Our reality will always remain turbulent. Deal with it.

Every time the economic feces hits the fan I'm always amazed at how many GenXsters act shocked or wonder how lightning continues to strike the same people over and over again. Yeah, it gets old, but at least we won't be remembered as a generation of parasites (babyboomers) that was given all the advantages and still managed to blow it. Conversely we can take comfort in the fact that we were offered little and still blew it all.

This isn’t the first time Gen Xers have faced tough times. They came of age during a recession and survived the dot-com bust of 2000. In recent years, though, more members of the generation – stereotyped early on as jaded individualists – had families or began settling down in other ways. It was time, they thought, to enjoy the rewards of paying some dues.

“We were starting to buy into the system, at least to some extent,” Tulgan says, “and then we got the rug pulled out from under us.”