Making Less than Dad Did

Happy Father's Day!

Our children are earn less than their father in current times because the world more competitive now. If we think over again, in our father generation, opportunity is more wide though not compatible facilities.
I can understand why people not so work hard like our father generation. People are more pessismistic for new things, recently. The more people only accept whatever they receive on their hands. Sorry to hear about this!

Mr Trump,

to keep the American Dream alive...
the Statue of Liberty is precious result
of Ideals Art and Action stimulate that way
the seeds of freedom we care in our souls
forward flourish.
Worldwide freedom and prosperity, hmm.
Have a great day
Daniela

Hi Mr. Trump:
It's really an alert for young generation. Is there any study analyzing the factors causing this effect?

Rajesh Shakya
http://www.rajeshshakya.com
Helping Technopreneurs to excel and lead their life!

I agree, don't accept it and do not let someone else determine your worth. My father made a great salary in the 80's in hotel management. Then the trend came where the management company could hire someone out of college with limited benefits at about half what they were paying my dad. So they let him go. He learned, now he owns a travel agency. I am sure people have seen trends like this in other industries as well. If you work for someone else, they say that you need to make the company more competitive by taking lower pay, limited or no benefits for most levels of the company ladder. This is the new penalty for being an employee.

The new motto for us thirty somethings is TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! The government ain't gonna do it and the company ain't gonna do it. Grandpa gave his life as a company man and they took care of him. Now if you are not an entrepreneur of some sort, defining your own wage, you will be left behind. That is the negative side. The positive side is that you hold your own leash. You call your own shots. You have the opportunity to truly experience freedom and with that comes responsibility, which is something that is a bit scary for most of the people who depend on the false sense of security given by working for someone else. Small business/ entrepreneurs could use some new options to offer health insurance, paid sick days, and 401(k) matches to their people, hopefully some creativity will come up with some real answers for those issues. (Not health insurance premiums that go up hundreds of dollars each renewal period).

I don’t believe in excuses. They don’t matter anyway. I do think it is worth noting that those in their 30’s are in a position no other generation in America has been in before, first, there is a generation older than us holding on to their higher paying positions longer because they are living longer but also because they didn’t plan for retirement and can’t afford to retire. This is the first generation dealing with many service industry jobs being automated or exported. Many companies treat people with the "you’ll take the lower wage if you want to work, and like it" mentality. Meanwhile we have a younger generation coming in with a total entitlement mentality who doesn’t have the expertise to justify what they are asking for. It is not solely the failure of those in the 30 year bracket, why they are making less. We just need to apply more creativity to survive. I have rambled on enough for today. Good topic, I am looking forward to hearing other peoples’ thoughts.

This is so true! I even complained about it 10 years ago because without a college education I was making 12 to 15 dollars per hour and time and a half or double time in the '70s. That's what people are making today (30 years later). I scoff at today's so called good wage.

Now that I have a couple college degrees and a teaching credential, I feel blessed to earn a better than decent salary. However, I know people (including some teachers) who think that $35,000 per year is a good wage for teachers ( in private and chartered schools). I scoff at that too. I can see fear behind their eyes when I challenge employers who pay teachers so little. The fear is because these folks think they cannot find better, (or they are ignorant of what teachers elswhere get paid). I looked for better and gave notice within the month of hire or just turned the jobs down in disgust. It actually angers me that there are employers who exploit these educated/credentialed workers. They do work harder; the employer micro manages their teaching techniques to the point that teachers become more of a paper mill to make the companies money verses being able to spend quality time with the students. It's a shame.

Work Harder?
Working harder in my job (Software Engineer - Video Games) just gives me more stress and less time for my own business. I spent my 20's and continue in my 30's working harder and actually getting paid less, because the more time I put into my salaried job, the less I'm making. It is not about earning money, it is about making money. Working harder for yourself is what matters - not for some business that doesn't reward exceptional employees (programmers) like myself. I needed someone to advise me to start up my own business when I was young - not just 'work harder' and eventually get trapped not knowing how to do anything else and having to get of the fear of doing something new. Fortunately for me, I am getting out.

I would be curious as to how much affect globalization is having on the median income? I have read that as the market places of the world begin to merge together, the incomes are averaging together as well. Therefore, our previous generations earnings of $40,000 are being averaged with lower income countries in present day. The U.S. has historically been one of the wealthiest nations, so it just makes sense that our averages would go down as we begin to factor in lower income market places.

