“The Unexamined Life is not worth Living.” —Socrates
The Press Banner kindly published articles readily searched at pressbanner.com, which cumulatively give local readers comprehensive financial education. Stylistically divergent, sometimes fictional, they either constitute general planning advice (“What is Financial Planning,” “Your Home, Your Wealth and Your Life Plan” and “Diversify Stock Rabbits with Bond Turtles”), topical advice critical to significant groups (“Divorce Planning Challenges” or “IRS Collections”) or planning changes related to current events (“Investing Strategies in Trump’s Economy” and “The AI Tsunami”).
Let’s celebrate with relevant quotes from Shakespeare’s “All the World’s a Stage” because he still muses for lives well planned.
Gen Z (born 1997-2012)
Gen Alpha may be “mewling and puking” with “Child Tax After Trump Reforms,” but “Zoomer Finance” shows Gen Z, “Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad” as the latest generation to control its own finances—37% run businesses needing “Entrepreneur Tax.” Visual thinkers, they pursue social media more than four hours daily and prefer IM at work and gamey investment custodians like Robinhood.
Most do “Socially Responsible Investing” alongside “Cryptocurrency” risks, ignoring “Fundamental Analysis of Securities” in “For the Love of Stocks.” A $27,380 median income limits financial options, which Zoomers exploit efficiently with app-based monitoring of expenditures and automated investments before adulthood, grasping that “The Rule of 72” multiplies savings.
Millennials (born 1981-96)
“Millennials: Nurtured for Prosperity” shows them as “the highest educated generation to date, with 43.6% holding bachelor’s degrees or higher.” With daunting student loan debts, are they “Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad”? Trained in using social media for networking and efficiency (mostly Facebook and Instagram), many switch jobs or borrow with credit cards (36%), auto loans (33%) and high-cost borrowings (46%).
They should read “Financing College Education,” “Getting Drunk on Debt” and “Buckets for Budgeting.” Millennials may gain quick wealth with “Employee Stock Options” but need “bettering credit scores” to qualify for the homes 45% amazingly own.
Generation X (born 1965-80)
“Gen X Planning” came somewhat spontaneously to relatively neglected latchkey kids, who left solid career paths and invested boldly like soldiers “Seeking the Bubble reputation.” Securities grew their share of American wealth from 15% in 2013 to 26% in 2023. Many were “Hedging Stocks with REITs” or “Commodities Investing in Uncertain Times”—59% are homeowners and most of their debt burden is home or auto debt. But 33% maintain credit card balances and 36% resort to high-cost borrowers. Gen X reports 25% satisfaction with finance rather than the Boomers’ 49%. As this Generation seriously considers “Life Insurance” for kids, living trusts in “Death and Taxes” and “IRS Collections,” many will gain confidence matching achievements.
Baby Boomers (born 1946-64)
About 75% of Boomers own homes, and this generation—20% of the population—controls 52% of the country’s wealth as “Prophets,” questioning Vietnam now “Full of wise saws and modern instances.” Most abandoned abacuses, CDs and whole life policies to choose retirement planning advice for stocks, bonds in 401{k}s and IRAs. “Landlording in the SC Mountains” is often a Boomer game requiring accumulated capital and a solid grasp of “Landlord Tax.”
Suffering from “Local Tax Impact in Santa Cruz County” and the “Home Insurance Crisis,” many would benefit from “Reverse Mortgages for Retirement.” “Planning for Longevity” is the Boomer’s challenging reward.
Silent Generation (born 1928-45) and Greatest Generation (born 1901-27)
Surviving the depression and living up to the Greatest Generation, which won world wars, the Silent Generation “With spectacles on nose and pouch on side” knew frugality from depression incomes and war rationing. Raised before computers, they anticipated delayed gratification and held onto steady jobs, GI Bill housing and larger families.
These generations defensively hold multiple bank accounts, life insurance savings or Municipal bonds and I daringly encourage more return in “Life Insurance: Who Needs it?” I do advise “Avoiding Appalling Fees for Financial Advice” as “Christians Celebrate Planned Giving.” Apart from “Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans” with “Tax Dimensions of Retirement Plans,” Social Security and Corporate pensions dominate past financial decisions to avoid institutional “Long Term Care” by “Financing Home Care in the SLV.” With “Taxing the Rich,” they face impermanence “Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
Robert Arne, EA, CFP, MS, of Carpe Diem Financial Life Planning, is a Santa Cruz Mountain Certified Financial Planner who gives holistic financial advice as his client’s fee-only fiduciary. These articles are not personal financial, mortgage, tax or investment advice; consult appropriate professionals. Learn more at www.carpediem.financial.
