0:05 Welcome back to another episode of the Careful Boys, y'all. Uh, come on, man. We got We got to talk about Gen Z a little bit. Right now, they they have a recent poll, and the average Gen Z adult right now carries a personal debt of around $94,000. >> Give it up for Gen Z. >> to be kidding me. >> Dude. >> 94,000? >> really I really have a soft spot for Gen Z, dude. They are so screwed, dude. >> You know they're the first generation that's lower IQ than the the older one? >> Yeah. >> So, like each generation was >> Does You know what that does for my self-esteem? That does so much for my self-esteem. >> Wait, you're Gen Z? >> No, for millennial. >> Why would that do so much for your self-esteem if he was Gen Z? >> I thought he was being sarcastic. >> I was worried the next Gen was going to start taking our jobs. >> Yeah, it's the first underperforming generation from the last. We're going to be okay, boys.
0:55 >> So, wait, doesn't that mean millennials are the peak >> Yeah. >> of intelligence? >> It does. >> People around, dude. >> Nah, yeah. >> We're literally >> But then, like, also Also, the ████ You know what? You know what's a big contributor to that happening? I mean, they they say like tech tech in the classroom is one of them. >> Yeah. >> But, another one is definitely the No Child Left Behind stuff, where they started to uh >> Make sure everyone >> Yeah, they would pass kids even if they were like failing. And now, like, the failing grade is like 20% or some ████ >> But, that was us. >> 30% is like a D. >> It started with the No Child Left Behind started with us, right? So, you're saying that the after effect >> Well, like, No Child Left Behind, and then they replaced it with something else, >> Oh, like it got worse and worse. >> Yeah, they just started passing kids. That's like why all the North Vegas or Vegas General have such bad >> That was me. >> Like
1:45 >> Dude, I didn't But, you could read. >> Barely, bro. >> now can't ████ read. Have you seen those interviews? >> Test, Joe. Give him a ████ page right now. >> No, this fool reads more than any of us do. >> It's just when I read it out loud I get nervous. Youngest Gen Z is 14 years old. Oldest Gen Z is 29 years old. So, the oldest is almost 30. So, how the ████ is under 30 year old the average is $90,000 in debt? That's crazy. >> COVID fast tracked that dude for everybody. >> It definitely did. Oh, maybe cuz of most of them are college debt? >> Well, definitely. Number >> Yeah. >> College debt's a big one, yeah. Debts is the the new credit cards and like just how they are with people's lifestyles. Um it's the quick easiness at which people can pay for things like tap to
2:35 pay phone stuff. >> consumer debt or is it like school debt as well? Or is it all cumulative? It doesn't say. >> of it. >> Definitely a lot of student loan student loan debt. >> a big one, too. >> Car debt's huge. >> We're also in that era where a lot of people flex and buy things that they can't actually afford. Because that lifestyle. That's like buying like a $1,600 iPhone when like did do you pay rent? Like you know what I'm saying? Like at the end of the day that's a ████ luxury, but it's something that we've somehow baked into our society. Everyone must have these things. >> Damn, it's true cuz now that I think about it I know a good amount of people who live at home who bought like fancy cars and they don't pay rent. >> So, Glendale. >> Armenian inspired. >> That doesn't count because they're still coming out on top, yeah. That's a racket. >> Yeah, yeah. They're figuring it out. Yeah. >> You It just takes It takes money to make money. >> Younger millennials, they they were the
3:25 first to like really get into like Jordans and like higher end like shoes and collect. But at that time though it was like, oh I'm reselling it or like it's high value stuff. Like when I was going to high school no one was really into like expensive name brand ████ right? It was more like buying a car. That was like the flex and then like fixing it up with your friends. >> Yeah, that's true. >> But then um like buying streetwear, things like that. Streetwear was being invented during that time, but not like I don't think it was like high-end high-end. But then I think the younger millennials got really into the Jordans, got into flipping, got into all that. And then when the Gen Z came in, I think they were all buying high-end stuff cuz that's what I realized. >> True, right? Like the collectible market? >> Yeah, like all of my employees and all of like their peers, they they like name brand like
