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Don't forget that a very high number of "single person families" are retired seniors living on social security.
The senior citizens down here seem to be the ones with the most money! All of the snowbirds have money as well as most of the retirees that live here down here seem to be well off.
The senior citizens down here seem to be the ones with the most money! All of the snowbirds have money as well as most of the retirees that live here down here seem to be well off.
The maximum amount of SS benefit for a single person is $2,323 a month, about $28K. Most get less than that, I get less than half of that.
The maximum is paid only to retirees who earned the maximum contributory amount in all the qualifying years, and if they made that much, they probably had a pension and personal savings, as well.
Snowbirds are by far the richest (and most conspicuous) of retirees, most cannot afford the $80K motor home, and are still back home shoveling their K-car out of their driveway.
By the way, what about people who become physically disabled at a young age?
That would be a different thread and a separate issue.
I despise it when people try to throw in unrelated matters to attempt to confuse an issue or to support a very weak point. It speaks of a lack of intelligence.
Yet, these people do not and cannot support themselves. Even using government money, they cannot singly afford to pay rent. Some of them live with family.
is it really the fault of singles that can't make a go of it. No one wants to live in public housing, but rent in many areas outside of the slummy part of tow is outrageous. Forget buying a house without at least 20,000 dollars down now-a-days.
There's the difference right there. Nobody owes anyone a house or owes anyone a nice house but it's an expectation. It's called "rent," maybe with roommates, maybe without cable or maybe not in the best neighborhood, and working their way up to a "down payment" for a house, cable and a nice car as opposed to instant gratification. Previous generations prized independence over creature comforts. That's why Junior won't leave mommy and daddy these days and why sucking off the government teat appeals to them. They want it all and they want it right now and those so-called "rich" people shouldn't have their's (even if they worked hard for it) if I can't have mine.
There's the difference right there. Nobody owes anyone a house or owes anyone a nice house but it's an expectation. It's called "rent," maybe with roommates, maybe without cable or maybe not in the best neighborhood, and working their way up to a "down payment" for a house, cable and a nice car as opposed to instant gratification. Previous generations prized independence over creature comforts. That's why Junior won't leave mommy and daddy these days and why sucking off the government teat appeals to them. They want it all and they want it right now and those so-called "rich" people shouldn't have their's (even if they worked hard for it) if I can't have mine.
They disgust me.
i dont know bout that, FEMA has been given double wides for some time to Katrina people and now they are getting sued for asbestos, work it baby work it.
It's not supposed to be permanent. It's temporary housing, you have a certain amount of time to get out.
By the way, I'm not interested in OWNING a home, paying rent is good enough for me. My parents are gone, there would be no possible way I could live with them.
I think the problem of single people supporting themselves is a two-fold issue.
First, the standard single person probably has student loans. They also probably have little savings since they had to spend it all on a used car or they are making car payments. I won't throw rent into the mix, since in many cases, they could live somewhere less desirable (worse location, less square footage) to save on their monthly expenditures. I don't even include the concept of purchasing something since most single people that got out of college probably cannot scrimp together enough cash after paying those other bills to make the bills on a house/condo/etc.
Second, there are more "shiny things" that catch our attention that tap into our take-home pay. This is a problem not just for "young single people" but it seems to affect them moreso. Even if you swapped the landline that you might have had for a cell phone, the monthly cost is still higher. And whatever could they do without their texting and data plans? Tack on the assumed cost of meeting a mate to share in their misery by paying 4-5 times the cost of alcohol at a bar or club... add on the $150 cable/satellite/internet service fees at home along with all the various gizmo/gadget must-haves...
Simply put, people are either more willing to spend their money or the cost of the must-haves have gone up. It is probably a bit of both.
And btw, when I say "they" in the previous text, I could lump myself into that group. I was a college grad, near perfect GPA, landed a great job... rented a modest apartment... all on one salary. And I had nothing at the end of the month. I did not go out to eat. I did not have an expensive cell phone plan (but I did have a cell), I did not go out to bars.
I was responsible and making it on one salary even as a "successful college graduate with a good degree" was like living paycheck to paycheck. Its tough. I know there are many people (young and old) that might not be the most responsible when it comes to money, but there are a lot of people out there that made the right choices and are still struggling big time.
I've thought that since we've lost the bulk of our manufacturing jobs that have been 'globalized' and 'off-shored' and unions have been mostly dismantled, that there is a big lack of reasonably paid manufacturing and skilled trade jobs such as machinists...
Not everyone can or wants to become an attorney, a doctor or an executive. Some want to work with their hands--and build things. And we were great at this.
These days, service jobs in the food or retail industry just don't pay a living wage.
My opinion? We need to create some new manufacturing and skilled trade jobs again--on our shores. To replace what we've lost over the past few decades.
Maybe a new green industry will spring up? If it or something else doesn't develop--and soon--I fear we're the next third world country as China's, South America's and India's stars rise and ours sets...
What do we do now, what do we have now, that will create a new middle class of fairly paid blue collar trade workers? Where's the job creation??
I disagree that the "standard single person probably has school loans." A standard younger person who went to college probably has loans- could be coupled or not. The standard single person is not necessarily a 20s/post-college person.
I seem to know a lot of standard single women in middle age. I mean, everyone has to make a living.
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