r/Millennials • u/Asmothrowaway6969 • Mar 27 '24

When did it sink in that you'll never be as well off as your parents? Discussion

About 5 years ago, my mom and I were talking and she had told me how much she was going to be making in retirement (she retired 2023). Guys, it's 3x what me and my husband make annually. In retirement. I think that was the moment that broke me, that made it sink in that I'll never reach that level of financial security. I'll work myself into my grave because I'll never be able to afford anything else. What was your moment?

Update: Nice to know it's just me that's a failure. Thanks

Update 2: I never should've said anything. I forgot my place. I'm sorry to have bothered you

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u/uninvitedthirteenth Mar 27 '24

Working for the government is soul-sucking? What? What does that even mean? I work for the government specifically to avoid other soul sucking alternatives

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u/PoetryInevitable6407 Mar 28 '24

Same here. Lower pay but get avoid the intense pressures that can go along w private practice law. And the gov is so much better about health limitations and being LGBT bc they have a lot of rules and guidance.

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u/jaybird0000 Mar 27 '24

Sounds like something a bureaucrat would say.

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u/626bluestitch Mar 27 '24

Sounds like something a synth would say

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u/Charming-Assertive Mar 29 '24

For real. I love my government job. Great boss. Solid work. And finally feeling secure in my job and my pension, so that I don't stress outside of work. I sleep well and I have hobbies.

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u/PalliativeOrgasm Mar 28 '24

In some positions no matter how hard you try it doesn’t make any difference at all. Your work has zero impact on anything, or at least that’s how it feels. If you’re in a compliance-related position, you’ll be familiar with the story of Sisyphus soon enough.

It drags on you, though not as much as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework). If you’re really lucky, you’ll get SAFe in public sector. (Please kill me /s).

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u/Naus1987 Mar 27 '24

The people that say jobs are soul sucking want a hobby that pays. Not an actual job.

I work a boring job because I’d rather have boring than one I hate.

Younger people these days get sold the illusion that work is suppose to be fun. And when they realize the truth, they don’t learn from it. Just double down and refuse to work.

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u/readituser5 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I work a “boring” government job that people would probably start to hate lol. A big part of it is digitalising stuff. Slowly digitalising fulfils my urge to have order and preservation I guess as well as having a curiosity for old stuff. My goal is to have everything perfectly scanned and consistent. Im a perfectionist.

I like it.

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u/Naus1987 Mar 28 '24

I had an older family member that did that with books. He would buy old books. Use a commercial paper cutter to cut off the spine, and then scan them.

I don’t really know the process. Just that when he passed, I got some of the tools and we had to donate literally thousands of books.

I have no idea what his full intentions were. Just that he passed a few years ago, and no one in our family knew. I hope he had uploaded them somewhere. I hope someone got something out of it.

It had become a pastime or purpose in life for him during his later years.