Attention Parents And Kids: Are You Worried About The Future?
And, more importantly, how do you plan to deal with it?
As is often the case in this newsletter of ours, one post leads to another, turns into an impromptu series and requires your participation.
So—in a second—I’m going to split everyone into two groups and request that you all answer a few simple questions. If an additional few step forward to answer some slightly more complex questions for a future installment, that would be ideal.
We’re living through times when—more than ever—we need to learn from and help one another.
I’ll put the arbitrary cut-off at 30 years old. If you’re 30 or older, you likely have lived a different experience and are in a different situation than someone “just starting out” in their 20s.
Keyword arbitrary—because there are lots of people in both cohorts who don’t fit my blanket generalization.
That said, it’s probably safe to say that the future is murkier for younger people in America than it is for, say, older millennials, Gen X, baby boomers and beyond. And this isn’t to say you’re automatically all set if you’re older. You just probably have a better idea of what to expect in your future, even if it’s precarious, and, hopefully a better sense of how to handle it.
I’m not all that worried about my future. As I explained Sunday morning, I saw the writing on the wall—particularly on housing, cost of living and culture in America—and ended up making the decision to move abroad. Later in the week, I’ll provide an updated logistical and personal financial timeline for that move so you have an idea of what you’ll be following along with as a paid subscriber in 2024, 2025 and beyond.
So, while there’s several years’ worth of work to be done (to be all set on housing and cost of living in the place where we want to live), Melisse and I have a good sense of the path we’re on and we’re confident we can execute.
But here’s the thing, even if I decided to stay, I’d likely have it better than alright. Thanks to when I was born. The fact that I’d likely have it better than alright helps bring to life my aspiration to move. However, it’s not so easy for younger people, specifically those without the desire or means to make a bold move to a different country or someplace else more financially feasible, but outside of their comfort zone.
As I touched on Saturday, this dynamic has me worried about my 20-year old daughter. More on the specifics of that—which might resonate with you if you’re Mom, Dad, Son or Daughter—in a second, but first, see Saturday’s post to get up to speed and please, if you’re so inclined, answer a few simple questions.
I’d love for someone (or two) who is under 30 (or thereabouts) to get in touch and answer a few more questions about how they see their future—are they worried about it, what does the writing on the wall say and how are they planning to address it?
I’d love for someone (or two) with kids to get in touch and answer a few more questions about how they see their kid’s future—are they worried about it, what does the writing on the wall say and how are their kids planning to address it?
Which is really part of the problem. When you’re younger, you don’t worry so much about shit like this. I sure as hell didn’t.
However, when I hit 40 (or thereabouts!), I was better prepared—with an established freelance writing career and relatively low rent—to address my Never Retire situation. I don’t think it’s going to be as easy to not think about this stuff as a 20-year old in 2024, then just deal with it as a 40-year old in 2044 as it was for me in—running the math—1995 and 2015.
Particularly if you want to live in or around a large- or medium-size city.
Unless we do something—collectively as a nation, which requires us to pull back on, if not drop our toxic penchant for rugged individualism.
In the next installment of the newsletter, I have a policy idea to address the conversation we had Saturday. Today, we further identify the problem and concern, from the perspective of a parent (that’s me) with a 20-year old kid, who lives in a big city paying her own rent.
When you see shit like this—a private message from a reader who became a paid subscriber after reading Saturday’s post—you worry twice.