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Old 01-16-2019, 09:56 AM
 
1 posts, read 687 times
Reputation: 10

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How have you acclimated to life in New York?
I was born in Manhattan and raised in Flushing, Queens. As a first generation immigrant born to two laborers who barely speak english, I have seen my neighborhood change drastically in the past 29 years.

Do you find it expensive living here or are you getting by?
It is expensive to live here, however, I have a sweet deal on rent, paying only 7% of my household income in rent. The apartment is very old and not very modern but I would rather save to leave NYC eventually.


Are you satisfied with your line of work and rate of pay?
I enjoy what I do and my pay is pretty good (above 100k) but I am in the process of applying for a second master's degree (MBA) from a top15 school to have better opportunities globally.

I have had some interesting work experience to date, mainly attributed to my own hustle. I have had zero handouts and a pretty crappy network due to my undergrad degree (CUNY). Fortunately, I was able to land some internships during my last year, and I spun that opportunity to a full time offer before I graduated.

CUNY is really what you make of it. No one is really there to help you nor guide you. You have to put yourself out there and get some valuable internships.

Do you pay rent or own your own home?
Rent. I will never buy in NYC.


Do you plan on staying or leaving ?

I plan to relocate to somewhere warmer. If I am going to spend $1 million for a home, it will be somewhere warm year round.
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Old 01-16-2019, 11:14 AM
 
7,759 posts, read 3,825,653 times
Reputation: 8846
Quote:
Originally Posted by Javawood View Post
Housing prices have been so inconsistant with wages that I've given up the notion of buying. If and only if I have a kid will I consider the suburbs. I could afford to buy a nice house in Indiana, but I don't want to live in Indiana. I want to live in NYC and I can afford to rent here whilst maxing my IRA and 401k. The American Dream is just too damned expensive or contains too much social and mental sacrifice these days. I can only hope the US enacts policies similar to Canada that disuade foreign buying, but we care more about selling to the highest bidder.

It's all too frustrating for me when I can live in a nice rental apartment in neighborhoods that I actually want to live in. I don't see this changing anytime soon now that I have a gf whom is more than happy to split the rent. So long as I can stay rent stabalized, I'll probably never buy. I came to this conclusion at 23 and still think the same way at 27.
Don't have kids here. Make sure you either use condoms or ensure she takes BC every morning. Unless you see yourself being with her for the rest of your life and you got at least 100k liquid in the bank, no debt and good health insurance.
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Old 01-16-2019, 11:35 AM
 
766 posts, read 503,384 times
Reputation: 710
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadypinesma View Post
... but in NYC you DO have to compete with rich Asians and yuppies.

And it's awful. It's bull**** that you can't buy a small starter home in the place you were born and raised. Of course nobody is ENTITLED to that, but when you have boomers say "Well, I bought a home in Queens for 50k!" or the like it sounds so tone deaf that it's actually shocking.
Bob Marley talked about the lack of affordable housing in the 70s

Living expenses has always been an issue for the working class no matter the generation. Some baby boomers had to live in tenements, shacked on top of each other in nyc. The city was absolute trash. This is why they created the suburbs, the city wasn’t the place to be.

My father bought a home in Brooklyn in the 70s. Crackhouses were next door, the city literally suffered from massive fires all over, violence and crime was an everyday occurrence. He used to bike to two jobs everyday, Brooklyn to Manhattan with no bike lanes.

Today NYC was nothing like yesterday’s. So of course it was easy to buy property, the city wasn’t in demand. It was like buying a house in Wichita today, they were giving away brownstones for $10. My father lived out his years in that home with fears of getting robbed and working 24/7 to afford to live in a horrible neighborhood. As the neighborhood improved, as coffee shops and bars started to pop up on every block and more wealth entered the community. The property value went up because of the improvements.

