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I hear ya. Those hay days are long gone. Now is the era of globalization. People in India, China, Brazil etc are working in sweat shops even with their much higher education (like Masters in Science, engineering etc). They are raised amid fierce competition as child, as young kids and as adult. They need to fight for everything and have no time for luxury. They are taking away our jobs. We need to compete with them or die.
We are at a disadvantage because our cost of higher education is much higher than theirs. If our government doesn't subsidies higher education (like in those countries), we will be dead soon.
Our government is busy throwing away our tax money on war, on cash for clunkers, on saving the real estate market. They should rather use that money on higher education or we will all die out of global competition. Once we reach that point, we will NOT need cash for clunkers or houses.
To the OP: I'm in the same age group as you and you're not alone. All of my friends are in the identical situation. And it's not a north vs. south type of thing either. It sounds like you're from North Jersey, and it's the exact same situation in the Shore area where I live.
I absolutely DO blame the recession for the fact that some people just can't get jobs to begin with, but what I wonder about is what jobs will pay in the future. It seems like for people who can manage to get a job, nobody is willing to pay them well anymore. Yes, I suppose if you're an investment banker in NYC or a certified engineer you can make almost $100K young, but that's not a realistic option for the majority of people - and some of us don't live near NYC (nor do we want to work there). Unfortunately, it seems as if we're not going to be able to lead the same lives our parents did in New Jersey with the cost of home ownership and taxes so high. As for me, I grew up in what would now be considered a somewhat wealthy town, but mainly because the housing prices went through the roof, not because all of the people go so much richer. My family was also lucky enough to have our regular home and an investment property, which I've now taken over, and that's where I live. Or else I'd be spending a ton of money on rent every month instead of just taxes and the occasional project to modernize the house.
But like you said, most of my friends either live at home, a few with boyfriends or girlfriends, or a few with a whole bunch of friends in something of an animal-house lite by the beach. I'm not complaining about it, and it's actually fun for now since we all have a great time together, but it's not sustainable. I'm not interested in getting married or having kids any time soon, but it would be nice to know that home ownership and a comfortable life is actually possible in a place like New Jersey at the rate of salaries today in the wake of the recession. For what it's worth, the one couple our age I know that is married (he's a mechanic, she's a graphics designer) moved to Florida and just bought a beautiful condo in Jupiter about five minutes from the beach for $120K with taxes around $3K. That's something I could legitimately afford. The same type of condo around here would cost $500K or more with $7K in taxes - and that's around here. In North Jersey the price would be the same or a little more with much higher taxes.
I think you need to wake up and smell the coffee! Your parents were 24 and raised three kids on less, GUESS WHAT, they were broke! They probably budgeted their behinds off to give you and your sibilings everything they could without making you feel like you had less. On 45K you could probably afford to do the same if you HAD TO. My guess is you are 26 go out fairly often don't have to think twice about buying some new shoes and a $6 Latte, you can go out for dinner and drinks and still afford to pay your cell phone bill. You may of had this illusion of grandness that you would graduate college and all of a sudden be able to afford a shiny new car and big old house and all the clothes you could fit in your closet while still being able to go out whenever you please. WRONG. You are making very good money right now, you can do one of two things, enjoy your twenties stay at home and spend your money on whatever you want, go where you want and ENJOY IT. In a few years when you make $20K more but have a couple of children to clothe and $2K in monthly daycare expenses you can look back fondly on those days in your 20's when 45K went soooooo far and you had so much fun. OR you can start saving agressively cut back on your spending and in 5 years you'll have enough to put a nice down payment on a house or condo and if you have kids by then be able to self finance a longer maternity leave. Yes living in NJ is expensive but you have to pay your dues right now, your life my not be as extravegant as you had invisioned but trust me you ARE successful for your age, especially in the midst of a recession!
Wrong, they weren't broke my parents had 2 cars a nice tv and were a one income family earning 60k. They bough their home in Old Bridge for 75000 and sold it in 1988 for 189k and moved to West Windsor and bought their home for 300k and sold it in 2005 for 655k. While they lived in old bridge they bough a second home as a rental to student for 45k and sold that in 2006 for 289k. Now lets switch the players to us, I bought a short sale condo in 2008 for 220k its now worth 189k and will more than likely drop more when I sell. Afterwhich when my family starts to grow the next home will be 300k and more than likely when I sell is going to be around the same price or less. Flipside is also day to day bills like cable, heat are outrageous at around 100 dollars for cable and NET while heat hits around 200 dollars a month.
