I get it, I do. I'm 70 and my husband is 65, and we helped out our 28-year-old daughter in 2022 with a down payment on a starter home just outside of Austin, TX. The house cost $300k and is now worth about $335K, so she's building up some equity. But she only makes $20/hour, and shares with a housemate who makes about the same. So it's a…
I get it, I do. I'm 70 and my husband is 65, and we helped out our 28-year-old daughter in 2022 with a down payment on a starter home just outside of Austin, TX. The house cost $300k and is now worth about $335K, so she's building up some equity. But she only makes $20/hour, and shares with a housemate who makes about the same. So it's a struggle.
But last month saw the passing of author Landon Y. Jones. He died at 80 after a career as a graduate of Princeton University who later worked at Time Magazine and became at points in his journey the editor of People Magazine and Money Magazine.
Born in 1943, Jones was a member of the Silent Generation, and in 1980 he published a book titled "Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation" in which he posited that Baby Boomers would be the first American generation to have a less successful life than their parents. In this prediction, at least, he proved to be spectacularly wrong, as Baby Boomers -- of whom I am one -- have by and large exceeded all "great expectations" to become possibly the wealthiest and most comfortable generation in the history of the Planet Earth.
So far.
I have hope for our future, and for the future of our young people. My own parents and grandparents started with nothing and built successful lives, on which I -- thanks be to God -- have been able to build as well. Americans need to remember our "can do" spirit. Few are wealthy, comfortable, and secure at 75, much less 25. So the pessimism of our young should be tempered. Keep working, learning, and growing. The American Dream is still there, and you will find it.
I get it, I do. I'm 70 and my husband is 65, and we helped out our 28-year-old daughter in 2022 with a down payment on a starter home just outside of Austin, TX. The house cost $300k and is now worth about $335K, so she's building up some equity. But she only makes $20/hour, and shares with a housemate who makes about the same. So it's a struggle.
But last month saw the passing of author Landon Y. Jones. He died at 80 after a career as a graduate of Princeton University who later worked at Time Magazine and became at points in his journey the editor of People Magazine and Money Magazine.
Born in 1943, Jones was a member of the Silent Generation, and in 1980 he published a book titled "Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation" in which he posited that Baby Boomers would be the first American generation to have a less successful life than their parents. In this prediction, at least, he proved to be spectacularly wrong, as Baby Boomers -- of whom I am one -- have by and large exceeded all "great expectations" to become possibly the wealthiest and most comfortable generation in the history of the Planet Earth.
So far.
I have hope for our future, and for the future of our young people. My own parents and grandparents started with nothing and built successful lives, on which I -- thanks be to God -- have been able to build as well. Americans need to remember our "can do" spirit. Few are wealthy, comfortable, and secure at 75, much less 25. So the pessimism of our young should be tempered. Keep working, learning, and growing. The American Dream is still there, and you will find it.