Just like I don’t like the entitled millennial agenda, because not every millennial is a vapid mess. The same applies to boomers, it’s easy to judge in hindsight. But many didn’t have it easy at all

I
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Old 01-16-2019, 11:41 AM
 
6,844 posts, read 3,910,004 times
Reputation: 15848
Boy, so much misinformation here. Depending on who you are and what you do the option to make as much money as you can in the shortest time and buy a house may or may not be possible. And there's more to life than finances. Also being retired and a baby boomer the secret was first to find a good wife and second to have kids and third to buy a house after 11 years of renting, and fourth to have a job with a pension, and fifth to finally get a job I loved in my 40's, and sixth to get out of debt in my 50's after just keeping our head above water for 30 years, and last to retire modestly and in comfort at 62, moving out of NYC about 50 miles south to the burbs. Born in Brooklyn, lived in Brooklyn and Staten Island and worked in Manhattan and Brooklyn for about 35 years.
As the parent of Genxers I can say that the main difference between them and the boomers who are basically satisfied with the way things went for us is we were used to poverty, they were not. We were able to make do on a shoestring and they do not. We didn't splurge and they do. We kept our heads above water but they keep dipping under water. It was no easier for us, we just had more patience and perserverence and lower expectations and kept working at it for decades until it all worked out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Retired View Post
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Do what is necessary to save money (sharing rent)
Do what it takes to make money. ( one job or two jobs )


The secret is to make as much money in the smallest amount of time.
The next big secret is home ownership.

That money saved will be your down deposit.

Once you are in your own home.
Keep up the work ethic.
It will be hard but at least you know
the money spent on the house is for
your house not someone else's.
Once the house is paid things will ease up.
By then you will be married/partnered
and two incomes will be the aaaaaaaah in life.


Saving is not an art form. It is a sacrifice.

Last edited by bobspez; 01-16-2019 at 11:50 AM..
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Old 01-16-2019, 12:04 PM
 
6,192 posts, read 7,303,625 times
Reputation: 7558
I know a few millenials who own something but they are not houses---we are all one bedroom coop owners or something like that.

Yeah, it sucks not being able to buy a house in my current neighborhood but I'm over it. I'm not angry anymore. Maybe because I am kind of over the city. But like I said, I have another neighborhood in mind that I can swing if I decide to stay. I saw a house in this one neighborhood that I could afford and I was thinking about it non-stop but alas, I will need to sell my coop first. (And they're in contract. Bye, bye dream house...)

Both my husband and I went to CUNY so we don't have to cry about student loans. We are not big spenders. He is very underpaid. I think I am paid all right---not great for the city but better than him! I also have a second job and for YEARS, I literally tracked every single dollar we spent to see where money was going. Over the years, I have realized most people have no idea how much money they spend on crap and that crap really adds up.

Like I said, when I am in a good mood, I look around and I am thankful. Yeah, I hate my little coop, but I have a nice, warm bed to sleep in and I'm not dirt poor. And I have a husband who washes the dishes.
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Old 01-16-2019, 12:23 PM
 
Location: Mott Haven, New York
965 posts, read 1,104,541 times
Reputation: 940
How have you acclimated to life in New York?

I'm from the Bronx. Enough said.
I grew into my skin late in life.


Do you find it expensive living here or are you getting by?
It's obviously expensive, but get by due to my rent to income ratio. I live a somewhat modest lifestyle. Casual nights out at the bar or some restaurants. Some leisure activities like the movies and bowling. Uber rides to and from on weekends. Still find a way to contribute to retirement as well as regular savings. I even sponsor a child in Honduras. He's only 3 now, but will make my way over there hopefully by the time he is 6 or 7.

Aside from that, I am a couch potato and am happy saving money, staying indoors playing Mario Kart, drinking some moscato, or participating in Netflix and chill.


Are you satisfied with your line of work and rate of pay?

Very much so, for the former. Meh for the latter. I'm a Technical Support Engineer. The average base pay for someone of this title in NYC is $73,844. I'm way below the average at $55,000, but didn't complain too much because I lack any degrees. (Dropped out of high school and never pursued college.) Underselling myself because of my lack of degrees was a mistake... but now that I've proven myself (actually doing the work and building good client relationships), come my annual review, I'm definitely going for gold and asking to be put at $80,000 (Average salary + $6,000 and some pocket change.) With 4 years on the field come August, that's where I should be at.


Do you pay rent or own your own home?

Rent stabilized since 2017. I gave myself a time limit until 2025. By that year, I'll be 35, and should have enough in the bank and a salary to support it. I'd be looking at veryyyyy "modest" properties to buy in Parkchester. When that happens I can give up the apartment to someone on the wait list. Sure, it's just one spot, but that one spot will make a world of difference to someone who needs it.

