12mo ago

‘Ultra wealthy’ Gen Xers are proving more resistant to returning to the office.

It's funny how the narrative changes when a group can actually fight back. Most of the Gen-Xers I know in tech aren't going back to the office, not because they are ultrawealthy but because they are getting old, are virtually irreplaceable, and are prioritizing life over work after having survived the pandemic.

Also, sure Millenials and Gen-Z are "choosing" to go back. They aren't compelled in any way. Right.

39 comments

Is there anything that's more obviously a "divide and conquer" tactic than all this unhinged generational bullshit? I'm gen x, and I've got more in common with my poor millennial and gen z neighbors than I do with some rich fuck my own age.
And the "ultra wealthy" reference in this article is laughable. The ultra wealthy have always done whatever tf they want while the rest of us suffer.
This article is just "young people don't want to work anymore" in a fake nose and glasses.
- On the nose. Only fight is the class fight
- Is there anything that's more obviously a "divide and conquer" tactic than all this unhinged generational bullshit?
  It’s insane but effective. A friend who is 25 years younger than me angrily called me a Boomer because my husband and I bought a house in 2020, which means we had advantages that he didn’t get.
  It was our first house, in rough shape, and it was through a VA loan. Every repair was DIY. Meanwhile, the guy who called me a Boomer inherited his house and massive acreage. Also, unlike that guy, we’re pro-union, politically active environmentalists who vote for progressive candidates. Just an absolute wtf moment.
  
  We own a house too, but it's actually cheaper to pay the mortgage here than to rent an apartment. Even so, it's similar to yours, and we're on two programs to help us afford it. It's our first home, and we bought it in 2019. Since then, the cost of housing has drastically increased here to the point that I don't think we could afford it now.
- Wholeheartedly agree. The most bizarre thing for me is my oldest siblings are 7yrs older and they are considered Boomers, and what a stark difference. Both had excellent education, careers, both union, and capitalism worked for them, they dodged all the market downturns, recessions & bubbles- and they're quite opinionated on them lazy kids, immigrants, etc.
- The generational divide is real in a way because different generations had different possibilities financially.
  A few years back you could get cheap loans now you cannot. If you finished university after 08 you could not get a job that paid the same as before or at all etc. These are ups and downs in the market of course but things put you on a trajectory.
  I don't know if I will ever own anything and it does not look better for future generations.
  
  Yeah, true. Thanks to investors and the fact that we treat housing like a commodity that can be bought and sold, it was inevitable.
  The only reason I was able to buy a house was because I live in bumfuck, South Dakota, I have a husband who applied for the loans along with me, and we got on two programs. But that was in 2019, and it's gotten worse since then, even here.
  But yeah, I do understand what you're saying. I just think the blanket statements about entire generations are wack. They called us Gen Xers "slackers" in the 90s and said we didn't want to leave our parents basements, etc. -- they say the same shit about every generation, and it's like we get amnesia about it every time. It's so ignorant when I hear people my age say the exact same things about Gen Z and millenials that they said about us.

My company is full of Gen X (I myself am just on the X/Millennial cusp) and they are honestly some of the best allies that Millenials and Z aren't tapping into. Gen X pull weight and equally don't give a fuck, due to the latchkey-COWABUNGA-go-play-in-the-streets timeframe they grew up in.
- The only thing that stopped us taking over was being outnumbered, and that’s changing fast.
  
  I'm rooting for y'all. I consider myself to be a decently successful person, and behind my success at multiple pivotal moments, was an influential Gen X person supporting and/or vouching for me.
- I have a feeling GenX are also the first generation that won't be allowed to retire, so we're going to be working with them for a long time.
  
  Maybe some. But some of us got in on 401k and ira and stuff. I know some didn't though. I worry about millennials and especially gen z, though. Us progressives and those even further left gotta start running for office and fix this shit.
  
  This Gen Xer is planning to die relatively young. Retirement definitely is not in the cards. I have a permanent chronic health condition. My wife has already fought cancer once. Healthcare is impoverishing. I will probably die at my desk. I hope I doesn't demoralize my younger coworker friends.
  I guess I could easily slave another 25 years. Mostly I hope to live long enough to pay off my house, so my kid can actually own one. I feel like I should have bought him one ten years ago, but I couldn't afford to.
  
  Because we (GenX here). Are bookended by the two largest generations ever and we are the smallest one. So here we are both paying for our parents retirement and paying for our kids who don't have careers yet.
  We are totally fucked. I don't plan on ever retiring. I'm too important to too many people that matter immensely to me.
  
  We are the first generation to get legally scammed out of any pensions, so yes, a lot of us will retire by overdose
- We were called slackers. Welcome to our club! We love you.
- The boomers have been really successfull in simultaneously punching down across the generations and making us punch down on each other at the same time.

It me, though ultra-wealthy is a disingenuous choice of words: unless you can live off of your capital alone, you’re not ultra-wealthy.
- It’s just more shifting the goalposts.
  By lowering the bar on what “wealthy” is, it starts targeting those chanting “eat the rich” at each other.
  Timmy the Zer sees Dave the Xer with a house and car and equates that with wealth and starts blasting. While the actual wealthy hide away in their riches and are left alone.
  
  Right? I'm just sitting here like "I got $1000 in the bank, a nice job that lets me travel, living comfortably within my means; we're all in the same metaphorical boat."
- At least they didn't call them middle-class.

GenX here. I'm getting my ducks in a row to early retire if I want. I'm not ultra wealthy by any means. Just saved and invested back when that was easier for worker bees to do. I'll work another year or two, but it's nice knowing I can walk.
I'm also hard to replace. I feel sorry for the poor person who gets stuck with my job.
I like my younger coworkers. They are funny and smart. The boomer bosses, not so much. The boomers ask us for shit, we make it happen, and then they take all the credit for it. Anything that goes wrong they blame it on us, of course.

I’m a xenial with a tech job and have reached irreplaceable status. I’m very fortunate to have been able to give the RTW ultimatum. I can assure you that I am anything but wealthy, let alone ultra wealthy.
I simply have a job that allows me to work from home, and I have a unique skill set. For which I am extremely grateful.

Gen X here. I am, indeed, irreplaceable. I have multiple conversations in a week about contract to hire, or other nonsense, in a week. I know what I'm about, I know what I can do, and I will not stand for this kind of stupidity in hiring.
I am more effective working at home. I have been doing it for 10 years now.
You do not want me in your office. My jibes are too much for the boomers.
To wit, leave me alone, I just want to quietly do my job, and I don't need you blathering about it in my ear.
- Well can you at least uncover your camera? We really want to at least see you. Please?
  
  When they ask me to go on camera I just tell them "but I'm ugly today"

How are you all so wrapped up in fake generational war ?? What the fuck , you’re all mental.
- Generations in this context are being used as shorthand for age demographics.
- I agree that the generational mud slinging is a waste of energy and meant to distract. The entire narrative around generational divide is created and pushed by corporate media. It's the same story over and over, sow a social divide and keep the "have nots" infighting while the "haves" rob us blind. And the significant majority of us are not in the latter group and never will be no matter how much we fund our 401k and save.

I was going to force the RTW issue since I loved working from home, but they actually ponied up a shitload of money, and well, I love money more. Hopefully it doesn’t mess with my work/life balance too much.

Probably could have stopped at “ultra wealthy”.
If you’re well positioned enough to have made yourself ultra-wealthy, you’re probably in a position to be calling some of the shots and can dictate when and where you’ll be. Doesn’t matter which generation it is.

I am an elder zoomer who prefers the office to have work life separation and to socialize because I am lonely and don't live where I was born to have an established social net.

39 comments