Millennial Says The Financial Struggle Boomers Are Experiencing Is Proof That Younger Generations Were Right All Along

Imagine you are a child whose parents bought you and your elder sibling a brand-new toy to share. Your older sibling then bars you from playing with the toy and breaks it when it is finally your turn to use it. 

In this analogy, the toy is every social program system in the United States of America, and the elder sibling, who would rather the system be broken than handed off intact to the next generation, are the boomers of this country. 

While that may be boiling the complaints about boomers down to the simplest terms, the fact remains that the economy is not what it once was, and the financial struggles facing the generations that followed are now starting to impact the baby boomers themselves.

The children of the silent generation are currently silent on their own financial situation.

Baby boomers were the first generation to have access to the 401 (k)-style retirement program, yet the 2008 Great Recession depleted most of their savings. 

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In fact, many young people have found themselves helping their own parents financially over the years because they don't have the means to support themselves in their old age. So, what is actually happening? Why are some boomers thriving while others are struggling?

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Boomers born in the latter part of the generation are struggling with retirement.

The answer lies in a study done by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College; they split the boomer generations up into three distinct categories: baby boomers, middle boomers, and late boomers. Baby boomers are the richest generation born in the years 1946 to 1950; Mid-boomers were born between the 1950s and 1960s, and late boomers were born from 1960 to 1964. Late boomers are the ones who are financially struggling compared to their counterparts, mid-boomers and baby boomers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Axios reported that around 3 million baby boomers retired early to prioritize their health and to enjoy their "financial cushion" or retirement plans.

TikTok user Freddie Smith explained that since the pandemic, rent prices have increased by 20% and the prices of homes by 47%. Making the late boomer generation, who went to college, had high-paying jobs, and were able to afford homes, finally feel the same level of financial insecurity as millennials do. 

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Boomers have no choice but to take the blame for the current state of our economy and the financial struggles of younger generations.

Forcing the younger generation to pay for the sins of your inept policies may not have been the best route for the boomers to have taken. As food prices go up, insurance premiums rise, and debt occurs at an alarming rate, younger generations will look for someone to blame.

According to the Huffington Post, 1 in 5 young adults in the United States lives in poverty, and most won’t be able to retire until the age of 75. 

This has left young people frustrated with older generations over their handling of social programs and policy changes. Younger people work 40 hours a week and still can’t make ends meet in this economy.

This has caused young people to lash out online over the "selfishness" of older generations. TikTok influencer Bailey Bee took to social media to voice this sentiment. She stated, “You know what's selfish, taking every single benefit and social help that you got from the government … taking all of those benefits and then making sure no one else gets any of it.”

She is not the only one, many young people feel as if older generations were given handouts and tools that benefited them only to squander it. Millennials and now Generation Z are losing hope in a system that hasn't been giving them the same opportunities to be financially successful as previous generations before them.

With boomers facing the same financial hardships as everyone else, perhaps this will be a wake-up call and cause them to finally admit that sometimes the kids are right.

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Sylvia Ojeda is a writer with a decade of experience writing novels and screenplays. She reports on psychology, news, and human interest topics.