What did Gen X grow up with? Well, they learnt all about AIDS at school so free love was pretty much out. Jobs dried up in the 80s with the recession of 82/83 and the resulting aftermath that lasted for years.
Then the recession of 90/91 further killed the jobs market just when Gen X were starting to find their feet. But all is not bad, that was the last recession Australia endured, sure there have been slowdowns but no official recession.
Want to head to university to increase your employability? A nice HECS debt influenced such a decision; yep, you paid for it as free university education was now a distant memory.
Thinking of buying a house as a young person in the late 80s and early 90s; interest rates around the 17% - 18% mark certainly put a downer on such thoughts. Then when Gen X got established in their careers, the GFC came along and there goes any chance of keeping their employment - hard call.
The first of the Gen Xers are hitting 50, still too young to retire, yes they have had some of the benefits of superannuation. That started at 3% and only if your company could afford it.
Likewise, when the rate moved to 6%, the unlucky ones started on 3% and when they moved to 9% the unlucky ones moved to 6% and waited another cycle before they finally received the full 9% benefit.
The baby boomers could get their hands on their superannuation at age 55, that has changed with anyone born after 1963, yeah, the baby boomers have more generous contribution rates too - gotta love it.
So when the Gen Xers get to 60, that is still a decade away for first of the crowd, the transition to retirement scheme will have gone, the contributions rules have changed and they can't dump large amounts of into their retirement accounts as they are now capped.
Wait for the age pension? That was 65 but the Gen Xers have to keep working, it is already 67 before they can get any money from a lifetime of taxes and will more than likely be age 70 by the time they get there.
The new superannuation rules will prevent many Gen X enjoying that comfortable retirement as the defined benefits scheme was unavailable to most Gen Xers as that was phased out before many could get to those positions.
The defined benefits scheme is pretty much the domain of the Baby Boomers unless a Gen X was lucky enough to score that cruisy government job early in life. The defined benefits scheme will pay out 75% of their final salary until they die but these funds have be unavailable for years as they were too generous.
Most Gen Xers have an accumulation fund that is funded by employer contributions that isn't going to cover their retirement. But hang on, this isn't free money - this was the pay rise you never got to see.
You forfeited the immediate pay rise and that was paid into superannuation on your behalf. When Gen X finally gets to benefit from that contribution, the taxation rules change and their retirements are not going to be anything like they expected.
The real benefits for Gen X was they were kids in the 1970s and teenagers in the 1980s, despite some of the problems associated with the 70s and 80s the kids played outside until dark, we had plenty of bush to run around in and sport was played everyday.
Yes, we were the first generation to learn technology but as far as I recall nobody stayed inside playing video games, you ran around outside and had fun. Sure we are getting screwed with retirement benefits and in the workplace but we are going to enjoy life despite the inconveniences.
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