Boomer Financial Advice to Ditch

Boomer Financial Advice to Ditch

It's easy to dish out what you might think is great financial advice if you're from the boomer generation — the most recent generation to accumulate copious amounts of wealth compared to others.

But does the financial advice of this aging generation still hold up today?

Older generation financial advisors such as Suze Orman and Dave Ramsay have been dishing out financial advice for a long time - but their words of wisdom are unrealistic in today's world.

Many believe the American dream is dead, and in many ways this is true. So it may be time to take part in the adolescent practice of "ignoring our parents" and ditch the financial advice of boomers — especially if that advice sounds something like this:

"Pay your mortgage off as soon as possible"

Baby Boomer GIF by MOST EXPENSIVEST Giphy

For most boomers, paying off their mortgage as soon as feasible was sound advice at some point, but that's probably not the case today. Mortgage rates in the '80s and '90s were well over 10%, but the average rate in the past decade hasn't even gone above 5%.

It makes much more sense in today's world for homeowners with low-interest rates to consider investing that extra money or paying on higher interest debt.

"Don't discuss your finances with others"

Statler And Waldorf Internet GIF Giphy

Americans have always been discreet about money, and it has long been taboo to discuss finances with others, especially in the workplace.

"How much do you make" is often interpreted as "how much is your worth," and the correlation of pay and a person's value makes it awkward for many to discuss their finances. However, the norm of keeping one's salary secret has only led to an increased wage gap in America.

There is no reason that sharing salary information with coworkers shouldn't happen. After all, it may just land you a higher salary. And if you're ever told by an employer not to discuss salary with co-workers, you can refer them to the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which makes it unlawful for private sector employers to prohibit employees from discussing their pay.

"Get a college degree if you want to make good money"

Season 4 Michael GIF by The Office Giphy


College isn't always a good investment anymore. With the college wealth premium — that is, the additional income earned by a family whose head of household has a college degree compared to that of a similar family head of household who does not have a degree — has been on a steady decline over recent decades, proving that college degrees don't necessarily ensure higher pay anymore.

The average cost of college has risen 3009% since the 1960's.

College was a completely different ball game when the majority of baby boomers attended. In 1970, the average college tuition came to what would now be $1,653. Today, that number is closer to $25,000.

To further debunk the myth that a degree amounts to more wealth, the skyrocketing price to attend college alone can often make a degree a bad investment. Many boomers were able to pay for entire degrees with the money made at part time jobs. With the average modern college student accumulating upwards of $40,000 in debt, the days of being able to pay for college with your own income are long gone for most individuals.

"Stay loyal to your job, and you will be rewarded"

Work Hard Hang In There GIF by Discovery Canada Giphy

According to a Linkedin study, boomers report being significantly more satisfied and loyal to their employers than Gen X and Millennials; but a look at the change in the workplace might unveil the reasons why younger generations are more likely to switch jobs.

Pension plans, or retirement plans in which an employer makes contributions set aside for employees to collect after they retire are almost entirely a thing of the past. With this type of plan, often referred to as defined benefit plans, the employer is the sole contributor to the retirement accounts, unlike the common retirement plans today such as 401ks, in which the employee themselves must make contributions. Today, only about 4% of private-sector employers offer pensions to their employees.

Along with diminishing retirement incentives, the lack of benefits and rising costs of employer-sponsored healthcare also play a factor into job loyalty. Since 1998, the percent of workers offered employer-sponsored coverage has been on the decline.

"Homeownership is the path to wealth"

Boomers GIF by MOODMAN Giphy


Any boomer will tell you that the first thing to invest in is homeownership. In fact, the baby boomer generation believed in this advice so much that they now own more than 80% of housing wealth in the US.

A recent study found that from 1983 to 2013, housing wealth increased almost entirely within the baby boomer and older generations. Urban boomers have highly influenced the increase of homeownership pricing due in large part to restricting housing supplies. For example, most neighborhood councils and homeowners associations are made up of boomers, who impose strict building requirements that raise the prices of homes and make affordable housing scarce.

Younger generations are left with few options, either having to often take out mortgages they truly can't afford, or continue to rent. And if the 2008 crash taught us anything, homeownership can be a very risky investment.

