At this point in my life (35), I'm not certain I'd be considered a “Millennial”; but in any case I feel it better to acknowledge a few hard truths that actually seem to help delude myself into being able to enjoy life. By letting go of the following:
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The “American Dream” is and has been over. Gone are the not so long ago days when dad would shove off to work (insert any generic, menial task), mom stayed home and raised the family and Everything was more or less ok. Dad most likely was a high school grad, worked maybe as a store manager or shoe salesman and was inexplicably able to not only buy a house, but a car, support the entire household, maybe take a few vacations, SAVE for retirement, have a nest egg for emergency etc. Then right around 65, cash it all out and retire with the doting family. That's gone. It's getting more difficult each day to support yourself on one income, let alone a whole family and let alone have anything left to “save.”
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College was a scam. Whether intentionally or just bad advice of colossal proportions, it turns out burdening yourself at 18 with mountains of inescapable debt in exchange for a rather worthless piece of paper, from a diploma factory (aka college), was a waste of time and money. You'd have been so, so much better off just to have started working and saving. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, but this is another tough pill to swallow looking back.
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Retirement is over. The Boomers are the last generation that are or will retire in the traditional sense of the word. I can only imagine what horrors they have cooked up for my generation, but I can't see it any other way. There will be “something” to replace the concept we have of it now, but it definitely will.not be the same. What do you guys think? Where do we go from here?