Are all of today's teens/20-somethings dealing with entitlement issues?

[brajalle]

I'm 30, so I'm in the Millennial group. The entitlement thing is one that is driven by several issues.

First, most of us (at least the ones you're talking about), come from a middle class background, and have always been told that if we go to college, get a degree, that we will be rewarded with a well paying job of our choice. If you're told that all your life, you believe it, and it's quite hard to shatter that illusion.

Secondly, like every other generation of Americans, we believe we will do better than our parents. We expect to have a better job, to be happier, to be more accomplished. This isn't very grounded in reality, because when combined with point #1, it leads to the belief that we will do so fairly early in life (ie, the degree is the golden ticket).

Thirdly, we have been impacted by our parents financial spending. What that means is that, we witnessed our parents buying anything they want, including for us. Many of our parents still do this, even if they can't. Many of our parents did this on the back of crippling debt, and at the expense of retirement contributions. Yet, to us, this is just our parents being parents. This manifests itself, most commonly, as our parents continuing to be parents in providing long after we graduate high school.

When you combine everything, with a stagnant economy, with a wage growth that has been stagnant since the early 80's for the average person, and with boomers who are unwilling to move on in jobs, you end up with many unrealistic expectations and an enabling atmosphere to allow that to continue. Eventually, depending on the parents financial situation, it may burst, and that's when you see people with graduate degrees working at McDonalds.

What we've created is going to be a lost generation that will end up very bitter to anything their parents generation did. It could result in some great values and an end to excess, but it could also go a negative way. It will be interesting to see, thus far, it has come out in the area of anti-big business, pro-environment, and pro-rights (mainly immigration and gay marriage, we hate the focus on social issues).

For myself, I was lucky. I realized that traditional college wasn't for me, and ended up back home at 19. My parents allowed me to fall flat a few times, and I ended up entering the working world. I have a good job and I save like crazy...and I'm not too happy with my parents generation (although mine had their act together financially). If my generation has some entitlement issues, it's entirely because our parents generation has entitlement issues - we're just going to be in a spot not to have them met.

[LaterBloomer]

My sister has a weight issue. When she was in her 30s, we were talking about it. She said it was due to Mom forcing her to eat when she was a kid. As I said, my sister was in her 30s, and she had moved out of the house when she was in her early 20s. Her weight issue was HER fault after 18, not my mother's. I don't care who your parents are/were. I don't care how they lived/spent/or what they promised you. If you're sitting on your lazy butt, expecting the job of your dreams to land on your lap, and you're 18 or older, it's YOUR problem. Criminy. I'm a screaming liberal, and I'm the one preaching accountability here? The world has turned upside down. Okay, I'm done with my rant.

[ryoder]

Wow. This thread has turned into an us versus them war between the generations.
This is exactly the thing that the Weather Underground was trying to create back in the 1960s with the "kill your father" movement.
This is what the very well organized liberals try to do. They try to turn young people against their parents' generation and the poor against the rich, the have nots against the haves.

I have nothing but love and respect for my parents' and grandparents' generations. These are the generations that freed Korea, put a stop to Hitler, championed civil rights, got us to the moon before the Russians and pretty much kept this country on a decent path.

Try to realize that there are forces out there that are pitting you as a millenial or gen-xer like myself against the older generation. We have much to learn from them. If we do not learn from history then we are doomed to repeat it.

[OE800_85]

I think what we give to our children is really important. My father had a philosophy that, anything truly relating to my education or personal betterment, he would happily pay for. Other things, like a car, entertainment money, things related to my pleasure, I had to work for and earn myself. I think it's reasonable, with the ridiculous cost of college these days and people sometimes graduating with over 50k in debt.

[PonyGirl93]

Wow. This thread has turned into an us versus them war between the generations.

Would it help if I said.... I love old people?? Baha, just kidding, about the old part

I definitely agree that my generation has major entitlement issues as a whole. (!!) However, I think mature members of the gen get a little tired of hearing so many older generational people lump everyone together and grouch about "this generation," when we are working our butts off.

