The American dream is often described as the belief that individuals can strike out on their own to get a piece of the pie and share in the growth of the American economy. For decades, this idea seemed as immutable as the sun rising in the east, but in the last few years and decades, this notion has been challenged. With increasing prices of homes, costs of basic living necessities, and more recently the waning strength of the US Dollar, the American dream still persists, but for younger generations the piece of their pie seems to be getting smaller and pricier.
On Wednesday, September 24, Seattle 4 Rotary held a virtual panel on Zoom, moderated by Dorothy Bullitt, and featured fellow Rotarians Jenn Gladish, Garin Wedeking, and Stephen Morse. The panel focused on the state of the local, regional, and US economies through the lens of younger Rotarians. “For people in their thirties and forties, Seattle has become a place of higher upside, but also higher stakes,” President Jan Levy said in her opening remarks.
Bullitt began the panel by addressing the differences in life experiences between generations. The economic situation and future potential is dynamic between generations and as such, each generation faces a different path than those that came before. “When I bought my first home in 1982 my $25,000 salary was enough to do that. Not so today,” Bullitt said. The panel set out to touch on how the current economy is affecting young professionals and how those young professionals are working to navigate this environment.
Morse then spoke on the current outlook within the financial planning world and how changes in the economy have impacted the strategies used for the future. “The average cost of a year of college in 1971 from a public university was about $1,400 and the median wage was about $4,400 and 11% of the population had a degree. And fast forward to 2018 the average college cost of a public university is about $21,000 and the average wage was about $53,000 and 35% of the population had a degree,” Morse shared.
Just as the average cost of college tuition has gone up from 1971, so too has the cost of living, and more specifically the cost to buy or rent your primary residence. Gladish spoke to the challenges of being a single mom and buying a home in the local market. With prices in Seattle for houses being on the upper bound of the national average, many Millennials and now members of Gen-Z are often being priced out of the market. Gladish shared how she was able to utilize her aspects of her career to aid in the process of purchasing her home. “It took every bit of my professional experience to navigate this,” Gladish said of the journey to buying her home. Gladish also added how this experience has helped her to inform the work that she does to help the community.
Wedeking spoke to his experience of attending college in the 2000s, paying for his own tuition during that time, and ultimately being able to purchase his own home. Wedeking spoke how the housing market of 2025 is drastically different from what it was when he purchased his home. Wedeking shared how luck with entering the market helped to make the purchase of a home possible and also shared how things have changed since the purchase. “If I and my wife, in our current financial situation, which is much better than it was 10 years ago, tried to buy our home today, there is no chance, we wouldn’t even get through the bank door,” Wedeking added when speaking on the increased cost of housing in Seattle.
Beyond day-to-day costs, another key challenge that younger professionals currently face is saving for retirement, for emergencies, and philanthropy. As the current cost of living continues to rise, so too does the future money needed for retirement, long-term care, and overall financial well-being. Morse shared how in uncertain economic times like these, it is key to build a solid base of principal capital in order to prepare for the future. “And personal financial security is all about saving and letting it grow, and avoiding depreciating assets,” Morse said.
President Levy closed out the panel by speaking to the economic challenges she faced when starting out her career. After moving to New York City, she shared her first apartment with three other women in a one-bedroom unit. President Levy shared how today, younger professionals that she knows can’t find jobs that will support them, especially with housing. “These days, your roommates might be your parents. Independence isn’t just about moving out, it’s about figuring out how to pay for it,” President Levy said in closing.
Thanks for another well informed report, Logan!
