Millennials reach 40 with pride and frustration – 04/22/2023 – Equilibrium

“This year turns forty years old. I certainly did not imagine myself in this place when I was younger”, wrote the illustrator Helena de Cortez in a publication in which she analyzes her own trajectory, in 2021, with “a mixture of pride and frustration”. She felt that, at that age, “I should already have everything ready, on the way, but that I was still crawling on many things”.

“I imagined the idea of ​​a consolidated career, owning a home, an organized financial life,” he says. “Not like it’s the top of something, but with a sense of clearer direction.”

Helena feels “in a mid-life crisis” and translates it as “it’s time to open your eyes and see things better, in the inner world and in your own choices”. Her plans include repairing the financial damage she suffered from the pandemic. “I would also like a property and I dream of being able to enjoy life more, now, with my children and with myself”.

Part of the first wave of millennials in Brazil to cross the 40-year-old border, the illustrator is getting ready for her 42nd birthday, in June.

Millennials correspond to the largest portion of the Brazilian population and include those born from 1981 to 1996. Among the 54 million people who make up the generation, more than 10 million will be in Helena’s age group in 2023.

This universe, stress experts, is moving towards the period known as middle age, starting between 40 and 45 years old, with more life expectancy and social advances than before. But, on average, the route is also shaken by a series of turbulences that have made the trail difficult, such as economic crises and, more recently, the pandemic.

In the educational field, Marcelo Neri, director of FGV Social (Center for Social Policies of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation), observes gains of up to three times compared to previous generations. The average number of years of study went from 2.93 in 1972 to 5.21 in 1992. It is currently at 10.08 in this age group.

The leaps took place, however, in a scenario of stagnant productivity – that is, in a context in which the quantity that each one produces and what remains in the long term are stuck until today.

“Policies linking educational advancement to economic and labor performance were lacking. This generation has experienced a social revolution, but is experiencing economic frustration. A surprising mismatch, because normally economic and social trajectories go hand in hand and that is not what happened in Brazil . In this respect, the country has failed”, says Neri

For the researcher, “there was a hyper optimism that was not confirmed in Brazil”.

The future happiness index, which measures the expectation of individual satisfaction with life, has historically remained among the highest in the world – also foreshadowing “a high probability of frustration”.

“Young Brazilians expected a lot from the future. They looked forward with optimism, but before reaching 40, 44, they lived for almost 10 years, quite limited by successive economic shocks. There were crises, a great recession, a slow recovery and, then, the pandemic”.

The increase in life expectancy came with questions along the lines of “what will my life be like if social security is broken?” or “What if I can’t do my nest egg?” Data from Grupo Cia de Talentos, from the Carreira dos Sonhos survey, show a high frequency of worry, tiredness and anxiety in this generation.

So many issues added to the intense presence of social networks have created “a feeling of stepping on quicksand”, in addition to putting the quality of life in check, says the doctor in social psychology and professor at FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas) and ESPM ( School of Advertising and Marketing), Flávia Feitosa.

“It’s a question of the moment we’re living. It’s not exclusive to millennials, but being in middle age makes things more complex”, he says. The world “sold” to the generation, she points out, was an incredible world, of countless possibilities and dreams, while the one delivered “was in a very bad condition”.

For teacher Roberta Pitta, 40, economic and political factors interfered with what, at 20, she envisioned for the future. “But there’s no frustration. I understand that I’ve gotten to a place where I can take a little breather to think about bigger things,” she says.

Today, she teaches children as a public employee, and has already been a telemarketing operator and receptionist. Her father and mother did not complete high school. The teacher, on the other hand, did two graduations, a specialization and a master’s degree. She believes that “the peak of life is yet to come”, which includes a possible doctorate and other career paths.

Daniel Trinconi Borgatto, 41, sees that many friends at the same age have followed the line expected by families. “There was a transfer of expectations from parents, in the sense of ‘you need to go to college, have a job, hold it tooth and nail, create financial independence, study, get a career, get married, have children’. But I broke down this gear a little”, he says.

He started working early, studied at what he considers a good college and lived in “extremely” competitive environments in the multinationals he went through. Even following the recipe, he perceives the context experienced by his generation as different from the previous ones.

“And when I looked in the mirror I saw that I was deteriorating. Working a lot, being very consumed. I saw that the effort took me to some levels expected by them, but not to a level expected by me”.

Administrator Anderson Nogueira, on the other hand, thinks that “high inflation, wages that don’t go up and social networks where everyone compares themselves are triggers of unhappiness”. He is from 1989. He returned to Brazil in December, after a year in the United States, where the new generation of 40 is presented as poorer, insecure and unhappy than their parents.

“I noticed this feeling out there and, here in Brazil, I think that 70% of the people I know my age and above are, in a way, frustrated. I see a lot of pressure from society for young adults after they turn 30 “.