09-26-2016, 12:22 AM
Trailing edge boomer, born 1960.
All through childhood, I wanted to be an adult. I resented having to sit at the children's table at Thanksgiving, I hated the regimentation and pointlessness of public school, and I looked forward to the day when I'd be in charge of my own life.
Then I went to college nowhere near home, and after getting over a few seconds' fear on realizing that my parents wouldn't be there to catch me if I failed to get something done, I started taking responsibility for my own life. I managed to graduate on time, and without any debt except for a four year obligation to the military to repay my ROTC scholarship.
Thanks to the ROTC scholarship, I had an automatic job on graduation, and didn't realize until later that many of my nonmilitary compatriots had trouble due to the recession Carter turned over to Reagan. Reagan quickly fixed that, though - with some belated help from Carter's appointee Volcker - and any of my compatriots that actually wanted to work, which was by no means all of them, did well through the Reagan boom of the following two decades.
I did have a tough period of unemployment during the Bush the Elder recession after declaring myself part of the peace dividend and moving back to the city where all my friends were, but weathered it by spending the appreciation in the condominium I'd bought in 1986 and sold in 1990. Once I had a job, bought a large house to replace the condominium, with help from my Silent generation parents for the down payment since I'd spent the equity from my condominium. At my next job, I started a shift from the nuclear engineering I'd thought to be cutting edge technology when I was in high school, to software engineering, which was actually much more interesting to me. I had another year or two of unemployment in the mid 1990s but survived by spending the ongoing gains in my IRA - another example of lean years - for me - cushioned by savings from my good years.
Got married, interesting time as a software contractor through two boom and bust cycles, had three wonderful Quiet generation kids. Currently some credit card debt, but lots of equity in reserve in the house I'd bought in 1990, so barring a generational crisis, I'll survive financially.
So basically, adulthood has been pretty much what I envisioned - I get to make my own decisions, and get to live with the consequences of those decisions. I would never go back to being a child.
All through childhood, I wanted to be an adult. I resented having to sit at the children's table at Thanksgiving, I hated the regimentation and pointlessness of public school, and I looked forward to the day when I'd be in charge of my own life.
Then I went to college nowhere near home, and after getting over a few seconds' fear on realizing that my parents wouldn't be there to catch me if I failed to get something done, I started taking responsibility for my own life. I managed to graduate on time, and without any debt except for a four year obligation to the military to repay my ROTC scholarship.
Thanks to the ROTC scholarship, I had an automatic job on graduation, and didn't realize until later that many of my nonmilitary compatriots had trouble due to the recession Carter turned over to Reagan. Reagan quickly fixed that, though - with some belated help from Carter's appointee Volcker - and any of my compatriots that actually wanted to work, which was by no means all of them, did well through the Reagan boom of the following two decades.
I did have a tough period of unemployment during the Bush the Elder recession after declaring myself part of the peace dividend and moving back to the city where all my friends were, but weathered it by spending the appreciation in the condominium I'd bought in 1986 and sold in 1990. Once I had a job, bought a large house to replace the condominium, with help from my Silent generation parents for the down payment since I'd spent the equity from my condominium. At my next job, I started a shift from the nuclear engineering I'd thought to be cutting edge technology when I was in high school, to software engineering, which was actually much more interesting to me. I had another year or two of unemployment in the mid 1990s but survived by spending the ongoing gains in my IRA - another example of lean years - for me - cushioned by savings from my good years.
Got married, interesting time as a software contractor through two boom and bust cycles, had three wonderful Quiet generation kids. Currently some credit card debt, but lots of equity in reserve in the house I'd bought in 1990, so barring a generational crisis, I'll survive financially.
So basically, adulthood has been pretty much what I envisioned - I get to make my own decisions, and get to live with the consequences of those decisions. I would never go back to being a child.