You will have nothing and be happy…especially true for millennials (calculate, millionaire)

[frankrj]

Originally Posted by roodd279

30 years ago I could support myself in my 20's, working retail;

I agree it was MORE possible then - but - if you were like me, then you:


Were driving a car that cost < $1000. Not because cars were cheaper then (of course they were, but) - but because it was normal to drive a used crap-heap as a young person. Now? Nope.
.

Nope. I paid about a $5-8K for a used car. At the retail shop I worked at, a future former Bev Hills 90210 celebrity drove a $1,000 beater. That cool guy also worked multiple jobs. Most people I knew who grew up in L.A. in their 20s had the mindset to hustle.

Originally Posted by roodd279

Were living in an apt. that was ~$500 month. Actually, over 30 years, that number (in my neighborhood) has hardly changed - maybe it's $800 now. So that price went down.
.

yep, $400 to $550 with roommates

Originally Posted by roodd279

Were paying, say, 1000/semester for tuition. An amount that was reasonable. Now? Not so much - that's why "loans."
.

I paid $650 a semester and took a $3k student loan. I paid it off a year later after graduating at a $1,733 month job. I agree there's no way tuition should be as expensive as it is today. The bldgs, equipment, professors, and materials don't make it increase to $4,000-5,000 each semester.

Originally Posted by roodd279

Min. Wage in 1990 was $3.80. If you worked full time - you were lucky to bring home $500 / month...soooo how'd ya pay your rent? And food?
.

Not many people stay at $3.35 back then. That is a 16-year old's wage 1st job at a fast food or grocery/convenience store. You start at $3.35 for an entry-level position but remember it is not a career job unless you want to be in restaurant mgmt. If you stay long enough you're at $6 and it keeps rising. You may continue this job to become a mgr.


-PLUS, some people had side jobs from other skills. They taught a sport, self-learned html web programming, website design, did side jobs from craigslist (back when it was safe ) driver delivery, yard work, hang xmas lights, telemarketing, nite club security, waiter, film background and so on.
If you dislike the office or retail learn construction, landscaping, or handyman jobs. There is so much info online and courses to become better skilled in numerous industries it's insane. You have to hustle and not rely on "1" entry level job and then blame it on the system. Ambition can lead to success.

But I get it if you don't have those opportunities and grow up in a small town not near a big city with low income jobs and limited positions. I honestly don't know how those will ever make their lives better unless they leave on their own a like the BH 90210 celebrity did or as some southern border crossing immigrants do. Gotta take that calculated risk. But be careful of the predators and have a plan B.

Originally Posted by roodd279

Point is - it was dang difficult to support yourself and work retail in 1990. And in 2022, it still is.

Some people may need to work two retail jobs; 1 FT, the 2nd P/T on weekends;hotel night shift, gyms, do misc work for a small business owner (doctor/dentist/chiropractor). Who needs all this rest time? Your friends expand and become the people at work and at school.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by bluesclues5

I have the same perspective, as I have expressed in my thread and I'm being told my views are wrong.
I'm an older millenial and I think most of my peers are doing well, while a few are really struggling.
The younger millenials and Zs are the ones that are going to have a tough time.


The current economic, capitalist environment in the US is not conducive a prosperous future for most.

I disagree with that statement. Capitalism is not the problem, what is harming some millenials economically is the lifestyle being pushed on them through the educational institutions and the media. Millenials and Gen-Z are being advised to do the following by those entities:

• Rent an apartment in the big cities
• Forego personal vehicle ownership
• Choose pay as you go for food and transportation
• Rent or subscribe instead of buying material goods
• Being told experiences are more important than possessions

All of those strategies are the polar opposite of what the baby boomers and Gen-X did. Those millenials who followed in the footsteps of the earlier generations are most likely doing okay but those who choose to embrace "you will own nothing and be happy" are going to be poor for life. They will get nickled and dimed to death for following the 'pay as you go' lifestyle. The key to becoming more wealthy is to own assets and to extract as much utility as possible out of the matertial goods you do purchase.

[bluesclues5]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I know a lot of millennials and a few Zoomers. None of them are screwed. The hard truth is the top socioeconomic half of boomers are fine. The bottom half are the greatest underachievers in our history......the bifurcation is all about education or not and skills or not. Drugs, suicide, fear of marriage, fear of kids, fear of career etc. define the bottom half.


How many threads do we need to read about some 25-40yo who has passed up a promotion(s) or quit a good job for gig work so he can hike all the time etc.

I'm probably in the top 3% of millenials but I know some who are in dead end jobs, still living with roommates and very little prospect of living the American dream.
Most of my cohorts are doing 'ok' and aren't living fancy lifestyles. They are a single layoff away from foreclosure though, meaning they would not be able to sustain this middle class lifestyle without two incomes.


I'm most worried about the younger millenials and gen Z.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by bluesclues5

I'm probably in the top 3% of millenials but I know some who are in dead end jobs, still living with roommates and very little prospect of living the American dream.
Most of my cohorts are doing 'ok' and aren't living fancy lifestyles. They are a single layoff away from foreclosure though, meaning they would not be able to sustain this middle class lifestyle without two incomes.


I'm most worried about the younger millenials and gen Z.

First off I'm an idiot....in that post I wrote boomers and of course meant millennials sorry for that.

