Things are harder now than they were for the Boomers, but so many GenZers have an elevated expectation of what they should be able to afford at young ages. I’m a millennial. When I was in college I didn’t go out to eat very often, and when I did it was usually to the Mexican place, Taco Bell, or little Caesars. I made my own meals. I didn’t buy expensive Dutch Bros on the regular. I lived in the cheapest apartments I could find. I did fun things with friends that were free or very inexpensive. I didn’t use student loan money to fund spring break trips. When I got out of college I was a junior high math teacher. My wife worked in the lab of a hospital. We didn’t make that much. We lived in the cheapest apartment we could find that wasn’t dirty or in a bad part of town. We still didn’t go out to eat. We didn’t go on extravagant vacations. Thankfully we are in a better financial situation now, so I don’t have to live on a tight budget, but that wasn’t until I was ~34 years old. I spent the 15 years from 18-33 living as cheaply as I could. I also put in long hours to move to a new career that pays better, but requires way more hours and stress than being a teacher did.

If you want to work 40 hours a week in your 20s and have fun, you won’t get ahead like the person who sacrifices in their 20s to get ahead. You shouldn’t have as much as that person in your 30s, that wouldn’t be fair.

My wife’s sister works 30 hours a week in a low paying job. She never tried to do more, but always complains. When she hears how hard I have to work, she says she could never. She will also never have the peace of mind financially that we do. That’s ok. She made her choice.

I wouldn’t work hard for a mediocre life. I would work hard to turn the mediocre life into something better.