WEBVTT

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We've heard about the baby boomers, golden eggs,

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the final salary pensions and the houses bought

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for the price of a ham butty. And we've heard

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about millennials and their side hustles and

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their avocad toe struggles. But if you, like

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me, born between 1965 and 1980, 1969 for me,

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welcome to the void. You are part of the invisible.

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generation you grew up as the latchkey kids letting

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yourself into empty houses with a key around

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your neck and a microwave dinner if you're lucky

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you survived the 2008 crash right as your careers

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were supposed to be peaking and now in 2026 the

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government is looking at you and saying actually

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could you just could you just keep going until

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you 67, maybe 68, maybe just work until you're

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a ghost. But today, we aren't just talking about

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a SIP or an ISO, we're talking about the Gen

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X identity crisis. How do you go from being that

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do -it -all generation, the one that holds the

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office, the home, the economy together, or someone

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who actually stops? So let's talk about the rebellion.

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And one of the biggest psychological hurdles

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for Gen X right now isn't our own retirement.

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It's the fact that everyone else is literally

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sitting on our wallets. Now, we're the sandwich

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generation and the bread's getting a bit stale.

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29 % of you are still financially supporting

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adult children. And these are children who can't

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get on the property ladder. You're paying for

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their first -time buyer deposits while also paying

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care home fees for your parents. Now, we've all

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seen the videos about finding your why. But for

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Gen X, your why has been taking care of everyone

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else for 30 years. You don't know who you are

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without a dependent. And we tire him. in 2026

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requires a radical psychological shift you have

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to move from provider to self -preserver now

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listen if you don't set boundaries with your

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family now your retirement fund won't be your

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freedom it'll become the bank of mom and dad

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until the vault is empty and you're 80 years

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old eating beans on toast It's okay to say no

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so that you can say yes to your own life. But

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let's be real. We, Gen X, were cynical. But we've

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earned it. We've entered the workforce with the

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promise of a final salary, a defined benefit

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scheme pension. Then, in the early 2000s, we

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watched these vanish like a puff of smoke. And

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these were replaced then by... Defying contribution

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schemes where all the risk sat with us. We were

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too old to fully benefit from auto -enrollment.

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That's what the 20 -somethings have now. And

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they've got 40 years of compounding ahead of

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them. But you're also too young to get that massive

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DB payout at the boomers. They're currently out

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cruising the Medon. Rock and roll till I die.

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Now the result of this is that 54 % of the UK

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Gen X are terrified that their money's going

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to run out. And this will lead to retirement

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paralysis, that one more year syndrome where

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you keep working because the fear of the unknown

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is scarier than the soul -crushing commute. We've

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been told to trust the system, but for us, It's

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trust fatigue. You don't trust the state pension

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will be there when you hit 67. And you don't

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trust that the markets won't tank the week before

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you quit. But 2026 is the year we stop being

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worried and start being vocal. It's the time

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to stop waiting for a rescue that isn't on its

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way. Now, there's a concept starting to make

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waves in 2026 called the active decade. It's

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that sweet spot between 55 and 65 where your

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health, your cognitive sharpness, and hopefully

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a little bit of financial freedom actually overlap.

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But then there's the biological reality, which

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is that 34 % of us Gen Xers are already reporting

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long -term health issues. our knees are clicking,

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our stress levels are through the roof. Why on

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earth would you trade your most active, healthy

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years for 2 % higher pension payouts at 67? But

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then you might be too tired to enjoy it. Now,

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if I've got a tip, something that I did was to

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try and avoid the hard stop. Now, we as Gen Xers

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thrive on our independence. The original remote

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work as before it was even cool. Work three days

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a week. Go consulting. Work in a garden centre.

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It solves that identity crisis of who I am if

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I'm not a senior VP at the company. But it also

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keeps the lights on and your brain sharp. You

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know, only 6 % of us Gen Xers have a written

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plan. Don't be the 94%. For three decades, your

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identity has been your job title. In the UK,

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when you meet someone at the pub, the first question

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is usually, what do you do? Now, if you say nothing,

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people look at you as if you've got two heads.

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Now, we're used to being self -reliant, aren't

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we? We figure it out ourselves. And because of

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that, many of us think that asking for financial

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advice or a retirement coach is a sign of weakness.

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It's not. It's just tactical. So, as I said,

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only 6 % of Gen X have a written retirement plan.

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Now, writing it down isn't just about maths.

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It's about a psychological contract with yourself.

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It's your permission to slip rather than stopping.

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If it's on paper, it's real. If it's just a feeling

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in your head, it's just anxiety. You've been

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the forgotten generation for long enough now.

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You've been the bridge between the analogue and

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the digital. the workforce and the home, the

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past and the future. 2026 is the year that you

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take back your own time. The time is not the

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end. It's the first time in your life that you

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don't have a boss breathing down your neck. You've

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spent 40 years doing what you had to do. Now

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it's time to start doing what you want to do.

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The rebellion starts when you decide that enough

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is actually a number, not a feeling.