Good for her. We need everyone to think like this. I've ranted about the stock market to multiple people this week since it's currently shitting the bed. I wish I didn't have to participate in it,...
Kate McGaughey says she feels a responsibility to think about the world she will leave behind and doesn’t want to make selfish choices with her money.
Good for her. We need everyone to think like this.
I've ranted about the stock market to multiple people this week since it's currently shitting the bed. I wish I didn't have to participate in it, to me it creates no value for society. It's shares in companies that you don't care about at best, or are horribly unethical and shouldn't exist at worst. If the stock market does great, it doesn't mean anything to anyone except people who are close to retiring or are rich already, but when it crashes like this everyone loses their jobs. It's getting bigger headlines than the currently-ongoing pandemic, which is beyond fucked up to me.
I don't think that's unique to Millennials. When I was just out of college, I only learned about investing because my parents opened an IRA for me and funded it for 1 year. They explained how it...
I don't think that's unique to Millennials. When I was just out of college, I only learned about investing because my parents opened an IRA for me and funded it for 1 year. They explained how it worked and said, "It's up to you to fund it from now on." Back then you still had to call a stock broker and say, "I'd like to buy x shares of XYZ stock." It was quite intimidating. Most other people my age didn't get that lesson.
I remember a friend calling me around that time and saying he was glad he wasn't dealing with all the "adult bullshit like IRAs and stuff" that others were worrying about. I laughed it off kind of embarrassed for him. My IRA is now worth several times my annual salary. And it's not the only retirement fund I have going. I don't know whether he eventually caught on or not.
The good news is that it's super simple to invest today. You can get a brokerage account by signing up online and set up auto-deduction from your paycheck to fund it. You can basically set it and forget it. (Just be sure to log in every 6 months and check on it because if you don't the government can legally take it from you.)
This is due to an escheatment law passed by Pennsylvania (Vanguard itself is based in Malvern, PA). This Forbes article and Investopedia might clarify things.
This is due to an escheatment law passed by Pennsylvania (Vanguard itself is based in Malvern, PA). As far as I can tell, the law in the state you reside in takes precedence.
Don't forget trust in governments and governing institutions. That's supposed to be the path to fixing those problems, but the recent decades demonstrate that we can't really trust the government...
Compared to past generations, our wages are down, employment is down, home ownership is down, marriage is down, and birth rates are down. It is no wonder that we believe the American dream is a lost cause.
Don't forget trust in governments and governing institutions. That's supposed to be the path to fixing those problems, but the recent decades demonstrate that we can't really trust the government to have society's back.
@Dubteedub I would be leery of extrapolating too much based on primary vote. It's possible that people don't show up for the primary because they don't actually care about which Democrat wins as...
I would be leery of extrapolating too much based on primary vote. It's possible that people don't show up for the primary because they don't actually care about which Democrat wins as long as one of them does. Primaries are also closed, so people who don't want to register with a party can't participate.
It's possible. I do remember back when I was in high school (as a millennial) a lot of my teachers were saying that our generation was particularly engaged, socially conscious, and interested in...
That is fair. It is possible that we end up with an increase in youth turnout in the general election. I just don't think it is something that should be banked on given historical trends and the decreased turnout so far.
It's possible. I do remember back when I was in high school (as a millennial) a lot of my teachers were saying that our generation was particularly engaged, socially conscious, and interested in political involvement. The historic impact of Obama's millennial fueled campaign might have worked on the back of this. But I'm not seeing a big drop in turnout over time.
Here's the age graph specifically. The youngest cohort lags behind only Obama's first run, but that was historic. It's a bit like trying people trying to benchmark everything Apple does against the iPhone. I don't think you're going to see appreciably higher numbers than that unless things change on a more structural basis.
I wonder how the situation is here in germany, objectively. Do we have the same low income as in UK/US? Does the political sphere pander as much to boomers here? We have a different population...
I wonder how the situation is here in germany, objectively. Do we have the same low income as in UK/US? Does the political sphere pander as much to boomers here? We have a different population structure - the baby boom happened a bit later, because rebuilding from ruins is harder than returning home from deployment and riding the economic high.(gross simplification) Beyond that, I wonder how much less generationally unequal our society is in comparison.
ETA: Personally, born in the 90s I feel rather shafted by interest rates. I remember my parents setting me up with german govt. bonds at an interest rate of 5% or something crazy. But that went in 2008, and interest rates have been basically 0 ever since. Doesn't help my homebuying prospects. Nevermind that the housing market is super ridiculous anyways.
Betcha by the time I actually am in the market for a house, interest rates are going to skyrocket and I'm going to pay through the nose for it. And immediately after, real estate prices crash. Or something like that.
That really sucks. I will say that we felt the same way when we were in your shoes. I graduated high school in 1989. The stock market had its worst fall since the Great Depression in 1987. By 1992...