The Zoomers are interesting. It's too early to tell for sure, in large part due to covid, but I appears more Zoomers are skilling up in non-college ways, others are going to college and it appears Gard school in numbers that eclipse millennials. It's probably take another two or three years to be sure.

The one thing that would help the group more than anything would be to put the opting out fad to bed forever and minimize wastes of time like gap years.

[ddeemo]

Originally Posted by C2BP

As you can see more and more Americans are WAKING UP and they can see somethings is not right and government numbers don't add up, especially fake and bogus CPI numbers. Why would the government design a statistical instrument that measures inflation but only measures visible inflation (wage inflation) and not invisible inflation (debt inflation)??? Well, if everyone believes that the CPI describes reality, then the government can use the CPI for its own ends, which is INFLATION, INFLATION, INFLATION. This means more money for the banks, and more escalation of prices, which is good for business, and good for the rich of the world.

And you can't shift the blame on different level of eduction. By inflating the cost of everything and with salaries stuck in neutral the Fed created this huge wealth disparity in America making debt slavery the only option for most middle class and lower working class Americans. These people are slowly waking up and realizing what has been done to them. They still believe in American Dream and want to know what happened? Some of them work two and three jobs just to cover monthly bills today.

Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily, and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some. The sight of this arbitrary rearrangement of riches strikes not only at security but [also] at confidence in the equity of the existing distribution of wealth.

Good Luck!

How do you measure your "invisible inflation" - if they impact the market, they would show up in the "bogus CPI" numbers. The government doesn't want inflation any more than you do - the bond rate goes up as inflation rises.

Debt slavery? Isn't it up to everyone what debt they take on? The Government "confiscation" is being applied mainly toward the rich - it is otherwise known as taxes.

[Rocko20]

Originally Posted by roodd279

Main thing millennials have is a lack of patience and perspective. Come back in 10 years, and we'll talk again.

I agree, well stated.

[Take a History Class]

Originally Posted by GoAmericaGo

Inflation is making cash worthless.



Seems like a lot of people under 45 might be working until death. Perhaps retirement will be reserved for the top 10%.

Retirement, in the way it's portrayed by the media (golfing all day, traveling the world etc) is not actually the norm, now or historically. Most people, even those with good jobs, work until the are physically unable to sustain it. If you're very lucky, and have planned well, you can hang it up when medicare kicks in at 65.

[roodd279]

The stock market doesn’t seem like a safe retreat anymore.

What?! In the last 40 years, including recently - it's done nearly nothing but go up. Why do you feel unsafe?


Cars are wildly expensive and almost hard to get.

Expensive cars have always been expensive. Inexpensive cars start about 18K right now. In 1993, it was 10K. Harder then.



Homes…if you haven’t already bought one that ship has sailed.

There will always be homes you cannot afford. Stop looking at those. Agree, this year ain't the best time to shop.


Food prices are up…along with everything else.

Sure. But this is a problem everyone faces, not just young people. Older people have it worse. Stop whining.



When I think back over my life, it seems like people of my generation have been brutally clobbered.

You've got to be kidding me.


Coming out of high school 2004+ and onward there was a huge push for everyone to go to college.
Making intelligent responsible decisions about your future and your finances means not being "pushed." By stating it as you have, you might as well say, "I didn't think for myself." Is that what you're saying?


Seems like a lot of people under 45 might be working until death.
Nonsense.


But folks who expect to fail usually will.

[Serious Conversation]

I think people are missing several key factors here.

Inflation hasn't been this high since the early 1980s. That's a fact. Basically anyone under 55 hasn't dealt with this high of inflation for their adult working lives.

Sure, we've had inflation or runups in individual sectors since then. The .com bubble burst. The mid 2000s had the on-fire real estate market. There was the 2008 commodities crisis. Food prices remained elevated for several years afterward, especially in emerging markets.

With that said, it didn't feel like everything was going up all at once. As the Great Recession hit, home values went down in many markets, even though food and gas prices might have been up from previous years. Gas prices might have been high, but you could find new cars on the lot. We also didn't have significant shortages related to supply chain constraints, a lack of labor, pandemic restrictions in parts of the world, or the most significant war in the last fifty years going on.

Right now, it feels like everything is going up simultaneously. My house has gone up in value 50% in under three years. I see rents going up 30%+ YoY in some cases. Food prices are at or near all-time highs. Gas prices are at or near all-time highs. I drove by the Subaru dealership Monday and there were, maybe, five new cars on the lot. The new car lot was basically empty because they can't get product. If you're in the market for a new car right now, lead times are going to be long, and you're going to overpay, if you can find anything at all. The used car market is also bonkers. Furniture and appliances can be hard to come by. Even nonessentials, like video game consoles, are hard to find. I have still not seen a Playstation 5 in person in the nearly two years since it's been released. While previous new video game consoles might have been hard to find for a few weeks or during a Christmas shopping season, not being able to find one for a year or longer is unheard of. Computer graphics boards have gone up 2x-3x of MSRP.

Those are just things I can think of. Aside from the labor market, these are the worst economic conditions "for Main Street" that I've seen in my 36 years.

[ottomobeale]

Predictable thread with 1 set of excuses and another set of "You are a loser. I walked 17 miles to school every day, up hill both ways, through 6 feet of snow and carrying a 60 pound pack of rocks and chased by wolves."

FWIW. I know plenty of people thriving and also plenty of people with epic piles of hideous luck and no egregious errors doing poorly.