of generation, tend to dismiss and rebel against those older than them, and argue. We all probably did it, when we were younger.

A couple of possible explanations.

• Boomers have had more time (think 1980s) to acquire wealth than GenX'ers
• Boomers were more likely than GenX'ers to have access to DB pensions
• There were far more boomers than GenX'ers
• Perhaps many who join and are active continue to be active here
• Without access to DB Pensions and Retiree health care, it is much easier to "take a gap year or two" vs. running full steam to ER.
• Younger Generations have had the message pounded into them by pop media "You won't be able to ever retire!" longer
  

It will be interesting if there is a significant upswing in Millennial/GenY participation here going forward.

Just speculating here....


-gauss