Sponsored By
Do you think saving is not a big deal? What if someone told you that a lack of saving will impact your career growth? One phenomenon of the recession is the all-out competition for jobs. The competition is with older workers verses younger workers. In the ideal situation; a career is like the circle of life.
One grows in your career, saving and investing your money until it is time for you to gracefully let a new generation of workers take over. The new generation adds to the work you did and provides new innovation and ideas. The ideal situation only works if everyone plays the game; the employer pays the worker a reasonable salary, which allows the worker to save and invest the funds. If everyone does not play by the rules you have an age war.
The age war happens when older workers hang on to jobs they are too qualified for because they did not plan properly for retirement. Because older workers are playing catch up, he or she blocks job opportunities for younger workers. Younger workers get stuck in their current positions and don’t get the opportunity to advance in their careers. The cycle keeps much needed work experience and growth at a stand still.
According to an article published by Reuters entitled Are older workers getting in the way of the young?
“And the overall workforce is getting grayer. Labor force participation by workers over age 55 has risen 11 percent since December 2007, and is projected to go higher as baby boomers try to restore retirement security by staying on the job longer. For example, 15 percent of Americans tell the Employee Benefit Research Institute they expect to work until age 70, up from 11 percent as recently as 2006.”
The lack of frugality and planning impacts younger workers. The lack of planning and saving has caused a perfect storm for the progression of youth. It keeps older Americans from ending their golden years and younger workers from meaningful careers. Meg Handley’s article entitled “Americans: Why We’re Addicted to Spending” made an excellent point about American’s love obsession with debt and consumption. Other nations have policies to keep their citizens from the trap of debt and over consumption. According to Meg’s article:
“The rest of the world tends to have very accessible savings institutions and the core European economies also very strictly regulate credit to protect people from becoming over indebted,…adding that in countries such as Germany and Italy, most borrowers have to pay off their entire credit card balance each month. “You try to explain to them that all you have to do is pay 2 percent minimum of the balance on your credit card and they look at you like you’re from another planet.”
The age war can only be broken by new opportunities and new innovations. Younger workers must use this opportunity to make the hard decisions now to save and live within their means. Younger people also need to create new avenues for wealth generation and wealth creation.
Related posts:
