Dream and action: “I should hope there will still be fish in the sea by the time I’m 50”

But he did not kill her,

Because between dream and action,

Laws stand in the way

And practical objections.

(from: Willem Elsschot, The Marriage)

Retirement might not be something generation Z spends much time thinking about, but they are the generation of the future. What do they dream of? What are they doing to achieve that? And what is standing in their way? In the series Dream and Action, we let young people speak about what the present and the future look like to them. Today, freelance copywriter Nina Keijzer (20) from Ridderkerk: “What do I worry about regarding the future? It would be better to ask: what don’t I worry about?”

Who: Nina Keijzer (20)

Lives in: grew up in Rotterdam, currently lives in Ridderkerk with her parents.

Works: as astrologer and copywriter. “My work is the most important part of my life right now. It keeps me busy every day. I get that from my parents. They both always worked full-time, just like my grandparents; it’s our nature to work really hard.”

Likes: writing, reading, working out, watching Netflix and playing piano.

What do you dream about?

“I’d like to publish my own books. If at all possible, I’d like to mean something to society that way, make a difference. If I can help someone in some way, I am satisfied. To me, being successful is the freedom to do what you enjoy doing. Sure, it’s nice to have a lot of money too, but it’s not the most important thing.”

How do you envision your future?

“I really think about my future too much. More than I want to. I talk about the future every day with my best friend. You’re still young, people say, don’t worry. And that is true, but we can also see that things are not getting better. How can you not worry when you have a huge student loan to pay back and you have no chance of getting a mortgage? I don’t see it happening, but I hope to be able to move out and buy a nice house for myself in about five years. In a perfect world I would not have any money worries, I can accrue a nice pension and I don’t have to worry about the future.”

What about when you are retired?

“I’m not looking forward to still having an office job and still working hard when I’m 70. I’d rather retire sooner. A passive income would be nice. If I stay self-employed, I will have to set up a pension for myself. That is something I’m already worrying about. Life just keeps getting more expensive and wages don’t seem to go up at the same rate. If houses get even more expensive, how are we going to pay for that? My generation is really into investing; you’re suddenly seeing that everywhere. I want to do it too. I hope I will be able to save enough to be able to sit in the garden without worries in my old age. But money might look very different in fifty years. That may sound like science fiction, but we already have bitcoin and other crypto coins, so the idea is not that far-fetched.”

What is your dream for the Netherlands?

“We work a lot in the Netherland. It would be great if that changed; that we start working less for the same money. It would be a nice experiment. Everyone wants to work less for the same amount of money. You might get as much done in 30 hours as you do in 40 hours, because you only have a limited number of productive hours in a day, and you can’t be focused non-stop. It could also make a big difference in terms of burnouts. I enjoy my work and it is important to me, but the balance between work and leisure should really be more towards leisure. I think that my generation is very aware of that: you only live once and there is more to life than just work.”

What kind of world would you like to live in?

“I hope that big companies and countries will want to take more responsibility. A lot still needs to be done to reach the climate goals. It is a serious matter, which in my eyes is being treated much too casually. It’s great we want to go to Mars, but let’s take better care of the Earth first.”

What worries you when you think about the future?

“It would be better to ask me what doesn’t worry me. Climate change is on my mind a lot. What if it makes the sea level rise even higher in the Netherlands? And I watched a documentary where they were saying there won’t be any fish left in the sea by 2050 if the fishing industry keeps going at the current rate. That scares me. I should hope there will still be fish in the sea by the time I’m 50. What are we going to do now to prevent that?”

What stands in the way of your dreams?

“The housing market worries me. How on earth am I ever going to get a good mortgage? The price of houses is rising like crazy in the Randstad and everything is selling above the asking price. My generation and the generation after me will have to bring at least 20,000 Euros if we want to buy a nice house. My mom lived on her own when she was 18. She rented apartment for 250 guilders a month. When I hear that, it makes me want to cry. You can’t get anything like that for even 500 Euros in the Randstad now. We can’t keep going this way. Soon we will still be living with our parents well into our thirties, because we can’t afford to buy our own homes.”

Are there any other obstacles?

“Yes, we also have huge student loans to pay off because they stopped providing the basic study grant. Some of my friends owe 60,000 Euro and they have no idea how they are going to pay it. Everyone thinks my generation is all about having fun, but my friends are working like fiends to be able to pay for everything. People forget how expensive everything is; even just renting a room costs a lot of money. It would be wonderful if they brought the basic study grant back. That would eliminate so much stress. We are the future and governments should invest in the future.”

What are you doing for a better world?

“My parents and I are very consciously working on sustainability. We don’t have any plastic shopping bags and bottles of water anymore, we throw away much less than we used to and buy organic whenever possible. We are also all vegan, we only eat plant-based food. My mom became a vegetarian when she was 14. I became a vegetarian when I was 15, but a few months later I decided to go vegan. Both of my parents said, okay, we’ll do it too. I’m very grateful for that. Even my dad quit eating meat, dairy and eggs cold turkey. Plus, every day, I go for a walk and pick up any garbage I come across on my way.

One person can make a difference, but at the same time, I think that the responsibility is put on the individual too much instead of on the big, polluting companies. I hope that is going to change in the coming years. Because we can all stop buying plastic straws, but as long as cucumbers are all sold individually wrapped in plastic, that is not going to make that much of a difference. I also think it’s too bad that sustainable is often more expensive. That makes a lot of people go for the less sustainable options.”