Even though I'm on the cusp of being a "millennial", being born in 1983, I certainly find myself thinking along the same wavelength of today's young people who practice personal responsibility. Let's face it - it's not the millennial generation that most people find grating, it's individual's who don't practice personal responsibility. I believe these types of people existed in every generation.
But, there's a movement going on. A lot of young people today witnessed a generation before them that attached their careers (and sometimes only their career) to their personal identity. While they may have been successful (if you define success by incomes and titles), there's a good chance they were absentee parents. Perhaps these parents tried to make up for this by filling the gap with material gifts and possessions. There was little in the way of quality time, or at least time where these millennial children felt like they were being heard; respected as individuals. I once worked with an individual who told me that he didn't make many of his kids ball games, but the only parents that got to go to those were the janitors. I'll never forget that.
These children are coming up in a system that lacks authenticity. A culture that rewards putting on a good act to "make it". This is sometimes referred to as the good ol' boys club. Starting your young career in a cubicle and trying to work your way up to the top. Sacrificing a little bit of who you are to be seen as someone that can be valued by a company. All for the hopes of growing salaries and the things that go along with that.
Universities are no longer institutions where free thinkers can go to expand their minds, toss out their spirited ideas to be worked over by the ideas of others, in the hopes that everyone comes out of this experience more refined than when they started.
In a culture that seems to worship entertainers, there is no greater example of this than that world. People sacrificing themselves in hopes of becoming more famous.
I see a lot of young people who are starting to live their lives counter-culturally, and I have to say I find that to be exciting. Again, there is a way to do this while practicing personal responsibility. Less young people are bringing children in to this world. I won't expand on why I think this is the case. Many are seeking employment that supports their life, not careers that are their life. They see the value in experience over material possessions. I love this.
If all things in our country stay *roughly* the same (which is asking A LOT looking at the current landscape of things), this would be my advice for my two girls:
Don't go to college (unless your driven to pursue something your passionate about and that will land you a job). Start working when your 16 (I started at 14 without a responsible plan!), and begin to find a job that you can live with (or even better, that you eventually enjoy). Develop an inner value of yourself not impacted by the thoughts/opinions of others, and one that you don't have to trump up with the constant pursuit of shiny new things (because there's always something better).
Start a Roth retirement account. Start it as early as you can. Try to max it out every, single, year. $5500 is all you need to achieve this. Build your life around this savings and a healthy emergency fund.
If you start at 18 - you'll have $1.02 million at the age of 60 (estimating a 6% return). Even if you decided to pull this out of investments at 60, you can live 35 years in retirement and get $1653 per month (according to this calculator). Now, it can be argued that a million dollars isn't what it once was, but to put this in perspective, that monthly estimate is very close to my budgeted life expenses with a family of four with a mortgage.
And that's if you're single. If you and your spouse follow the same plan....
Just some Tuesday thoughts from me to this blournal.
But, there's a movement going on. A lot of young people today witnessed a generation before them that attached their careers (and sometimes only their career) to their personal identity. While they may have been successful (if you define success by incomes and titles), there's a good chance they were absentee parents. Perhaps these parents tried to make up for this by filling the gap with material gifts and possessions. There was little in the way of quality time, or at least time where these millennial children felt like they were being heard; respected as individuals. I once worked with an individual who told me that he didn't make many of his kids ball games, but the only parents that got to go to those were the janitors. I'll never forget that.
These children are coming up in a system that lacks authenticity. A culture that rewards putting on a good act to "make it". This is sometimes referred to as the good ol' boys club. Starting your young career in a cubicle and trying to work your way up to the top. Sacrificing a little bit of who you are to be seen as someone that can be valued by a company. All for the hopes of growing salaries and the things that go along with that.
Universities are no longer institutions where free thinkers can go to expand their minds, toss out their spirited ideas to be worked over by the ideas of others, in the hopes that everyone comes out of this experience more refined than when they started.
In a culture that seems to worship entertainers, there is no greater example of this than that world. People sacrificing themselves in hopes of becoming more famous.
I see a lot of young people who are starting to live their lives counter-culturally, and I have to say I find that to be exciting. Again, there is a way to do this while practicing personal responsibility. Less young people are bringing children in to this world. I won't expand on why I think this is the case. Many are seeking employment that supports their life, not careers that are their life. They see the value in experience over material possessions. I love this.
If all things in our country stay *roughly* the same (which is asking A LOT looking at the current landscape of things), this would be my advice for my two girls:
Don't go to college (unless your driven to pursue something your passionate about and that will land you a job). Start working when your 16 (I started at 14 without a responsible plan!), and begin to find a job that you can live with (or even better, that you eventually enjoy). Develop an inner value of yourself not impacted by the thoughts/opinions of others, and one that you don't have to trump up with the constant pursuit of shiny new things (because there's always something better).
Start a Roth retirement account. Start it as early as you can. Try to max it out every, single, year. $5500 is all you need to achieve this. Build your life around this savings and a healthy emergency fund.
If you start at 18 - you'll have $1.02 million at the age of 60 (estimating a 6% return). Even if you decided to pull this out of investments at 60, you can live 35 years in retirement and get $1653 per month (according to this calculator). Now, it can be argued that a million dollars isn't what it once was, but to put this in perspective, that monthly estimate is very close to my budgeted life expenses with a family of four with a mortgage.
And that's if you're single. If you and your spouse follow the same plan....
Just some Tuesday thoughts from me to this blournal.
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