Finances

5/2024-As the baby boomer generation retired a few years ago (more in mass around/after the COVID pandemic), now after a few years in retirement with rising prices because of the pandemic (& inflation) they are finding themselves back at work and/or starting to stretch their pocket book thin.  Now as we're also starting to see Gen X come up to retirement age, there is going to be many more people putting pressure on the USA's health/retirement system.  I know other counties around the world are also experiencing issues of constraints of retirees/an aging population.  I think it would helpful to start other conversations on expectations on living in a houses by oneself.  Other cultures adapt and put more generations together under one roof, but this is not always feasible.  I think more need to be convinced that if they are unable to stay in their house due to rising costs, they might have to consider options of selling their house, moving to different location, moving in with family and/or friends.  I think more and more will need to consider this as some in the generation are to the point of solely relying on the government for assistance and complaining about costs.  One idea is for some to take in a roommate.  I think an app could be created to assist with finding roommates, and I don't think it needs to be limited to retirees.  It could be used for college and or just needing someone else to help cover costs.  I think it would be great if this could be connected with the Meet-up App, apartments.com/homes.com, Zillow, etc.  So not only could they find someone they could also compare places & prices.  This is only going to become more of a need in the future and it's not a conversation that anyone has really started discussing.  I know this is not always a fun topic to discuss and it can get very heated on opinions, I just think more options/opportunities need to be discussed & available.  They could indicate age ranges, identity preferences, hobbies, location, duration, etc.  Much like a dating profile.  I think it would also be helpful to have background checks available as an option, video & in-person interviews/meet & greets

6/2017-In the USA, with the data breach at Equifax I think it's beyond the time we need to have separate identification numbers for financial, tax and health.  That way if hackers get a hold of one of the numbers they don't hold the key to your life.  It's so frustrating for the victims as they have to deal with being told their guilty and need to prove their innocence.  How fair is that, to become a victim due to lack of controls only to continue to be victimized again and again.  I would have thought with the credit card breaches would have started a bigger and better conversation to separate the numbers, but nothing so far....

Enough of the generation bashing and more helpful information:

I understand that we have an almost compulsion to compare ourselves to others.  It's helpful to try and prevent mistakes made in the past.  What's not helpful is making random comparisons that do not make sense.  For example, comparing a 20 year to a 40 year old lifestyle and spending habits.  It's understandable to group ages together for comparison, but it would more helpful to compare the ages groups when they were the same age.  Here's a better example:  the spending habits of the silent generation when they were 20-25 vs the baby boomer generation when they were 20-25 vs the Gen X when they were 20-25, etc.  These are some of the comparisons I would like to see:

•  How many went to college
• Average college cost/debt (in current dollars)
• Average age of getting married
• Average age of buying a house
• Average cost of a house (I know, this is very dependent on the area in which you live) 
• Average age of having children
• Number of children
• How much they have in savings
• How much in retirement/Pension
• % of companies that offer a 401K, pension, etc
• Average amount in debt
• Type of debt
• Average age of moving out of their parents
• Average salary
• Spending/lifestyle (it will be fascinating to see how spending habits change with technology advances, 10 years ago people did not want to pay extra for their phone, now people would rather go out to eat less and have a better phone
•  Etc

I think it would be very enlightening to see how these statistics compare at 5 year increments between the generations.  I feel this would be more helpful than saying a young kid in college attitude and spending versus someone just about to retire.  Or something else that throws off the statistics is the variation of ages within a generation (i.e., Boomer 1946-1964) so one could be 18 and one could be 36.  That's a huge attitude difference...a father to a son, but yet still compared within the same generation statistic.


It's always interesting how the news outlets are so quick to compare, and give hints here and there, but it would be nice to have more of best practices or "road maps" per age grouping.  Some individuals have an advantage in that they are able to study financing courses in college, but what about others....how do they know what to do and their options.  It would also be helpful to have listings of helpful experiences of items "of things I wish someone would have told me"

• 4-year college, tech college and/or straight into the workforce
• How to pay (options)
• Financial aid, loans, scholarships
• Buy a new car, buy a used car, or lease
• Have kids
• Have pets
• Rent or own
• Retirement savings options
• Budget line items commonly in each age bracket
• Etc

Update: I found a website that shows a good list of personal finances apps/websites

•  Investor Junkie