GRABBINGSAND

At this point in my life I’d be happy if I just had the $5,000. But really from that quote they don’t tell us anything about that woman, what kind of profession she’s in and what kind of education she has…. that’s misleading. If she’s a harvard grad – okay – well – there might be something wrong with that. But if she graduated with a 2 year degree from Central Alabama Community College and has 3 kids out of wedlock. Well – I don’t think that’s half bad.
My two cents. Off to the movies now.

heehee. i have two hundred in savings and i think that is awesome!

I agree w/ Janice that there’s no way to know anything about who this person is. Did they even say anything about the “average” Gen-Xer? (If there is such a thing.) How do they define “should”? I think part of what they’re getting at is the “spend, spend, spend” and use credit, credit, credit nature of younger generations as opposed to the same behavior (or lack thereof) in their parents. But that still doesn’t tell us anything about the whys and wherefores of this $100,000 everyone “should” have by the time they’re 32 or so.

Savings? 401k? Equity? What the hell are you people talking about?

What does it matter, anyway? We’re about to go to war. The economy is going to tank. If Al-Quesadilla doesn’t fly another plane into our already sinking confidence, SoDamn Insane will…except his will be more of a “Close Encounters of the Bio-Chemical Kind”. The time for substances ‘hitting the fan’ is upon us.

Yet Fortune Magazine still holds the ideal of having $100,000 saved up by the time we’re 32? Well, of course it’s our fault that we don’t have any savings. Because we’re the ones responsible for all the corporate corruption and greedy bastards who enjoy downsizing their own workforce in order to give themselves a raise. Let me tell you something, folks: We are living in the world that our parents (and their parents) have created for us. We suffer from their mistakes. And I don’t mean YOUR parents specifically. I refer to the baby boomer generation that came before us…you know, the ones who are now old enough to be our parents. They aren’t the ones who have to worry about ‘making their way’ in the present economic climate. A helluva lot has changed since the phrase “Enough to live comfortably” was introduced as an acceptable answer to “How much do you make?” At that time, ‘living comfortably’ did not mean the same thing it does today, which (for me, at least) means ‘enough to keep the lights, gas and phone on while simultaneously getting by without the creditors breaking my door down.’

Then again, I’m sure they know exactly what they are talking about at Fortune Magazine. I mean, they are a pool of market experts who know the ins and outs of the trade, right? And I’m sure that if I was working for Fortune Magazine, I would be able to save up a nice chunk of change, as well.

Or maybe not. Did the person who wrote the article tell us about their financial situation? Or are they even 32 yet? More importantly, are they piercing-free? Because that matters. Honestly.

If number of piercings (location notwithstanding) is somehow inversely related to your income, I need to start removing things.

i took out all my piercings a couple of years ago and ,damnit, nothing seemed to happen as far my income goes. i’ve been had!

Yeah – didn’t like that whole removing piercings to actually work in the productive real world to make chump change. I was a lot more fun with metal in my eyebrow.

Zip – I wholeheartedly agree with you. We are living in the world that others created for us and yet they criticize how we live our lives…. nobody said life was fair but I think judging us for something that ain’t our fault kinda really sucks… of course I’m excluding the 20 somethings who are still living with mom and dad spending their days smoking pot because hey – that’s just kinda sad.

Wow. Looks like this article might have touched a nerve or two! Everyone just take a sip of some single malt whiskey and calm down (buy it on credit if you have to).

Now there’s no need to go removing your piercings. They’re far too much fun.

Don’t worry about your 401(k). If it’s not going to reach $100,000 before you’re 32 it’s OK. Just save the money that you can, ideally 10% of your gross earnings. Invest wisely. Don’t keep a big savings account around, the interest rate is very good. You’ll get a much higher yield off of a 3 or 5 year CD (not N’Sync). Savings bonds are not currently considered a good value. Look into some mutual funds. Stay away from tech stocks. I think we might have a real estate slump soon, so watch out there.

If you can’t put away 10%, then don’t worry. You’re not going to starve when you retire. You can just live off your Social Security. Giggle.

i am a waitress i will never starve,however if i relied on my history degree i would.

i took out my piercings in a mad fit one day having nothing to do with my work. actually i decided that piercings, like nice underwear, are only for the viewing pleasure of a select few, so i took out everything anyone could see, although i do get questions about the half inch thick bone skulls in my ear. i can’t give up my big fat holes!

