Can that possibly be true? Is Gen Z The New Boomer? Wait a dang minute. What in Tarnation are you talking about! (Said said no boomer born since 1873.) I thought Gen Z was the Anti-Boomer? Seems like there are more similarities between Gen Z and Boomers than either group wants to admit.

Technology: myPhone vs iPhone

First of all let’s get the technology thing straight. Gen Z grew up surrounded by technology. From iPhones and Social Media and now AI (Artificial Intelligence). But Boomers in particular laid a lot of technological groundwork out for you. Many Boomers are technically deficient, I’ve seen it and can’t agree more. It is amusing to watch, so take that as a gift from Boomers to Gen Z. But many old farts are pretty damn good with technology. And us Boomers secretly planted a kill switch on the internet. Don’t give us any crap or WE WILL USE IT! Can you imagine the only TikTok you hear is from a wind-up clock?

Gen Z is likely substantially more Social Media literate. I haven’t a damn clue or use for most of social media. Go ahead, give me a whatever. I’ll wait ……… Gen Z lives much of their life online, but do you think Boomers were really any different? Absolutely not! We had … the telephone. People could talk on the phone for hours about absolutely nothing. Kind of like what everyone does with the internet, AKA World Wide Waste. Our version of the iPhone in 1978 was a really long cord.

Do you really think the technology of 2024 will be exactly the same in 2064? Let’s hope not for your sake. I can hear the stinkin’ holographic grand-kids laughing at you now. Things change and people’s long term memory is a warm fuzzy place clinging fondly to songs and places of long ago. Short term memory gets crowded out by the ever present bullshit of the day. Grocery shopping, get gas, what’s for dinner. What is for dinner, hmmm? I remember the first time I went to McDonalds with my parents in the 1970’s. Rolled in and got the brontosaurus burger special. But did I remember to put on pants today? Let me check. Nope.

Communication: Talking vs. Emojis

Every time a new iPhone update comes along there is a litany of updates, patches and like anyone needs any more … Emojis. But boomers had emojis on our wired phones. We laughed when something was funny and cursed and told you to blow it out your ass when we were pissed.

Yelling over the phone, with gusto, to the fool on the other end of the line to “Blow it out Your Ass” had feeling and meaning. When someone sends this: 🐘💨🙊 I am a little less sure. Is it a joke? Or do they strongly disagree with whatever I just said? There is no question the meaning when someone screams at the top of their lungs “Blow it out Your Ass” and subsequently slams the phone.

Gen Z and Boomers may have their generational lingo differences, but if I tell just about anyone to “Blow it out Your Ass” I think they get the general gist of the conversation.

The 7 emojis needed for successful communication:

I’m funny, your funny: 😂
Yes: 👍 No:👎
I’m Cool (You likely are not) 😎
Most important, Blow it out Your Ass:
🐘💨🙊

The Grumpy Retiree

Social Climate: Vietnam vs. Ukraine & Israel

Growing up as a boomer we had the Vietnam War making daily headlines. Many of the last boomers were too young to be directly linked to the Vietnam era, but I still remember the news and conversations. Regardless which side you stood on, there were college protests regarding the involvement in Vietnam such as Kent State in 1970.

Gen Z, you have Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas and the Gaza Strip. College campuses are once again the scene of protests of ongoing wars that, as of this writing seem to have no end, let alone a good ending. Truthfully, the headlines in the news about war protests get all the attention. Neither now, nor in 1968, were everyone protesting at college campuses. Our perception, opinions and memory are all too selective and easily swayed by headlines and sound bites.

Of course boomers had the Cold War and tensions between the US and Russia, but Gen Z doesn’t have an issue with Russia. Oh wait a minute …

On a Brighter Note: Travel

Gen Z, just like their boomer counterparts, have a big penchant for travel. Bitch and moan about how life sucks now but in my 20’s travel was a sleeping bag and tent stuffed into just about the cheapest car you could buy: A Toyota Tercel. 5 hours later we ended in Maine for 7 days if we were lucky. Europe? A flight? The price of overseas travel was well outside the reach of most boomers when they were in their 20’s. Unless they were in the military. I’m not sure that is called travel however.

