Salon has a new series of essays (two so far) called Pinched, and the first one was written by Heather Havrilesky, whose pioneering work for suck.com I featured in my book Slackonomics. Her essay is titled, “Perspire to Retire,” with the subtitle, “I was all fired up to save for the future. Then I found out I was a day late and about, um, $90,000 short.”
It is, of course, smart, witty and oh-so-Gen-Xerish. Here is just a blurb:
Toying with retirement calculators was so exquisitely painful (and such a profound waste of time) that by the next day, I had upped the stakes with college savings calculators. How much should we be saving each year to send my 12-year-old stepson and 2-year-old daughter to public, in-state universities? One thousand dollars a month, of course. (Private schools would mean saving 2K a month.) Now let’s see, let’s throw that 12K-a-year minimum in with the 93K a year we’re supposed to be saving for retirement, and what do we have? One hundred five thousand dollars a year in savings. Now tell me, who has an extra 100 G’s lying around each year, aside from some of your more enterprising rappers?
But here’s a contrarian view on the whole savings issues, as reported in The New York Times:
[Some contrarian] economists answer that people would get more out of their money by using it when they are younger. “There is risk in saving too much,” Mr. Kotlikoff said. “You could end up squandering your youth rather than your money.”
Mr. Scholz said he and his co-authors of a study, “Are Americans Saving ‘Optimally’ for Retirement?” found oversaving across all economic and education levels and most ethnic or racial groups as well. …Those who were not saving enough were usually missing their target by only a small amount.
- Perspire to Retire [Salon]
Commentary by Anne Applebaum From today’s Washington Post:
And now, ladies and gentlemen, before the convention season comes to a close, let us pause a moment and suspend our partisan impulses: It is time to sing the praises of 44-year-old women. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, from Alaska or Chicago, rural or urban, a moose-hunter or a gun-controller, surely you can see that Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama, two of the stars of this year’s political conventions, do have a few important things in common.
She doesn’t use the term Generation X but that is who she’s talking about: “both of them belong to the first post-feminist generation …” Read the whole thing.
- Class of ’64 [Washington Post}
Salon has an interesting take on the movie The Rocker with Rainn Wilson.
Can Generation X grow old gracefully? Now that nearly half the generation that gave us grunge has turned 40, the question of whether slackerdom can mix with maturity looms. Adulthood implies many of the things this aging bunch has tried to reject, or at least question: marriage, parenthood, responsibility, authority. … Fishman, aka “Fish,” typifies Gen X’s Peter Pan-ish unwillingness to play by the established rules of growing up. In 2006, he’s a 40-ish loser doing telemarketing for a Cleveland insurance company. He is unmarried, unkempt and unemployed. He loses his apartment and has to move in with his sister.
This touches on precisely what I address in the latter half of my book, Slackonomics. Sandeep Kaushik, whose personal story is in Chapter 12, calls it “Delayed Onset Adulthood Syndrome.” Here is one quote from his story:
I thought me and my friends, we were really special. We were touched by the gods. We were so clever and talented. In this effortless way, we were going to live the life without having to lift a finger. We were going to hang out on the porch, drink beer, and be incredibly successful. I was sure of it. It was a given. There was no thought about how to map this out. I just assumed, being who we were, having whatever skills or talents we had would take us there. I didn’t realize smart people are actually a dime a dozen. A lot of people have talents. But do you know how to develop a career? Do you know how to make your way in the world?
While Fishman goes into a 20 year tailspin, Sandeep’s struggle lasted about 10 years, which he pulls himself out of in a more typical if less dramatic way than becoming a rock star: Sandeep embraces a profession he enjoys even if it doesn’t lead to a lot of fame and fortune, and as a result, grows up a bit and finds it’s not so bad being married, having kids and owning a house in Seattle:
I always thought of myself as having one foot in adulthood and one foot in adolescence. I never thought I would end up so conventional, but I like what I do. I completely love Seattle. I go out drinking too much, but that’s just because there’s always someone to get a drink with. I’ve always been a restless sort, but I’m probably going to be here for the rest of my life and it doesn’t seem that bad.
A Gen X Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy? [Salon]
I’ve been digging Sandra’s commentaries on Marketplace for years (not to mention her writings and other work), so I’m like totally psyched that she she chose to include Slackonomics in her pick of three books to recommend on the Barnes & Noble website! Here’s what she had to say:
“It’s official. The Boomers suck! Self-styled ‘rebels,’ these silver-maned materialists toting surfboards while smugly growing their investments have bequeathed a fiduciary apocalypse Gen X now must – Mad Max-like – clean up, in our flaming trash cars! This is my take: yours may vary. A Suze Orman for the Deconstructionist set, Chamberlain is witty, brainy, fabulous. A necessary addition to any collapsing IKEA bookshelf.”
Click here to go to the Barnes & Noble guest reviewers section.
Edwards’ Mistress Rielle Hunter Model for Character in Gen-X Lit
ABC News – USA
This may only be of interest to Gen-Xers or fans of the literary brat pack in the 1990s, but it turns out that a fictitious character based on Rielle Hunter … [click here for full story]
Police look for connection between string of Gen-X store robberies
ABC 4 – Salt Lake City, USA
SOUTH OGDEN, Utah (ABC 4 News) Police were called to the “Gen-X” clothing store on Tuesday to investigate an armed robbery. Police say 2 male subjects … [click here for full story]
Generation X and Y: Moving From Workaholic to Zenployment
NewsReleaseWire.com (press release) – USA
The Family Business Consultant Group, Inc.® senior associate Kelly Lecouvie discusses the unique career needs of Generation X and Y and how to best … [click here for full story]
NOT SO FUNNY
Baby boomers’ wealth ‘shutting Gens X, Y out of housing market’
ABC Online – Australia
“The younger groups – Gen X and Gen Y – have struggled to acquire the same level of net wealth, and they to some extent have felt the burden of increasing … [click here for full story]