Another over entitled mentality Gen Y

Gen Y is not that bad.

I think they're certainly a bit more pessimistic about shares and property prices, but I think almost every Gen Y I know - except for maybe two people - (and I know a lot since I'm a Gen Y myself) has at least 1 IP and is interested in building wealth. I reckon I can count 30-40 of them.

Of course, they're more well-travelled than their parents at the same age. Most have been to most continents except for maybe Africa (yes, many have done Antarctica) and like to eat at good restaurants (organic, healthy, good produce). But they don't necesarilly chase Hermes or Maseratis like their peers in China. If you were to compare Australian Gen Ys with what we call the 80s and 90s in China (which I guess is a mix of Gen X, Y and Z), we certainly have the least expectations. In China, if you weren't wearing a Hermes belt and A Testoni shoes by 30 and driving a Porsche, you won't get much attention from people.

Are Gen Y lazy? So-so. I know some very hard working engineers, tradies, bankers, lawyers, consultants - they work til 12am everyday and save every penny. Also know a few who dream of inventing the next big app but just spend most of their day at the Incubus or York Butter Factory loitering around. So both types exist. Probably no different to when the baby boomers were young.

Are times tougher this generation? So-so. It's more expensive to buy a house, but the interest rate is less. Not sure if there were IO loans in the 70s. It's cheaper to catch a flight, and if you're savvy wechat/taobao/alibaba/facebook/line/gumtree/classified ads/uber should get you much better bang for buck than your parents' time. I'd like to think my generation has so much more opportunities than the baby boomers'. Making money has never been so easy.

I would argue I have probably done more than my parents at 29. I could retire with probably millions in equity right now all from own work. At 29, my mum was probably still wandering around Chapel St as a backpacker (from Hong Kong) and my father was slaving away at a Chinese takeway. I think a lot of Gen Y see the opportunities, and what they're saying is, why slave away at a job when you can grasp these opportunities (tech, Europe, China, India, Indonesia, internet - there's money everywhere if you looked).

I guess what Gen Y are lacking (and I'm certainly guilty of it) is the tenancy of some baby boomers to persevere, who toughed it out for 10-15 or maybe 20 years, build a solid foundation, and then grasp the opportunities at 35 or 40. They want to grasp it now. Like NOW!

Hi DB,

What you have noticed with Gen Y is what I have noticed as well. There is definitely a big difference in the young people born after about 1990 though. I don't know what generation they fall into but they seem to be the ones most people reference in their anecdotal evidence against Gen Y. Most Gen Y's I know, like I have said, are busting a nut working and basically getting on with life. Heaps have Higher education or trades and are working way more than 38 hour weeks.

All this talk about Gen Y getting prizes for just participating and a lack of discipline at schools came into effect around 2005. I remember this because My Brother and I used to laugh with our younger neighbors about how ridiculous it was all getting. Even the army introduced some ridiculously soft policies in around mid 2005 and it only got worse with the PC/cuddly feeling stuff. It has been starting to reverse, thank god, but is not back to where it was.
 
DB, as I often say about this site; we here are living in a fishbowl of a minority of folks in Australian society.

You may know a lot of GenY who own an IP in your sphere of folks, but the vast majority of people in Aus are happy to own one house at any age-group.

The majority of people in Aus (95%) aren't what we here on SS are - financially literate, and willing to pull the trigger on buying an IP, and with the resources to do it.

Plenty of folks out there want to do it, but most are not able to go through with it.

Think about how sick in the stomach you (and I) felt buying your first IP - like standing on the bridge before doing a bungee jump -everyone has that sensation, and for many it stops them cold.

I don't know BayView about that. The world goes on irrespective. Are Gen Y really that bad?

Don't forget one day Gen Ys will be the billionaires of this country, they will have their potraits next to the great Howard and Hawke and, gasp, Curtin and Menzies. Some will have their portraits next to Washington and Mao.

I'm sure when Gen Ys are 60s they'll be talking about how they used to tough it out and how lazy the people born in 2040s are.
 
Hi DB,

What you have noticed with Gen Y is what I have noticed as well. There is definitely a big difference in the young people born after about 1990 though. I don't know what generation they fall into but they seem to be the ones most people reference in their anecdotal evidence against Gen Y. Most Gen Y's I know, like I have said, are busting a nut working and basically getting on with life. Heaps have Higher education or trades and are working way more than 38 hour weeks.

All this talk about Gen Y getting prizes for just participating and a lack of discipline at schools came into effect around 2005. I remember this because My Brother and I used to laugh with our younger neighbors about how ridiculous it was all getting. Even the army introduced some ridiculously soft policies in around mid 2005 and it only got worse with the PC/cuddly feeling stuff. It has been starting to reverse, thank god, but is not back to where it was.

Yes in China/HK/Taiwan we distinguish people born in 80s and 90s.

