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The point is that we don't buy American so we don't manufacture in America. We're into cheap and disposable because we want new all the time. We did this to ourselves.
My point was that when we buy "overseas," of course those goods are made overseas, yet that can be better for our economy than buying goods made in America. Some manufacturing jobs are simply gone, some to automation and some due to offshoring, and they are never coming back. We trade with other countries to benefit ourselves, not just to help other countries. When a comparative advantage exists in manufacturing costs, it can be better for our economy for people to spend less on certain goods and be able to use the savings to spend on additional goods and services.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivorytickler
Side question: What's wrong with living in a multi generational household? Seems to me it would offer a lot of efficiencies.
I have a brother who lived with dad until he was in his 30's and then dad lived with him (my brother paid cash for a very nice house and dad came to live with him). My brother is set for life because of all the money he saved during those years and dad had companionship and financial help.
I have an aunt and uncle who lived with my grandmother. They were set for life from an early age because of all the money they saved.
I'm encouraging my kids to live at home and go to school locally. Having a free place to stay will really cut down on the amount of student loans they have to take out. I don't care if they stay a few years beyond that either. In fact, I'm ok if they don't want to leave at all as long as we transition to them paying the bills at some point. I'm really not looking forward to living alone. I like having family around.
I'm not seeing the downside here.
The downsides are:
1) Many families living together are not doing so by choice. If they are, that's fine, but many of these young adults are living at home because they have no real options due to the poor economy, the student loan crisis, etc.
2) Too many young adults are using living at home as a means of avoiding taking responsibility for their lives. In extreme cases, they may be doing nothing but lounging around all day every day playing video games while all their expenses are paid and mom cooks, cleans, and does their laundry. This is bad for our society because these kids have no work ethic or sense of responsibility. This is unlikely to change as they get older. I know that not all young adults living at home fall into this category, but I also don't think this is some tiny minority.
If all or even most of the young adults living at home were contributing or at least saving money or paying their student loan debts, doing household chores, working or at least looking hard for work, going to school, etc., then people probably wouldn't complain so much about this phenomenon. And there's a huge difference between the two situations, IMO. But too many young adults are simply lazy bums for this group to not be a main point of discussion in a conversation about young adults living at home.
Something else that's worth discussing is the number of young adults who are NOT living at home, but whose parents are still heavily subsidizing their expenses. This is very widespread, and I'm not just talking about college students either.
I am 55 and within two or three years there is a good chance I will be living with my parents instead of them moving into an assisted living home. What is so bad about family living together?
I'm 26 - and at 22 when I graduated from college, my parents were already in a bad financial place in their early 50s. While they've made a lot of bad financial decisions and done a lot to alienate my brother and I in the past few years to the point where we are now unwilling to help, both of us looked for jobs local to my parents so we could live at home and help them pay their mortgage while saving up money for our own downpayments.
Anecdotally, many of my college friends' parents lost their jobs in 2008 and have not found another one that paid anywhere close to what they were previously making because they are in their 50s and 60s. My mom is 55 with a master's degree and makes a little more than 20K, for instance. Up until recently, half of her take-home income went to medical bills, leaving my parents with about $10K a year to pay the mortgage (McMansion in the Atlanta suburbs - no one is buying), pay utilities, and eat.
You don't know everyone's situations. Very few of my friends and none of my coworkers know my parents' actual situation. I don't want to tell people that my dad has been unemployed for 10 years due to physical and mental illness, so as far as they know, he's a consultant.
Hey I am sure there are some justified and noble circumstances. But 26%? Over 1/4? Too each their own. I enjoyed my freedom and take pride that I never needed to nest. I worked 2 and 3 minimum wage jobs at times, but I have no regrets.
I am 55 and within two or three years there is a good chance I will be living with my parents instead of them moving into an assisted living home. What is so bad about family living together?
Nothing, nothing at all when it is the situation you describe. Everything when it's Junior to lazy to work and mooching off mom and dad.
I am 55 and within two or three years there is a good chance I will be living with my parents instead of them moving into an assisted living home. What is so bad about family living together?
Nothing, but there is something wrong with capable young adults mooching.
Side question: What's wrong with living in a multi generational household? Seems to me it would offer a lot of efficiencies.
I have a brother who lived with dad until he was in his 30's and then dad lived with him (my brother paid cash for a very nice house and dad came to live with him). My brother is set for life because of all the money he saved during those years and dad had companionship and financial help.
I have an aunt and uncle who lived with my grandmother. They were set for life from an early age because of all the money they saved.
I'm encouraging my kids to live at home and go to school locally. Having a free place to stay will really cut down on the amount of student loans they have to take out. I don't care if they stay a few years beyond that either. In fact, I'm ok if they don't want to leave at all as long as we transition to them paying the bills at some point. I'm really not looking forward to living alone. I like having family around.
I'm not seeing the downside here.
What about if your kids want to bring someone home and have sex though? Serious question here. That would be my single biggest deterring factor in me ever living with relatives. Lol. Did your brother have an intimate life with anybody while his father lived with him?
Totally agree with the cost of living statement. I live/work in a very expensive area, and could afford to live on my own, but I'd be scraping by. It would leave absolutely no room for saving money to eventually move out of that apartment and buy my own place.
Why do you think that is any different that it's been for everyone else over the decades? Do you think that kids who moved out of their parents home in the 70's/80's/90's had it so good they were putting money away for a house and retirement on day one? No, we scraped by, gradually made more money as we gained skills and experience and then started saving for a house and retirement.
Why do you think that today you shouldn't have to start at the bottom and work your way up like generations before you did?
[quote=whogo;33565645]I am 55 and within two or three years there is a good chance I will be living with my parents instead of them moving into an assisted living home. What is so bad about family living together?[/quote]
There is a problem when a child has the same skill set as an allegedly grown and educated adult.
What can be done about it?
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