As a “baby boomer” born in the ‘50s, with clients aged between 27 and 93, I have had both the fortune and misfortune of being born slap bang in the middle of a seismic generational gap. It does appear that at the moment there is a greater emphasis and concern placed on an aging population and less attention paid to the “millennial” and “X“ generations and their futures.
Having grown up and experienced a revolution as a teenager in the ‘60s and ‘70s, I was heavily influenced by the contemporary music of that time. The global impact of Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who, of whom the latter’s recordings of “My Generation” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” seemed to represent many of our generations’ feelings and desire for change, helped fuel that revolution. It seems like the recordings and lyrics of the aforementioned, even today, still ring true for the younger generation.
Just as much as music influenced us, so too did Hollywood, with films such as Easy Rider, The Graduate, Soldier Blue and Bonnie & Clyde springing to mind. These films came to represent a counterculture generation increasingly disillusioned with its government, as well as the government’s effects on the world at large, and the Establishment in general. It led to the questioning of “old fashioned values” based on a previous generation’s views. Shortly after, Shaft came to represent a genre, with the actor Richard Rowntree creating a lead role not seen before.
I sense from observations, and from discussions with other parents of varying ages and with the younger generation, the same sense of a growing dissatisfaction and concern with the current status quo.
So the simple question is, are we now at a stage where another “people’s revolution” is in the making? In the next few articles I will try to explain, albeit briefly, a potentially disenfranchised generation, the impact of this position on them, their reaction, and how this may impact the future as we know it.
As an adviser I need to keep up with change. Along with my own research, I also have access to the major resources of the fund managers that we use, their view being that change is happening already.