I wish I had the opportunities to travel overseas or throughout the USA when I was 25 years old. Boomers at that age frequently had kids, there was no work from home and vacation was 1-2 weeks for the lucky. I don’t disagree with Gen Z trying to make the workplace better, go for it. More time off, more vacations, more travel, higher pay and less work. The question is what are the unintended consequences? Does that in turn lead to higher prices and inflation? Less money in retirement? Hmmm. We live in one giant ass collective and trying to get 2 people to agree on just about anything, let alone everything, is a near impossible task. Good Luck.

Travel: Gen Z Please Buy a Mirror

The biggest difference isn’t the way we travel or where we go. It all boils down to goddamn MIRRORS! Boomers can obviously afford a friggin mirror. We scrimped and saved all those working years and bought a house full of mirrors. So we know what the hell we look like, for better or worse. But damn it Gen Z, you need a crapload of pictures of yourselves. Always in the way. And smiling! Stop Smiling at yourself when taking your own picture. I beg, please buy a mirror or two and take a good long look before your next trip!

“Boomers and Gen Z both like to travel.
Just not together.”

The Grumpy Retiree

Yup, Boomers hate selfie takers. Continuously taking pictures of yourself and each other. I said it. Not that Boomers don’t occasionally take a selfie. But ours are substantially more interesting. I hear it now.

Make all the fun you want of our high pants, pulled way past our waist and 4PM early bird all you can eat dinners. We can take it. Please pass the jelly.

Hippies: The 60’s and 60 years apart

Hippies of the 1960’s were motivated by a lot of things, many which are shared by the current Gen Z generation. We dressed like shit, you dress like shit. Do you honestly think in 40 years you are going to look at one of the 34,782 pictures and selfies and think “Damn, that was a good look!” Don’t worry, converting digital pictures to the format of the future will be just as cumbersome as converting 35mm slides to digital photos. Eventually you will just give up or ask a grand kid. Or better yet, do everyone a favor, never show them to anyone.

Whether it is social change via activism, counterculture vs. the norm or environmental issues, Boomers and Gen Z shared similar views at the same age. Is that true of older (current age) boomers? Maybe for some. Did views change and will they change for Gen Z; probably, but there are many comparable views for the 2 generations at the same age.

The biggest difference is the ability to facilitate change. The internet essentially was a tool of the future for Boomers. Remember that telephone? That, and word of mouth, was Boomer’s communication method. No texting. Unless Morse Code counts. Subsequently it should be easier for current and successive generations to get their word out, for better and for worse. Unfortunately separating fact from fiction will become a full time job that nobody wants to do.

The Economy: The Deciding Factor (Always)

Seems like Gen Z is down on their future. Everything sucks. But life sucked at times for just about everyone. Get damn use to it. Life can suck for a long time. Think it sucks now? Wait until you are 66 and the act of eating a bowl of soup causes you to pull a back muscle.

“If you stop being stupid today you can start being smart tomorrow.”

The Grumpy Retiree

And is it really that bad or are we all just listening to what is spewed on the internet and social media? Time for everyone to start thinking for themselves god damn it! Stop following trendy online financial advice which has only one objective which is to make the online provider richer. If you stop being stupid today you can start being smart tomorrow.

I don’t know if tossing in the towel at 26 is a great idea. With any luck you have 60-70 moderately OK years ahead of you and may need that towel. So you are concerned you can’t buy a house now? No problem you can rent for 70 years. Of course rent will stay the same forever right? In the 1980’s a house cost what a car costs today which means in 2064 you could be spending half a million bucks for a car. With a bit of luck it will be a flying car with a cool 8 track.

Sure, the economics of buying a house are kind of crummy now. Housing has a way of fixing itself, usually in a really bad way, but it gets done. Everyone and their sister wanted to move to Austin Texas. What in hell’s name would you expect, lower housing prices? So house prices rose and guess what happened? People couldn’t afford them and now house prices are starting to drop in Austin. Supply and Demand is still an economic principle, isn’t it?

No Interest in High Interest

Not that buying a house for everyone makes sense, but I still think getting into the game sooner than later pays off in the end. Your house payment is fixed (with a fixed rate loan) until you buy that next house, but rent changes correspondingly with house prices. You have to be ready to pounce when the opportunity arises. Or just give up, nobody really gives a flying crap about you and your feelings. Figure it out for yourself. Inflation over 40 years means $5-6,000/month rent. F O R E V E R.