Dingo, First things first. No matter what happens, you have to keep your attitude positive. I know it is not easy, but when times are tough - the ONLY thing that keeps people moving forward is HOPE that THINGS WILL GET BETTER. If you've already raised the white flag, the battle is pretty much over. NO MATTER WHAT- you have to keep moving forward & keep believing in yourself. Frankly, you are still WAY WAY better off than MANY people twice your age. No doubt about. Millions of people are STRUGGLING right now. Believe it or not, even Upper Middle Class Americans today are SCARED.
These are unusual times. For americans who are 60 yrs old & younger, the kind of HARDSHIP facing our country today ( and realistically may & will very likely continue for a while) is a FIRST. Most americans living today have NEVER EVER seen or experienced America Economically Down, Depressed & No Longer # 1 in the world.
Every top Economist & top Financial Forecaster will tell you that NO EXPERT can HONESTLY tell how or where we are headed. Why? Because there is NOTHING for so called Experts to COMPARE this to except the Great Depression. Thus, there are NO Economic Models to compare what is going on right now.
Our nation's Financial System LITERALLY ALMOST COLLAPSED as we know it last year. Today, we are Still hurting big time. And from all indicators, This Won't end anytime soon.
Is it the end of the world? Absolutely Not. You just have to face the reality that for Most Americans today- Its Survival as oppose to the Good Life. For most americans, it means renting instead of buying. For many young people, it may mean living with parents for now instead of using up valuable, limited resources for rent.
President Obama & his people have So Much on their plate right now which even experts don't exactly know how to solve. I am a Republican. I did not vote for Obama. But as an American, I feel for him. There is enormous Pressure & challenges facing him.
Something to think about.
Millions of jobs that Americans have lost especially in industries like Manufacturing & Servicing WILL NEVER COMEBACK in our lifetime. These jobs are gone forever. Where does the Gov't find jobs for millions of these people. How can you hope for a recovery when there are millions who will continue to be unemployed?
Credit. Credit Freeze. lack of credit, lack of lending.... The Gov't has done everything it can up to today in order to stimulate credit. But 95% of top National experts will tell you privately ( even publicly) that the FUTURE of Credit in America for the next 10 years is Bleak. Banks & Financial Orgs WILL NOT be lending to mainstream americans anytime soon. Only a handful of perfect borrowers would have ACCESS to credit. - WITHOUT CREDIT, Recovery will take much longer.
Our massive Senior baby boomers???? HOW CAN THE Gov't support this LARGEST GENERATION of Americans ???? How will they pay for their healthcare & Long term needs? 6,000 seniors hit 65 EVERY SINGLE DAY. 90% of these seniors will need EXPENSIVE, COSTLY Long Term care to survive.
Only less than 7% of ALL Seniors today have ENOUGH MONEY to RETIRE comfortably without the need for Social Security, Medicare & other Gov't assistance programs.
Do you understand how massive this is? 93% of All our Seniors will depend on the US Gov't for their needs. What's more scary is 71% of the 93% of Seniors DO NOT HAVE ANY SAVINGS & will rely solely of their social security & Gov't medicare/medicaid.
How can a much SMALLER base of younger employees support the baby boomer generation? How will this nation run with a much smaller workforce, a much smaller base of homeowners??
Well, here are some....
Dramatic decline in payroll tax revenue. Dramatic decline in Property Taxe revenue? How then thus our nation keep up & keep moving?
Only ONE SOLUTION that Experts know of REGARDLESS of your beliefs or Political leanings.
HIGHER, MUCH HIGHER TAXES ! You think the Income tax rate is high today? How does a 60%, 65%, 70% tax bracket sound to you? No Politician, No Gov't wants to Talk about what this nation is facing in the next 10 years. But its coming. No Republican, No Conservative, No Democrat, No Liberal can do anything about that. Its the Only way the baby boomer generation & our nation will survive.
Remember this, Once upon a time in the 50's, 60's- we had tax rates triple of what it is today. Well folks, we are headed that way again.Politicians who sell voters on Tax cuts & lowering taxes are using that to win votes for now. But in the very near future- No one can stop the train.