Back in the affordable housing craze, this board had a stigma with 60% AMI ( and lower income earners) and affordable housing in general. I was 60%er last year and this board killed me with all the bashing. There are plenty of people earning high salaries who are as ghetto as they come. On the flip side, not everyone earning less than $40,000 in a calendar is some kind of lazy, disrespectful and disruptive degenerate.

But here I go, getting heated and going off topic. Back on track. I'm renting now with plans on homeownership in the future. I'm still too immature and lack the salary needed to own a home at the moment. If I hit my target of $80,000 this year, I'll buckle down and get a little more serious. Until then, I'm enjoying my last year in my 20's before everything goes down hill!

Do you plan on staying or leaving?

I love NYC. I'm staying.
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Old 01-16-2019, 01:07 PM
 
Location: Central, NJ
2,729 posts, read 6,089,252 times
Reputation: 4110
My siblings and I were all born and raised in NYC, first generation American. Half stayed to raise their kids and half left, but didn't go too far. Many of my nieces and nephews are millennials and I think it's an interesting to see the choices they've made. Of the millennials All have graduated college, none are drowning in student debt. All are employed and living apart from their parents. 4 are very fortunate in that their parents/grandparents paid for college, 2 were left without student loans because of a life insurance payout, and 2 had scholarships, ROTC and others, and financial help from parents. What I think is interesting is that only 2 of them are living in the city. 1 was born and raised in Brooklyn. She lived in Manhattan after college and now lives in Queens because it's cheaper than Brooklyn. 1 was born in Manhattan, raised in Westchester. He went to college in the city and lives in Queens. They both love Queens and say they'll never leave. Things happen, people change, but I don't think they will ever leave it.

I always imagined everyone would gravitate to NYC, even the ones who weren't raised there. But they say it's just not worth it to pay so much for so little. They are in other cities. Even 2 who led a privileged life in Manhattan haven't returned. It's interesting that some will do anything to get to the city and others take a look around and say "no thanks". Only 1 owns a home, but he is also the only one who is married with a child. He was a real Brooklyn kid, but he did a lot of traveling with the military and chose to stay close for family, but not live in the city.

For anyone who thinks their generation, whichever one it might be, is the only one that's ever suffered you should just stay quiet. You sound silly. And saying that every other generation that came before yours had everything handed to them, well, you're the reason people think your generation is winy and ridiculous.

And just because I always thought this was hilarious, I'm sharing it. Any oldie, but a humorous goodie!

https://gizmodo.com/5851062/generati...-your-bull****
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Old 01-16-2019, 01:24 PM
 
Location: New Jersey
11,190 posts, read 8,999,372 times
Reputation: 13946
What people need to start doing is to stop wondering what the other person is doing or how did they did it and focus on themselves.

Money is pretty simple but the principles of how to save, invest, etc are not really taught in school and sometimes parents also lack the knowledge to pass to their off-springs. An individual needs to take initiative and teach or seek out the knowledge.

Upbringing comes down to random luck. We don't choose our parents or our environment. Upbringing/social environment can have a huge impact on the success of an individual.

Let's not pretend that life is a complicated math formula. It's pretty simple.

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Old 01-16-2019, 02:00 PM
 
Location: New Jersey
11,190 posts, read 8,999,372 times
Reputation: 13946
Come on.. There is a 7 year kid making $11 million dollars on Youtube.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ryan...outube-2017-12

Countless of other hacks making boatload of money on Youtube, Social Media,etc.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97a0ebgQAMc
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Old 01-16-2019, 02:11 PM
 
Location: New York, NY
3,672 posts, read 2,722,844 times
Reputation: 4638
My wife and I are technically millennials, although we think the whole generation thing is silly and outdated.

We graduated from NYU right as the Great Recession hit. Bad timing I guess. She bounced from job to job, but eventually found a niche corporate specialization that was in high demand and has really moved up. I applied for several jobs the last few months of school, one of which happened to be a federal job. Lucky I did, as I got the offer just as the economy went to ****.

The first five or so years I lived with roommates as I paid off student loans and moved up the ranks at work. No car sure helped.

Fast forward 10+ years and we are married, both earning six figures and bought our two bedroom in Hamilton Heights when our rental building went through a coop conversion. We negotiated and got a really good deal as they needed us to buy in order for the conversion to go through.

We had student loans, but they have been paid off. Jobs are solid. Life is good.
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