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A Guide to Quiet Quitting: How the Gen Z TikTok Trend Is Actually About Setting Boundaries At Work

Quiet Quitting is the latest trend among Gen-Z TikTok that encourages setting boundaries at work

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Toni Morrison has an anecdote about her first ever job, which was cleaning some neighborhood woman’s house. The young Toni arrived home after work one day and expressed her troubles to her father. But he didn’t provide the sympathy she expected. Instead, he gave her something better — his advice:

“Listen. You don’t live there. You live here. With your people. Go to work. Get your money. And come on home.”

Years later, she wrote about this remarkable experience for the New Yorker and said, in hindsight, this is what she learned:

1. Whatever the work is, do it well—not for the boss but for yourself

2. You make the job; it doesn’t make you

3. Your real life is with us, your family

4. You are not the work you do; you are the person you are

What Morrison so eloquently articulated was setting boundaries. I revisited this piece during the pandemic when working from home ramped up in earnest. Back when work was one of the few things that anchored my day.

Without a physical office, the pandemic shattered the work/life balance for many people. There was no more of that physical separation that Morrison talked about. There is no coming home from work physically. There is no real life to come back to — just a manufactured commute to your laptop in your makeshift home office.

But, par for the course, Gen Z are navigating this boundaryless era using TikTok. While internet gurus promote hustle culture and constant online availability since you’re not getting face time with your managers, there’s a trend in town — “quiet quitting.”


@zaidleppelin On quiet quitting #workreform ♬ original sound - ruby


The trend arose from the depths of the pandemic. Layoffs, salary cuts, and furloughs proved that their employers did not care about their hard-working employees.

The Washington Post dubs quiet quitting as a fresh trem for an old phenomenon: employee disengagement. In many cases, it’s a response to burnout. For much of Gen Z, it’s a way of establishing healthy boundaries in the office and resisting the pressure of the rat race. After all, why work yourself to the bone for a company that just proved it’s ready and willing to let you go?

Despite the term’s negative connotations, Quiet Quitting can provide an empowering shift in thinking for employees.

For far too long, employees have been indoctrinated with a slew of toxic workplace advice. Faced with these old misconceptions and lacking job security or clear paths for advancement, Gen Z is untethering their identities from work.

Quiet quitting — therefore — might be a bit of a misnomer. These employers aren’t completely disengaged. They’re certainly not launching Flight Club-esque sabotage attempts on their employers. NO. Contrary to media panic, Gen Z understands the value of a job — the fickle market they entered ensured that. But they also understand the value of life.

They’re doing what they’re being paid for. Nothing more, nothing less.

According to Chief, a private membership network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders, older generations should learn from this approach.

“Gen Z has already endured the largest seismic shifts to the career landscape than any previous generation, having started their careers in the middle of a pandemic that changed office culture forever and a gig economy that makes piecing together work more viable. They’re taking both those realities and therefore demanding more autonomy and flexibility than any other generation.”

Gen Z are less attached to job titles and statuses. They’re more concerned about their lives. Sure, this can lead to problematic outlooks on money and experiences — see the “I can earn my money back” TikTok trend. But it’s better than hustling for no reward. Besides, as some Gen Z-ers put it on TikTok, the office isn’t even a vibe.

“With the ability to work from anywhere and for more than just one place, Gen Z-ers are forging their own paths that don’t rely on old patterns set by previous generations and are redefining what “career success” looks like. Gen Z can take note, as more and more leaders are similarly pursuing multiple income streams of their own through the form of a portfolio career. The way in which work looks like and where it happens is evolving.”

With less single-minded focus on one job, some TikTok business gurus advocate shutting your laptops precisely at 5 pm. And then jump onto your side hustle. Do nails or lashes on the weekend. Become social media managers for your phone. Sell soap on Etsy (again … perhaps not in the Fight Club way).

But this valorization of side hustles is not about hustle culture, either. They say job security isn’t guaranteed. Learning new skills and develop an alternate income stream/s to keep you afloat. Just make sure you’re not left in the lurch. BTW inflation is here. So every little bit helps.

But where do you start? Watching TikToks can only get you so far. Try a course on LinkedIn Learning to sharpen up your skills and learn new ones that you can turn into a verifiable side hustle — or leverage in your job search if quiet quitting leads to … real quitting.

Learn on your own time with bite-sized videos or in-depth courses. Watch them after work, before you clock in, or on your lunch break. Then, after your courses are complete, you’ll have certificates prominently displayed on your profile that prove your skills.