However, I do also believe (from experience) that the "work ethics" of today pale in comparison to that of the previous generations. I do believe that there is great intangible wealth to be had in balancing work with other aspects of your life. This is a valid concern and a reason to "work smart, not hard". However, a large percentage of the U.S. work force doesn't even bother to work while they're AT work these days. This too could account for the lower incomes, because it's taking larger amounts of people to accomplish incredibly simple tasks. This lack of work ethic is also why globalization is becoming more an more prominent.

Again, I would be interested in which of these is the greatest factor in the median income decline.

I agree. The world is more competitive today. And that's great! The 30 something generation should not just resign themselves to this situation. They should fight this tooth and nail. Working for someone else is a sure way to poverty or at best stagnation. Take control of your own life. This is true for all generations. You have no one to blame but yourselves. Starting and running your own enterprise, while scary for some, allows you to take on that responsibility. If you work hard and smart enough, you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. And we will all be better off through your new ideas, products, and success.

Hello Mr. Trump,
I think our generation had things relatively easier than our Dad's generation did. We never experienced a real Depression like in the 1920's, and we grew up with television, radio, and now the Internet right at our fingertips, which made our lives a lot easier, but maybe spoiled us a bit ,too. We should try to work harder and stay competitive with the rest of the world!. Thanks for your encouragement to work harder! And Happy Father's Day! And Congratulations on your new Grandson,too!

"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. In order to do this, he must have sufficient resources."- Proverbs 13:22a

It's too bad that, collectively, men are making less than Dad did. I would wager that it is due to this generation's (perceived) cynicism toward materialism; however, it seems that most probably spend more than Dad did. I, for one, make more than my Dad did, and I intend to turn that into far, far more. Tellingly, one of the reasons my Dad made less is because he did not tie himself to one company for 30 years! Being a company man really was the smart thing to do back then. Now I am making more by doing the same thing my Dad did, but in a different era.

To think that men in their 30's are earning less than their fathers may at first sound alarming. one needs to take into consideration that most men in their 30's are working a shorter week, taking more holidays, and married to wives who are also working. In 1957, 96% of Americans who were of marrying age were married, and the societal norm was for the man to work and the woman to stay home and raise babies. Times have changed and changed significantly. Dual income homes have become the norm, but one must consider that today 40% of American adults of marrying age are now single adults, and the reality of the market place is, single adults tend to get paid less than their married counterpart.

We live in a day and age, where the American Dream has changed and changed radically from 40 to 50 years ago. The rift between middle and upper class society is growing. So should we grumble? There is enough entrepreneurial blood in my veins to let me know this day still belongs to those who dream big dreams, roll up their shirt sleeves, put on their running shoes, and figuratively, or as well as practically break a sweat.

It all begins with a dream. Excitedly, I dare you to dream.


James C. Tanner
www.silent-wonder.com
www.whats-he-like.com

James C. Tanner, is a retired entrepreneur, a former special investigator, and a published writer.

PRICE OF REAL ESTATE, and the way that it has developed, is no doubt the most important index-contributor to this adjusted median income of 35/40 of 1977.
The American Dream is more and more all about financing real estate.

Think during the turn of the century and of all the brand-spanking new inventions. Radio and electrical devices of all sorts, the internal combustion engine coupled to forms of transportation, etc., and I could expound further and add to this list of core industries and the ancillary businesses that sprouted from these. From these two or three seeds of industries born at the turn of the century I've just mentioned, there then became the need for gas stations and Radio Shacks to sprout up and employ people with. These seeds of industry were wrought from a small handful of individuals and were responsible for generating a huge amount of economic activity for the next hundred years.

The television industry was and the computer industry is the last sputters of American ingenuity. Now days, in the year 2007, business is booming ..., though in a different way. Without a handful of "new things" to exploit, business is locked in a Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola type of activity. People are "pestered" to chose Hyundai over Toyota over Chrysler whether they are buying a car or not ...— basically what I'm trying to say is the lack of creative energy devoted to creating new things that bring exponential rewards for society is not there within the small portion of the american populace that did so in the past.

What the economy needs is another handful of new inventions like a radio, a television, an automobile, an airplane, a computer. Another bunch of core seeds to brand-spanking new industries that will then sprout all those nice, little ancillary businesses. I have one new industry in my pocket, though I have to wait to spring it on the world. Timing IS everything.

