As a Gen Xer, I feel attacked by being grouped together with boomers. I made some mistakes early in life by getting married at 20 and having 3 children by 24 and bankrupt by 28. That marriage ended after 10 years so I had to start over in 2003.

I only had a high school diploma and no savings. It sounded like a good time to “give up.” But I liked computers so I was able to hold an IT job averaging $50k my entire career. Bought a small row house in 2005 then a detached in 2007. I remarried well to a woman who also values work life balance and finances. I started investing at 40, went to university part time at 41 and graduated last year at 48 but I have yet to use it.

I’m 49 now and still never made over $100k and we only make $160k combined. I started investing in ETFs by 2014 then real estate by 2016. I doubt I will ever make as much as this young lawyer but if i did, i would likely be twice as wealthy today. I think being a father might have forced me to stay calm and carry on.

We became the beneficiaries of one of the longest sustained run up in equities and real estate. We have more wealth than our boomer parents combined but we were never entitled to it. We have peers who sat on the fence or “gave up” early and missed the ride up. This is not a new invented lifestyle of choice. Not saying giving up is bad. It’s a personal choice but we never know what the future might bring. As my favorite athletes once said: you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.