Ummmm… well… as much as pieces of that article pissed me off, their dollar amount for a married 32 year old is right — if you want to live decently when you retire.

You have to consider inflation. Let’s say that grows at 4% a year. Well, if you are earning 8% (slightly high, but realistic) that means that you really are earning roughly 4% on your money.

*whips out calculator* if she did have $100K in the bank now (at 32), and wanted to retire at 65 (in 33 years), she would need to save $15,536.80 a year just to have one million at 65 (earning 8%). Having that much saved at retirement only gives her an annual income of $11,682.95 per year until she was 80, or $ 9,367.88 until she was 90. Without factoring in inflation, is that really enough to live on???

(Granted, I made some assumptions with age… calculating annual payments for 15 years and 25 years, with the money still earning 8%. However, I did this to get some numbers to show everyone.)

When you crunch the numbers it can be very sobering!

Oh, and I forgot…

BURN THOSE GREEDY CORPORATE CEOS IN HELL!!!! Seems rather funny that their saleries have a growth rate of double to triple digits in the past 10 years, but average saleries for Joe Blow worker have barely risen…

okay, I’ll stop… sorry, I am bored at work, my stupid student job… *sigh*

Did any of you actually read the entire article before replying? Did Thomas even read the entire article before posting the quote? I actually thought it was a really good piece. It wasn’t blaming Gen X at all, and it does give details about Karen Doss, if you would actually read the thing.

Of course, I’m biased. I like it because it points out that college degrees are often a big fat waste of money. (I have been screaming this for years.) Ironically, I’m probably closer to Fortune’s ideal than most people, simply because since I dropped out of college early, I never had a student loan, have never had any credit card debt, and (since I was working full time instead of going to school) I opened a 401k at age 21. It makes me feel vindicated.

That said, I do think having that much money in equity is pretty unrealistic for most people. (I have nowhere near that.) It also assumes that Gen X’ers need that much so early because they will need to spend more in their 30s, presumably by raising children, which not all of us plan to do. *snorts* Now, pretty please, would all of you go back and read the article?

This article looks pretty interesting… I’ll read it tonight on my way to Florida to visit the in-laws.

It all does make me think that something’s not working in this dumb country of ours. Should it really be this hard? You finally graduate from college and take a job you don’t really want so you can pay off that degree you don’t use anyway.

That has been my experience, anyway (thanks, Berry College, for that incredibly vague “broad, liberal-arts education,” cough cough).

A college degree seems to just function like a union card in our present day — it legitimizes you and helps you get in the door.

I don’t think it should work this way. But I haven’t figured out how to work around it. So I keep going along with it (sigh).

I read the article, and I never suggested that the article was blaming Gen Xers. If anything, the article is about me, too. See, the article specifically refers to the Gen Xers who are complaining about the economy. That is what I am doing.

Here at work, my entire department is hanging on a thread. None of us know if we will still have a job by the end of the year. And with the present state of the economy (what with another 10,000 laid off here and 600 more laid off there), the prospects are looking more and more like Kate Moss from the side – pretty damn slim.

Some people are more lucky than others, plain and simple. Therefore, most of us do get stuck with worthless college degrees, mounting bills, loans, whatever. Some people don’t find out about savings and 401k’s until it’s too late. Some things aren’t taught in schools…or at home, for that matter. Some people don’t have the same oppotunities and fortune that others have. It’s life – we all have to face it at some point.

I merely suggest: if one needs a place to throw blame, I’ll give you a place to start.

It’s all about the economic squeeze. Your hard work or study is value. Your value is then skimmed by the economy/gov’t/power and you end up whining ’cause you have nothing left. Nothing has changed over centuries. The king that rules has your money, your time, your value. We will always be struggling in life because the human being is flawed. He/she has a thinking brain. Sometimes I wonder if I can claim “disability” because I have cognitive thinking! Humankind is a freak of nature. The greatest genius’ of mankind have only “discovered” nature that was already here. To be “great” in this world you merely have to devise a more secretive method of “robbing peter to pay paul”. “Intelligence” is moot. “Wisdom” has no value in the western world. And we then ease the natural pain by believing in a God. Really a clever mechanism to steer our eyes and mind and life toward a master. So I will repeat myself, the human brain is a handicap. A freak upon nature but a necessary evil to allow God’s nature to continue evolvment. Now put that in your pipe and smopke it!!