4:17 everything. >> the things that are cool are really expensive, you know? >> Yeah. >> And I I couldn't imagine buying that stuff in high school. And we're not talking rich kids, we're talking like middle class and even poor. Like they're buying all the name brand ████ And if if you think about it like Stussy's pretty popular, and I think that shirt's like 60 to 90 or something like that. >> You know what I've also realized too across like beverages, like toys, collectibles, it seems like everything that's being sold right now is just marketed towards millennials and Gen Z of like their childhood stuff. >> Yeah. >> Like 90s stuff. I feel like that's everywhere. Like all >> Come on. >> Nostalgia is a big >> Like there's there's no like new stuff. It's all just the old repurposed like, "Hey, try this Skittles cereal." It's like, "Who the ████ wants to eat Skittles cereal?" But they're just doing it cuz they it just makes ████ money
5:07 or whatever. >> Really interesting thing that I don't think a lot of people think about too is that majority a lot a larger chunk of your purchases in this day and age are not even physical things. >> All subscriptions. >> so that that just equates to like having less like value in terms of like, you know, like like um you can't resell most of stuff you buy anymore. >> Yeah. >> Like a lot of it's digital. A lot of it's like, you know, ████ things that you need in everyday life like like Creative Cloud, you know, ████ that like used to be you could buy 20 bucks second hand for an older version of Photoshop. >> Dude, Creative Cloud has robbed me of so many dollars. >> Yeah. >> Or just like like a >> That's true. >> Or just >> data for your phone. You know, like stuff like that people are really underestimating the amount of digital things you're buying. >> Yeah, and back then, you know, having like 50 GB of something was like so much. You
5:59 be like, you remember how many songs you could fit or photos you could fit on an iPod? And now it's like if you don't have if you have less than 2 TB, you're already like >> Dude, I'm already like jam-packed, yeah. It's crazy. >> Totally different space. That and there's also like this uh this nihilism, this feeling of like when your debt is so high and all the issues of the world are home ownership is so far, debt Yeah, so you get into this why even try and you just you like um like I know even even Nina kind of has this mentality sometimes too because she has super high uh student debt stuff. And then so all this government talk over the years of like, "Well, you know, there's going to be student loan forgiveness." And then there's this mentality of like, "Oh, if we just wait long enough, it'll be a lot of it will be forgiven." And it's kind of like you're not wrong. That's that's literally kind of how the system works. >> Yeah. >> But it's also like
6:50 that's exactly what keeps you stuck to the system. Unless you like genuinely try your ass off and only focus or care on obliterating that debt regardless of all the other joys that you have in life, you won't ever be able to be like free of it where anything else after that is guaranteed bonus. >> That's the only way to >> Everything that you earn is contributing towards holding on to that feeling for the rest of your life. It's just a ball and chain, but it's hard because the debt is so high that you can't do anything with it unless you give 100% of your entire life to it for 15 years, you're going to be like, "Well, what's the point of living?" So I understand it. It's just really weird nowadays because like what are you doing with like People are getting out of college at age 22 with like $200,000 in debt or like >> with liberal arts degrees. That's rough, dude. >> Like what are we doing? And then and then to like buy a house or rent or to get a job, it's like it's ████
7:40 difficult. >> Scammed into picking a major that's, you know, in no way, shape, or form supposed to be there. >> Yeah. >> Like you're not meant to live off that. There's no way. That's why I feel for them cuz I'm like, "Dude, you guys ████ got You guys got sold the fugazis to the extreme." >> ████ liberal arts or humanities or psychology or communications majors. It's like >> It was our We already knew psych wasn't going to make money in our generation. >> Yeah, but everybody was still like, "Yeah, I'll be a psychologist. I'll I'm a social sciences major." It's like, "Okay, what are you going to do with it?" >> I'm like, "You going to get your masters? You better get your masters if you're going to do that, dude, right? You better specialize a little bit." >> Unless you get a masters. Yeah. >> trade. Like go get some like be skilled. >> But it was the boomers that told us get out of the trades. >> Yeah. >> It's the It's the boomers that that were like, "Don't work with your hands. >> And it was yeah.
