What caught my eye this week.
How do you feel today? Happy? Sad? Despairing? Joyous?
Can’t believe there’s still a week to go until Euro 2024 kicks off to relieve the tedium of the same old, same old, soggy British spring?
Or dreading football on the telly 24/7?
Hmm… can I ask how old you are?
Age-appropriate emotions
For as long as I can remember, posts about the happiness ‘smile curve’ have been a staple of personal finance blogs.
Perhaps it was because so many bloggers were in or approaching middle-age.
The smile curve theory, you see, came from research showing a person’s lifetime happiness followed a U-shaped curve.
You were happier when you were young and carefree. And you were happier again when you were old and grateful and didn’t give so many tosses anymore.
But in the middle? Loaded down by mortgage repayments [1], ungrateful children, and job stress [2]?
Not so much.
No doubt the theory resonated in FIRE [3] circles because it gave an extra reason for – and impetus to exit – the heads-down push through the suck [4] to achieve financial freedom.
But – alas – it seems the smile curve has turned lop-sided.
Like this video about unhappiness
In The Global Loss of the U-Shaped Curve of Happiness, David Blanchflower and Alex Bryson tell us [5] new research has…
…shown something astonishing and of global importance: the general contour of happiness across the age-span has changed around the world.
Young adults are now the least happy people, and this broad multinational change began sometime in the mid-2010s, right as Gen Z was entering this age-group.
I’ve linked to other takes on this trend before. It does seem to be well-established.
Of course this being 2024, every faction has a different theory as to why young people (especially young women) are so much more despairing:
- Progressives blame structural inequalities and a greater awareness of dangerous prejudices such as racism and misogyny.
- Traditionalists see an erosion of family values that’s left young people adrift with nothing to aim for but satisfying their own hedonistic ends.
- Environmentalists point out the climate – and our future – is going to hell in a hand basket. Despair is rational.
- Techno-sceptics warn that smartphones daily pipe a globe’s worth of desire and misery into eyeballs only meant for the surrounding 5km of savannah.
- Older people think identity politics has given everyone a grudge.
- Financially-minded Monevator readers might blame sky-high house prices and rents, or how taxes scythe away young people’s incomes even as more bungs go to pensioners.
There is something in all of it. But I do think smartphones should take most of the blame for the specific curve shift.
Some version of everything else was going on well before 2017, after all.
Thanks to smartphones and social media though, young people do appear to be much more aware of both the wider cruelties and injustices in the world, and also the roadblocks standing in their own way.
But of course they learn about most of it through polarised social media and 30-second videos. There’s little room for nuance.
To generalise: I’d say they’re more aware, but less informed.
Student grant philosophising
When I was in my early 20s, talking to the average person at a party about the sort of issues that everyone now has a gripe about usually earned you funny looks.
I know this because I read very widely for a science student – everything from business profiles to Marx to AdBusters magazine – and I actually was talking to people about the troubles of the world at parties.
And it usually went down about as well as you’d expect.
Obviously I like to think I was bit more intellectually sophisticated than the average 90’s kid pining for The Beach without wondering what it meant for the locals or the ecology.
But I suppose you could just see a posturing Rick from the Young Ones.
The point is though, it took some research to even know about much of the stuff in my all-faction complaint list above. You didn’t get a five-second hit when sitting on the loo.
Most people spent little time thinking about any of it, unless they happened to catch a late night documentary on the BBC.
Whereas today reminders are omnipresent.
And at the clear risk of sounding like a curmudgeonly old man, while I’m heartened young people now appreciate the world is a pretty screwed-up place, I wish they’d try harder to understand why.
Regular debates I’m having with a younger friend about the horror show in the Middle East come to mind. But it’s true of many things.
Younger people genuinely do seem to care more than most of my generation did at that age. And they at least say more of the right things about the world beyond their own desires.
But ask them what should be done about any of the issues and there’s often little substance there.
Walking back to happiness
At least 30 years ago the typical person was unhypocritical in not giving two hoots about, say, the plight of indigenous peoples in the Amazon basin.
There was a pure-hearted obliviousness to it.
Whereas now people see a TikTok video, they’re angry, but they seem to not explore what’s even feasible as a remedy – beyond waving their hands at capitalism [6], men, or wokery, depending on how they roll.
I suspect this blend of being constantly provoked but at the same time feeling it’s well beyond anyone’s control is even worse than when I was young and engaged myself.
And that this is what has pulled down the lefthand of the smile curve.
At least I got happier with time. I guess they will too. Perhaps you get immune to gloom? Or maybe you just get complacent.
Then again maybe it really is all because young people can’t see how they’ll ever afford a house – and yet they can’t follow the old escape route into sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll either because online dating is awful, they know the drugs don’t work, and today’s music is written by robots.
Gosh I feel old. But at least I’m happier than I was!
Apologies to anyone reading who is under-30. Despite my gripes above, you’re actually my second-favourite generation. (After my own Gen X, of course. Slackers [7] forever.)
Please share your perspective below on the fashion for youthful angst. That way we can all learn together.
Have a great weekend!
From Monevator
FIRE update: third anniversary – Monevator [8]
Buying the Great British boot sale – Monevator [9] [Mogul [10] members]
From the archive-ator: Cash is king, or cash is trash? – Monevator [11]
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view click through to read the article. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing to sites you visit a lot.
