Tale of 3 Generations
GEN X
1) The Post Independence Generation (People who started working between 50s and 60s) lived a simple life bereft of the comforts and luxuries we see today
2) They worked till their retirement at 60
3) They got Pension thereafter and lived till the age of 70 to 75
4) They did not make huge amounts of Wealth
5) They could give their children nothing more than education
6) Their children had to start their lives all over again from scratch
GEN Y
The Generation born in the 60s and 70s who started work in 90s
1) India had just liberalized the economy under the then PM Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh
2) Salaries got unshackled
3) Socialism gave way to Capitalism
4) Consumerism and the urge to own things gave rise to Credit Culture
5) Credit Cards became the Currency
6) ‘Spend Now & Pay Later’ became the slogan of the times and was seen as a victory over their previous generation
7) The ability to buy things, cars, homes that their parents could buy only towards the end of their careers made this generation feel invincible. They had the Power to Dream and Acquire
8) Optimism was at its peak
9) Corporate India rose like a phalanx
10) Lifestyle soared
11) India advanced and the Economy accelerated
12) India got recognized in the world
13) Jobs were aplenty
14) Switching jobs for growth was easy
15) Confidence in Jobs and Security around it was high
16) People could take 20 years housing loan not once but several times without battling an eyelid
17) This Generation got eventually caught up in the EMI trap when they realized that their party was short lived in comparison with their parents
18) It become difficult to sustain the growth and work till 60
19) The Burning out syndrome was nothing but the organization frustrating an individual till he or she voluntarily quit. It was just an indirect form of sacking
20) EMIs created havoc in lives the moment the jobs started getting truncated
21) The Stock Market had come of age
22) Some who had wisely invested started seeing the beginning of passive income led freedom
23) Many switched to entrepreneurship
24) The digital age had dawned and productivity was on the rise
25) Technology created an environment to help people with ideas to scale up at lower cost
26) Infosys showed the way to hope to millions of youngsters
27) This generation made decent amount of money that created a stream of lifelong passive income and cash flows
28) Some became businessmen and created Assets
29) This generation made serious Wealth with enough surplus to be bequeathed to their legal heirs
30) Their children also had to start from scratch but they had the security of inherited wealth
Gen Z
31) This is the current youth getting into work now
32) Big Companies are no longer the magnet they were once
33) Entrepreneurship and Startups are the culture
34) Job Security has been thrown out of the Window
35) Opportunities are aplenty but for the genuinely meritorious
36) Selling time for work has given way to Selling Skills (GIGS)
37) This is the GIG economy
38) Technology, Automation and AI have take Productivity through the roof
39) Ideas economy has come of age
40) Capital is easily available
41) Even ordinary people with skills and ideas can rise to the top
42) But the job security and easy life of the past is over
43) Retirement has advanced by 10 years and will continue to advance by another 10 years
44) This Generation stares at the possibility of being jobless by the time they are 40
45) Money Management to create a stream of cashflows from 40 onwards is the need of the hour
46) This is the new Retirement also popularly known as Financial Freedom
47) FIRE or Financial Independence Retire Early is what the current generation is getting defined by
48) For the first time it is possible for people to slow down and at the same time live well
49) The concept of Universal Basic Income is coming of Age
50) Basic like food and other consumables will be provided by the government
51) People may have money to live but getting a job in a world of Automation and AI will be difficult
52) Education will transform completely as the current format will be irrelevant
53) What you learn will be only relevant for a few years
54) So continuous learning is the fuel to stay relevant
55) One will have to live through several kind of careers / professions in a single life
56) Gen Y changed jobs but Gen Z will need to change careers
57) Flexibility is the need of the hour
58) Geographical freedom is coming of age
59) You can work from anywhere and the brick and mortar offices will slowly vanish
60) Deurbanization will be encouraged as it also comes with the additional benefit of repairing the environment
61) Credit Culture has turned on its head
62) Gen Z needs to now live simple reasonable lives and start investing as soon as possible so that they may create our own nest egg (early retirement or financial freedom corpus)
63) So if Gen X was all about Steady Jobs, Gen Y Was about Credit Culture / EMI or Advanced Spending while Gen Z will be all about Financial Independence, free living, free thinking, ideas a life they can live on their own terms by doing things they wish to at the pace they want to
64) Welcome to the World of Abundance which comes with its own strings attached
65) All three Generations have had their own pros and cons
66) Which Generation you feel was or is the Luckiest ?????
I rest my case