How about waiting for lower interest rates? Good luck. Do you actually think you are the only one with that plan? If and when they drop, every fart sniffer from Bat Cave, NC to Poughkeepsie, NY is going to rush out and … bid up housing prices again. The economic playing field is more like a see-saw. It is level only for a brief moment in time.

The Economy: A 2 Sided Coin

For some reason the other side of the housing coin is never mentioned. There are many people that increased their net worth. And many of those people are Boomers thank you! People say Boomers are driving the economy, and that’s kind of how it works. Older generations tend to have time on their side and accumulate wealth. You start with a pile of nothing and it is up to you to have either a pile of something or a bigger pile of nothing.

And those interest rates you say are too high? Well us Boomers love them. When interest rates were low and housing was affordable, nobody seemed to give a rattlesnakes asshole that retiree’s were getting a fraction of 1% interest on safe savings. Where were the daily stories about savings income for older generations when rates were low?

Loud Budgeting, Soft Saving & FOMO vs FOROOM

You’re so cute with your little sayings. Here’s one. FOROOM! Fear Of Running Out Of Money! That’s the one you don’t think about because it seems too far away. But it is the most important one and way closer than you think. And believe me, 5 years before retirement FOROOM will be all you think about. Do the friggin’ math!

FOROOM – Fear Of Running Out Of Money makes FOMO your worst nightmare in retirement.

The Grumpy Retiree

So if you think not working now, spending money to make you happy now, plays out better in the long term, I guarantee you it won’t work. Being 25 year old on the upper bunk in the hostel is a broken hip and hospital trip away when you are 75. Give me a damn bed and a nice (fo)room I don’t need to share!

At Least We Have Politics to Hold Us Together

😂

Do I really need to say more? First off, if you are a Republican or a Democrat, and you firmly agree with everything coming out of either party, you a BLITHERING FUCKING IDIOT! There is no way either party is 100% right or 100% wrong all the time. Though we edge towards 100% stupid frequently. That somehow, we have collectively lost the ability to work together in any minimal way, is the breakdown of society as a whole, as in ass-whole.

“That somehow, we have collectively lost the ability to work together in any minimal way, is the breakdown of society as a whole, as in ass-whole.“

The Grumpy Retiree

And the probability that the 2024 election comes down to 2 of the worst possible choices out of 300,000,000 people is approximately 0.000000000000000022222222296296296543%. I honestly could walk down Any Street, USA and randomly pick any Person, Woman, Man, Camera or TV and get 2 better candidates for president.

Where was I?

Oh Yes: Politics 56 Years Apart

Gen Z, you have the clear win here. Politics becomes your problem to solve. I am retired and too close to death to have time to fix this. And if this depresses you, all the more reason to fix it. Otherwise you will live with this till about the year 2100.

But maybe there is at least a parallel to help us bond, as if that’s worth anything at all.

1968, a prime time Boomer year. That was the last time the Democratic Party had an incumbent presidential candidate step down. Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) stated “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” Could that happen again? I believe it will. Regardless, the political climate has descended into a rat hole over the last 8 years only to find that the rats are even concerned.

Where Does that Leave Gen Z vs. Boomers?

Ironically, statistics on 401-Ks and savings show Gen Z saving at greater rates than the previous 2 generations. Boomers are not your direct competition, it is your own generation. If you are not one of those savers, do you think you will be better off at retirement? Not likely. Just like Boomers that waited to long to prepare for retirement … and could never catch up. Everyone has a lot of time, right up to the moment you have none.

“Everyone has a lot of time, right up to the moment you have none.”

The Grumpy Retiree

So, where does that leave us? Is Gen Z The New Boomer? It is damn fun laughing at each other, but this is how it works. Always has and always will. Old people can’t understand youth probably because they forgot it, like their car keys or taking my memory pills. Us Boomers made fun of older generations and older generations shook their head trying to understand Boomers when we were young.

Realistically I could do this with any two generations. Gen Z will do amazingly stupid things, interspersed with glimmers of faint intelligence. Therefore it’s Boomers turn to laugh at the youth. You get your turn in about 35 years. What goes around comes around.