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In just 9 seconds, Amy Poehler perfectly describes why each generation sees money differently

These four generations' experiences gave them a totally different perspective. But who's right?

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An older man enjoys a fancy cigar. A younger man smokes a cigarette.

Comedian and writer Amy Poehler is the gift that keeps on giving. On her popular podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler, she welcomes guests and has brilliantly funny and often insightful conversations. (Don't sleep on the episode when she had her dear friend Paul Rudd on. It's magical.)

On a recent show with Parks and Recreation creator Mike Schur, there's a clip of her breaking down how each generation relates to money. Straight to the point, she says, "The Boomers are all about money. Gen X is like IS it all about money? Millennials are like where IS the money? And Gen-Z is like what is money?" (She adds, "That's my bad stand-up about it.")

This is Impact YouTube page, Amy Poehlerwww.youtube.com

Hacky comedy or not, she's not wrong. Just under this short YouTube clip, there are over 3,000 comments, mostly from people who back up the claim. One notes, "Gen Z is paying more money for a car now than Boomers paid for their home."

One commenter jokingly (but also maybe accurately) adds, "Gen Alpha: WHY is money?"

On his TikTok page, Freddie Smith (@fmsmith319) references the clip and after acknowledging that Amy "totally nails it," he breaks it down even further in terms of how each generation's economy helped shape them. He states, "This is a true representation about how money has been declining over the past 40 or 50 years. The Boomers had such a big economic boom, so it was easier for them to accumulate money. 80 trillion dollars, the Boomer generation has–so of course, it's all about the money."

@fmsmith319

Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z take on money | @Good Hang with Amy Poehler


He moves on to the millennials. When you think about them, he says, "Of course, where is the money? It's because we were handed a road map at like 13 years old of exactly the steps we needed to take and someone pointed and said 'see that treasure chest? It's gonna be full of gold! Just follow the plan.' Well we followed the plan and here we are twenty years later. We open up the treasure chest and there's two f-ing coins in it."

"And then Gen Z-ers? What is money? They're going to work and they're getting paid direct deposit on Fridays and as soon as that money hits the account, it just goes automatically to their bills. They don't actually 'touch' money." He goes on to explain it would be no different for an employer to just pay in housing and/or food, because they don't actually see the money. "This is such a true representation of what we're all screaming about right now. What is going ON?"

(I'd just like to point out, as a Gen X-er, that he totally skipped over us—but we're used to it.)

Tom Cruise, Jerry Maguire, money, movies, gifTom Cruise asks that you show him the money. Giphy Show Me the Money GIF

The comments here intensely agree. One notes, ""I mean millennials also lived in the world of UNPAID internships!! Boomers made us work for free… and we paid colleges for this experience."

Over on Reddit, many people joined up to discuss this take, with which nearly all agree. Though, again, we get a Gen Alpha joke, much needed in lightening the mood, "Gen Alpha is like 'Rawarr! Me no read! Must smash'."

Someone also ingeniously links to an old SNL sketch with, you guessed it, Amy Poehler, alongside Steve Martin and Chris Parnell. The gist of it? DON'T BUY STUFF.

Amy Poehler, Steve Martin, Chris Parnellwww.youtube.com, NBC Universal

A commenter here writes, "I show this in my financial literacy 30 class every semester when I introduce credit. It's such a simple concept, yet so hard for many to grasp. Teach them young and hopefully they'll make great financial choices when credit becomes available to them."

Another points out, "It's sad how many people need to hear this."

To be fair, it would seem some generations don't even have the option to buy or not to buy because all their money goes to rent.



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Celebrity

Michael B. Jordan ran into his middle-school bully on the red carpet and confronted her

He didn't forget.

via Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

Michael B. Jordan speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Black Panther", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.

As long as humans have endeavored to do anything great, there have been those who have tried to take them down. These are the opposite of the creators in life: the bullies, haters, and naysayers who only want to bring people down to their level. But when you have a dream and desire, its possible to tune out the voices of negativity.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” Theodore Roosevelt once said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena." Some folks use the naysayers as fuel to push them to work even harder. Basketball legend Michael Jordan was infamous for letting his thirst for revenge drive him to even greater heights on the court.

Another Michael Jordan, Black Panther star, Michael B. Jordan, came face to face with someone who doubted that he could reach his dreams, and he wasn’t shy about letting her know that he remembered. What's Upworthy about the encounter is that he did so with class and confidence.

