I was talking to my dad last weekend about my monthly expenses and he just couldn't wrap his head around how rent alone eats up half my salary. He kept saying things like “You need to stop eating out” and “Just save 20% every month.” I don’t think he understands how different things are now. Housing prices, tuition, healthcare—it’s a whole new ballgame. Anyone else run into this kind of generational gap when talking finances?

Oh absolutely. My parents bought their first home in the early 90s with one income, and it cost them like $120K. Now I'm living in a similar area and a starter home is pushing $600K... with two salaries. And it's not like wages have increased proportionately. I actually had a similar convo with my uncle who gave me a lecture on how I should already have a sizeable investment portfolio. I ended up sending him this backofnapkin.co : https://backofnapkin.co/personal-finance-calculators/ok-boomer-financial-calculator/
It’s an eye-opener. You plug in a few numbers and it shows what you’d need to earn today to have the same buying power boomers had. The results are wild. It’s not even about blaming them—it’s just a totally different economic reality. I think we need to rethink the kind of advice we give younger generations, because the old playbook just doesn’t work anymore. It’s like trying to solve a new puzzle with old pieces.

Yeah I feel this. I don’t think boomers are trying to be dismissive—it’s just hard for them to see how much has changed unless they dig into the numbers. That calculator actually helped me explain it better to my mom, who thought I was exaggerating the costs of just... living. Definitely worth sharing in those convos where the advice just doesn't match the reality.