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Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

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Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#321

Post by ForHackernews »

eropple wrote: post #221
jdhn wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live, the Bay area? At what point do you say that enough is enough, and you move to a location that even though you'll earn less, the COL adjustment will more than make up for it?

I live in the Boston area. I can't foresee ever leaving because of cost-of-living expenses. I'm not an import; I've lived in New England my entire life and the Greater Boston area--let's define it as "the Red and Orange Lines, and I guess the Green Line if I was desperate"--is effectively the only place I can be short of blowing off my family and my support network of friends and colleagues. The area is congruent wit…

I mean, that's fine and all, but you should probably just admit that you value the luxury of living in an extremely expensive area with lots of urban amenities. There's nothing wrong with it, but phrasing it like you simply can't live anywhere except these two particular metro lines comes off as really out of touch.

Urban liberals' lifestyle is a luxury consumption choice the same way that a Rolex or a Masarti is.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#322

Post by deckar01 »

asdff wrote: post #271
deckar01 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shouldn't weigh so heavily that people give up on their future, never settle down, and never own a home. The article says these generations' primary aspiration was to travel. That is naive and wasteful. It isn't a choice between greed and saving the planet, it is a choice between making responsible financial decisions and having fun. You can make responsible financial decisions while making responsible environment…

I'm sure saving up 2k to go to Spain one summer is really going to put a dent on a home. 5% down on the median home in my area is 30k now.

If your housing market is that messed up, then your rental market is probably even worse. Not being wasteful just because it is easier than being responsible is the entire point of my original comment. Spending money on things you can "afford" that make you happy now instead of saving for things that you need and will give you a sustainable life is short sighted.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#323

Post by rhcom2 »

ddgflorida wrote: post #96
rubicon33 wrote: post #38

My wife and I are not having kids. If you could sum it up into one short explanation as to why: My wife and I don't believe that the future is going to be a better place. Chief among the reasons are wealth inequality and buying power. If I can barely afford to buy a house now with a great job, I shudder to think what my kids would be faced with.

Have some context - you are better off living in this time/place than any other time and your future children would probably be too.

Surely people were saying that during the Pax Romana too and it was true... until it wasn't.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#324

Post by atemerev »

wavefunction wrote: post #281
atemerev wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is Marxism. Marxism was tried quite a few times already, particularly in the USSR. I was born in the USSR and lived there until it collapsed, so I am pretty familiar with what Marxist socialism used to look like. Thank you, I prefer capitalism, which brings prosperity, innovation and peace to the world.

>capitalism, which brings prosperity, innovation and peace to the world I am not sure this assertion holds up under historical inquiry but that's my opinion.

Compared to the alternative...

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#325

Post by dorgo »

dgabriel wrote: post #76
9HZZRfNlpR wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People's homes were much less luxurious, as their lifestyle. A lot of the things we take for granted the people at the time they only dreamed about.

In the last 6 years, my rent has gone up by about 800/mo. It's the same apartment.

Inflation?

Afaik, new constructions have to comply with more regulation (noise insulation, materials, environment protection etc) than before, which makes them more expensive. At least where I live.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#326

Post by Creationer »

ddgflorida wrote: post #96
rubicon33 wrote: post #38

My wife and I are not having kids. If you could sum it up into one short explanation as to why: My wife and I don't believe that the future is going to be a better place. Chief among the reasons are wealth inequality and buying power. If I can barely afford to buy a house now with a great job, I shudder to think what my kids would be faced with.

Have some context - you are better off living in this time/place than any other time and your future children would probably be too.

Not having children - and not curating a presumably well-mannered and intelligent next-generation - leaves our civilization worse off and large problems that much harder to solve.

Human intellect is rare, and partly hereditary. Please pass your genes along - at least offer a sperm or egg donation.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#327

Post by rubidium »

SamuelAdams wrote: post #39

> Less than three in ten Millennials expect to stay at their current job for the next five years. Well yeah. I can stick around my current company for 5 years and get a 2-4% increase each year, or job hop every 2-3 years and get a 20% raise each time. With a market like this, why wouldn't you job hop? Loyalty to a company only inhibits you.

Just beware of first in first out in case of a crash...

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#328

Post by atemerev »

asdff wrote: post #315
atemerev wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you live in North Korea (and perhaps even there), everything that your life depends on is brought by businesses.

And my life is dependent on exponential consumption and destruction, and I have no agency to stop that. Pretty glad I can order pizza with my watch though! Cavemen would be green with envy at that.

You could buy a cheaper watch, and go get a pizza from a local pizzeria. Everybody has the agency to control their consumption and ethic policies.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#329

Post by rukittenme »

llsf wrote: post #242
rukittenme wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not accounting for the higher interest rates of the 1980s. Which home would you prefer to buy: $150,000 at 15% over 30 years. $350,000 at 4% over 30 years. Hint : they both have approximately the same total loan cost and payment. You can do this calculation with your parents. My home cost $350k at 3.8%. My parents bought my childhood home for $88k at 8%. Adjust my parents' home price for inflation and run the…

If you bought a house for $150,000 at 15% in early 80's, you likely refinanced as the interest rate continuously dropped from there. In 90's interest rate was below 10%, and around 7% in early 00's. Nobody would keep the 15% over 30 years.

Yes but refinancing is not a silver bullet. After 10 years you would have only paid off $7k in principal. So you'd re-fi at 10% at $143k and refi at 7% at $130k. Twenty years worth of payments for only $20k in principal.

Your payments would total $375k over that period. $350k at 4% would total the same amount but with $200k in principal paid down.

I'd much rather be in a situation with $200k in equity versus $20k in equity. And remember, both people have the same monthly payment amount!

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#330

Post by opportune »

oldjokes wrote: post #316
opportune wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if you need people, raise prices until you can afford the people that are available. The actual industries that do need people (like tech) have done that.

Right, in theory that's what we've always been told about how it works, but that is not what is actually happening. There has been almost zero correlation between unemployment and wage pressure for 20+ years now. In all industries, yes even tech. It's just not working. Unless you're a director or exec, then your wages are skyrocketing. Everyone else is flat or declining.

Personally I think the issue is that there is still a lot of unemployment (see U6) that prevents classical wage inflation from happening. That, and people outside of highly skilled industries have basically no bargaining power these days + intense global competition in almost all industries
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