Did you achieve a higher financial status in your life than your parents? Your siblings? My fathers parents were doing ok til my grandfather had an accident in the Lehigh Valley Shop. No comp or disability in those days, they became subsistence farmers. My father was my maternal grandfathers hired hand. He eventually got a job as a warehouseman with GLF,(Grangers, Loggers and Farmers) co-op I went from my parents poverty to blue collar middle class. One brother is a fluid engineer and does real well,one brother hasn't got two nickels to rub together,other three siblings are about where I am. My son is a machinist, one daughter is doing real well in the construction business,and her sister is managing chef at a local hospital. Doesn't pay that well, but thats what she does.
My father worked in the mines, starting at the bottom and worked his way up to assistant foreman. It made him salary so he always had a paycheck even when the mines were slow. We lived comfortably middle class. I worked as an electronics tech and did well financially. My brother never went to college and worked in manufacturing and as a driver.
My father lived a low-key lifestyle to continue to support two households after my parents split in 1966 (never divorced) and died early (55) with very little assets, to my knowledge. He was a stock boy with G.C. Murphy's in high school, went to fight The Big One (WW2), and worked for Murphy's the rest of his life as a store manager back when they did their own buying, pricing and merchandising. He was good at what he did. I don't think we were poor growing up, but if Murphy's didn't carry it, we likely did not have it. After our father left, my mother took typing classes and went to work for Sears Credit Central in collections, later promoted to Collections Manager, then when she hit 55 they tried to force her out before she could retire (Sears had a retirement plan and would do this to people before they could cash in on it.) They put her in "Contract [Outside] Sales," meaning she would visit developers as they built apartments, townhouses and subdivisions, and sell them Sears/Kenmore appliances, water heaters, etc. She had never done outside sales before, but being a British woman on the job sites must have made her seem disarming. She was Salesperson of the Year for several years running. It was humorous, she was such a disorganized mess. She retired comfortably. Got to fly back to England a few times. Died in 2006 at 84. I had 5 siblings. None of us went to college out of high school. It was never discussed. -Oldest sister and her family have always struggled financially. Husband died in 2005. -Older brother was in U.S. Army Band and retired from it. (He died in 2000.) -Next older sister did well for herself. Was with NLRB in North Carolina most of her career (Field Arbitrator), finished up her career at HQ in DC, where she retired and still lives. -I did OK. Did a bunch of stuff out of high school (lawn mower mechanic, drove a Coca-Cola truck, managed a Hess station.) Got in with a small business, went to night classes, got into a career in purchasing/contracts/inventory management. Obtained my professional certification. After 25 years of purchasing management in a lot of different industries, shifted to Business Analysis. Got in with a good company the last 10 years of my career. Ended mostly on an up-note, even though I got laid off at 60 before I was really ready to retire. Could have turned out way different for me. I am grateful. -Next younger brother was a mechanic since he was a kid, started his own business, eventually bought land and built his own shop on it. Real smart guy. Had his ups & downs over the years, sold his business the summer of 2018. Died in early 2019. Only sibling who was worth a damn. -Youngest brother has always been aimless. Quits jobs without having another one to replace it. Gets $10 in his pocket and spends $20. Has survived off of his relatives for most of his adult life. Regarding the general topic: It's interesting that the generations exist in such different economic times. Heck, we've all lived through a variety of economies. And your opportunities very much depend on where you live.
Yes --I earned a higher income during my working life than anyone in my family and retired with a greater income as well.
O yes, I did and outdid the generation of my parents and my twin brother by far. My father had owned an apartment building but because he was a drunkard he sold it to have more money to spend on booze. He literally used up the whole sum just for himself. When he died early he left his wife and two kids aged 12 behind. My mother struggled hard to make ends meet but we remained poor by comparison. Later on my mother told me once that is was beyond her grasp how I'd managed to build a house and pay off the mortgage within ten years. The reason why I was doing way better financially than her generation and, above all, my brother is threefold. Under the communist regime it was impossible for the average Joe to accumulate money because there was no financial market, no capital, no assets at all. That's a fundamental difference that can't be overstated. With hindsight, it explained to me how it was possible for relatives in West Germany to simply send their relatives in the Eastern part a brand new car as a present. So investments of various sorts was the first thing I sank my teeth into after the wall had come down. While millions of East Germans stuck to their savings accounts yielding meager interest, to a large extent until the present day, I started investing in bonds and stocks as soon as it was possible in 1990. The second and third reason has to do with one's own standards and choices. My twin brother and I started off in the new system on a more or less equal footing but then it turned out that we were having completely different values, interests, views, priorities, expectations which led to a completely different lifestyle up until today. Just personal choices, nothing else. Whenever there was an opportunity (career or other) I was ready to also accept the second best knowing that I'd have to compromise but it would make me progress nonetheless whereas my brother always found fault with something. He sniffed at dealing with investments, was critical about my other decisions in life. All those different decisions accumulated over the years and made the difference that we see today. Today I am at least ten times better off than he is. He lives in a tiny rented apartment and doesn't have the money to move. He's the only one in his circle without property ownership he laments. When a long-time friend of his visited him for the first time some weeks ago, he wouldn't believe how my brother is living. The interesting bit for me is how my brother interprets his situation. Rather than accept that he could have foreseen his situation evolving as if in slow motion and that his decisions were poor, he puts it down to "bad luck" and "circumstances". Sure, finances are not everything but for me he is a good example of a person whose status quo is clearly not the result of a lack of opportunities or bad circumstances but of making a number of choices based on his values or convictions which proved to be plain wrong. Sadly, he does not even appreciate my assistance, financial and other, over the years.
I spent too many year working for the moment. Probably still would be if it wasn't for the Missus. I was a partier, a rambler,always just looking for the next adrenalin rush, tonites ,party, this weekends bike ride, pay to go skydiving rather than put a little a side. Then Mary came along and domesticated me.
I was married for less than 2 years. Got married in May of 1977, purchased a house in September of 1978 and split up that December. At that time, I was 24 years old. I wanted to keep the house (mainly because I detested apartment life), so that desire + being house poor pretty much kept me from wasting money...'cause I had none. I lived there for over 30 years. That house ended up being a big part of my retirement nest egg. So many paths, so many twists & turns.