Generating the wealth of a nation takes only a handful of creative types to unleash— to make it seem like we live in an orchard where money grows on trees. The West, and America needs more true innovators; more people who truly think BIG.

Mr. Trump,

You may understand this since you have experieced this. I work with my Father at his Entrepreneur Business. You worked with your father and your kids work with you. I have learned a lot from my father about business. My expertise is in Computers and Technology, but I have learned a lot from my father on the business and financial end. In other words a well rounded business person (and yes I play Golf also).

I feel that the economy is growing stronger and so companies do not have to pay as much as they use to. For my title, I use websites liek Salary.com to see what about I should be making. Yes, my Father when he was my age was making more then me respectively, but I feel that this generation that I am in, "X", will gain momentum in our later 30's. We are the next generation of Millionaires and Billionaires. So watch out - we are catching up..

Have a good night,
Nick

Gidday Donald
I am suprised that you ara advocating that this crop of people should work HARDER. Really they should be working SMARTER.
If I have learnt anything over the years it has been why it is it takes three to replace the person who has done the 40 years and is retiring.
That is, believe it or not, that to rise to the top requires SMARTER work. By all means work HARD at being smarter.
Ian from NZ

We do live in a different time. Back then, people were able to work for a company for 30 years and then retire and the company would take care of them. Another factor that I believe has affected our generation are the over night millionaires that was created during the dot com boom. My father and older brothers had to pay their dues. My generation wants it now. No one is willing to pay their dues because they saw how someone was able to become a millionaire over night by companies getting bought out and shares that stuffed their pockets with cash. I am guilty of wanted my money now and not paying my dues. But like I said, it's part of my generation and we tend to hate the phrase, "you gotta pay your dues".

We earn less than our parents because the educational curriculum was decided by local school districts and the children of minorities where systematically steer into vocational education instead of academics. I know because I was one of those students. During the 1960's, 1970's 1980's this was the status quo in inner cities. Today, thank God for President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" children must meet the a national standard. To blame for the pass are the selfish, racially motivated, greedy and foolish individual that believe in subjugating other groups of people based on race. Those ignorants never envisioned a world market and their limited vision on the future is the reason so many of us must do without. These idiots that pushed for vocational curriculum instead of academics during the above mentioned years really did an injustice to America. However, I firmly belief that everything reverts to the way it should have been, regardless of the thief working in the dark places.

For instance, although I was unable to attend to proper education, and despite many years of diverse work experience am unable to move to higher title work, because of the lack of degree, I ensured my child would not suffer the same. At 21 years old, (2006) my daughter Helen gained a Mechanical Engineering Degree from one of the top Engineering Schools in the North East, Stevens Institute of Technology. Hurra!

The bottom line is that the people working against innocent children in their education are mean spirited people that have no place in the educational system. Any adult advocating that some children just do not have the capacity or genetics for certain work or knowledge should be put down by my story. Any elected official advocating the same should be voted out of office. Every (Black, White, Yellow and Red) child has the potential to excel unless there is an injury to the brain.

How about making less and spending it more wisely.

Mr. Trump,

I definitely have seen how this has seemed to be the case. And while that is its own paradigm, I think it is important to note that the other paradigm shift to dual professional incomes has made the standard of living for this generation substantially higher. I would probably argue that quality of life and quality of work life are also the best they have ever been, while recognizing we also face great challenges.

Hello Mr. Trump:

I remember 30 plus years ago when I then worked in the Retail Market the hype was that more, and more jobs in the near future would go int he direction of Part Time Status. In addition, many Companies would leave California making their way to the South where labor was cheap, and a decent profit were realized. It happened! Then to further increase the profit margin...businesses took a giant step "Out SOURCEING" jobs to foreign countries. Business decisions made wisely or unwisely always propell the economy "Up or Down" as we've seen on Wall Street the past 20 plus years. Jobs that were paying high salaries and great benefits were tossed aside when the "Part-Time Market " made it's debut, with zero benefits. Men who worked twenty -five, thrity, forty years for one company became a thing of the past. The New Part-Time age was born and with it a host of problems... as businesses coped with the process. Now, there are men and women working two and three jobs just to keep the home together and finding it very difficult to do just!