Disclosure: Most of Europe & Canada have Tax Rates double, triple that of the United States. Majority of Europe Rent, not own their homes. Majority of Europe have ONLY one car. What's the other side? Europeans have a MUCH healthier & longer life among its seniors. Europeans on average have 4-6 week vacations for its employees & workers. European Seniors don't have to worry about healthcare. European seniors get checks from the Gov't just like the US. But a healthier, Less stress workforce.
Many many more problems
But at the end of the day, America may be a weaker, poorer nation than it once was. It may be the end of the once might economic giant. But its not the end of world.
As Cramer of MSNBC said it perfectly. " Americans will be forced to adjust to the NEW NORMAL. Its the NEW AMERICA. A more modest, less fun, less material wealth, but a nation still much better off than any 3rd world country. The older generation of americans in the 80's knew of this life. But 90% of today's Americans have No Idea what exactly do they mean by the NEW NORMAL.
Last edited by MichelleCFP; 11-06-2009 at 09:47 AM..
Wrong, they weren't broke my parents had 2 cars a nice tv and were a one income family earning 60k. They bough their home in Old Bridge for 75000 and sold it in 1988 for 189k and moved to West Windsor and bought their home for 300k and sold it in 2005 for 655k. While they lived in old bridge they bough a second home as a rental to student for 45k and sold that in 2006 for 289k. Now lets switch the players to us, I bought a short sale condo in 2008 for 220k its now worth 189k and will more than likely drop more when I sell. Afterwhich when my family starts to grow the next home will be 300k and more than likely when I sell is going to be around the same price or less. Flipside is also day to day bills like cable, heat are outrageous at around 100 dollars for cable and NET while heat hits around 200 dollars a month.
Let's devaluate the dollar to the point that, with sky rocking inflation, everything will start looking so cheap.!!!!
It is the Power Rate checking, There are stipulations. You need direct deposit, and 10 debit card transactions a month (easy, if you go grocery shopping).
It doesn't appear to get any better as you grow older.
I graduated from HS more than 20 years ago. Most of my HS friends are married and struggling to pay the mortgage on older homes or still paying rent b/c they can't afford a downpayment on a home. Most are college educated and work fulltime.
I don't think that leaving N.J. is necessarily the answer. I moved from N.J. to New England several years ago. Although the quality of life is much higher, it's still a struggle financially. For example, housing is less expensive, but salaries are much lower. Few people your age make $45,000.
The key would be to move to an area with high salaries and low cost of living, but I have no idea where such an area would be.
Dingo, First things first. No matter what happens, you have to keep your attitude positive. I know it is not easy, but when times are tough - the ONLY thing that keeps people moving forward is HOPE that THINGS WILL GET BETTER. If you've already raised the white flag, the battle is pretty much over. NO MATTER WHAT- you have to keep moving forward & keep believing in yourself. Frankly, you are still WAY WAY better off than MANY people twice your age. No doubt about. Millions of people are STRUGGLING right now. Believe it or not, even Upper Middle Class Americans today are SCARED.
These are unusual times. For americans who are 60 yrs old & younger, the kind of HARDSHIP facing our country today ( and realistically may & will very likely continue for a while) is a FIRST. Most americans living today have NEVER EVER seen or experienced America Economically Down, Depressed & No Longer # 1 in the world.
Every top Economist & top Financial Forecaster will tell you that NO EXPERT can HONESTLY tell how or where we are headed. Why? Because there is NOTHING for so called Experts to COMPARE this to except the Great Depression. Thus, there are NO Economic Models to compare what is going on right now.
Our nation's Financial System LITERALLY ALMOST COLLAPSED as we know it last year. Today, we are Still hurting big time. And from all indicators, This Won't end anytime soon.
Is it the end of the world? Absolutely Not. You just have to face the reality that for Most Americans today- Its Survival as oppose to the Good Life. For most americans, it means renting instead of buying. For many young people, it may mean living with parents for now instead of using up valuable, limited resources for rent.
President Obama & his people have So Much on their plate right now which even experts don't exactly know how to solve. I am a Republican. I did not vote for Obama. But as an American, I feel for him. There is enormous Pressure & challenges facing him.
Something to think about.
Millions of jobs that Americans have lost especially in industries like Manufacturing & Servicing WILL NEVER COMEBACK in our lifetime. These jobs are gone forever. Where does the Gov't find jobs for millions of these people. How can you hope for a recovery when there are millions who will continue to be unemployed?
