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February 23, 2025 8 mins

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Could today's youth be facing the most challenging financial landscape in recent history? Join us as we uncover the stark disparities between the economic realities of past generations and the hurdles confronting today’s young people. The episode explores how the absence of pensions, skyrocketing housing prices, and exorbitant college tuition have turned financial security into an elusive dream. We'll discuss the crucial role of financial literacy education in schools and why it’s imperative for equipping young people with essential skills like budgeting. Our conversation touches on the generational shifts in financial perception and the diminishing opportunities that shape young people's lives.

As we navigate through the economic turbulence affecting today's youth, we'll examine how these financial pressures are influencing mental health and driving a societal shift towards materialism. Are we prioritizing financial survival over personal fulfillment, and what does this mean for the future of human connection and care? We ponder whether we're heading towards a "brave new world" where wealth and material success overshadow the importance of community and empathy. Join us in contemplating the broader implications of this shift and how we can inspire and support the next generation in a rapidly changing world.

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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Take a breath, let's dive in.
Is it a brave new world, or isit a world that is ignorant?

(00:21):
And because ignorance is bliss,it seems that it is brave.
We live in an era ofimmeasurable wealth, an era of
countless technologicaladvantages, an era of
connectivity.
The social network is somethingthat is vastly expanded and yet
we are still ignorant.
In the era of information, wehave less information than at

(00:42):
any other point in history.
We're less informed, we're lesseducated and we're less capable
.
I would say the odds arestacked against us, because
knowledge truly is power, and ifwe have power we can move
forward.
To not have a say in certainthings is like robbing a person
of all dignity and rights.
There's a lot of angry peopleout there, a lot of young people

(01:03):
who feel like they aren't goodenough or they feel like there
is no future for them.
To a certain extent, they'reabsolutely right.
The world has changed and yetwe are all taught the same
things.
We're taught in a way whichwould suggest that the world
hasn't changed, but the worldhas changed.
401ks have replaced pensions.
Your college degree doesn'treally mean much.

(01:24):
There was a time where yourcollege degree doesn't really
mean much.
There was a time where yourcollege degree it really held a
lot of weight and if you workedfor a company for a long time
you'd have a pension.
A pension was a guarantee andyou'd also have your social
security.
So in many cases you'd haveindividuals.
They made more money duringretirement than they did when
they were working.
How many young people can saythat when they retire they will

(01:46):
have a 401k?
The 401k isn't a guarantee.
If the economy, you could have$2 million in your 401k right
now and if the economy goes down, well, there goes your money.
There is no guarantee you canhave a Roth IRA.
Is there going to be such athing as social security for a
lot of these young people?
Who knows?
People are living longer.
That will pose its own problemsin the future when it comes to

(02:10):
infrastructure.
But what about the young people?
What about their future?
What are they working towards?
And then they ask themselveswhat's the point in working so
hard if it's not going to leadto anything?
The generation before they werebuying a house.
Say the housing market was$125,.
They were buying a house.
Say the housing market was$125,000 for the average house.
Well, now it's four times thatthe average home in the United

(02:31):
States is around $430,000.
College was vastly cheaper backthen as well.
So what is the point?
Because they're going to keepworking and their hard work
isn't going to yield the sameresults as it did 30 years ago.
These are things that should beaddressed.
A lot of young people they'renot taught financial literacy.

(02:52):
A lot of people they think thatthey're not moving forward.
Well, they're not, but theydon't even know why.
They don't realize that theworld has changed.
They don't realize the cost ofgoods of increase to a point
where it makes no sense.
They don't understand thatbecause that was not their
reality before.
This is the reality they wereborn into and this is normal.
And so if this is normal andthey're under such stress and

(03:16):
such pressure, if this is theirnormal, maybe that's why this
generation has so many mentalhealth issues that the other,
the other generations did nothave, because the other
generations had more than thegeneration of today.
For example, how many peopleeven own their phones?
That's not even common anymore.
More and more people don't ownthings, and if they don't own

(03:41):
things, that means that more oftheir income is going towards
paying off things, whether it'sa car payment, whether it's
their iPhone or their TV or whathave you.
The future is not that ofownership for them phone or
their TV or what have you.
The future is not that ofownership for them In the era of
subscriptions, in the era ofclick, in the era of swipe, and
not the era of tangible money intheir hands.
It's harder for them to graspthe concept of saving when
that's not something that wasinstilled in them.