When arm chair genrals make decisions without conceptual thought regarding their decisions thrity or fifty years down the road, then, they seriously jeopardize the American Economy, and everyone pays the price. Where are the thinkers of years past?

Someone shared this comment with me years ago: "It isn't how much you make, it's how you handle the money you earn that counts." See how some men handle their money. They build big buildings...they provide an income for many. How do you handle your money?

Mary Pominville

Dearest Donald Trump,

Don't you think it just reinforces the fact that people in the middle income age group are shrinking?

The survey could mean that people in their 30's are the majority ones in this middle income group.

If you're below 30 and just starting out life, you would probably be making less.

If you are around 30-45 and just getting financially stabilized, you would probably be making more money in the form of interest in Banks and property.

Why don't you build in rich countries like Brunei, Singapore and Australia?Is there any chance of you building in the East? I would definitely like to meet up with you.

Excuse me!?

Are you all blind that performance-based pay is the stupidest inventions ever?? It's a gimmick so that top management can keep all the money to their own pockets in the guise of R&D and all those stock options.

Think again. WHY must stock options only be granted to managers and above??? Why can't all employees get stock options? It's not practical, they say. Yeah right!!

Operational staffs do all the **** for top management's idiosyncrasies and blunders and what do operations staff get? Just a small piece of the pie. But top management gets all the credit with first class travels, collecting zillions of air miles on company's expense??

Believe me, what is soooo difficult to be strategic? ANYONE can do it.

Too many real-life stories of top management doing stuffs to keep the money to themselves. Think Enron and all those.

That's why we now have SOX Compliance and all that crap and all these meant lower pay for today's workers as the rich becomes richer and poor becomes poorer.

Employees generations behind enjoy the fat bonuses that their companies give. But now, most if not all American companies give pay based on personal performance, corporate performance and what nots.
These are peanuts!!!

Operational staff work soo hard and only get a meagre percent of rewards. Even increments are not more than a certain meagre percentage.

Yeah right, keep the American dream alive? Dream the American dream and keep dreaming...you wont' get there coz the system doesn't allow you to.

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." - Albert Einstein
The problem in my humble opinion is that we lack mentorship. We lack those who inspire us to be great. Our fathers, fathers played an active role in their childrens lives. Teaching them there craft or what it is like to be a man of integrity. Slowely I think we have used the automatic income reducer (also known as TV) to babysit our children. With TV programming being designed for that of an eighth grader it does not speak highly if we are so easily entertained. We must recapture what we have lost and that is the attitude that nothing is given...you must work to achieve. We have created a society that expects...we expect our freedom, yet we are unwilling to do what it takes to keep it. We expect a high paying job after going to college, yet the piece of paper that you hold so dear does not teach you ambition, goals, integrity of charachter. Those lessons are found in what is no longer being taught in the homes.

The solution is simple...take a more active role in your family. Teach them what our educational system does not...teach them to always strive for more, have goals. We already know that the quality of education our schools and universities instills is an illusion of what was. Alvin Toffler said it best when he said "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." It was our dads that taught us the real world....where are the dads?

Because mine was never around I found many dads that inspired me..Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet...the list goes on and on...needless to say I have not gone to college. I did things the hard way and I came up in the streets. My values have been created by the Bible, and the books of those that have what I want. I have done well...I am curious how much more I would have achieved had I had a father that put the best in me or how little I would have achieved. Ultimately the onus falls on the individual to want more then they have and achieve more where they have been. "Leaders stay in front by raising the standards by which they judge themselves and by which they are willing to be judged." Fred Smith Sr.

Joseph Irons
Independent USANA Associate
http://irons.usana.com

Sage advice as always from "The Donald" who has indeed managed to do a bit better in the income dept. than dear old dad.

For counsel of a decidedly different sort, check out SG&M's Carnal Consigliere's latest advice you can't refuse! http://www.sexgunsandmotorcycles.com/CarnalConsigliere8.html

Fughetaboutit,

Bill "Bada-Bing" Benway, V.P. Waste Mgmt.
http://www.sexgunsandmotorcycles.com

Dear Mr. Trump,
in the last 5 months, i have learned lots about you, and your past. I would just want to tell you that you are making your children's life a little difficult, telling them that they must earn more than there father did. haha :D. I know nothing is impossible, and my mother used to tell me the same thing, that i have to do more than my father did...that's why i am aiming for Billionaire, cause my father did 4 million USD from scratch. Its a fun game i already enjoy it. And you are one of the rare persons that make me enjoy it, this money game ! :) thanks for your time

