TRENDS: Bye Silicon Valley + College Debt Forever

Bay Area Woman Has Had It With Tech Bias

From KQED radio “Perspectives”: Silicon Valley tech companies and their workplaces are the envy of the world. But for Pilar Wolfsteller the tech ecosystem has lost its shine. 

I’m now 49, and I have had three Valley tech jobs in four years, two of which I lost after clashing with mediocre, insecure men. I’m tired of the toxic, dysfunctional work environments they created and the blatant, disturbing sexism and ageism experienced there. I am tired of the stress-induced anxiety attacks at 3 a.m., when I woke up in a panic, barely able to breathe.

So, I am saying goodbye to this place. And it’s not even hard. I now realize that I had no chance from the get-go because the goalposts for me, a qualified woman over 40, constantly shifted.

It’s hard to be your best self if you are always forced to play politics and justify your existence to those who think they can do your job better than you can. I know I can still be my best self, at 49 and beyond – just not in Silicon Valley.

Listen to her perspective: LINK

How Student Loan Debt Is Kicking Retirement For Boomers, Gen X, Millennials & Gen Z To The Curb

Joseph Coughlin published this review on Forbes. Coughlin leads the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab (agelab.mit.edu). Researcher, teacher, speaker and advisor. His most recent book is The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World’s Fastest Growing, Most Misunderstood Market.

 A MIT AgeLab mixed-methods study, sponsored by TIAA, explored the effects of student loan debt on retirement and relationships found that many moms, dads, and adoring grandparents that borrow for their kids and grandkids do not realize the full extent of the burden they are taking on. Taking on six figures of student loans at 18 is an intimidating proposition; taking it on at 50, when the conventional retirement age of 65 looms ahead like a jagged cliff, is even more daunting. And, for grandparents who are betting that their lifespan will not outlive their wealthspan, investing in their grandchildren’s future, may effectively be divesting from their own.

An overwhelming 84 percent of participants in the study said their loans limited the amount they were able to save for retirement. Three out of four of those respondents said they expected to begin or increase their contributions once their student loans were paid off. But if one’s loan obligations extend all the way into retirement age, then the time to begin saving may never arrive.

Read the full article. LINK