“In jobs, they embrace risk and prefer free agency over loyal corporatism. From grunge to hip-hop, their splintery culture reveals a hardened edge. Politically, they lean toward pragmatism and nonaffiliation and would rather volunteer than vote. Widely criticized as X’ers or slackers, they inhabit a Reality Bites economy of declining young-adult living standards.” —Strauss, p. 137
Born 1965 to 1980, Gen X’ers today are roughly age 45 to 60. Their share of American wealth rose to 26% in 2023. Surviving 2008, they reaped the last two decades’ rewards in stocks, crypto and commodities. Plus, 59% of Gen X are homeowners and most of their debt burden is home or auto debt. How can they meet remaining financial challenges?
Solving Mysteries without Adults
X’ers resist generalization even in their name; microcultures and ethnic diversity abound. Ethical relativism and cynicism countered Boomer moralism from Vietnam protests, draft dodging, civil rights and feminism. Oblivious, they enjoyed the last analogue childhood of paper books, cassette tapes and outdoor play with constant television. Their Scooby-Doo cartoons celebrated teens and a dog solving mysteries in a hippie van—without adults.
“[Gen X] survived a hurried childhood of divorce, latchkeys, open classrooms, devil-child movies and a shift from G to R ratings,” writes William Strauss in “The Fourth Turning,” p. 137. “This lack of supervision,” argues Jean Twinge in “Generations,” “combined with being the last generation with a foot firmly in the physical world, made Gen X what it still is today—tough and resilient.”
Teachers neglected X’er students with increasingly inflated grades and artificial self-esteem. Gen X’ers expected professional jobs by age 30 singing, “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.” —Twenge, p. 177. Neglected X’ers are less trusting than Boomers, probably because they faced greater income inequality in the 1990s and the recession of 2008. Gen X reports just 25% satisfaction with finance rather than the Boomers’ 49%.
The Challenges of Neglect
Gen X’ers certainly paid for neglect with higher crime rates, greater venereal disease (including AIDS), more abortions and later marriages than Boomer parents.
“By 2004, when the last of Gen X turned 25, the average age of marriage had risen to 25 for women and 27 for men.” —Twenge, p. 166. “Having children started to become uncoupled from being married. In 1960, only 1 in 20 babies were born to unmarried mothers…. By 1993, it was 1 in 3, and the average age of a woman giving birth to her first child dipped below the age of first marriage for the first time.” —Twenge, p. 167.
Single parents face extraordinary economic challenges with divorce and education planning their keys to stabilization; later marriages without Millennial college success limited savings, encouraged debt and delayed home ownership, leaving blue collar males vulnerable.
“Taking risks comes naturally to what is far and away America’s most active generation of gamblers. “As online sports betters, lottery-ticket regulars, and avid bar bingo players, [X’ers] fill the age brackets that are now (but were not previously) most at risk. ”—Strauss, p. 237.
And, 33% of X’ers risk credit card balances and 36% resort to high-cost borrowers (e.g. Payday loans). Yet risk-taking reduced CD and cash holding in the past decade, when stocks, cryptocurrency and commodities raised wealth. Economic self-reliance served X’ers well when a Third Millenium survey found more X’ers believed in UFOs than Social Security lasting through retirement.
Skills for Wealth-Building
Gen X was first to enhance career productivity with personal computers and email. “Twice as many X’ers say they would rather own their own businesses than be corporate CEOs, and four times as many would rather be entrepreneurs than hold a top job in government.” —Strauss, p. 236. Economics runs on pragmatism and particulars, so X’ers went along with Gordon Gekko’s Wall Street decree: “Greed…is good.”
Gen X gives me hope for planning in America because, by 2019, “45- to 54-year-olds (all Gen X’ers) actually had a higher median household income than Boomers and Silents at the same age in 2004 and 1987, respectively…. So Gen X’ers got a slow start, but did well in the end.” —Twenge, p. 191. Computers raised productivity and post-2009 investments prospered so that X’ers lead in all but self-confidence. And soon many will inherit Boomer wealth!
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.