Marc Germani

Hi Mr trump,
Yeah it is true, as the world today is getting more and more competitive. Each organisation try to compete by operating in full efficient level, i believe every firm try to reduce the wages to reduce. Wat i realise is most of our wages is still the same although our living cost has increased due to inflation. Besides, i realise that working has been a "new culture". Many people feel pessismistic because they are already influence by the culture since young. Let use student as example, if we ask wat is they life plan. most of them will ask the same question ," study hard, get good result, get a good job and will have a luxury lifestyle with that job". This limit their dreams, their vision, their thinking to the job scope only. to them, job will be everything. therefore, no matter how much the salary, they still prefer to accept it although there is a price discrimination in wages for some people

This generation makes less while works more productively due to technology. Obviously that the "spread" does not evaporate. It goes to the pockets of someone else. That is why the media tells us that the gap between rich and pour grows.
The pace of live accelerates with every passing day. Many of us perform on the limits of our abilities. In basketball they call it "pressing".
Every basketball coach knows he cannot use "pressing" for more than 5 minutes because this tactics exhausts the players. CEOs could not care less so the rat race continues. Our civilization is doomed to crash if we do not stop this race and ask ourselves: "do we live to work or do we work to live?"
...and it may happen before Osama will get the A-Bomb.

Structural Engineer

Hi Mr Trump,

I have not done much of my own research on the subject, but I trust the report you have mentioned is suffiecient evidence to make a comment.

"Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to
his career and puts everything he has into it-his mind, his body and his
heart-what is life worth to him? If I were a salesman, I would make this commitment to my company, to the product and most of all, to myself."
Vince Lombardi

My personal opinion is that this new generation of young adults lack a value of "Commitment". My Father did not graduate from University with some degree, but one thing our Father taught us is the what ever we do, do it with Pride and Value and Commitment. The easier road is to give up and settle for less, there will allways be reports and facts. I say you have not because you are not willing to Work for it, they do not want it enough....no commitment to a final Goal or plan. This generation is all about hand it to me on a silver platter..but to those who choose to go against the Odds will overcome. Keep the American Dream Alive and Believe in Yourself.

David M San Diego Ca.

Hi Mr Trump,
I was a bit taken aback when you said "Work harder" so that this generation might earn more than their parents did. This seems to be a condradiction of your fundamental premise that 'knowledge is power'. Surely this generation must work smarter not harder..in fact they ought to work less because of their ability to understand financial matters better than their parents did. Be honest......I bet you wish you could take back your words!! And now don't try weedling out of it by 'explaining' that you didn't really mean what you said and like a politician twist the words to mean something else!!!

Are you ready for what I'm going to say Mr. Trump? Think of what a nasty person would say and then hear me! My dedicated and almost too loyal brother ,Patrick, works for the North American Radiologists Society as a PR manager. Upward mobility simply does not occur but health benefits for his family and time for his son are there for him. He does work very hard and dilligantly. It hurts me to watch my highly intelligent brother say he is not in the position of making a suggestion while I for 3 years have been used for four years for non-profit work. And yes yours and the President's letters I sent. But we are fools, right sir?! There will be as day when we will retire with respect and enough money to secure our lives to live within our means until 100 years old. Right! And college of choice even though my nephew of only four years says " I want to be in the rock group The Clash!" While my retired mother and me, his Aunt, are thinking of becoming school bus drivers because of my nephew's tendency to sing "Wheels On the Bus" every morning at 7 am. Did you get the book I sent? "Everything I needed to know I Learned in Kindergarden" by Robert Fulgrum. I'll quote a song that says "You don't always get what you Want, but you get what you Need" Cliche sure, but I wish that for you and not in a bad way. Michele

I respect your work ethic, but it is one aspect of a bigger picture. I agree with you that hard work should be included. Always do your best, even if what you are doing is just a favor for a friend, but do it smart.

There was some gold in the other entries. Work harder and smarter. But, no matter how hard you work, or how much you earn, if you don't take care of it, then, you've wasted your effort. So, be a good steward. Take care of your resources, but don't forget to take some time to enjoy them. To me, some of my most valued resources include the people I care about and time. Then, after you do all that and you are making more than Dad, put your resources to good use.