Are You Financially Better Off than Your Parents?

[LanceyHoward]

I am curious about this. I am 65. I am one of four children who grew up in a middle class suburb outside Denver.

I am more affluent than my parents were. I was a accountant and had a steady income. My Dad was a salesman and while his good years were probably better than my best years he had some real down years.

But of my three brothers and sisters I nmay be the only one who can say that. I think one sister is financially better off but that is because she continuously worked even when her children were small. She maes and makes a lot more than my mother did, who did not work until I was 12 and did not work full-time until I graduated from high school. The answer for the other two the answer is no.

But if I had asked my parents or grandparents the same question the answer would of been that of course they had better lifestyles than the previous generation.

 

[BTExpress]

Yes. Because I/we didn't have kids, and Tribune Co. treated me wonderfully for the 26 years I was there.

I'm currently making the salary Tribune Company was paying me in 1989 (and 50% of what they were paying me in 2011). My wife makes what Tribune was paying me in 1986. If we actually had to pay rent or mortgage today we'd be hard-pressed to save a nickel.

My oldest brother is a dermatologist. Yeah, he's doing much better than our dad ever did.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Yes. Because I/we didn't have kids, and Tribune Co. treated me wonderfully for the 26 years I was there.

I'm currently making the salary Tribune Company was paying me in 1989 (and 50% of what they were paying me in 2011). My wife makes what Tribune was paying me in 1986. If we actually had to pay rent or mortgage today we'd be hard-pressed to save a nickel.

My oldest brother is a dermatologist. Yeah, he's doing much better than our dad ever did.

When I posted this I realized that the readers of this forum are an unrepresentative sample because of the hits journalists have taken financially due to the changes in the industry.

My grandfather worked for the Minneapolis morning paper from 1945 until 1953. His final job was as an assistant Sunday copy editor. I am pretty sure that editorial staff in the 70'sat the Star-Trib were financially better off than the staff in my grandfather's era.

The Star-Trib and the Boston Globe are the two most successful big city metros in today's economic environment. But I wonder, how much better the Star-Trib staff today is doing than the staff in 1945.

 

[Slacker]

I am curious about this. I am 65. I am one of fur children
who grew up in a middle class suburb outside Denver.

FUR CHILDREN LIVES MATTER TOO

 

[exmediahack]

Interesting question and thanks for asking it.

Only have a single mother. She’s retired (almost 80) and has a lot more cash on hand than I do and will for a while. Also has $360k in free and clear real estate value. But she lives off $2800 a month in SS and pension. And she’s good with it. Busted her ass for 30 years as a single parent and never made more than 43k a year.

I don’t have the cash or the equity but I’ve been fortunate to build a healthy 401k that I’m on track for low 7 figures, as long as I put away 18-20k a year and don’t draw from it until age 71.

As an only child, all of the plinko chips will flow to me anyway

 

[MisterCreosote]

My dad was a doctor, so little chance I’ll ever be better off than they were when I was a kid.

But he passed away in 2016, and my mom has been living off his retirement and disability since, and I’m much better off than she is now. She sold their house and now rents a little Bumble**** townhouse. I do most of her finances and unless she’s hiding something, I’m not sure how she lives the way she does on so little.

When I was a journalist, I wasn’t even better off than my past self who delivered pizza a decade earlier.

 

[Driftwood]

I think the best way to look at it is where your parents were when they where at your current stage of life.
In that case, I'd say it's pretty close to dead even.
My current net worth is more than my parents if you look at pure numbers, but I am at my highest earning years, and they've been living off retirement and social security for 20+ years.
If I'd stayed in the newspaper business, I'd be far worse off than they were or even are.

 

[MileHigh]

It's ... complicated.

I'm the oldest of five. I've talked with my sister about this over the years and I wouldn't say we grew up poor. I always felt middle class in inland SoCal. We weren't eating Spam or moving house to house. But mom worked as a records clerk at the big hospital in town. Dad ran (not very well) the family moving business that none of the kids wanted. But my sister has no idea how my parents pulled it off.

