"Xennieal" here. My last year of college saw a split: There were classmates and friends who grabbed the last rung of the ladder as it was getting pulled up. They were the ones who were flexible with their ethics, pursuing finance or law. If you believed in something and wanted to make the world better, you were the ones they stepped on to grab their chance.

I had a conversation with a couple colleagues, one 6 years older at 50 and the other in their late 50's. Discussion of 401k, investments, retirements... they didn't bring up student loan debt, or debt accumulated from time spent unemployed, or debt from the year their millennial spouse had to take off working, from a mental breakdown (from being tragically undervalued, underemployed, and educated well beyond their peers).

I tried to laugh it off and make light..."Investments? LOL I'm just trying to pay bills!" but it turned serious quickly when I brought up the student loan costs I'm still paying ~20 years later, the shrinking commissions % they saw after 10 years into the business instead of starting with. They heard about the advantages they had, the "head start" to grab whatever resources they can before it crashes and burns, simply by virtue of a birth year.

And they got to hear that our retirement plan is to sell the childhood homes we grew up in (and in my case helped build), after our respective parents pass.

I became angry, and they became quite somber.

At least I have a new topic for my therapist next week.