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The issue is with technology the cost and method to deliver over a college education should be dirt cheap. The problem is we have bad incentives for administration of colleges / universities to drive productivity in their cost structure. In stead they spend money on monoliths of business buildings, football stadiums, and fat expensive president staffs.
Education is like other businesses. They must provide what the customers want. In my area there are very good community colleges and excellent State universities. Costs are very low and in fact free to a substantial part of the population. Instead many kids want the prestige of going to an expensive, private college. In addition to the prestige they often get great dorm rooms, gourmet food and winning teams.
How many folks like me thinks that our children in the future will make less wages factoring inflation when they grow up? Millennials are already making less money than their parent's prime working age.
The larger population along with automation along with high immigration and larger aging population will require higher taxes to keep this country going. Labor participation will keep going down as wealthier families will keep their children away from working.
The oldest millennials (I am one) haven't even hit prime earning years, so the bolded is clearly false. Plus you can't compare us to our parents because many of us didn't start our full time jobs until 24-25. My dad started his full time job that he retired from at 19...I didn't start mine until I was 28 (grad school). So at my age he'd been working for 17 years, I've been working for 8. Kind of hard to compare the two of us in our mid 30s. Let's compare millennials to their parents when they hit their late 40s, which is actually prime earning age.
They may be now, I don’t know since we don’t discuss their salaries. I can almost guarantee you that they will eventually make more than us. When I was starting college my goal was to make as much as my father, $40,000 at the time. Heck, even in the 1980s I’d have starved on that little. He paid $32,000 for his 2nd home, we paid $50,000 for our first. Inflation aloneness requires each generation to make more than the last to live at the same level of comfort, with the exception of the extremes, the millionaire, and the kids that never get beyond minimum wage jobs.
But consider this:
My dad died in 1989. He never spent a single dollar on a: computer, cell phone, internet/cable, home security system, any type of recurring charge membership (golf/gym/netflix/HOA etc), never set foot in a Costco or Starbucks, probably never a Home Depot (can't remember), never leased a car and rarely went out to dinner never to a bar. Once a week after church to a local BBQ place was a good week. If it was your birthday you would get to go out to dinner with my parents but the other kids stayed home!
So if he made 40K back 30 years ago, it was $800 a week. He bought a brand new 4/2 home in Ft Lauderdale for $44,000 in the mid 70's so even with crazy interest rates the payment was just a few hundred a month.
I made more money than my parents very shortly after high school but I was younger (could juggle more) and I had zero expenses (no kids, mtg etc). So while I surpassed them, I could also take more risks due to my age/situation. But I could easily spend $3000 a month today on stuff my parents never paid for (listed above). So yes more money, but maybe the net dollar adjusted for inflation might be closer to equal.
At 29, I bought a new house for more money than all of my parents home purchases combined then multiplied by 3! I could literally fit 3 of their biggest homes inside mine and I really considered us solid middle class, maybe upper middle in the 80s. We traveled to Europe twice as kids on 2 separate vacations, definitely on a budget. I attended a private high school.
So as for kids: I'd rather have a kid making less money at a job they LOVE than make 2X the money at a job they hate. The money should be secondary to their daily happiness but some people can't think that way.
How many folks like me thinks that our children in the future will make less wages factoring inflation when they grow up? Millennials are already making less money than their parent's prime working age.
The larger population along with automation along with high immigration and larger aging population will require higher taxes to keep this country going. Labor participation will keep going down as wealthier families will keep their children away from working.
The other glitch, some millennials (age 22-37) got hit in the recession of 2008, not a great time to be looking for your first/second job.
A friend of mine had a kid who didn't get his first 40 hour a week job until age 26! He bagged groceries for about an hour a week for 5 years (literally 4-8 hours a month on the schedule) for a few years. Moved out by age 28. Lived in a tiny house with his parents and the girlfriend was feeling awkward about staying over. If it wasn't for her, he would still be living there!
My son was making more than me on his first job. He was taking IT classes at ITT. He was hired as an IT tech by a internationally known clothing company, with a warehouse in the area. He started there making more than I did when I retired. He's moved to another job since then with substantial raises along the way. He and his wife and 4 kids live in a nice house and are living a wonderful life
Based on the replies here, I would expect folks here who are interested in economics to be much more informed about finances and educate your children with making better financial decisions.
The overall stats for Americans is that prior gens own more than millennials during the same peak earning years and have less debt.
Based on the replies here, I would expect folks here who are interested in economics to be much more informed about finances and educate your children with making better financial decisions.
The overall stats for Americans is that prior gens own more than millennials during the same peak earning years and have less debt.
Millennials as pointed out earlier even on the oldest of the range aren’t at peak earning years yet 37-38 years old are the oldest millennials out there
Most of you all on here are upper-middle income. Most of you all are white. Over 50% of US public school students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and over 50% are minorities. The portion of low and modertate income students has risen steadily from 33% in 1996. Most young people will never make as much money as their parents. For children from 2 college educated parents ad comfortable backgrounds, the story may be a little different. But if your son's starter home was in Scarsdale NY you're not really qualified to talk about the broader American youth demographic.
The answer depends on whether the question is retail or wholesale.
Is the question my kids, or the next generation? My six kids, children of successful parents who sent all of them to college and are now adults, or a broader selection of those who are still children and come from varying socio-economic backgrounds?
All answers so far are about the successful adult children of evidently advantaged parents... a bit of a skewed sample. I'd suggest that most of the next generation, those perhaps 10-15 now, will have lower real lifetime income than current working adults. But may have better lives overall.
Not a bit. A very skewed sample. There's almost no data to support the assertion that millennials and Postmillenials will make or will make more money than Boomers. If anyone has a sound bit of evidence (study, article, whatever) please feel free to share. It is common knowledge they will not make that much money nor will they have as many assets.
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