Eurozone cuts interest rate for the first time in five years – BBC [12]
Tribunal cases to rise as UK firms push back on home working – Guardian [13]
Monzo makes first profit even as credit losses soar – Evening Standard [14]
Computer-maker Raspberry Pi gears up for LSE float next week… – CityAM [15]
…with Shein is tipped to file for a £50bn float this month – Sky [16]
LSE pushes for big screen outside HQ to champion success [Search result] – FT [17]
Baillie Gifford cancels all remaining sponsorships of literary festivals – Guardian [18]
London’s Imperial beats Oxbridge to be named second best Uni in world – Yahoo [19]
[20]
“Taxes paid in London fund ever more of Britain’s public spending. Twenty five years ago the English Midlands were net contributors to the Treasury. Now they are more dependent on fiscal transfers than Scotland…” – Tom Forth via X [21]
Election section mini-special
Tories promise tax cut for parents to ‘boost families’ financial security’… – Sky News [22]
…but middle-classes face a 70% tax trap under the shake-up – Telegraph via MSN [23]
Labour says it will make permanent Tory’s mortgage guarantee scheme – BBC [24]
Statistics watchdog criticises Tory claim Labour would raise taxes by £2,000 – LBC [25]
Can Labour’s GB Energy plan future-proof UK’s power generation sector? – Guardian [26]
How the Lib Dem plan for free personal care would work – This Is Money [27]
Taxes, NHS waiting lists, and small boats claims fact checked – BBC [28]
Could a future government cap ISA savings at £100k? – This Is Money [29]
Products and services
The DIY diehards who built 36 affordable homes from scratch – Guardian [30]
Revolut seems to have a fraud complaints procedure problem – Which [31]
People were queuing up to get the new King Charles banknotes – Guardian [32]
Open an account with low-cost platform InvestEngine via our link [33] and get up to £50 when you invest at least £100 (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – InvestEngine [33]
The best ways to use Amex Reward points – Be Clever With Your Cash [34]
Bank ‘super-ATMs’ to bring cash machines to stranded communities – Guardian [35]
Sign-up to Trading 212 via our affiliate link [36] to claim free fractional shares. T&Cs apply – Trading 212 [36]
Is the new Leon coffee subscription worth it? – Be Clever With Your Cash [37] [bonus: Pret [38]]
Homes for sale with wartime connections, in pictures – Guardian [39]
Comment and opinion
Don’t be a hero – Humble Dollar [40]
Why we don’t have worry about index tracker dominance just yet – Financial Bodyguard [41]
How high-tax Britain destroyed what it means to be rich – Telegraph via Y.F. [42]
Is maximising credit card rewards worth it? – Of Dollars and Data [43]
Decumulation, deliberations, and dilemmas – Simple Living in Somerset [44]
You will never run out of money, because your rational – Financial Samurai [45]
Savers blast UK government over state pension top-up ‘chaos’ – This Is Money [46]
Dreaming of retiring abroad? It’s more difficult than you think [Search result] – FT [47]
Setting the record straight on stocks for the long run – CFA Institute [48]
Retirement thinking mini-special
The psychology of retirement spending – Morningstar [49]
“Why am I so afraid to accept it’s time to retire?” – Guardian [50]
Rewiring the way we think about retirement [Podcast] – Humans vs Retirement [51]
Naughty corner: Active antics
The hunt for truly alternative investments [Search result] – FT [52]
From ByteDance to SpaceX: valuing Scottish Mortgage’s private investments – Proactive [53]
“Multi-strategy hedge funds are full of kids who know nothing about portfolio management” – eFinancial Careers [54]
On the fence – Humble Dollar [55]
Do mothers-in-law matter? – Klement on Investing [56]
Kindle book bargains
A Man for All Markets by Edward O. Thorpe – £0.99 on Kindle [57]
Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth – £0.99 on Kindle [58]
Taxtopia by The Rebel Accountant – £0.99 on Kindle [59]
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau – £0.99 on Kindle [60]
Environmental factors
Six things to know about the new ‘anti-greenwashing’ rule – Which [61]
Nature groups launch legal bid over wildlife loss – BBC [62]
Global heat record broken for 12th straight month – Axios [63]
Welsh nursery growing seagrass to save marine habitat – Guardian [64]
Calls for investigation into ‘harmful’ scampi sourcing – BBC [65]
‘An intergenerational crime against humanity’: what will it take for political leaders to start taking climate change seriously? – The Conversation [66]
Robot overlord roundup
Big tech has stopped growing. AI can’t solve that for them – Sherwood [67]
How AI will unlock creativity for everyone – Om Malik [68]
Inside Google DeepMind’s effort to understand its own creations – Semafor [69]
Five ways AI can improve your dating life – The Conversation [70]
How AI could roil the next economic crisis – Axios [71]
Off our beat
Mystery as doctor finds live goldfish in garden – BBC [72]
Russia is already trying to disrupt the 2024 Paris Olympic Games – Microsoft [73]
Lazy work, good work – Morgan Housel [74]
The Internet peaked with ‘the dress’ in 2015, and then it unraveled – Vox [75]
Our nomadic life – Humble Dollar [76]
Why is Hungary so small? – Uncharted Territories [77]
Americans are thinking about immigration all wrong – The Atlantic via MSN [78]
J Lo cancels… – The Leftsetz Letter [79]
Why Lithuania is the best place in the world to be young – Guardian [80]
Here’s what a Nobel Prize-winning scientist wants you to know about the Covid-19 vaccines and the future of RNA – CNN [81]
Melissa Thompson’s recipes for a better barbecue [Search result] – FT [82]
And finally…
“The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.”
– Winston Churchill, Churchill: Walking With Destiny [83]
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