Unluckiest Generation
 

Some are saying that millennials are the unluckiest generation in American History. Thinking about how many millennials are about to have their 3rd furlough I’m thinking they’re probably right.

www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/58E619CE-A10F-11EA-8E16-6909CF58D747

In for privileged boomer rage.

I averaged 28k/year from finishing flight school in 2009 until 2018 when I went on second year FO pay at a ULCC. The past two years have been wonderful as I've been fortunate to clear over six figures each year (that's a lot of money to me). I paid off debt, actually grew my retirement account for once, and even managed to put together a solid emergency/rainy day fun. I was lucky to upgrade earlier this year and was finally planning to buy a home and start a family, and then we shut down America. I know it's not that bad yet, but we all know what's coming. I've already had two "once in a lifetime" events and I'm not even 35. Our generation just can't win it seems.

I feel very fortunate to be where I am currently though, there's always someone else who has/had it worse.

One thing the article pointed out is that having your pay slashed early on tends to follow you for your whole career.

For those in an industry built solely on seniority I think that is especially true. COVID-19 won’t make or break a 60 year old who has worked at delta the last 20 years and was hoping to squeak out another 5.

The oldest millennials have already, as adults, survived 9/11, the Great Recession and now this. Everyone deals with that “once in a career black swan event” but having 3 (or at least two) happen with at least 25 years left to go until retirement really sucks the life out of the 401K. Hopefully once this all passes we get some consistent good!

All of this misery was caused by the government.

Don’t think it is just Millennials, but future generations as well. Rising living costs (often massive), Stagnant/dropping wages due to labor being devalued, and having to significant leverage in order to get a white collar profession has truly beaten the generation. Not to sound pessimistic, but this will likely lead to a sliver of very wealthy people and the overwhelmingly majority being worse off than previous generations unless something changes. This is an issue that is occurring throughout the developed world as well.

I think it was actually worse for those in the great depression and world war years.
My grandparents time to be realistic. I've heard stories about them eating a pet due to hunger. My father only went to college through a full ride academically. He went away and didn;t come home until after graduation four years later.
t took me a decade to get all my ratings because blue collar workers don't make a whole lot.
Not a great time now of course, but it was really tough for many families during the last century.

Break it down for me.

Of those that fall into the “millennial” bookend, how many are facing a THIRD furlough?

At my shop (me included), a guy/girl facing F3.0 aren’t millennials.

What kind of pet?


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Unluckiest generation is a bit of hyperbole. Clearly living through the civil war or the great depression was probably worse than being furloughed after 9-11 or stuck in the right seat at a regional for 5 years. These comparisons seem to focus on the boomers and the expectation that each successive generation would have it even better. That hasn't panned out. The Austrian economists probably have the best explanation why that's the case but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.
The overall lesson should be clear. It takes hard work to succeed in this career but there is a large element of luck with regard to timing.