Sold the business -- well, the land that the city highly desired -- 15 years ago for low seven-figures. And he's always been a pincher/invested well. I haven't seen their books but they seem fine, though he ******* about money (they are mid-70s).

The complication. My sister and her family and the plane crash five-plus years ago. I was one of the six beneficiaries of a large (by my standards) estate, about $12 million. And as part of that, I inherited half of a triplex and a townhouse in a college town with both paid off. And I'm a beneficiary of the rest of their estates that includes a company that sold for more than $2.4 million with interest rate payments of 7% for now and no extra principal payments for the first seven years. I don't get a huge percentage (12.5%), but it gets socked away into an investment account that is very well run by the bankers our attorney turned to after the crash and pushed us to invest in. Most of us did, others did not.

As for my siblings. My brother is a teacher/coach/athletic director in California and once he gets to 2026, he can get out with a very nice retirement and move here. My sister who died was a stay-at-home as my brother-in-law ran the business, but she managed their rental properties. My other brother married well as his wife is high up in real estate and does well. My youngest sister does work with lab testing and her husband is an engineer and they are doing well -- and can manage to have property and live in Boulder.

And now my job out of journalism is the most I've made yearly with one-tenth the stress and asshat bosses. I really don't miss it. And if I'm here for five years, then I get the city pension. The longer I stay, the more I get. I *should* be fine, but like everything the past 20-some years, you never know what's going to happen.

 

[WriteThinking]

My oldest brother is a dermatologist. Yeah, he's doing much better than our dad ever did.

Our family has, finally, realized the importance of this -- choosing a good career field to begin with, and we have been trying hard to drum the idea into the heads of the younger generation of our family.

A lot of us were stupid in terms of the fields we chose, financially speaking, anyway. We did what we wanted at the time, and chose our fields of work based on that. But we've gained some perspective in all the years that have passed, and now, oftentimes, we lament not choosing more wisely, again, financially speaking, at least.

It really is so important, when you're young and trying to figure out what you want to do, to look and think ahead. It doesn't mean you can't still end up in a field you'd like, but you need to not say that pay/money don't matter.

 

[BTExpress]

I have no great regrets. I've spent 40 years doing what I like to do --- and what I'm pretty good at. I've never missed a paycheck (actually had two of them for four months in 2021), am debt free and have a really nice 401(k). [/DocHolliday]

And for all the financial perils in our business, Tribune paid me really well for more than a quarter-century. And Sam Zell grossly overpaid for my shares when he took the company private.

 

[dixiehack]

I’m not. Probably would be level with their pace if I had stayed married. But I don’t hate the person I am now and don’t take that anger out on people around me. That’s worth a house and intact 401k. I’d make the trade again.

 

[I Should Coco]

Interesting question ... and for both my parents and my wife and I, the timing of moves/selling a house impacts the answer.

I certainly have made less in journalism than my Dad made as a purchasing manager in the hospital industry, and maybe less than my Mom made as a nurse (she worked part-time jobs when my sister and I were little in the 1970s, then earned a nursing degree in the mid-1980s). My wife switched from teaching in elementary school to physical therapy, a move which improved both her mental and financial situation. I'm still in newspapers, and while I've never made more than the mid-40s per year (and most years was well below that), I really have no complaints about the pay. I knew that going into the business in 1994.

Now, the houses. My parents visited the Phoenix area in the late 1980s, fell in love with it, and decided to move there before they retired (in their early 40s, actually). That time period, the early 1990s, coincided with a recession, and housing hit a temporary slump in the Phoenix area when they moved. So they got a good price on their home, have since paid it off, and will be able to eventually sell it for more than twice what they paid.

My wife and I lucked into the same situation by moving to North Idaho in summer of 2009, at the depth of the recession. Many houses were owned by people who were "underwater" on their loans, and we got a steal. When we sold it in 2021, the housing market was red hot, interest rates were low, and we sold it for more than double what we paid.

