I talk with a lot of young people. Especially with being on YouTube, I hear stories from a lot of viewers, specifically Millennials. I get this sense that a lot of them are frustrated with their economic situation. I will be honest with you today. Millennials are screwed and we are going to talk about it in today’s video. WATCH NOW
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VIDEO SUMMARY
Why are Millennials so frustrated? It has to do with money. Millennials are feeling a squeeze that generations have not felt since the Great Depression. There is no money. The worst part is the problem has already happened. There is no fixing it. Millennials lives have been recession after recession after recession. Your whole lives you have been barely scraping by and so today, most Millennials have no money.
US Recessions
- Dot-com bubble (2001)
- Sub-prime mortgage bubble (2007-2009)
- COVID-19 (ongoing)
- Commercial debt bubble (future)
Millennials are so frustrated because they know other generations have not had the same problem. When you think about your Great Grandparents, their lives looked so much different than young people today. They probably had a house, only one person in the house worked with a good paying job, they had one or two cars, they would go on vacation every once in a while. They could go to college if they wanted. I do not think people realize this, but college in the 1950s cost about $500 per year. Think about that. Do you know how much college costs these days? A lot more than that. That gives you an idea of the struggle that young people are facing today. You do not have the same choices in life. All these things that your grandparents had are completely out of reach for young people because they cannot afford it.
Let us go down the list:
- Young people cannot find a good paying job
- They cannot afford a house
- They cannot afford a car
- They probably have crushing student loan debt
- They cannot afford healthcare
- They cannot afford to go on vacation
- They cannot afford to have kids
All these things are causing tremendous frustration for young people, when they saw their grandparents get all these things and they get nothing. Granted, Millennials have a lot of things their grandparents did not. Millennials have computers and cell phones and facebook. They are constantly entertained when their Grandparents were probably bored most of the time. But even though you have all these things, if the only thing you can afford to do is sit at home and watch videos, it is going to be demoralizing. Young people do not want to sit at home, they want to go out and build themselves a life, just like their Grandparents did. But it is so hard, when there is no money.
So what should young people do? The first thing you should do is acknowledge the harsh reality of your situation. You got really unlucky. You have lived through recession after recession after recession. it feels like you have never had opportunities to build wealth because you have not. America currently is in an economic slump and it is not going to get better any time soon. Unfortunately, you got a lot of bad luck. You are just screwed, and sometimes that happens in life. You were born at a really unlucky time, where there is no money, and few opportunities to make money.
Second, you need to understand long term business trends. The economy will go through ups and downs that last generations. If you think about the Great Depression (1929-1933), that was a time in US history when there was also no money. Over time, the US economy grew back and had tremendous success. But here we are, almost 100 years later, and people are feeling the same money struggles again. People who were born during Great Depression were also unlucky. But that is life. Sometimes you just get unlucky. You Millennials were born into a tough financial environment. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
Third, history repeats itself. A lot of things happened during the Great Depression, including World War II. If you look at what is happening in the world today, it is shocking how closely history is repeating itself. There are some countries that are doing really bad things like China. China is threatening to invade Taiwan. They have already taken over Hong Kong. The United States has already sanctioned China for committing genocide against their own people. China is taking one of their minority groups, called the Uyghurs, putting them onto train boxcars and taking them to concentration camps. Am I the only person seeing how history is repeating itself? So if you are a Millennial today, you are stuck in the flow of history, and the trend of history is looking more and more like what happened during the Great Depression.
In America, there is a name we call the generation that lived through the Great Depression. We call them “The Greatest Generation.” Why do we do that? It is because the struggles they lived through. It is because the sacrifices they made in order to bring America back to greatness. They did it because they had no other choice. There was nothing else to do but to struggle through. So if you are a Millennial, you can sit and feel sorry for yourself. Or you can tighten your belt, and get to work. The economy will swing back around again. You may not be around to partake in the economic recovery, but you can help be the generation to bring us back to success. You can be the next Greatest Generation.
It is also helpful to know business history. Because as difficult as the Great Depression was, some of the biggest businesses in America today were started during the Great Depression. Just because you were born during a difficult time, does not mean you cannot change your luck and make your own destiny.
Let me tell you a story. During the Great Depression, there was a couple name OD and Ruth McKee and they lived in a town called Chattanooga, TN. They were incredibly poor. To make ends meet, they started a business selling cakes out of the back of their car for $0.05 each. Eventually they got enough money to operate a bakery, but they were still so poor, that they put up a sheet at the back of the bakery, and that is where they lived. They lived behind the sheet and during the day they would work in the bakery.
OD and Ruth had a Granddaughter named Debbie, and they named their business Little Debbie. We all know today about Little Debbie snack cakes. This company today is now worth $1.4B. Little Debbie, now works as an executive vice president at the company today. She talks about her grandparents, and this quote just shows how amazing these people were. She says “Grammie talked over and over again about treating all people with dignity and respect, including those who try and hurt you. And, of course, Granddad is famous for saying there is always a better way of doing something, and it is our responsibility to find it.” These were good people who survived the Great Depression and built an incredible life out of hard work and taking responsibility.
Millennials, I am telling you this story to show you, it does not matter how much money you have. You can build the life of your dreams. Go out into the world. Do great things. And always stand up for what is right.
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Neither Zach De Gregorio or Wolves and Finance shall be liable for any damages related to information in this video. It is recommended you contact a CPA in your area for business advice.