Well damn, that's a big difference, "Boomers say it takes $100k a year to be financially successful, Gen Z says it takes $600k." What salary does it take to be financially successful in everyone's eyes? As a Millennial, I think $250,000 would make me feel successful
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/22/boomers-gen-z-millennials-financial-success
I think it will be much easier to understand if we stop treating these age groupings as distinct species. Younger people of today will think that they need to be top 1% of the American population to be successful. The current generation cannot afford to buy a house, they are loaded with loans and they can lose their jobs to AI or layoffs. Plus , no offense, the financial responsibility/ acumen of younger generation cannot be compared to someone older. I was not exactly super saver and responsible in my 20s
71% of the genz think that they will make 600 K. That’s immaturity and that’s how we all were
If you own a house and have minimal loans, you have already factored in biggest expenses. Which is usually the older age group.
Millennial with $220 HHI and I consider us successful. (LCOL, though)
We need more money but that’s because we made VERY poor financial decisions in the past 😂
I’m in Columbus, Ohio. We bought our $700k house last year at 6.9% interest. I make $250 +40% bonus and my wife makes $120k. We have no kids and we feel like top 1%ers. I think it comes down to how much you want to save and how much you already have put away / how much debt you have.
We have a shared HY savings account with $65k in it. We both max our 401ks, and our combined investable assets (mostly index funds etc) is just under $1million. 36YO.
Well, you're right there, so you should feel rich. Top 1% starts at $494k in Ohio.
Millennial pleb 🤩
$500k
Millennial here. DINK household that will earn $300k in 2025. We are comfortable in a city but I always want more :). No kids yet. We just bought our first house.
Both answers are disconnected from reality. Expecting to make $600k is a bit more obvious, but $100k is on the other side of the spectrum for anyone in a HCOL area. Boomers bought their houses decades ago, of course, their life costs less than someone buying a house today.
My lived experience at 48, and I agree that this is an age/experience thing, not a generation thing, is that $300k does not provide a lavish lifestyle when you have a sizeable mortgage and grocery bill. We save for vacations and drive used cars, comfortable but not exactly rich.
Our 22yo daughter got married a little while back, and it's been interesting to see reality hit her in the face. She and her husband do OK, but she has had a shift down in lifestyle as compared to living with us, and more importantly, now she can see exactly what life costs as compared to what a hard days work looks like. She has since admitted to how clueless she was about the cost of living.
Yeah I’d say $250k HHI would be a good settling point w/ humble spending. I’m about $100k short of that now but based on my lifestyle that would do it. Plenty to travel and invest w/ while being able to keep my wife as a stay at home mom