By Landon Yoshida, CRPC®, Vice President, Wealth Management

“Pay your dues, Work Hard, and Respect Authority.” – Papa Yoshida

For me, these words are both haunting and endearing. As we recently celebrated Father’s Day, I am reminded of my father and how his work ethic influenced me.

My father’s first job was working in a cannery to package pineapples in Hawaii for export. My father reminded us constantly of the metal pineapple can that deeply cut his arm. What’s more is that he had a great scar to prove it. It was clear this was a badge of honor for him, yet it was not a badge he wanted me or my brother to wear as well. My parents and others in their generation wanted their children to reach beyond their accomplishments, realizing a greater American Dream for themselves.

My father often told people how he believed his boys would out-achieve him. This is one of my great memories as a child. Though he could not predict the future, my father somehow sounded so confident in his vision for us. His “American Dream” was evolving through his children.

I came across a definition of the “American Dream” which states the following: The American Dream is achieved when children grow up and have a higher standard of living than their parents.

In 2016, the Stanford University Center on Poverty and Inequality released a detailed research piece regarding American economic mobility since 1940.

The results were startling. The authors of the study found that while 90 percent of children born in the early 1940s out-earned their parents, only half of the children born in 1980 were able to accomplish that.

For many, the American Dream is no longer attainable the way my father envisioned it, and Americans of each generation define success differently as they experience life’s special moments and critical challenges.

In the coming stories, we will explore many of these issues as experienced through four generations of Americans:

  1. Traditionalists
  2. Baby Boomers
  3. Generation X
  4. Millennials

We will touch upon their core values – how they deal with money, how they view their work, and more.

At Apriem Advisors we have the privilege to serve clients from each of these four American generations. We are grateful for this opportunity and hope you enjoy reading this series.