(04:02):
The schools have done a verypoor job at truly educating kids
.
I think we should get back tothe basics, get back to the
fundamentals of just teachinghuman beings how to function in
society.
Sure, most people don't havecheckbooks, and so they don't
know how to balance a checkbook,but most kids should be taught
how to budget, because these arethe things that are going to

(04:23):
propel them forward.
Being able to function andknowing how things work is
already a leg up.
I think kids today need to beinspired again, and by kids I'm
referring to those who are below25 years old.
I think that inspiration issomething that could lead to
something that would bringAmerica to a new golden era, and
that's missing.
That spark isn't there anymore,and we need to get that back.

(04:44):
What fascinates me about realityis that we're occupying the
same time in space, but we'renot occupying the same reality.
The person that is 65 years old, the person that is 45 years
old and the person that's 25years old are all alive at the

(05:04):
same time, but they're notoccupying the same reality.
Their perception of the worldis vastly different.
The things that affect them,whether it's mentally or
financially, are different.
It almost seems the younger youget, the less possibilities
there are for you, whereas theolder you get, there are more

(05:25):
possibilities for youfinancially speaking.
So the decisions that youngpeople make today are going to
affect them way into the future.
But if we're living life as ifsociety hasn't changed and
culture hasn't changed and theeconomy hasn't changed, then
they're not adequately equippedto meet those challenges in the

(05:47):
long run.
For example, if one of yourparents went to college, the
total cost of their tuition was$15,000.
When you go to college, yourgrandparents went to college and
the total cost for them to goto college we'll say that it was
$3,000.
And then you're in college andtotal cost of tuition for you is
$80,000.
Even if you all had the samedegree again, you're all

(06:10):
occupying the same time, thesame space, but not the same
reality.
The reality is that thedecision that you made to go to
school and pay $80,000 for youreducation puts you behind
financially.
Your parents went to school andthey paid $12,000 for their
education, or what have you?
This is not, these aren't exactnumbers.

(06:31):
$12,000, well, that didn'treally hinder their chances in
the future.
And then your grandparents ifthey spend $3,000 to go to
school, well, that's nothindering their future.
And then, to pile things on, ifthe high cost of housing were
was cheaper back then, so saythat it's.
You spend.
You spent three thousanddollars on your education, but

(06:53):
spent fifty dollars, fiftythousand dollars, to purchase
your home.
And then, when you retire,you're going to have a pension,
the equity in your home is goingto go up and you're going to
have social security.
I think that your future isbright.
Versus, you are in a situationin which schooling was $80,000

(07:14):
and to buy a home is $430,000.
Not to mention all the othercosts.
You know whether you knowpaying for, you know a vehicle
and such.
You're at an extremedisadvantage.
So no wonder young people feelthe way they do.
No wonder mental health is sucha crisis in this country,

(07:37):
because is the future bright?
Well, for some people it'sbright and for some people it
isn't.
And I'm not saying that therearen't opportunities out there.
But let's just face it Notevery human being in society has
the same level of intelligenceor are capable of the same
things.
The whole notion of doing whatyou love may not be something
that exists in the future, forthe future generation.

(07:57):
It's going to be do what makesmoney.
And if money is the thing thateveryone is chasing, we can only
hope to have a morematerialistic society in which
people are going to feel emptybecause all they're chasing is
money, just to survive.
And if survival is the modethat every individual is in,
then that makes for a terriblesociety.

(08:18):
There's a society without care.
Because then, the further we gointo the future, the more we
care about wealth and the lesswe care about people and the
more we become numbers, andthat's we care about people and
the more we become numbers, andthat's going to open a whole new
can of worms.
So I ask you this is it a bravenew world?
If you enjoyed today's content,please like and subscribe for

(08:39):
more.
Thank you.
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