Millennials’ Midlife Crisis Moment is Here | The Social

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]So, the old adage of work hard and you'll succeed. Is that promise officially broken?

[00:00:08]>> You know, there's a writer for the cut that argues that older millennials have less money, they have more problems than ever, and a sense of anger that what they have worked for will not be realized the way that it was for their parents' generation. So, work hard, succeed. Is the promise dead?

[00:00:24]>> Yeah, >> it is. I'm speaking as one of these millennials that this the writer spoke about and I have parents who immigrated here from Jamaica and started from scratch and built their life up and were able to accomplish things that I just figured I'll be able to accomplish these things. And as time has gone on, it's like the goalposts have just shifted and shifted and shifted. And now the goalposts are somewhere behind a cloud.

[00:00:48]I can't even see. I don't know the pathway to get there.

[00:00:51]>> And it's really really frustrating. like I was planning to move last year and thought, "Okay, I've been saving up money. I've been doing my thing. I've been doing all the smart stuff. I'm investing. I'm I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do. I got the degrees. I I did the things to set myself up financially."

[00:01:06]>> And it's like still priced out, still super expensive, or it's like I can get like a little box for this amount of money. And it's like, okay, well, I can't do that. And I really broke down talking to my mom because I was like, >> I see what you've been able to do and I can't get there. I and I feel like I'm failing. And I can't even use the excuse of being divorced and raising two girls because my mom was divorced and had three children. But she's the one that had to sit me down and say, "Your world is completely different from my world."

[00:01:33]She she admitted that and she's the one who calmed me down. She was like, "You're in a completely different situation in terms of job security or lack thereof, in terms of cost of living, in terms of all of these different types of things." She's like, "You're in a different battlefield."

[00:01:46]She's like, "I don't know how I would succeed in your battlefield right now."

[00:01:49]So when you're feeling it, but you also have the older generation who's recognizing like, yeah, you kind of >> up the creek without a paddle, >> then you know, we're just sitting here wondering where those goal posts are gone and how we get there again. So it's really >> It's really sad to hear that. Yeah, it really is because I think about our kids >> and I make jokes that are not jokes. I'm like, Marza, get used to this house.

[00:02:08]You're never leaving.

[00:02:10]So just never when you talk about affordability and I think you know really nailing down what has changed because my parents were also both immigrants and I don't know if you remember back in the day their mortgage rates were 14%. We're getting sad about 4%. But also the ratio of what you earn to what a house was for was really different. You could buy a property for $50,000 in downtown Toronto but maybe you were making $20,000 a year. I mean the the the gaps have really shifted. So I do fear for our kids. I think the AI disruption is scaring me personally because of white collar jobs are getting wiped out and I also think that everyone there's something that called credential inflation. We know what other inflation is but credential inflation is there are more people going to university than ever before. You actually have so much more competition for jobs. We all have the degree and you know so there are these things that we're we're graduating with more university and college debt than ever before. It's like we're underwater and I I don't know what the answer is. Um, and I'm looking to governments >> to not that we're there. They're not there to bail us out, >> but because the whole world is like this, but I feel like Canada used to be the place of opportunity. And you're hearing that that's not the case anymore.

[00:03:17]>> It's really sad.

[00:03:19]>> That's interesting. You know what? I think this is even a a dangerous question to pose to young people who are feeling very frustrated because it's a mindset already that it's like, you know what? Why should I even bother because I'll never get the thing that I'm chasing. So, what are we telling them then? Just sit back. Don't go to university. Don't do anything. Don't don't put effort into anything. And I think that that hard work is not punishment. It's preparation for the success because if you get the success without the hard work, you're going to fumble it.

[00:03:44]>> And that's what people need to tell you.

[00:03:46]It's like, yes, you can have focus and have to put a lot of hard work into something, but also you have to have the patience because while you might, I think sometimes the issue is we have a an age or a thing that we have set in our mind, right, where it's like, okay, I went to university, I did this, I did that, and by 27 I should be married with a house and my two children. And then 27 comes and you're nowhere near that. And then all of a sudden you're depressed.

[00:04:06]Not that your life isn't good, that you're not healthy and you don't have other things that you've done, but that you're depressed because the hard work that you've put in is not manifesting on your timeline. And I had that back in the day. And if I could go back and talk to my younger self, I'd be like, "Take a deep breath, relax, and understand that everything you're going through, even the mishaps, even the fumbles, it's all in preparation. So when you get there, you know what to do." So I think it's a dangerous question.

[00:04:30]>> We need to change that mindset.

[00:04:32]I I not to be a downer, but but I wonder if if if the dream ever existed at all because I do think some of our parents, like boomer parents, like if there was that flash where yes, you could find steady work, you could buy a house, and you did get a pension, but I don't know if everyone who did that was following their dream. Exactly. And then if you look back, like if you were coming of age in 1914, 1919, 1929, 39, you know, the list 73, 82, the list goes on and on. It wasn't I don't think those generations were feeling like if you just follow your bliss the economy is going to reward you.

[00:05:08]>> It was it was something more like you know find something steady survive the moment and probably adjust your dreams accordingly. So I do think that's always the way it's been except for a few blips. Interesting. Fascinating conversation.

[00:05:23]>> Fascinating. Uh Bwami we always love having you on the panel. Thanks for coming back.

[00:05:29]>> Thank you.