Credit. Credit Freeze. lack of credit, lack of lending.... The Gov't has done everything it can up to today in order to stimulate credit. But 95% of top National experts will tell you privately ( even publicly) that the FUTURE of Credit in America for the next 10 years is Bleak. Banks & Financial Orgs WILL NOT be lending to mainstream americans anytime soon. Only a handful of perfect borrowers would have ACCESS to credit. - WITHOUT CREDIT, Recovery will take much longer.
Our massive Senior baby boomers???? HOW CAN THE Gov't support this LARGEST GENERATION of Americans ???? How will they pay for their healthcare & Long term needs? 6,000 seniors hit 65 EVERY SINGLE DAY. 90% of these seniors will need EXPENSIVE, COSTLY Long Term care to survive.
Only less than 7% of ALL Seniors today have ENOUGH MONEY to RETIRE comfortably without the need for Social Security, Medicare & other Gov't assistance programs.
Do you understand how massive this is? 93% of All our Seniors will depend on the US Gov't for their needs. What's more scary is 71% of the 93% of Seniors DO NOT HAVE ANY SAVINGS & will rely solely of their social security & Gov't medicare/medicaid.
How can a much SMALLER base of younger employees support the baby boomer generation? How will this nation run with a much smaller workforce, a much smaller base of homeowners??
Well, here are some....
Dramatic decline in payroll tax revenue. Dramatic decline in Property Taxe revenue? How then thus our nation keep up & keep moving?
Only ONE SOLUTION that Experts know of REGARDLESS of your beliefs or Political leanings.
HIGHER, MUCH HIGHER TAXES ! You think the Income tax rate is high today? How does a 60%, 65%, 70% tax bracket sound to you? No Politician, No Gov't wants to Talk about what this nation is facing in the next 10 years. But its coming. No Republican, No Conservative, No Democrat, No Liberal can do anything about that. Its the Only way the baby boomer generation & our nation will survive.
Remember this, Once upon a time in the 50's, 60's- we had tax rates triple of what it is today. Well folks, we are headed that way again.Politicians who sell voters on Tax cuts & lowering taxes are using that to win votes for now. But in the very near future- No one can stop the train.
Disclosure: Most of Europe & Canada have Tax Rates double, triple that of the United States. Majority of Europe Rent, not own their homes. Majority of Europe have ONLY one car. What's the other side? Europeans have a MUCH healthier & longer life among its seniors. Europeans on average have 4-6 week vacations for its employees & workers. European Seniors don't have to worry about healthcare. European seniors get checks from the Gov't just like the US. But a healthier, Less stress workforce.
Many many more problems
But at the end of the day, America may be a weaker, poorer nation than it once was. It may be the end of the once might economic giant. But its not the end of world.
As Cramer of MSNBC said it perfectly. " Americans will be forced to adjust to the NEW NORMAL. Its the NEW AMERICA. A more modest, less fun, less material wealth, but a nation still much better off than any 3rd world country. The older generation of americans in the 80's knew of this life. But 90% of today's Americans have No Idea what exactly do they mean by the NEW NORMAL.
Great Post Michelle! I nominate it for "Post of the Week". So many are clueless in regards as to what is to come.
Perhaps, the OP will have to do what I did. Stay at home until your parents die of old age and inherit their house and then sell it to move someplace affordable!
I am 26 years old and graduated from HS in a Bergen county. Not one of the "fancy" towns, but I consider it to be a normal middle class town.
The people who I went to HS with who still live in NJ are doing one of the following:
A- living with parents. Over half the people I went to school with are still living at home....
B- Living with 2-3 roommates, work some kind of mediocre job, party when not at work.
C- Live with girlfriend/boyfriend at an apartment
D- Moved out of state.
NJ is almost impossible to live in for a young person. I make $45,000 a year at my day job, and work 2 nights a week at a second job for some extra money (cash). And I still dont live very well at all after rent and everything else.
No one I know has a very good job. I have the best job out of my friends. I am friends with one teacher and that is the only other person who has an actual career. And the vast majority of people younger then me, who graduated from college are unemployed.
Seriously thinking about taking the $18,000 I have saved over the years, and saying goodbye to NJ and use it for a down payment on a house some place else. Which is a shame because I always thought that I would be raising my kids where I grew up. And I do not want to leave my friends and family at all.
what do you want that you dont have? everyone seems to think they are entitled to all these luxuries. you arent.
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