What is one great financial lesson you could teach the other generations?

THPPPPT! Ridiculous! Just one? Humbly, on behalf of Gen X, I could list a hundred. A thousand! In my first breath!

Why? Because Gen X is … AWESOME! We are the bees’ knees. And as we’ve been telling our parents, like, forever, we know everything. Everything! Except how to grow old disgracefully, which Boomers have the exclusive rights to, hey Senor Bouris?

“The children are our future” sang Whitney Houston (before her own future involved Bobby Brown and drugs). Yeah, maybe. But understand this … Gen X is your now. We’re running the show. We’re taking the positions of power. We’re your reality. Mwah-hah-ha-ha!

So, what advice can we offer?

In seriousness, Generation X is incredible at accepting change, getting out of a comfort zone and taking a risk.

Big financial risks unite Gen Xers. From roughly age 30 to 50, financial changes are constant.

Whether it’s marriage, your first big mortgage, the 21-year commitment of raising tin lids, taking career risks, that second HUGE mortgage, starting businesses, divorce, second marriages, Brady Bunch-blended families … generally without much financial backing, but with the hope of developing some.

Taking risks is an essential part of creating wealth. It’s virtually impossible to save yourself to a fortune. Arguably, it can be done. But your life would be far too similar to those lived by Volvo engineers. Boring!

Xers take on those risks – some of them petrifying – often with only hope that they’ll work out. Deep down, however, they know that by plugging away at making each work, the rewards will be there in the longer term.

Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and principal adviser with Castellan Financial Consulting.