Do we Millennials/Gen Z have it economically harder than our Gen X/Boomer parents?

[marlow1]

@jhouse I'm very skeptical of this take. Direct beneficiaries of bull runs are the rich and upper middle class. So are anything with "luxury" in it. Cars aren't even assets. The majority of the population is lower middle-class. In other aspects (e.g. convenience, technology, transportation, etc.), yes, I believe we have it better but not economically.

My parents belong to the silent generation, I'm a millennial and my siblings are gen xers. I can see the contrast very clearly. My parents' are families of 12 on average. Nowadays, having kids doesn't even make economic sense. They've managed to accumulate decent lands in their lifetime (some inherited). The companies they worked for have very good retirement packages and really took care of their retirement. This is very rare nowadays. My father is a retired CPA and he said back in the day, when you graduate college, you're insured a job, companies send you letters to work for them.

We didn't have businesses, my parents were typically 9-5 workers and they managed to send us to universities and lived quite comfortably. Nowadays, you can't live comfortably just by depending on one income stream.

Edit: my siblings who are gen xers, have two children on average. They have a house and have more assets than I have, without trying as much as most millenials.

 

[anthlee]

@marlow1 it is also to note that education system is serving its purpose back then: one invests to learn what they needed to in order to secure a job after graduating, then in turn the school makes sure that their graduates are sent to work in good companies that requires what they learn.

nowadays, schools are just any other business---churning out products for the sake of churning out, without real value to others and for the good of all.

 

[jhouse]

@marlow1 CPAs back then were considered one of the best paid professions. There's a reason older people still try to push for their kids to become accountants. The problem is, CPA salary grades have not kept up with the times because of the explosion of outsourced salaries so they fell behind the purchasing power curve.

f your dad is a CPA, everything he says makes sense. Accountants were very much in demand. I remember my own parents told me being an CPA is the most sure fire way to never have a problem looking for a job.
As for retirement, it's true that retirement packages were a lot more generous back then. What you fail to consider is that companies that offer retirement were far fewer as well. If you got into a good company, you're all set, but a lot of Filipinos simply weren't able to get in. I

It is true that economic expansions do not lift all income segments equally and even within the largely beneficial segments, not all members benefit. That's why we look to macro data to check and I've yet to see a chart that shows we're worse off now than 30-40 years ago.

Again, land is a whole different matter altogether as any gains in purchasing power simply gets eclipsed by the inflation caused by stagnated supply and increased demand.

 

[teacherforlifecarter]

@jhouse What's the point of all these things like cars and retail business if most people can't afford housing? I'd take less consumer goods in favor of cheap housing every day of the week

 

[jhouse]

@teacherforlifecarter Unlike retail or cars or other free-market goods, mass housing is almost always a policy/legislation problem as there's little incentive for building economy homes specially when there's limited land and demand is high. In theory DHSUD can compel developers to allocate a certain percentage of landbank, but due to missing and lax kry policies it's not being done to the degree that it can make a meaningful impact on the market. It also doesn't help that the government owns no land and Manila is already saturated.

Unfortunately there's no real immediate solution to this problem and unless Manila decogests over the next 50 years it's something that will just keep getting worse.

 

[fitopia46]

@jhouse Ang gandang take nito. If you don't worry about buying a house/car (which are commonly used to measure wealth), what you can afford has actually gotten better. Parang dati classic na representation ng mayayaman sa Filipino movies yung may hotdog sa breakfast, pero ngayon parang halos lahat afford na maghotdog.

Pero yun nga, wala pa din kasi tayong solution sa housing problem. And it's not that walang available na lupa/bahay, they're just expensive as fuck. Hindi lang din kasi gen natin ang nahpapataas ng demand, pati former gens nakikisabay kasi "investment" and people who make money out of it are taking full advantage. So long as we don't see housing as a need but an investment, wala tayong magagawa.

 

[trulyfulfilled]

@caryann8514 Sabi ng parents ko sobrang nagmahalan raw ngayon lalo na ang mga lupa.

90’s nasa 5k each sweldo nila sa probinsya as professional govt employee,,, naghuhulugan sila para sa house and lot, may dalawang anak.

Grabe nga lang tlg pagbubudget nila.
Tapos biglang nagtaasan yung mga bilihin. Buti na lang tumaas rin yung sweldo nila pero yung lifestyle same pa rin

And di rin kasi uso yung paggala nila masyado and walang masyadong temptations like shopee or foodpanda. Ngayon kasi grabe na rin ang consumerism

Siguro possible maachieve ang milestones pero very tight ang budget. Baka super bihira lang kayo gagala or sobrang liit lang ng haus and murang car lang. and you’ll be sacrificing your wants tlg.