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The Future of Coffee is Melted

Why You Need Cometeer Coffee: Coffee You Can Take on the Go

Cometeer Coffee

There’s an internet trend that says that everyone has three drinks: one for energy, one for hydration, and one for fun.


Hydration drinks are usually seltzer, a sports drink, or good old-fashioned water. Fun drinks can be anything from boba to kombucha to a refreshing fountain sprite. But the drink you choose for energy says the most about you. Are you a chill tea drinker? An alternative yerba mate devotee? A matcha-obsessed TikTok That Girl wannabe? A chaotic Red Bull chugger? Or are you a lover of the classics, a person after my own heart, who just loves a good cuppa joe?

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Can We Afford To Return To The Office?

Over two years into the most momentous event in our lives the world has changed forever … Some of us have PTSD from being locked up at home, some are living like everything’s going to end tomorrow, and the rest of us are merely trying to get by. When the pandemic hit we entered a perpetual state of vulnerability, but now we’re supposed to return to normal and just get on with our lives.

What does that mean? Packed bars, concerts, and grocery shopping without a mask feel totally strange. We got used to having more rules over our everyday life, considering if we really had to go out or keeping Zooming from our living rooms in threadbare pajama bottoms.

The work-from-home culture changed it all. Initially, companies were skeptical about letting employees work remotely, automatically assuming work output would fall and so would the quality. To the contrary, since March of 2020 productivity has risen by 47%, which says it all. Employees can work from home and still deliver results.

There are a number of reasons why everyone loves the work from home culture. We gained hours weekly that were wasted on public transport, people saved a ton of money, and could work from anywhere in the world. Then there were the obvious reasons like wearing sweats or loungewear all week long and having your pets close by. Come on, whose cat hasn’t done a tap dance on your keyboard in the middle of that All Hands Call!

Working from home grants the freedom to decorate your ‘office’ any way you want. But then people needed a change of environment. Companies began requesting their employees' RTO, thus generating the Hybrid Work Model — a blend of in-person and virtual work arrangements. Prior to 2020, about 20% of employees worked from home, but in the midst of the pandemic, it exploded to around 70%.

Although the number of people working from home increased and people enjoyed their flexibility, politicians started calling for a harder RTW policy. President Joe Biden urges us with, “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again.”

While Boris Johnson said, “Mother Nature does not like working from home.'' It wasn’t surprising that politicians wanted people back at their desks due to the financial impact of working from the office. According to a report in the BBC, US workers spent between $2,000 - $5,000 each year on transport to work before the pandemic.

That’s where the problem lies. The majority of us stopped planning for public transport, takeaway coffee, and fresh work-appropriate outfits. We must reconsider these things now, and our wallets are paying

the price. Gas costs are at an all-time high, making public transport increase their fees; food and clothes are all on a steep incline. A simple iced latte from Dunkin’ went from $3.70 to $3.99 (which doesn’t seem like much but 2-3 coffees a day with the extra flavors and shots add up to a lot), while sandwiches soared by 14% and salads by 11%.

This contributes to the pressure employees feel about heading into the office. Remote work may have begun as a safety measure, but it’s now a savings measure for employees around the world.

Bloomberg are offering its US staff a $75 daily commuting stipend that they can spend however they want. And other companies are doing the best they can. This still lends credence to ‘the great resignation.’ Initially starting with the retail, food service, and hospitality sectors which were hard hit during the pandemic, it has since spread to other industries. By September 2021, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 4.4 million resignations.

That’s where the most critical question lies…work from home, work from the office or stick to this new hybrid world culture?

Borris Johnson thinks, “We need to get back into the habit of getting into the office.” Because his experience of working from home “is you spend an awful lot of time making another cup of coffee and then, you know, getting up, walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back to your laptop and then forgetting what it was you’re doing.”

While New York City Mayor Eric Adams says you “can't stay home in your pajamas all day."

In the end, does it really matter where we work if efficiency and productivity are great? We’ve proven that companies can trust us to achieve the same results — or better! — and on time with this hybrid model. Employees can be more flexible, which boosts satisfaction, improves both productivity and retention, and improves diversity in the workplace because corporations can hire through the US and indeed all over the world.

We’ve seen companies make this work in many ways, through virtual lunches, breakout rooms, paint and prosecco parties, and — the most popular — trivia nights.

As much as we strive for normalcy, the last two years cannot simply be erased. So instead of wiping out this era, it's time to embrace the change and find the right world culture for you.

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