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I'm half way through my 20s and this is just straight awesome. Yeah, I'm broke and underemployed and it hasn't been easy just getting my feet under me, but I grew up poor so me being broke is just me living. But I've met so many people, have had so many experiences, have done things I never dreamed of doing...Life is nothing short of awesome right now.
This is a good attitude. As a fellow broke twenty something I admire the upbeat attitude. I guess it's a matter of perspective and how you look at things. But having this positive mindset is bound to help you more than dwelling on stuff.
Not these days. Actual inflation on mostly everything has been substantial... 'Lower gas prices" are not the be all, end all. Food, lodging, any type of entertainment these days costs in the stratosphere...
$1,000 is basically a weekly budget for me here (I live outside of Boston in Concord MA).. I have no wife, child, parent or even pet to support
Your sample of 1 is not representative of the entire nation. I know people who live in Manhattan on less than that. Gross pay.
I live alone on less than that in Manhattan. Add in an extra $1000/month if I were renting and I would still live on less than that.
I'm a guy in my late twenties and as I'm approaching thirty, I'm realizing how god awful my twenties are.
My early twenties were the college years, but I never really had a good college experience due to commuting. With the lengthy commute and classes at all random times (plus working in my hometown too), I never got to make any good relationships and what not.
Then I had good year at 23 when I got an excellent internship at a company I loved. Best year of my 20s, but then I got laid off after a year there and was never really able to get back to that happiness level in that career, and it was a highly unstable and competitive field in the first place, so I started changing careers to something more stable while still riding the bumpy path of my current career with some periods of near homelessness in there.
And now over the past few years, I feel like life has just become this constant struggle. Like digging through a dark tunnel looking for a vein of gold but I haven't found it yet. I'm working on my second degree full-time, and working a low paying full-time internship in the new field I'm pursuing, and trying to still find time for my wife, pets, and myself. (Which there usually isn't time for). Most of my days over the past 2 years have been work, school, bare minimum of chores I can fit in, sleep. When does it get better???
Does it get better in your thirties? Did I really [bleep] up my twenties or do they suck this bad for everyone?
The twenties are simply for screwing up and gathering data. The thirties are where you start to put that data and life lessons to good use. By the forties, you should be on an even keel and doing just fine, provided you used the twenties to improve the thirties.
(Brief example: I sold a beautiful 1979 Monte Carlo in my twenties (1992) to pay my rent for a few months. Around 1995-6 (now in my late 20's) I found myself in major credit card debt to the tune of about $35,000 making only $8.00/hour. Fast forward to 2004, I had worked my way into the 1% of income earners in the US, paid cash for 3 vehicles, a house, a lot at the beach (where my 2nd house now is) and a large stock portfolio that generates roughly half my annual income.)
Yes, the twenties are a rough transitional period. Prince even said once that 27 was his worst year ever. If you've lived your twenties properly, in 20 more years you won't remember your twenties. It'll be ok brother, just keep moving forward. The fact that you care puts you ahead of the game already.
SS
Last edited by ShakenStirred; 02-24-2015 at 01:18 PM..
The twenties are simply for screwing up and gathering data. The thirties are where you start to put that data and life lessons to good use. By the forties, you should be on an even keel and doing just fine, provided you used the twenties to improve the thirties.
Yes, the twenties are a rough transitional period. Prince even said once that 27 was his worst year ever. If you've lived your twenties properly, in 20 more years you won't remember your twenties. It'll be ok brother, just keep moving forward.
SS
The thing is that it's becoming much more difficult to recover from prior mistakes. My grandfather had numerous arrests in his twenties, but when it became he too much, he just went to another town. Today, those convictions would haunt you wherever you go and a fresh start is much tougher.
Looking back my 20's were really cool and really foundational (is that a word? ). As others noted, yeah, I was poor, but I had a place to live, roof over my head, a job (or 2 or 3), and just enough money for gas and beer. Pretty much all I was expecting for that time.
I'd say too many current 20 year olds are trying to immediately jump in to the lives of their parents, or in to the fanciful lives they see on TV. They don't see that their parents were also poor when in their 20's. And they don't get that most people don't live fabulously on the salary of a waitress in NYC. That's just not how it works. I'd say the same thing to an 8 year old as a 22 year old. "Don't be in such a hurry to grow up." Yeah, be a law abiding citizen, but don't beat yourself up over what you don't have. Don't try to live the life of a 40 year old - be fun, be young, be yourself (whatever that is - and it'll change anyway).
But, with some hard work and yes, a little LUCK, you'll find that your life eventually just turns in to your LIFE. You'll start finding your way, making more money, better friends (and dropping some of those losers that are a drag on your life). That to me is how it works. It's part of the journey.
And no, life won't get easier, in many ways it gets harder. Responsibilities grow and opportunities require very difficult decisions. But, as you get in to your 30's I think most people just start to recognize that "it is what it is?" If you can take the worry out of the journey, you'll be happier - even when life itself is still pretty hard.
I'd say too many current 20 year olds are trying to immediately jump in to the lives of their parents, or in to the fanciful lives they see on TV.
It's been a while since i watched tv but arent most of the TV shows portraying people in their 30s or older already in their careers? I'm think Seinfield, sex in the city, etc type tv shows. The 20s something group are the sex, drugs and partying reality shows.
So i dont get where people in their 20s are coming from for wanting the lifestyles of the established career worker without actually having the career part too? Sure its okay to be "fancy" but its dilussional to think a 20s something can emulate it to that point, aside from that fact that tv shows are fake and all.
I agree that people shouldn't expect to be wealthy and established right off the bat. On the other hand, in previous generations (maybe not X or even in the 80's, but before) people did more grown-up THINGS in their twenties... like, get married and buy houses and start families. Of course, most of the houses were much more affordable, BUT they weren't even the "starter houses" people think about these days - they were run-down things, trailers - shacks, some of them. Not the pristine 2-3 bedroom condo that people will then "upgrade" from later on when a few kids come into the picture. And now they tend to wait until they're well established in their careers/finances before they consider marriage. Before that, they might live together, but typically it's not until the late 20's or beyond that it really becomes a thing. Whereas before, you might wait until you first have your first "real" job out of college (or even high school, if you weren't going to college) until you set off on your own.
I'm not talking strictly about the boomerang phenomenon either, or the "failure to launch" where the so-called "kids" live with parents through their twenties. Even young people who leave the family home tend to mess around on their own for a good couple of years before settling down. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (although not something I chose to do personally) but I'm sure that lifestyle takes more effort to navigate successfully, and make conscious decisions about how to be spending your time, rather than just doing the same-old routine that people used to take for granted when life was simpler.
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). As others noted, yeah, I was poor, but I had a place to live, roof over my head, a job (or 2 or 3), and just enough money for gas and beer. Pretty much all I was expecting for that time. 
