The misery of youth

  • Thread starter Thread starter lawtig02
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If I recall, Gen X felt this way during the mid-late 90s market run up. Cisco was at one point the largest company by market cap and many felt like you'd missed the best chance. After the 2000 tech bubble burst and 9-11 it seemed somewhat hopeless - or at least sector based with winners and losers. But then by the mid 2000s smart phones and social media began to reset the top of the market.

That said, supportive pre-estate family wealth transfer does personally seem like a bit of a social obligation (if and as you can afford it within the family) - e.g., enabling full funding of Roth IRAs for young workers, minimizing student loan debt, gifts to support down payments, etc.
 
heelinhell said:
I have two daughters ages 39yo and 49yo. Me and the missus sat down with them last Sunday and had a very productive meeting for two hours sharing with them our estate documents ( will ,advance directives, durable and health care POAs ) and a detailed picture of our financial situation ( IRAs and taxable portfolios ).

Their reaction was that they had no idea how rich we are, and I had to emphasize that it may seem like a lot, but 15 years from it will not seem like a lot. I told them that it was imperative that they continue to fund their Roth IRAs if they want to enjoy the same standard of living in retirement that we enjoy.

I funded my traditional IRA at 29yo and my Roth IRA the first day it became available. At the time, my mortgage payment ate up 45% of my net income. We lived without cell phone and internet costs, we had no idea what work-life balance meant, we did not take expensive vacations, and we rarely spent money eating out. No $5 lattes for us. We drank Mr. Coffee and we liked it !

Count me as a grumpy old man 😏


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Where do you live. I’m going to send you my 18 yo for the summer. Everything is approved. Starvation, withholding all tech, even corporal punishment.
 
heelinhell said:
That was our thinking. Why should we deprive ourselves the joy of seeing how our gifts help our children ?

Given the 13 million dollar estate tax exclusion, we are not avoiding the tax man at this point, but I will welcome that problem if and when the time comes. 😜
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Amen to that!!
 
Some really good comments here. I was worried we were moving in the direction of a "how do you invest wisely" discussion, which is really beside the point because the people I'm talking about don't have free money to invest (which may or may not be a result of their choices). But the comments about intentionally helping young people understand financial hygiene and, where possible, passing down wealth from older generations to younger generations long before death ring very true. If someone wants to live in one of those giant mansions in Eastover or Glenwood until they're 90, that's certainly their prerogative. But if I ever find myself in that situation, I'm downsizing by 65 or so and helping my kids get into their own dream homes while they're young enough to really enjoy it.
 
Callatoroy said:
Where do you live. I’m going to send you my 18 yo for the summer. Everything is approved. Starvation, withholding all tech, even corporal punishment.
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I live in the Peoples Republic of Carrboro.

I will gladly host your 18yo to spend this summer with us. I will convert him/her to the Democratic Party which has always been the party of a good economy and better returns in the stock market. And I will develop a financial plan that will put your 18yo on a path to becoming a multi- millionaire :cool:
 
lawtig02 said:
Some really good comments here. I was worried we were moving in the direction of a "how do you invest wisely" discussion, which is really beside the point because the people I'm talking about don't have free money to invest (which may or may not be a result of their choices). But the comments about intentionally helping young people understand financial hygiene and, where possible, passing down wealth from older generations to younger generations long before death ring very true. If someone wants to live in one of those giant mansions in Eastover or Glenwood until they're 90, that's certainly their prerogative. But if I ever find myself in that situation, I'm downsizing by 65 or so and helping my kids get into their own dream homes while they're young enough to really enjoy it.
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Totally agree. And that’s kind of my fault for initially unintentionally steering the thread in a “how do you invest wisely” theme. Sorry about that!
 
CFordUNC said:
Oh man, I knew you were my kind of guy! I am a huge nerd about this stuff. If you haven’t heard of it already, you would absolutely love the book “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel.
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I looked up Morgan Housel and I'm listening to an interview. Interesting concepts.
 
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