BABY BOOMER

Baby boomers got their name from a phenomenon known as the baby boom. This boom was a spike in birth rates after World War II. In the United States, around 3.4 million babies were born in 1946, more than ever before in United States history. This trend continued, with 3 to 4 million babies being born each year from 1946 to 1964. These births led to a total baby boom population of nearly 72.5 million, the largest generational cohort in the United States at the time.

This rapid rise in births is attributed to many causes. In some cases, those who wanted families had waited until after the war was over to have children. By this time, the Great Depression’s economic turmoil and the war were finally subsiding. Soldiers returned home ready to start families and hoped to provide a better life for their children. Through the G.I. Bill, many veterans were afforded economic and educational opportunities, allowing them to own homes and support children.

Generation X, which is sometimes shortened to Gen X, is the name given to the generation of Americans born between the mid-1960s and the early-1980s.

Gen X numbers around 65 million, while the baby boomers and the millennials each have around 72 million members.

Gen X is also sometimes referred to as the “latchkey generation” as they were often left unsupervised at home after school until their parents came home from work.

The group's earning power and savings were compromised first by the dotcom bust , and second by the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession .

Like the silent generation, Generation X has been defined as an "in-between" generation.

Gen Xers' relatively lower levels of wealth will make it difficult for them to maintain their parents' consumption patterns, rising costs of education, healthcare, and property. And then there's the sandwich syndrome the fact that this generation has reached the age when they are supporting and educating children while also providing care for aging parents.

Gen Xers now have the highest average debt of any generation, according to research by LendingTree. They increased their average debt by about 10%, or $11,898, between 2016 and 2019 reaching $136,869. Mortgage debt accounted for the highest proportion (62%), followed by student debt (10.7%), car loans (13%), credit cards (8.6%), and personal loans (5.7%).

Millennials, the generation that includes people born between 1980 and 2003, is commonly described as lazy, poorly prepared and without aspirations. Just do a simple search on Google to realize the stereotypes with which they carry: when you write "millennials are" the search engine will autocomplete with "the worst generation."