this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2025
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A Boring Dystopia

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Born into crisis, gen Z is saving for retirement like no other generation (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 20 hours ago by crimsonpoodle@pawb.social to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
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[–] conicalscientist@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah gen-z is gonna be fine. Just because there are loud complaints doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem. I've suspected this generation will end up wealthier than its predecessors. Maybe even the baby boomers too. Seems counterintuitive to the popular narratives doesn't it.

In particular because savings and especially investments have become far more accessible. The stock market used to be for rich people. Women couldn't even have bank accounts. These days an average couple can each have their own savings, investments, and benefits. A lot of baby boomers are basically living off the mans income and pension.

The generations that got fucked hard are those who were working or trying to start careers during the great recession. Some baby boomers and older gen-x lost everything. Younger gen-x and millennials were set back financially several years or even more than a decade.

Less talked about is the recession baby bust. Which is also the reason universities are set to contract severely. Nobody was having kids. Now there are fewer students. In the longer time span the baby bust generation will not have adult children to care and support for them in elderly age. That is a severe financial penalty that will compound on having less savings too.

[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

true especially that the younger generation is always gonna be the most hated.
for example: GenZ hates Gen Alpha(this is that X gen hates Y gen), they always say Gen Alpha is cooked (this is that X gen is cooked)

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 5 hours ago

gen z are saving? millineals barely have enough to save, unless you have been in tech for a while.

[–] BipolarSilence@lemmy.cafe 18 points 12 hours ago

We are?

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 18 points 13 hours ago

My generation's retirement account:

Retirement Account

[–] cmbabul@lemmy.world 56 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (3 children)

I ain’t telling anyone what to do but my millennial ass has given up any hope of retirement. I’ll either die fighting against the hellscape world being created, take myself out if somehow I survive that, or in the miraculous event we as a species succeed in wresting control of this planet away from the sociopathic rich and set up an egalitarian society I hopefully wouldn’t need to save up for it

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 21 points 17 hours ago

See i like the idea of convincing the rich that they end is here then when they get in their Bunkers. We break their filtration systems and turn them in to tombs then get on with fixing the world without them. I know it's not going to happen but it is nice thinking of them Suffocating to death. Maybe more of them should see the titanic that was a good week of news when that sub imploded.

[–] qbus@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago

Don't worry you'll have a retirement when you're fired one day when you're old and you're not going to get hired because of discrimination and then you'll have a retirement whether you want one or not

[–] wildncrazyguy138@fedia.io 5 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Also a millennial here, on the older side of it. Got employed right after the .com crash.

Save, just save. $50 a month of you can. More if possible. Best time to start was 10 years ago. 2nd best time is now.

Don’t let yourself get stuck in the debt trap. There is no need to keep up with the Jones’s. Family and friends are by far so much better for your mental health than stuff.

There is no reason to get your burrito a chauffeur. Take life by the reigns and walk up and get it yourself. Even better, skip the premium and make one.

If you want to go to college, fantastic, do it. There are still plenty of schools without resort style athletics programs that are very affordable if you look. Community college the first two ear of matriculation is also an option. A lot of community colleges are now free.

If you live in the US, this country has perverted our sense of belonging so that the hustlers can squeeze you for every last almighty dollar. Don't give in. Don’t let them win. Save some money, work on saving yourself.

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 15 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

You are right, but what if rampant inflation makes all of our saving worthless?

These constant cycles of boom and bust have also effectively lost me 10 years on my 401k.

I don't have the same faith you do that the market will even exist in 20 years, let alone my saving will do anything.

Sadly I've talked to 3 or 4 financial advisors and nobody has an answer other than "trust the market".

[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

If you're saving into a total market index fund, your returns should go up in relation to inflation OVER THE LONG TERM.

I've been investing for decades in VTSAX and similar across a few retirement accounts, and while there have been ups and downs, since I don't touch it and keep adding to it in small amounts over time, I've had great success with beating inflation while doing absolutely nothing to manage my investment.

Yes, there was basically a whole decade that didn't do well, the following decade more than made up for the slow returns.

That's just how retirement investments work. You don't look at a single quarter, year, or even decade, you look at your entire working life plus retirement. And the market has always been ahead at those time frames.

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

That's just how retirement investments work. You don't look at a single quarter, year, or even decade, you look at your entire working life plus retirement. And the market has always been ahead at those time frames.

I feel like that is unfair without more data.

Did the boomers lose a decade of growth on their retirements?

Relative to them the gen x'rs and millennials have had 1/5 less time for their assets to grow (assuming you save for around 50 years) when compared to wealthier generations. And it was relatively early in their careers when the money would have the most impact.

[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 2 points 13 hours ago

Yup, there were a large number of downturns over the decades. The 90's and the 00's were squarely in the tail end of boomer retirement years and they ended up just fine.

The great depression bounced back and even if you invested at that time, over the long term you would have come out ahead of you just held onto a total market position.

Pull up any Dow Jones historical chart and you'll see plenty of flat or short term dips, ones that held for several years, but in the end the line still went up faster than inflation.

https://www.macrotrends.net/1319/dow-jones-100-year-historical-chart

Every generation had multiple periods where the market looked poor, but if you don't prepare for the future, you guarantee a shitty retirement.

If you save and prepare for the future, you at least have a chance of being comfortable in your old age.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Inflation makes investments rise too. It's the people without them that are screwed by it.

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

True, not sure why I didnt think of that.

Maybe I mean any money we have in our savings accounts.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 3 points 14 hours ago

My form of "saving" is to pay my mortgage. I don't know how much houses will cost in the future, but I will have mine. I will have enough.

[–] cmbabul@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Friend I’m almost 40, been laid off twice and am struggling despite a 20 year old bachelor's degree and working for a Fortune 25 company. I like the other commenter do not have the faith that the market will exist by the time I’m of age to retire, and if it does I fully expect for the goal posts to have shifted to being 10 years later than previous gens and completely out of any reasonable saving I could do and still just survive.

I appreciate your concern and advice but I’m well past believing I’ll get a relaxing end to this life without a major paradigm shift in the way human beings organize ourselves.

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 14 points 15 hours ago

Saving more money has a double-effect: obviously the money that you are actually saving. But it also means that you are reducing your spending.

Going from saving 10% of your income to saving 20% of your income means that your spend/save ratio goes from 9:1 down to 4:1.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 9 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

I think it makes sense. Save all you can, get out of the 9-5 as soon as you can. America in particular has turned insane, and they have a lot of influence on the western world and the global economy unfortunately.

Look out for ourselves, best you can.

We went from 9/11 to covid to batshit crazy in a few decades over there. I dont know why, but something changed at the core. Im not a religious guy but I sometimes wonder.

[–] pigup@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

I believe inequality is the factor.

[–] Drewmeister@lemmy.world 16 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Tldr:

Older gen Zers, with memories of the 2009-10 financial crisis, are saving more, but experts say employers should help

Sun 6 Jul 2025 10.00 EDT

Research published at the end of last year by the Investment Company Institute with help from the University of Chicago found that gen Z – those born between 1997 and 2012 – are “outpacing” earlier generations in contributing to retirement, having more than three times more assets in their 401(k) retirement savings accounts than gen X households had at the same time in 1989, adjusted for inflation.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I presume this will be used to justify cutting state pensions when the boomers have died off

[–] ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 25 minutes ago

The reward for playing the game in a way to protect yourself, as always, is the rules changing to fuck you over anyway.

[–] Bonskreeskreeskree@lemmy.world 0 points 14 hours ago

Is that figure inflation adjusted?

[–] sturlabragason@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Lol