[Storyteller]

When I joined the workforce in the early 1970's I strongly believed all the money I was paying in to Social Security would not be available for me when I reached retirement age.
I'm still a long way off, however, I'm sorry to say, that I was right.
I've been paying in all these years (overpaying according to the SS administration) and it looks like the US govt is going to renege on their pledge.
According to the Social Security Administration brochure I received in 2000, "Social Security is a contract between the generations" - apparently this contract is coming to a quick end.
BTW - As much as I like being right; I hate being right about this!

[ryoder]

Storyteller, I agree with you. I have been paying in since I was 16 years old and I have paid in quite a bit by now. I am assuming that the US will be in such a bad state economically by the time I am ready to retire due to years of over spending and overcommitting to entitlement programs that there will be no social security.
So I am not planning on having a single cent of my lifestyle financed by the federal government. If you read the fine print there is no guarantee of any of that money coming back to you. In fact the democrats are looking into means testing. Which basically means that they can deny you social security if you have other income like a 401k.

Bush tried to change the social security laws to allow for you as someone who pays into the system to designate a portion to go into your own private account. He was lambasted as trying to privatize social security and it was political suicide for the republican party.

If given the choice, would anyone choose to pay their social security taxes to the government over putting those funds into an account they can manage themselves? I think no one would.

[skyfall123]

The "Greatest Generation" and I don't mean mine/ours...
Good article here 7 Lessons in Manliness From the Greatest Generation | The Art of Manliness

Lesson # 1: Take Personal Responsibility for Your Life
Lesson #2: Be Frugal
Lesson #3: Be Humble
Lesson #4: Love Loyally
Lesson #5: Work Hard
Lesson #6: Embrace Challenge
Lesson #7: Don’t Make Life So Damn Complicated

and for anyone raised by the greatest generation....does this sound familiar???

When you reach 18 you are either going to college and working part time or you will need to find other living arrangements. It was uncommon to live at home past 20 and nearly unheard of to be living at home when you were over 24.

[OE800_85]

I think a lot of people don't have the luxury to just "leave home" at 18. I personally love freedom, and took any opportunity to be independent, but I think my friends who have stayed home are being much more fiscally responsible.

So what, you JUST entered the work force, with nothing in your pocket (often best case scenario) or a ton of debt (worst case scenario) and you wanna go out on your own, in today's world where an entry level job often can just pay rent and living expenses, with almost no room for savings?

What about people who get a career, and also stay at home? They're being really financially responsible, saving up for much better investments (like a home on a reasonable mortgage rate, one they can actually pay). They'll be ages ahead of their peers if they stay home and work for a little while. If you're happy being together with your parents, then why not stay for a while longer? I think people shouldn't let their "pride" of being independent get in the way of making sound financial choices.

With the guy above, yes he sounds extremely lazy and pampered, but there are many people who aren't. I have friends who are investment bankers on Bay Street and have been at home for the last 4 or so years, they have saved a ton and lead a great life, they also assist their parents with expenses back home. I think that's a child worthy of respect.

[skyfall123]

Rather than waste early years in dead-end work, he reasoned, he would hold out for a corporate position that would draw on his college training and put him, as he sees it, on the bottom rungs of a career ladder.

This person feels that he is qualified for a management/management training position in a corporate environment.

What business experience does he have? What businesses has he started, owned and operated? He feels his college training has prepared him for a corporate position. In reality, his college training has prepared him to live at home, do odd jobs and send out a few resumes a week……because that is what he is doing………yet he expects a company to put part of their business operations in his hands. Why should they?

Does he start a lawn service, a restaurant carry-out delivery service, a dog-walking service or any other of a hundred businesses that someone with time and energy could handle while pursuing his “dream job”?

His approach to getting a job, his expectations of what job he “deserves” to get and his activities while he is looking for that job all suggest that this particular person’s expectations and actual abilities are miles apart.

Had he been raised by parents of the “greatest generation” in the era of “you go to school AND work” or you live on your own………he would have taken the job offered to him, because he wouldn’t have any other choices.....and maybe that would have been a good thing because maybe that is truly the position that he is actually qualified for.

Not saying it is right or wrong…..just saying.