The common view is 90s usually don't want to work an honest day in a full time job, they just want to buy gadgets, and they all think they can be the next Jack Ma or Mark Zuckerberg without working more than 20 hours a week.

I'm sure there're exceptions though.
 
Two issues:

a) What is the "use" that you refer to?
b) Did the person do any planning or research before applying for the degree to find out how it will help with (a), what barriers they may face and what else they might need to do to get there?

If so, I think you'll find that for most people who do this, the degrees in question are in fact not "useless" at all.

What degrees are the most useful in your opinion?

Something that actually poses direct and practical use

Eg basketball coach. No amount of study or textbooks is going to work. You need to be able to practicallly do it


That being said doctors. Engineers. Etc etc a degre is essential.
i havr a straight economics degree
most usrless peice of paper then Used toilet paper

It has helped me in no way in any job i could have applied for.

I consider it to be a useless degree
 
Ok, that's interesting. Did you end up working in that area at all? I completed an arts degree (PR/journalism majors) and think it was well worth doing.

From my experience, a lot of people who claim their degrees were useless didn't do any research beforehand to find out what the actual requirements are of the job they're interested in and what the job would actually be like. Obviously, not everyone is like this but I have seen many that are.
 
I don't know BayView about that. The world goes on irrespective. Are Gen Y really that bad?

Don't forget one day Gen Ys will be the billionaires of this country, they will have their potraits next to the great Howard and Hawke and, gasp, Curtin and Menzies. Some will have their portraits next to Washington and Mao.

I'm sure when Gen Ys are 60s they'll be talking about how they used to tough it out and how lazy the people born in 2040s are.
I wasn't saying Gen Y was bad. You've misinterpreted my post.

I was saying that your experience with the volume of Gen Y's that are active in IP's is very distorted from the general population.

I reckon if you were to stop 100 random folks in the street in various locations (100 in each location for evenness and not "postcode loaded"), and ask them if they know anyone who owns an IP, most would not know anyone.

We here on SS know a higher percentage because we are like-minded and tend to surround ourselves with similar (over a period of time).

Having said that; I've been in investing since 2001, and I still can count on one hand the amount of folks I know who own an IP (outside of this forum).
 
Hi DB,

What you have noticed with Gen Y is what I have noticed as well. There is definitely a big difference in the young people born after about 1990 though. I don't know what generation they fall into but they seem to be the ones most people reference in their anecdotal evidence against Gen Y. Most Gen Y's I know, like I have said, are busting a nut working and basically getting on with life. Heaps have Higher education or trades and are working way more than 38 hour weeks.

All this talk about Gen Y getting prizes for just participating and a lack of discipline at schools came into effect around 2005. I remember this because My Brother and I used to laugh with our younger neighbors about how ridiculous it was all getting. Even the army introduced some ridiculously soft policies in around mid 2005 and it only got worse with the PC/cuddly feeling stuff. It has been starting to reverse, thank god, but is not back to where it was.
I thought gen y was 1979/80/81 to 90 born? and after that is Gen Z

anyway, degreee of truth or not to how bad gen y are, its partly the responsibility of the gen x who have allowed and a\continually allow this sort of behaviour

my current misses has two kids from a previous marriage, and yes they are great kids but sometimes I have to bite my lip when I feel she lets them walk over her

eg. a couple of weeks ago, daughter had a problem with her laptop and cracked the ****s and smashed it on the ground, and mother has refused to fix it (good on her for stadning her ground), but will eventually give in way too early

her other child is ridiculously fussy with their food, every time we go out 80% of the time they will sit at dinner not eat a thing and mummy has to pick up mcdonaldss on the way home because 'he cant eat this and that'


and a quote

?The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.?


― Socrates

so generation bashing has been going on for 1000s of years!!!
 
Hi TMNT,

If one of mine had smashed their laptop they would be writing with a pen for a very long time or buy their own new one. No way anything they deliberately broke would be replaced .......... ever !!

You must find it very hard to tolerate and I would point out that the "kids" need to learn that things are not "free" before starting work and having responsibilities.

It is doing them no favours letting them carry on like 3 year olds when before too long they will be legally responsible for any impetuous actions
 
http://www.theage.com.au/business/meet-the-rich-and-poor-of-generation-y-20150505-gguoxi.html

Dont really want to turn it into a gen Y bashing article, but its interesting to note the following for me.

- She expects to be married and debt free at 26
- she bought a IP at 21 in bris and hasnt gone up at all (thats quite a bad investment, or maybe it hasnt doulbed in 5 years so its a financial disaster in her eyes)
- not sure how you can live overseas and live it up while increase your wealth for the average person
- shes 27 and has been slaving away her 20s....... (i didnt know the 20s ended at 27)

obviously sensationalised journalism, but it does reflect the mentality

Seems like she regrets the decision she made, it doesn't seem like she's trying to blame anyone else for it. Committing to an buying property at 21 rules out a lot of adventures to be had early in life. I got the impression from the story that she regretted the decision she made to buy a place and if she had her time over would rather have done something else.