In 2023, Jordan was on the red carpet for the premiere of Creed III, a film he starred in and directed. He was interviewed by The Morning Hustle radio show host Lore’l, who had recently admitted on the Undressing Room podcast that she used to make fun of him in school.

“You know what’s so crazy? I went to school with Michael B. Jordan at a point in life,” Lore’l said. “And to be honest with you, we teased him all the damn time because his name was Michael Jordan. Let’s start there, and he was no Michael Jordan.”

“He also would come to school with a headshot,” she added. “We lived in Newark. That’s the hood. We would make fun of him like, ‘What you gonna do with your stupid headshot?’ And now look at him!”

In addition, her co-host, Eva Marcille, referred to Jordan as “corny.”

- YouTubeyoutu.be

Jordan had no problem discussing their past on the red carpet. “We go way back, all the way back to Chad Science [Academy] in Newark,” Lore’l told the actor. Oh yeah, I was the corny kid, right?” Jordan responded with a smirk.

“No, you did not hear me say that! I said we used to make fun of the name,” Lore’l said.

“I heard it,” Jordan said. “I heard it. It’s all good. What’s up?” he responded. “But yeah, [you are] obviously killing things out here…you’re not corny anymore,” Lore’l clarified.

After the exchange went viral, Lore’l admitted that she teased Jordan in school, but they were only classmates for one year.

“So, the narrative that I bullied him all throughout high school—this was 7th grade. We were like 12 years old, and everyone made fun of each other,” Lore’l told TMZ after facing backlash from fans of Jordan. "The whole bully narrative is crazy... That was school, you know. That was one year. And, again, I’ve never bullied him. That just sounds so outrageous to me.”

Whether qualified as bullying or not, teasing someone for things they can't control like their name, appearance, or personality is extremely harmful. Usually, teasing is more lighthearted and the person being teased is in on the joke; it's not done with the intent to hurt or belittle the person. In an article for Understood—a nonprofit dedicated to providing resources and support to people around the world "who learn and think differently" in school, at work, and throughout life—editor and attorney Andrew M.I. Lee, JD writes that teasing is "a form of communication," usually between friends or even (potential) romantic partners (i.e. flirting). However, Lee notes that because some bullying begins as teasing and some teasing is indeed done with negative intent, the whole thing is complicated. In short, teasing could be experienced as bullying depending on the context and, according to Psychology Today, bullying physically harms the brain and can lead to mental health issues such as chronic anxiety and depression.

bullying, bullies, bully, social media, cyberbullyTeasing and bullying can be harmful. Canva photos.

Jordan later shared some advice on how to deal with bullies.

"Just stay focused, just stay locked in,” he told a reporter from Complex. “You know, just follow your heart, try to block out the noise and distractions as much as possible and run your race. Don't compare yourself to anybody else. Just keep going."

Sounds like good advice from someone who truly knows what he's talking about.

But remember: bullying can go both ways. In an attempt to defend Jordan, many fans of the star in turn bullied (and threatened) Lore'l pretty mercilessly. The unfortunate bottom line is that bullying is likely going to keep happening in this world, especially thanks to the Internet and social media. But when it does, we can all take a page from Jordan's book and handle it with class and truth. Who knows? If we stand up to bullies, call out bad behavior, and defend those being bullied around us, we just might be able to nip bullying in the bud.

be kind, kindness, anti-bullying, bully, kindBe Nice GIF by Microsoft StoreGiphy

This article originally appeared last year.

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Modern Families

Seth Rogen was asked a question about being childless that men never get. His answer was honest.

It's not for everybody.

Stephen McCarthy/Collision via Sportsfile/Wikimedia Commons

Seth Rogen on stage during the opening night of Collision 2019 at Enercare Center in Toronto, Canada.

Childless women in the public eye are often plagued by the question: “So, why don’t you have any children?” It’s a deeply personal question that cuts right to the bone, and there can be many answers. But, if the woman doesn’t want children and says so publicly, she is bound to face some judgment.

"[I don't] like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women—that you've failed yourself as a female because you haven't procreated. I don't think it's fair," Jennifer Aniston told Allure. "You may not have a child come out of your vagina, but that doesn't mean you aren't mothering—dogs, friends, friends' children."

On the Monday, March 6 episode of “The Diary Of A CEO” podcast, host Steven Bartlett asked actor Seth Rogen about why he’s childless, and it was a rare moment where a man in the public eye was challenged on the topic. Rogen gave a thoughtful explanation for his and Lauren Miller’s decision to be child-free.


Rogen and Miller were married in 2011.

