The soft life: why millennials are quitting the rat race
theguardian.com
Ambition once came with a promise: a home, a salary, progress and fulfilment. What happens when that promise is broken? Meet the women who are turning their backs on consumerism, materialism and burnout
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I think millennials and zoomer are just being open and honest about things that always happened. We love labels and with the Internet talks with other like-minded people. There have always been people who worked 9 to 5 at a job and prioritized stability over money. We are being open and bragging about it. We just want to break the hustle culture that was always a loud subset
For example my dad a peak boomer worked at the same company for his whole career and turned down "promotions" that gave a manager title with little more money. They have always been there
The problem is, you used to be able to comfortably live that life. Now if you stay at the same company, your wages won't increase at a rate to sustain your life style. Companies care way more about acquiring talent than retaining talent, so you need to move around to make enough money
And this is why being part of a bargaining class/union is important, none of this making less than new hires doing the same thing, your wages go up with the cost of living so even if you don't get raises, you still don't fall behind inflation
I know. But that was the equivalent of jumping every few years to a similar but slightly paying more role. Not grinding to get the biggest promotion and title as possible.
At some point, you end up wanting some stability and the constant jumping gets old. Perhaps you finally hit a target salary that makes you go "well I guess that's enough".
Except that you wont get eaises to that salary to maintain your current atandard of living. Getting a 2% annual raise with 4% annual inflation is an annual pay cut. They only way to maintain the current standard is to get a new job every few years, or just quit playing the game.
Yes, but are you really going to dedicate 40 years of your life to having 20 jobs? At some point, you'll have to give that up.
I'm not even 30 yet and I've had 10+. Granted my current gig pays a bit less than the last few, but it pays the bills and it's 9 days out of 10 a very chill time, but when it's shit, it's SHIT.
I will update my CV as many times as it takes to find a job that suits my lifestyle and temperament, however, I won't keep working at a job I hate just to pay the bills, I'll find another.
You can get stability through community and friendship. The idea that you need a big salary makes sense because of how we have been raised, to live independently in little units, and it's scary to switch to a less independent life, but it is possible.
Show me how to pay a mortgage with friendship or shut the fuck up.
Oh my friends were talking about this the other day. You can go in on a loan for a pretty big apartment complex together, and it can actually be more affordable than just buying a single family house. You can incorporate too.
Co-op housing has a rich history!!
Are you gonna shut the fuck up now :D
You are still paying a loan though, it might be more affordable but it's still a monthly payment. Pooling funds can allow more flexibility for individuals but it still needs to be paid. As long as real estate is treated like a commodity that can be traded and speculated on normal people will eventually be priced out.
I don't see a meaningful difference between what you described and a condo other than maybe some tax benefits if you incorporate.
In the situation I described, you and your friends own the property together. It could be any property, it doesn't need to be an apartment complex. But it would be disingenuous to say that you and your friends can't help each other pay for housing, there are soooo many housing co-ops.
This is partially true, but things are actually worse than they used to be in some ways and better in others. I think that, more than anything, the conditions have accelerated a bit more.
I was born in 1976. I remember managers being completely toxic assholes--that was just how it was. But, when I was a kid, there were still pensions--you worked 40 years for a company and they took care of you. I think that both of these things are gone--managers can't really get away with being as cruel as they used to, though I know that's out there. Also employees don't expect a graceful exit at the end of their career.
Millennials and gen z know things are worse, and that's why we don't feel like it's worth it to give everything to a company. We don't have to pretend because we know the employers know things are bad.
I wonder if you meant to say "millenials and gen z"?
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