Only thing I can fault her on is placing herself in the "have-not" basket, which may or may not have been at the prompting of the journalist writing the article and needing an angle to sell the story.
 
Seems like she regrets the decision she made, it doesn't seem like she's trying to blame anyone else for it. Committing to an buying property at 21 rules out a lot of adventures to be had early in life. I got the impression from the story that she regretted the decision she made to buy a place and if she had her time over would rather have done something else.

Only thing I can fault her on is placing herself in the "have-not" basket, which may or may not have been at the prompting of the journalist writing the article and needing an angle to sell the story.
Yes; classing herself as a have-not was the deal breaker...but she was on aloser from the moment she decided to do the interview.

I can give you about a dozen examples of that type of regret thing from my life too. We all can.

So, what?, big deal, cry myself a river, and so forth...

Every single person can list examples of lost opportunity cost of time and money in their life.

The self-obsession and need to tell the entire world of it is what makes her lose a lot of votes for many.
 
and a quote

?The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.?


― Socrates

so generation bashing has been going on for 1000s of years!!!

But look what happened to Socrates,he was just too smart for his time and the clarity he saw,that's until he was poisoned..
 
Um, anyone who bought property in Brisbane five years ago would have found it is worth the same now as what it was then. How dare the little baby complain?

I'm a poor hard working under class Australian named Alexandra* (not my real name) who doesn't have blonde hair. We own 1.5 million$ in real estate and it has meant that we haven't been able to retire yet and travel all around the world Business Class like the brochures at the Equity Mate bank implied. Darn, we are such losers, hey Bayview :) We are wasting our lives working for a living and hanging out for the next property boom. We went to Europe last year but only went pensioner class, and I didn't encounter any hipsters anywhere. O dear:eek: Note to self - Must go skiing this year.

Wait on, I just cant seem to get the CC debt above $800 at any one time such a first world problem.

Signed: Whinging young Baby Boomer unfortunate not to live in Sydney and doomed to a wasted life of drudgery in Sunny Qld.

That feels better!
 
I think every generation is basically the same. The only difference is their external environment, which might change their attitudes a bit. But in the end they're not much different.

The only difference I see is that society is constantly progressing. 50 years ago it was perfectly acceptable to openly discriminate based on race/gender/lifestyle. 100 years ago bigotry on any level was quite normal. 200 years ago you could have a peasant hanged for stealing a loaf of bread from your kitchen.

And to be honest, if you were born in a first world country in the 20th century or later (that wasn't invaded during either world wars), you've had it good. Previous generations have had to deal with famine, plague, invasion, banditry, pirates, slavery, bigotry, etc etc. For people born outside the first world today, many of those things still exist.
 
Supply and demand - unfortunately a lot of degrees have little marketable value in the jobs market. Economics degrees certainly fall into that category (in Adelaide), I know quite a few people with them - none of which could find related employment.

At least I'm not the only one. I actually feel a bit better hearing that as I used to take it really personally.
 
I like how a lot of people on this forum are always complaining about gen Y. (Sarcasm)

Who raised gen Y?

While I dislike the majority of gen Yers myself, I am smart enough to realise that the fault started with gen X.
 
Ok, that's interesting. Did you end up working in that area at all? I completed an arts degree (PR/journalism majors) and think it was well worth doing.

From my experience, a lot of people who claim their degrees were useless didn't do any research beforehand to find out what the actual requirements are of the job they're interested in and what the job would actually be like. Obviously, not everyone is like this but I have seen many that are.

When you are 17 finishing year 12, how the hell do you actually know what you want to do in life?
 
Hi TMNT,

If one of mine had smashed their laptop they would be writing with a pen for a very long time or buy their own new one. No way anything they deliberately broke would be replaced .......... ever !!

You must find it very hard to tolerate and I would point out that the "kids" need to learn that things are not "free" before starting work and having responsibilities.

It is doing them no favours letting them carry on like 3 year olds when before too long they will be legally responsible for any impetuous actions
I hear ya macca!! kudos to you

yeah if my kids smashed their laptop, id probably slap them across the face (yes, call DOCS!), but luckily they havent done anything remotely near that

her kids are genuinely good kids, mummy has just spoilt them with their food and their toys, partly because mummy grew up quite poor and a very broken family. as a result, one childs 'cannot eat list' is like a phonebook

unfortuantely, they are her kids and not mine, and I cannot throw on them my beliefs and standards, and vice versa, so sometimes I have to bite my lip.

I have a friend who:s parents let the kid do absolutely whatever he wanted, even though parents werent rich, and although he is a really smart guy, as an adult his 'cannot eat list ' is also like a phone book, is lazy as anything, and has a few other issues. however, I dont want her child to turn out like him, so I do let her know what I think in a diplomatic way
 
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