Are you a Jones Generation? (1954-1965)

[UrbanHunter]

I read this Wickipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones about Jones Generation or "late Baby Boomers". I am part of the generation and have experiences that do not reflect the affluence and opportunities that the early Baby Boomers (1946-1954) saw.
I was just wondering how many of us have the same experiences and memories?

Remember when entry level jobs were readily available?

Remember as Blue Collar jobs were eliminated via self service, robots, and off shoring?

Remember watching as new cars and houses were priced out of your reach?

Remember hearing about pension plans as they were being eliminated?

Watched as dreams of retirement turned into nightmares?

 

[d_marsh]

Nope, I'm an Xennial. To old to be a Millennial and to young to be Gen-X.

 

[UrbanHunter]

 

[Mountain trapper]

I was born in 57. I remember that jobs were always available for anyone willing to work hard, just like now days.
Houses were available to anyone who was willing to work and save at least a 20% down payment, just like now days.
Over the years the wife and I have had several company pension plans. She's drawing on 2 right now.
Retirement for us is wonderful.
Then as now it takes hard work, sacrifice, a skill, trade or education, and patience to get ahead.

 

[Amish Heart]

Husband born in 53, I was born in 62. We did see different things as young adults

 

[Morgan101]

I read this Wickipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones about Jones Generation or "late Baby Boomers". I am part of the generation and have experiences that do not reflect the affluence and opportunities that the early Baby Boomers (1946-1954) saw.
I was just wondering how many of us have the same experiences and memories?

Remember when entry level jobs were readily available?

Remember as Blue Collar jobs were eliminated via self service, robots, and off shoring?

Remember watching as new cars and houses were priced out of your reach?

Remember hearing about pension plans as they were being eliminated?

Watched as dreams of retirement turned into nightmares?

I'm a little bit before the Jones Generation, but I still remember all of those things.

 

[old tex]

Basically I guess the question is, do believe that the American Dream was alive back then & is it still alive? Now I was born in 52 so I'm a little older. I think that the American Dream was alive & is still alive but most "kids" weren't taught what they had to do to reach it. Saving money isn't taught or even popular these days so forget a 20% downpayment on a house. Most people tend to spend money either as fast as they make it or even faster than they can make it. Working hard kind of went out with the saying "Do something you love & you will never work a day in your life". Well believe it or not but enjoyable jobs are few & far between & don't pay as much as jobs that suck.

I wanted to come back to add that most people don't seem to have been taught anything about handling money. They know nothing about budgets or figuring up interest rates or even why those things are important. I've even known people that had no clue how to keep a checkbook. It's like parents are turning financial 3 year olds out into society to sink or swim.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Basically I guess the question is, do believe that the American Dream was alive back then & is it still alive? Now I was born in 52 so I'm a little older. I think that the American Dream was alive & is still alive but most "kids" weren't taught what they had to do to reach it. Saving money isn't taught or even popular these days so forget a 20% downpayment on a house. Most people tend to spend money either as fast as they make it or even faster than they can make it. Working hard kind of went out with the saying "Do something you love & you will never work a day in your life". Well believe it or not but enjoyable jobs are few & far between & don't pay as much as jobs that suck.

It's up to the parents to teach these things to their kids. I guess a lot of things depend on where one lives. Around here I see young people still buying houses, still have a work ethic. I personally don't care about the losers that don't want to work hard and get their hands dirty. We have a mill near town that has had a permanent help wanted sign out for several years now. They pay a good living wage. Most of the people who work there own their own homes.
It can all still be done today as well as 50 years ago. I bought my first house 48 years ago when I was 19 and worked as a welders helper. It was hard but we managed just fine.

 

[old tex]

Here's how I learned the 2 most valuable lessons about money. Being in the Air Force in the old days (when they paid nothing) & being married to my ex (the spender). I learned how to live on nothing from the first one. And from the 2nd I learned how I didn't want to live.