So regardless of salaries, I consider our family very fortunate.

 

[Roscablo]

Might be equal. Might be a little better off. We never did too terribly growing up, and my parents benefited greatly from living in their purchased house for more than 40 years. My mom sold that after my dad died and moved into a smaller place in a retirement community and bought her current one outright, and she has a good amount of savings and a few bonds that my dad got from my grandma. She's worth quite a bit at the moment, although not tons of it liquid, and she doesn't even realize it.

But if you look at similar points in life, my family is probably better off. Good deal of real estate equity, a decent enough retirement, and some savings. So if it doesn't all go to crap then should be better off.

My sister on the other hand didn't fare as well. I just probably got lucky.

 

[BTExpress]

We grew up in an 850sf house for five people. My dad typically sold two weeks of his vacation every year (does anyone even allow employees to do that anymore?).

That's the kind of financial stress I assume he must have felt with three growing boys, even though he never really let on. We could have used a second income, but my mother was determined that we not be latch key kids and to keep a clean and organized house with regular meal times. So she only went to work part time when her youngest (me) was in college.

 

[WriteThinking]

I have no great regrets. I've spent 40 years doing what I like to do --- and what I'm pretty good at. I've never missed a paycheck (actually had two of them for four months in 2021), am debt free and have a really nice 401(k). [/DocHolliday]

And for all the financial perils in our business, Tribune paid me really well for more than a quarter-century. And Sam Zell grossly overpaid for my shares when he took the company private.

I should say that despite not being in the greatest financial position -- probably not as well off financially as my parents -- I don't really have any regrets about having gone into journalism, either. Not as a career.

But I am certainly cognizant of the fact that I never made much, and realize now how much better off I probably could've/would've been, financially speaking, had I followed some other possible directions I'd once considered -- nursing or radiology/X-ray technician.

As I said, I don't think I'm better off than my parents. They supported a large family on my dad's modest income, but managed to do well for themselves with each home they sold and were able to finance the building of the lake house to which they retired at Lake Nacimiento, where they spent, probably, the most contented dozen years of their lives before my grandmother's needs became prevalent and they moved south again, buying outright their last home, in which my mom still lives.

I am unlikely to ever be able to buy any more property or build any custom home -- certainly not in California. But, I am good with my money and I've manage to do other things. I travel quite a bit, and have built up a genuine art collection along the way. And, despite my always humble income, I managed to pay off my small condo several years ago, and I've been able to build up some savings thanks primarily to Walmart's good 401k. So, I do have some money and some equity.

Most of the time, I feel fortunate and blessed. But I can't help feeling like I kind of just have to hope that whatever I have will be enough to carry me through whatever the future holds.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Our family has, finally, realized the importance of this -- choosing a good career field to begin with, and we have been trying hard to drum the idea into the heads of the younger generation of our family.

It really is so important, when you're young and trying to figure out what you want to do, to look and think ahead. It doesn't mean you can't still end up in a field you'd like, but you need to not say that pay/money don't matter.

My grandfather had three children go into journalism. One got hired by a trade in New York City, after five years if trying into journalism and made a good living. The other two never got out out of small town dailies and did not make a good living though they did love the job.

Financially I wanted to do as wella s my dad. I knew a reporter at the Denver Post and found out that my Dad, who was in a relatively prosperous point in his career, was making top of the scale at the Denver Post.

I was one of four stringers covering high school sports for a local weekly. I realized that I was not the best writer of the four and maybe the worst. If I was not the best sports stringer on a suburban weekly there was no way in hell I would never make it to a Denver paper and I did not want to earn less money. I determined that a mediocre accountant could make a lot more money than a mediocre journalist working at a small [paper. So I got an accounting degree.

So I went into accounting. Given what happened to newspapers I am very glad I did. Not so much for extra money but because I never lost a job and never feared a layoff.

 

[wicked]

Definitely.

