“Right now just 1% of the world’s population — the aforementioned rich — own just over half, 50.1%, of all of the world’s wealth. That’s up from 45.5% in 2001.”
“While Millennials are more educated than preceding generations…we expect only a minority of high achievers and those in high- effectively overcome the ‘millennial disadvantage.’”
I honestly don’t know a single person that’s my peer that owns a home without help or it be given to them by family. All the highly educated ones have relocated to cities and places with high housing demand as that’s where the good jobs are. But zero chance of owning a home.
This could be made even more true or worse, with a (a) declining, (b) ageing and © longer-living population, where the millenial (individual or couple) will need to support more elderly persons in their families.
Millennials with STEM degrees are doing fine.
Millennials with social “science” degrees and liberal arts degrees are doing much worse, and if they borrowed heavily to finance such low-ROI degrees then it’s true they may have unknowingly chosen to spend their near-term future as a kind of 21st-century peasant (albeit one with access to smartphones and easy credit).
They would probably benefit from seeking jobs in the trades, assuming they can drop certain of their pretensions. A good plumber can make as much - or more - as a mid-career software engineer. They may also have to migrate from, say Portland, Oregon, to say, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Longer life expectancy causing later retirements is problematic for upwards movement of young people in firms. Also the housing and market crash is forcing the generation before to have to wait longer to retire still feeling the loss.
I blame the everyone is capable of doing everything mentally. This is simply not true, and we don’t need to make people feel bad about it. A low IQ individual isn’t capable of doing many jobs, that’s true. And you can’t work yourself to success and wealth either. The premise of lack of hard work is the problem as well as the idea that anyone can do anything is not helping. We need better and realistic job placement. Make trade schools relevant again and desired. Like you said a good tradesmen can make a pretty good wage. We also really need to make degrees 3 years. I understand the logic of learning things like geology and social science to make people more well rounded. But it’s costing a year of people’s lives and tuition to basically learn things they will never use. Many schools in Europe are moving to 3 years degrees in specialized fields.
Disagree. Hard work is necessary for success (outside winning the lottery), but it’s true that by itself it’s not enough. You have to choose to work hard for higher rewards. Whether that’s in business for yourself or in a job for which there’s high demand. It’s all about the choices that are made.
I’m not saying you don’t need to work hard. It’s simply not a realistic anymore to just work hard. a low IQ individual can work hard and never taste the wealth of someone who’s just smarter unless they are able to find a job that they can do that’s demanded. It’s even more true today, technology is driving things forward and as it becomes more advanced, more and more people will be left behind. How many Elon musks and mark zuckerbergs can there be? Right job placement is far more important now.
Or simply put, not everyone can be a rocket scientist no matter how hard they work. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a job for them to do.
We still need toilet scrubbers and people to serve food. Agree, we can’t all be Suckerbergs.
And I always say you can’t take it with you so in the long run who cares. Unless your a Daoist then you do take it with you when your kids burn that horrid ghost money everyone else ends up dying from inhaling.
They say on your deathbed you never hear an executive say, i should have put more hours in at the office.
I think Betjeman’s " I haven’t had enough sex" is better.
This is no longer the case. There is a shed load of cash to be made in gender studies. Build up an online presence, be controversial, and the money rolls in.
I am old. What is sad is seeing the younger people (around 30 - 40) we know who do have a fairly good job not saving money due to their love of going to expensive restaurants, travel abroad, branded clothes, driving a BMW, etc.
They took their parents’ money or borrowed heavily to own a home. After going heavily in debt what do they do? Two years later sell the home to buy an even newer home and go heavier in debt…especially after refurbishing the kitchen using the most expensive appliances.
There are so many hard working people who try hard to save money and are having a very hard life. That is why I am sad seeing the above types trying to live the good life before they can actually afford one…
It’s kind of like pro sports though. A few high achievers will do very well for themselves, and the rest will end up washing out and slaving away in minimum wage jobs.
That is true. But that’s the American way.
While I’m certain there are people like this all around (and I know some, personally) I am not sure how much of this crowd contributes to the pool referenced to in the article, or any prevalence studies now.
You mean the Paris of Oklahoma?
hmm, sounds like the West is taking on the culture prevalent in the East whereby parents help buy homes for their children OR the children go back home to live with patents after college.
I have a relative who moved to Texas and got married there. They bought a house near Dallas a couple of years ago … using her parents’ money (which they got from a mortgage on their house in Taiwan) as the both of them only had 20,000 USD (combined) saved in their bank accounts after working for nearly a decade (at least one of them had been working).
Idk what they are doing. Either they’d been heavily indebted by the tuitions or they are just really stupid with money.