 

[dademoss]

born 1960

Remember when entry level jobs were readily available? Yeah, I started cutting grass at 12, did TV repair at 14, Worked at a nursery at 16, laid carpet till I was 21, then did temp jobs till I was 25 when I was hired by P&G (Worked there as a temp for 4 years before they hired me)

Remember as Blue Collar jobs were eliminated via self service, robots, and off shoring? I remember, but I wasn't affected

Remember watching as new cars and houses were priced out of your reach? No, I had a good paying job.

Remember hearing about pension plans as they were being eliminated? No, again not affected

Watched as dreams of retirement turned into nightmares? Retired 9 years ago at 55.

 

[Amish Heart]

My first summer paying job was at age 12. You don't even see that nowadays, and that was a normal thing.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Born in 1948.
Got to see America before LBJ screwed the pooch.

 

[Tirediron]

All of this, everybody experiences these things these years fantasy is just that. I am a late boomer, 62 but my youngest childhood memories were of a far different era, (experience wise) the electric and phone lines didn't go as far as our ranch, we finally got a phone when I was 5 . we moved a bunch closer to "civilization" a few years after that.

 

[Supervisor42]

I am. I thought we were called 'boomer-babies'...
I was #5 of 6.
I couldn't have asked for better years to be here. We got to see the country at it's greatest.

 

[Weedygarden]

Nope, a little too old for that.

"I wanted to come back to add that most people don't seem to have been taught anything about handling money. They know nothing about budgets or figuring up interest rates or even why those things are important. I've even known people that had no clue how to keep a checkbook. It's like parents are turning financial 3 year olds out into society to sink or swim."

I think there is a family take and education on money, and then there is the individual person's take on money. There are people who are from the same family, one is tight fisted and lives frugally, but a sibling can't hold onto a dime if it is in their hand or pocket and are always broke.

My mother's family was poor, lived in a 12 by 24 shack covered with tar paper, 7 children. They always hung onto any money they had. They lived a very harsh life growing up. But there are a few millionaires out of the descendants, and others who live a very nice life in comparison to what grandparents and their parents lived. There are a few who can't think past the nickel in their pocket. They own nothing, in spite of having lots of money come to them or as much as the rest.

High Schools need to have classes about money management.

 

[Neb]

...

Remember when entry level jobs were readily available?

Graduated in 76 and Carter's economy was rough so I opted for the Navy. After getting out i went to 2 interviews and got 3 job offers.

Remember as Blue Collar jobs were eliminated via self service, robots, and off shoring?

Pumping our own gas was new. The steel mills in and around Pittsburgh started to move off shore.

Remember watching as new cars and houses were priced out of your reach?

I drove company cars that were new but I never owned a new car period. Couldn't come up with down payments so I lived in Handyman Specials. Only by saving what would have been mortgage payments did I save money.

Remember hearing about pension plans as they were being eliminated?

I have a retirement coming from DEC but after HP bought them out, they gave me an option to cash out.

Watched as dreams of retirement turned into nightmares?

I was laid off from DEC at the perfect time. I went college for an engineering degree paying for it as went. After graduating we didn't change our life style and all of my income went into savings. Was able to retire 4 years ago at 62. The Princess is scheduled to retire in 172 days. A good financial advisor has allowed us to grow our savings.

So...

I saw much of what you mentioned but due to The Princess's hard headed determination to save and many blessings from God, we managed to dodge many bullets that could have put retirement out of reach.

Ben

 

[Plainflatlander]

first job when i was thirteen, blue collar jobs eliminated? lol! Retiring as a blue collar worker/business owner in 2 week at 61. Bought a brand new truck at sixteen, house at 30. Pension plans are for people who cant save for retirement. Should be fine in retirement as I have always lived well below my means.

 

[Haertig]

I read this Wickipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones about Jones Generation or "late Baby Boomers". I am part of the generation and have experiences that do not reflect the affluence and opportunities that the early Baby Boomers (1946-1954) saw.
I was just wondering how many of us have the same experiences and memories?

I've never heard of the Jones Generation. But per this definition, I'm in it.

Remember when entry level jobs were readily available?

