Gen X's secret weapon for beating the heat

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Happy Saturday, Gen X.

We’ll get right to it. It’s hot. It’s damn hot. There’s only one thing you can do in this kind of heat: The Nestea Plunge.

Admit it, you spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool perfecting your Nestea Plunge. We’ll look away if you want to recreate it with your middle age bod.

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In today’s issue:

• 👀 Coming soon: Remote bods

• 🦈 Forget Barbie, this is the game we all wanted

• 📈 Is the economy looking up?

^{ONE GEN X THING}

Barbie: A Brief Homage

In honor of the Barbie movie being released this weekend, we thought we’d take a quick walk down memory lane and share the dolls that graced our Barbie collection back in the 70s. Ken was really having a moment.

Malibu Barbie

There wasn’t a whole lot that was special about the 70s Malibu Barbie: She was hot, she rocked her one-piece and she was ready for a good time. As you’ll see, though, her Ken counterpart from that time period was not nearly as cool.

Mod Hair Ken

This isn’t the exact Ken doll we had — ours sported a red plaid tuxedo — but it’s close enough. It absolutely came with fake facial hair, so we could change up his look depending on which Barbie he was dating at the time. It occurs to us now that Ken was possibly living a life of international intrigue.

(They definitely based this Ken off of Neil Diamond, right?)

Accessories

The Star’Vette was Barbie’s coolest accessory back in the day, although we would have done just about anything to get our hands on the Barbie pool house.

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BONUS STORY: Are Froot Loops all the same flavor?

^PRE-TIREMENT

This 401(k) Tax Break is About to Go Bye-Bye

We know that talking about financial stuff is a drag, but you all!, we’re not doing great at saving for our retirements.

One nice benefit of reaching the ripe age of 50 is that you can play “catch up” on your 401(k) contributions; in 2023, that means putting up to $30,000 into a 401(k) and up to $7,500 into an IRA. Don’t sleep on this.

However … higher earners — those who make more than $145,000 — are about to take a hit. A new rule going in effect in 2024 will redirect these catch-up funds into after-tax Roth accounts. That moves the tax burden from time of withdrawal to time of contribution.

The downside: This change means many workers will pay taxes on their catch-up money upfront during high-earning years.

The upside: You can build up a pot of tax-free money to spend in your retirement years, when your tax rate will likely be lower.

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BONUS STORY: Ahoy! Who’s up for spending their retirement years on a cruise ship?

^{MARKET SNAPSHOT}

Since We’re Talking About 💰 Anyway …

Here's an overview of where the market is at this week.

Inflation: It’s cooling off according to the most recent Consumer Price Index, which showed that annual inflation slowed from 4% to 3% in June.

Mortgage rates: They’re still climbing. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage was hanging just under 7% last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Consumers: We seem to be … okay? The University of Michigan reported that consumer sentiment saw its biggest jump since 2006.

Recession: The WSJ’s Economic Forecasting Survey had the odds of a recession in the next 12 months falling from 61% to 54%. Goldman Sachs cut the odds of a U.S. recession within the next year from 25% to 20%.

Okay, enough with the grown up stuff … let’s have some fun.

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BONUS STORY: You think you’re old? You’re a spring chicken compared to new data about the actual age of the universe.

^{LATCHKEY POLL RESULTS FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 15, 2023}

Who was your favorite TV family?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 The Flintstones (5)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ The Jetsons (4)

9 Votes

^{YOU MAKE THE CALL}

Decisions, Decisions

^{… AND THE REST}

Forget Dad Bods, Check Out “Remote Bods”

• Not Cute: Here’s what years of remote work could do to our bodies. Oof.

• Food Mood: Some of Gen X’s favorite foods are apparently “shocking” to Gen Z. #14 was our go-to circa 2000 — and our blood sugar levels still haven’t returned to normal.

• Zzzap!: Speaking of Gen X’s refined palates, who didn’t use this to power through midterms and finals?

• The Good Humor Man is Not Happy: It’s all about food today. Americans are falling out of love with ice cream.

• Eh: Gen X just isn’t that into SNL anymore.

• As If: People still use landlines.

• Crime: Is a breakthrough imminent in the unsolved murder of Tupac?

• The Brat Pack: You loved him as Blane in Pretty in Pink, but Andrew McCarthy is on dad duty these days. He wrote a book about an epic journey he took with his son.

Milestones. July 23, 1988: Guns N’ Roses releases “Sweet Child of Mine.” || July 25, 1985: Rock Hudson announces he has AIDS. || July 27, 1996: Bombing at Centennial Park during Atlanta Summer Olympics.

^{FROM THE GEN X MEMORY VAULT}

Tasty Memes and Memories

^{WEEKLY EAR WORM}

“Summertime Blues” by Brian Setzer

This beauty came from the 1987 movie, La Bamba, which starred Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie Valens. Brian Setzer had a small role in the film playing 50s rocker Eddie Cochran; one of Cochran’s biggest hits was “Summertime Blues” and Setzer certainly did it justice. As the kids would say, it’s a banger.

That’s it for this week’s Latchkey! We’ll see you back here next Saturday.

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