Grew up as the only child of two mentally/physically challenged adults (who never should’ve had a kid, but that’s another story) and I’ve managed to graduate college, keep myself employed for the past 20 years and not have too much debt ($7k in student loans, car loan; plus 28 years on the mortgage). Student loans should be gone in a couple years.

My girlfriend was 39 when we met. I was 40. We’re way behind in life. We don’t have kids (yet). We hope to, somehow, some day. I’m somewhat insistent on making sure that any kid we take in has more opportunities than I did. She came from a relatively stable two-parent household and had a very good basic education. She realizes how important that was to where she is now.

I feel like if you’re having kids you owe it to put them in a position where they can, somewhat easily, be able to land where you were. Many variables there, of course, but just a general guideline.

 

[TrooperBari]

Hard to say. In terms of take-home pay, yes. I'm making the best money I've ever made in newspapers while my mom bounces from one clerical job to another and my dad has worked the same job at the same small community college since 1988. Even if we change the comparison to similar stages in life, my parents were public school teachers paying for three kids and all the expenses that come with that while I have no spouse, kids, car, or major drain on my income beyond student loans and rent.

It's less clear in terms of long-term financial position. My mom declared bankruptcy several years ago, but she owns her house and should be able to sell at a profit and downsize when she retires in the next few years. My dad also owns his house (bought off his parents) and has been paying into his college's 401(k) for 30 years or so. Meanwhile, barring a bizarre turn of events, I'm going to be a perma-renter. I've also had to rebuild my savings several times -- getting stiffed over five figures of severance pay, losing all my retirement savings after trusting the wrong people, and becoming a full-time student in my late 30s -- and only been able to start saving for retirement since late 2020.

We haven't had this explicit conversation so I can't say for sure, but it seems like if my parents continue working beyond the next two or three years it'll be because they choose to do so. I feel increasingly doubtful I'll be able to say the same at their age. Part of that is probably down to the uncertainty around the industry as well as poor numeracy and general pessimism on my part. Even so, being better off than my parents feels like an ephemeral thing that could go the other way at a moment's notice.

 

[Spartan Squad]

No and yes.

I’ll be lucky to get close to my dad without an inheritance. He had a great tech job and retired with all the perks. Meanwhile between journalism and teaching, I’m just not going to match that. Thank to teaching and my wife’s job, we’re going to be just fine financially.

Compared to my mom, however, I’ll be much better. Mom worked for the post office and makes a living, but I’ll be better off.

It’s also interesting as a millennial child of boomers, I have several things going against me when trying to match my dad: student loan debt, housing costs, pension uncertainty, and energy costs. My dad would have done well even if he was my age today, but it was easier in the 70s/80s to get started and he had a good base by the 90s.

But it is TBD. My wife (who financially will be much better off than her working-class parents) will likely be lapping me in terms of pay in the next 10 years.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Might be equal. Might be a little better off. We never did too terribly growing up, and my parents benefited greatly from living in their purchased house for more than 40 years. My mom sold that after my dad died and moved into a smaller place in a retirement community and bought her current one outright, and she has a good amount of savings and a few bonds that my dad got from my grandma. She's worth quite a bit at the moment, although not tons of it liquid, and she doesn't even realize it.

But if you look at similar points in life, my family is probably better off. Good deal of real estate equity, a decent enough retirement, and some savings. So if it doesn't all go to crap then should be better off.

My sister on the other hand didn't fare as well. I just probably got lucky.

How much of that is due to your spouse entering the work force and participating in the work force and having smaller families? In my family I have held a steady job and my wife never worked full time until my oldest son graduated from high school.

But my sisters never left really left the work force. My sense of it is that males are not generally doing as well as their fathers. I think a great deal of that is due to the loss of a paternalistic corporate culture. Now many corporations, not just publishers, think nothing of firing employees. Back in the 70's and 80's there were lots of memories of the Great Depression and there was a lot of reluctance to downsize, especially if the company was still profitable.

Anda s many whoa re reading this sadly know, a loss of a job is frequently destructive to the finances of a person and their family.