Yep. I had my pick of jobs all over the country after graduating college. If you're talking "entry level" as in McDonald's, I think those jobs still readily available. But maybe not to people expecting $20 an hour to flip burgers. Entry level jobs in an actual career are definitely tougher to get these days. As a matter of fact, I would probably recommend skipping college these days, except for certain career paths. You still need college for the higher ups in the medical field, engineering, etc. But something like a generic "liberal arts" degree is pretty useless these days IMHO. These used to be worth something, but I don't see that now.

Remember as Blue Collar jobs were eliminated via self service, robots, and off shoring?

Not really. But I wasn't working in that environment so I was not affected and didn't give it much thought. I mostly heard about "off shoring" on the news. But not in practice.

Remember watching as new cars and houses were priced out of your reach?

Nope. I have been lucky enough to always be able to afford what I need. Be that cars, houses, or whatever. But I do concede that houses are now priced out of reach for the middle class. This happened relatively recently. This saddens me more than anything else mentioned in this thread.

Remember hearing about pension plans as they were being eliminated?

I have a pension. My company did eliminate them a while back and replace them with 401K's. So I have both a pension and a 401K.

Watched as dreams of retirement turned into nightmares?

Actually, retirement is a piece of cake financially. Probably because we always saved and invested for the worst case scenario. Which didn't unfold. One good thing about the "prepare for the financial worst case" life long mind set is, as you get older you crest the financial hump. And even if the worst case does unfold after that, you're insulated from it. A big bonus is being able to insulate your kids from it as well. Things are going to be a lot tougher for the younger generations I think. Maybe Trump can help fix that now. I hope so. Things were looking pretty bleak for young folks under dem rule.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I bought my first new car in 1984 working as a welder, and have bought only new cars, trucks, tractors, ATV's ect ever since.
Life is whatever a person wants to make of it. I never stepped foot in college or trade school. But I learned a trade on the job and kept moving up. I took jobs all over the world. Most of these jobs were rotational which gave me 3 to 7 months a year vacation, while still having 12 months pay. I eventually retired as a vice president from an oil company at 57 years old.

 

[Bacpacker]

I was born in 60. Worked farm jobs and mowed lawns up to my early 20's. Hda my first public job at 16. Had several different jobs along the way including as a auto mechanic for a few years. Economy was so bad around here and interest rates so high during the carter years and for a while during Reagan term it was hard to get ahead. Decided to get some more education and got into electronics which led me into industrial maintenance which I've been into since the 90s. Some payed well, some didn't. Wife had a horrible car wreck in 1991 and has had many on going health issues that has held us back in many ways. But if I can get back to work here soon after rehabbing my heart, I should be able to retire in 2026 and enjoy the rest of our lives.

 

[SoulSeeker]

Born in 58'. Grew up all over the US on farms and ranches until I was 15 when we moved to the city. My first job was at about 10. The owner of ranch where my dad was foreman paid me to help bring in and stack bales of hay. Paid me $1 a day and was I ever "big stuff"! Got a job making popcorn at a local stockcar track on Saturday nights at 15. Don't remember how much I made, nothing to an adult, but it was millions to me then, lol. Life was good back then. I trapsed around the country seeing many sights and meeting many different kinds of people, some I wished I had not. Jobs where easy to get then, dish washer, fast food, common labor. People didn't really care about your past as long as you didn't just come out of Alcatraz. Everywhere I went I had a job within 48 hours. Watched jobs going overseas and the Government telling us it was good for America. This started an influx of adults into the entry level market which pushed kids into getting jobs later in life there by reducing "work ethics". Jobs were getting harder and harder to land and slowed my traveling to a crawl. Decided to just stop and put down roots and got pneumonia, which I didn't realize. Carried it for 3 years until I just couldn't breath anymore. After getting out of the hospital had to retire at 62 because the pneumonia destroyed my lungs. I wish I had of bought land in Texas when I thought about it. Would already have a nice 3-4 room shack with a garage/shop. Of course the garage/shop would be bigger than the shack! Not worried about it anymore and just doing my hobbies until I go, be it natural or nuclear.