Our generation was hurt the hardest by the recession, setting back job availability while boomers stayed in the job market longer to recoup their losses. It really feels like the odds are stacked against us by those who came before.
That really sucks. I will say that we felt the same way when we were in your shoes. I graduated high school in 1989. The stock market had its worst fall since the Great Depression in 1987. By 1992 (a year before I graduated college), we were deep in a recession and a war in the Middle East that made little sense to most Americans. Some things never change.
We did, however, have better prospects on home buying. That is definitely one area that has gotten significantly worse. That and healthcare.
I'd caution against blaming it on a particular generation. It really is the actions of specific people (particularly those in Congress and the White House) that caused a lot of these issues. For example, the unions that were fairly strong in the 1970s really didn't like what happened in the 80s and beyond, where they were systematically disempowered by our legislators. They're of the same generation as the people that caused the problems and they've been hit hard, too.
Good for her. We need everyone to think like this.
I've ranted about the stock market to multiple people this week since it's currently shitting the bed. I wish I didn't have to participate in it, to me it creates no value for society. It's shares in companies that you don't care about at best, or are horribly unethical and shouldn't exist at worst. If the stock market does great, it doesn't mean anything to anyone except people who are close to retiring or are rich already, but when it crashes like this everyone loses their jobs. It's getting bigger headlines than the currently-ongoing pandemic, which is beyond fucked up to me.
I don't think that's unique to Millennials. When I was just out of college, I only learned about investing because my parents opened an IRA for me and funded it for 1 year. They explained how it worked and said, "It's up to you to fund it from now on." Back then you still had to call a stock broker and say, "I'd like to buy x shares of XYZ stock." It was quite intimidating. Most other people my age didn't get that lesson.
I remember a friend calling me around that time and saying he was glad he wasn't dealing with all the "adult bullshit like IRAs and stuff" that others were worrying about. I laughed it off kind of embarrassed for him. My IRA is now worth several times my annual salary. And it's not the only retirement fund I have going. I don't know whether he eventually caught on or not.
The good news is that it's super simple to invest today. You can get a brokerage account by signing up online and set up auto-deduction from your paycheck to fund it. You can basically set it and forget it. (Just be sure to log in every 6 months and check on it because if you don't the government can legally take it from you.)
This is due to an escheatment law passed by Pennsylvania (Vanguard itself is based in Malvern, PA).
As far as I can tell, the law in the state you reside in takes precedence.This Forbes article and Investopedia might clarify things.
Don't forget trust in governments and governing institutions. That's supposed to be the path to fixing those problems, but the recent decades demonstrate that we can't really trust the government to have society's back.
@Dubteedub
I would be leery of extrapolating too much based on primary vote. It's possible that people don't show up for the primary because they don't actually care about which Democrat wins as long as one of them does. Primaries are also closed, so people who don't want to register with a party can't participate.
It's possible. I do remember back when I was in high school (as a millennial) a lot of my teachers were saying that our generation was particularly engaged, socially conscious, and interested in political involvement. The historic impact of Obama's millennial fueled campaign might have worked on the back of this. But I'm not seeing a big drop in turnout over time.
Here's the age graph specifically. The youngest cohort lags behind only Obama's first run, but that was historic. It's a bit like trying people trying to benchmark everything Apple does against the iPhone. I don't think you're going to see appreciably higher numbers than that unless things change on a more structural basis.
I wonder how the situation is here in germany, objectively. Do we have the same low income as in UK/US? Does the political sphere pander as much to boomers here? We have a different population structure - the baby boom happened a bit later, because rebuilding from ruins is harder than returning home from deployment and riding the economic high.(gross simplification) Beyond that, I wonder how much less generationally unequal our society is in comparison.
ETA: Personally, born in the 90s I feel rather shafted by interest rates. I remember my parents setting me up with german govt. bonds at an interest rate of 5% or something crazy. But that went in 2008, and interest rates have been basically 0 ever since. Doesn't help my homebuying prospects. Nevermind that the housing market is super ridiculous anyways.
Betcha by the time I actually am in the market for a house, interest rates are going to skyrocket and I'm going to pay through the nose for it. And immediately after, real estate prices crash. Or something like that.
That really sucks. I will say that we felt the same way when we were in your shoes. I graduated high school in 1989. The stock market had its worst fall since the Great Depression in 1987. By 1992 (a year before I graduated college), we were deep in a recession and a war in the Middle East that made little sense to most Americans. Some things never change.
We did, however, have better prospects on home buying. That is definitely one area that has gotten significantly worse. That and healthcare.
I'd caution against blaming it on a particular generation. It really is the actions of specific people (particularly those in Congress and the White House) that caused a lot of these issues. For example, the unions that were fairly strong in the 1970s really didn't like what happened in the 80s and beyond, where they were systematically disempowered by our legislators. They're of the same generation as the people that caused the problems and they've been hit hard, too.