8:30 >> ████ become you know, go to college. >> managers, but you can't have all managers. >> And it was popular culture Popular culture also made fun of trades. >> Mhm. >> Like in in TV shows and movies, they made those guys look like they were beneath. >> Yep. >> And then like look where we are now. It's like freaking offshore oil guys are destroying CEOs. >> Yeah. >> Now China's going to beat us, dude. China's building every ████ day. >> And there's also, you know what's weird? There's also like a weird apathy towards like doing good because I feel like you watch so many people win from fraud, scams, and everything else that it must feel really pointless to do stuff right. >> The amount of times that you feel like you're being held down by following the rules in America is this is is >> Like all the ████ bogus >> Everyone's getting screwed for things. >> daycares. Like when you see that and you see that they're not being punished and they they don't even have to give the money back, you're like, "That's so much
9:21 easier to do." >> At least we had a false sense of justice. When we were growing up, it was like there were consequences or like if someone was made an example of, we're like, "Oh yeah, the justice system works." or whatever, right? >> Yeah. >> Now they just don't give a ████ They're just like, "Yeah, we're going to do it in front of you." Like >> the solution if you're talking to like your Gen Z like younger nephew or something and he was like explaining his gripes about all this stuff. Like what would you say to them to like kick him in the ass and get him going? >> The people that are scamming cuz they can't go to the cops. >> PULL A GUN on them. >> Don't do that. I still think there's a lot of money to be made, but the institutions are so late to the game that there is education out there, but you got to seek it out because there are people that are crushing it whether it's AI tech or whatever.
10:13 But there's like these different cells that are like the top innovators. And if you could kind of get into these circles or see where the trends are going and get in with the right crew, you're going to be in good hands. So it's like the startup mentality, right? You got to interview different companies and be like, oh, I like where these guys are going. You'll learn way more from that than if you went to college teaching you outdating outdated marketing outdated like it's just takes too long. So I think it's about speed. Yeah. But but also they need to have the thing that people don't have though is just basic work ethics on self-management. So like all these people are talking about like, oh well, I don't you know, like if I do it this way, I could do it better, but at but you can't
11:03 even show up on time. And I think that's 90% of people. Like you need an institution because you have consequences. Yeah, like people go to work because they don't want to get fired. They don't you know, if they didn't have the consequences, they wouldn't go. Like there's no there's no self-regulation of like I could I could like be a self-employee. >> Like government employees, they never go. >> But I think that's that's before we even get to like how do you stay ahead of the curve? Yeah, you're going to already be way better than everybody else if you could self-manage. >> You know it's a really good point that a lot of people don't realize too is that while you hear all these guys about Gen Z having such a hard time and stuff, don't forget that like hella Asian nerds out there don't have this experience. Because they ████ did the normal ████
11:54 that was always like told to us that would be more stable like they went to STEM. They're ████ good, dude. >> Like my nephew ████ bought a house straight out of college because he got to work at SpaceX cuz he took engineering. >> Well, you see the main difference is what? Asian. >> Cuz he's a Yeah. >> But the thing about cultural Asians like the reason why they're so good at that ████ is cuz they're being taught self-regulation all the time. They're telling their parents are telling them disciplined ████ like you better do this. Yeah, 100%. That's That's the key is be Asian. >> Well, yeah, because because >> What would it What would my Asian friends do? >> Just like realize where you are in society. If you're trying to be cool, it's going to come at a ████ cost. If you're trying to just be a dork, you're probably going to do better financially. >> Yeah, keep your nose in the >> Because your concerns don't revolve around buying the coolest ████ or or
12:44 flexing anything or going partying or >> Be cheap, live under your means, and study your ass off. Eat cup of noodles, okay? >> When you hear from people, let's say you interview all these like Gen Z kids and they're like talking about like, "Oh my god, life is so hard." It's like if they had to list their skill set, it's probably pretty low. You know what I mean? Like they're not people that, you know, took the boring majors that would, you know, pay a lot and take a long time. They wanted to do something that felt like it was their character. >> When you write out your skills on a piece of paper, you can get really sad, I think. Speaking from experience.
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