Its Great To Be In Your 30s

I have recently made some observations of marked events influencing those of us who are in our mid thirties. Realistically, this is plus or minus five years so it applies to many between the ages of 30 and 40. Now of course this is assuming you have made what I have determined to be good choices in life, pursued your interests, and sought a decent job. Please allow me to explain why I think you are lucky to have experienced your life at this time.

First of all, you were born in or around the 70’s. This means that you just missed the hippy era and you should be proud of this. The “hippy era” brought to light new ideas of rebellion, free love, and sloppy dressing. This was a care-free period where the youths rose up against their parents, schools, government, and other symbols of authority. People tried to convince each other that excessive narcotics use and sexual promescuity were necessary for you to “discover yourself”. Go figure. You should be happy you only had to experience a milder version of this in the 90’s. Yes, it was called the “Grunge Era”.

In the mid-late 90s you might have gone to college and experienced period of rising college tuition. This is not to say that college tuition is not always rising, but there was merely a steady increase in the mid-late 90’s. Luckily for us, it was not as bad as it has been in the past five years in which tuition costs are up 35 percent - the largest such increase since the College Board began keeping data in the 1970s. So if you attended college in the 90’s, you probably paid resonable rates and listened to Nirvana.

Another great thing about finishing college at or around the turn of the century was the impact our economy was experiencing. We were about to enter a recession, gas prices were rising steadily, and interest rates were elevated. Soon after, the events of 9/11 occurred and our economy was hit again. We had recently experienced a change in the senate, house, and executive office. The whole country changed so much between 2000 and 2002 while many of us were trying to figure out what it was we wanted to do with our lives. Everyone was in a “changing gears” mode. You were either considering college, more college, a job, or relocating to somewhere that offered more opportunities for you. Am I right?

For those of us that were steadily working through the late 90’s we learned the importance of saving for retirement and not depending on social security. The explosion of retiring baby boomers had impacted the social security accounts so much that we were told our social security funds would not be available when we retire. We began to realize the shift in planning that we had to make because pensions were a thing of the past and 401k retirement accounts were now readily available. This is good thing because it allows us to manage our accounts the way that we choose and our savings are often matched substantially by our employers. Where else are you going to get money matched in your accounts? It was especially a plus if you had investments in interantional mutual funds in 2005. Returns were often as high as 30%. Another advantage to 401k plans is that you can transfer them from one job to another whereas a pension is only paid after working with a company for 20 or 30 years. Do you want to do what you’re doing for 20 or 30 years?

If you acquired school loans in college, were now ready for a steady career position, and then seeeking to purchase a home soon, then you were lucky again. The timing was just right for you. Between 2002 and 2006 was a great period to refinance yours school loans. Many of us were lucky to get less than 4% interest rates on school loan consolidations. We were also able to get excellent rates on home loans and refinancing. Afterall, this is the age than many young people get into their first homes and we were fortunate to have very low mortgage rates available to us.

Although we have experienced rising gas prices since the mid 90’s, it sure was a relief to see the sharp decline that we experienced in 2006. We are no longer forced to sell our SUVs and trucks to save money on gas. Perhaps oil prices will remain low following the recent, tremendous discovery of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

If you are in your thirties you have likely experienced some of these phenomena and I hope that you have an appreciation for them. Obviously, if you are older, you experienced them as well, but it has been a blessing for those of us who experienced these things for the first time. We have been lucky and we should be grateful. We can tell our children what it was like to obtain our own loans for college and textbooks…, what it was like to pay $2 per gallon of gas in 1996 and in 2006…, what it was like to get a mortgage loan for under 6%..., what it was like on 9/11…, and what it was like to live in a world without computers.


Alexander Rivera
October, 2006