“There's a whole huge thing I'm not doing, which is raising children,” Rogen told Bartlett. The host attempted to play devil’s advocate and asked Rogen if he considered whether having children might have made him and his wife “happier.”

“I don't think it would,” Rogen responded.

Then, as if anticipating the question, the “Pineapple Express” star upended one of the arguments that people who have children often make: that people who don’t have children have no idea what it’s like.

“I've been around obviously a lot of children; I'm not ignorant to what it’s like…Everyone I know has kids. I'm 40, you know? I know,” Rogen said. “Some of my friends have had kids for decades. Some people want kids, some people don't want kids.”

He added that many people seem to have kids without considering the issue.

“I mean, a lot of people have kids before they even think about it, from what I've seen, honestly,” he said. “You just are told, you go through life, you get married, you have kids—it’s what happens.”

Rogen and his wife have only grown stronger in their decision and they believe that it has helped their relationship.

“Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank God we don’t have children,’” he continued. “We get to do whatever we want.”

“We are in the prime of our lives. We are smarter than we've ever been, we understand ourselves more than we ever have, we have the capacity to achieve a level of work and a level of communication and care for one another, and a lifestyle we can live with one another that we've never been able to live before. And we can just do that, and we don't have to raise a child—which the world does not need right now,” Rogen concluded.

Everyone has the right to choose whether or not to have children, and no one has the right to judge them. Rogen and Miller have thought their decision through and should be applauded for living how they see fit. It’s cool to see Rogen with such a thoughtful opinion on the matter. It’d be even cooler if celebrities never had to discuss the topic in the first place.


This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Education

Expert says there's only one laundry cycle you ever need, no matter what's being washed

Straight from Patric Richardson, the "Laundry Guy" himself.

Representative image from Canva

Because who can keep up with which laundry settings is for which item, anyway?

Once upon a time, our only option for getting clothes clean was to get out a bucket of soapy water and start scrubbing. Nowadays, we use fancy machines that not only do the labor for us, but give us free reign to choose between endless water temperature, wash duration, and spin speed combinations.

Of course, here’s where the paradox of choice comes in. Suddenly you’re second guessing whether that lace item needs to use the “delicates” cycle, or the “hand wash” one, or what exactly merits a “permanent press” cycle. And now, you’re wishing for that bygone bucket just to take away the mental rigamarole.

Well, you’re in luck. Turns out there’s only one setting you actually need. At least according to one laundry expert.

While appearing on HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast, Patric Richardson, aka The Laundry Evangelist, said he swears by the “express” cycle, as “it’s long enough to get your clothes clean but it’s short enough not to cause any damage.”

Richardson’s reasoning is founded in research done while writing his book, “Laundry Love,” which showed that even the dirtiest items would be cleaned in the “express” cycle, aka the “quick wash” or “30 minute setting.”


Furthermore the laundry expert, who’s also the host of HGTV’s “Laundry Guy,” warned that longer wash settings only cause more wear and tear, plus use up more water and power, making express wash a much more sustainable choice.

Really, the multiple settings washing machines have more to do with people being creatures of habit, and less to do with efficiency, Richardson explained.

“All of those cycles [on the washing machine] exist because they used to exist,” he told co-hosts Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson. “We didn’t have the technology in the fabric, in the machine, in the detergent [that we do now], and we needed those cycles. In the ’70s, you needed the ‘bulky bedding’ cycle and the ‘sanitary’ cycle ... it was a legit thing. You don’t need them anymore, but too many people want to buy a machine and they’re like, ‘My mom’s machine has “whitest whites.”’ If I could build a washing machine, it would just have one button — you’d just push it, and it’d be warm water and ‘express’ cycle and that’s it.”
washing machine

When was the last time you washed you washing machine? "Never" is a valid answer.

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According to Good Housekeeping, there are some things to keep in mind if you plan to go strictly express from now on.

For one thing, the outlet recommends only filling the machine halfway and using a half dose of liquid, not powder detergent, since express cycles use less water. Second, using the setting regularly can develop a “musty” smell, due to the constant low-temperature water causing a buildup of mold or bacteria. To prevent this, running an empty wash on a hot setting, sans the detergent, is recommended every few weeks, along with regularly scrubbing the detergent drawer and door seal.

Still, even with those additional caveats, it might be worth it just to knock out multiple washes in one day. Cause let’s be honest—a day of laundry and television binging sounds pretty great, doesn’t it?

To catch even more of Richardson’s tips, find the full podcast episode here.


This article originally appeared last year.

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