I think it’s very hard to generalize about any particular generation, so I’ll share a little about my own life experience as a Boomer (and similar to most I know) only to help dispel common misconceptions about my generation.
As mentioned before, both my parents (whom, contrary to many comments here, I wanted to be exactly like, with no latchkey kids in either generation) and my wife’s parents, encouraged and emphasized establishing financial freedom ASAP in our lives as they had, and I was involved in investing in real estate even before I went to college. Everyone in my family was into real estate investment, among other things, so it came naturally.
This, among other things, gave us the freedom of not having to be tied to jobs, or at the mercy of employers–unless we chose to pursue careers we enjoyed–which both my wife and I did–she in film, and I in aviation, but we still had, and continue to have quality personal and family time for everything we need and want to do.
I could go on, but my point is, no generation has a “lock” on how to live. Believe me, there are people from every generation and in every age group who are living and have lived the lives they want to live, and some are not–it’s all individual.
