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The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

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Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#581

Post by [deleted] »

smadge wrote: post #531
dheera wrote: post #498

It's worth noting that a huge number of universities and colleges have shut their doors and doing online learning, which accounts for probably a large number of the 18-22 year olds and many of the 23-25 years olds. Unemployment is a thing, but there are also many people who have gone home because they can't be social with friends during lockdown and for some, being social with parents is better than being alone. And…

It has been a mostly steady trend since 1960 at 29% to now where it is at 52%. All of your examples of young adults choosing to live with their parents are because of COVID-19, which can only account for the 5% increase since February 2020, not the other 18% increase since the 1960s.

[deleted]

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#582

Post by square90 »

thinkharderdev wrote: post #477
jbay808 wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The demand for ultra-expensive housing in places like the Bay Area is driven by the huge earning potential of the high-skilled labor market. Maybe the Bay area, but that's (sadly) not the case in places like Vancouver and Victoria. Sky high property prices, but no corresponding earning potential.

I've never quite been able to figure out what happened in Vancouver. It's a great city with a tech scene but salaries there seem very low (by American tech worker standards). Who is actually buying all these multi-million dollar bungalow? None of the senior-level engineers I've worked with from the area would ever be able to even sniff being able to afford that.

I think it's been heavily bought up by foreign real estate investors [0].

[0] https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-chi...

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#583

Post by irrational »

anoonmoose wrote: post #548
irrational wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they definitely didn't learn it from me or my wife. We both work all the time and barely take time to stop and rest. When they were growing up we would have them work with us on house projects, in the garden, at the food bank, etc. Apparently our work ethic didn't get picked up.

you have 7k comment karma in ~4 years i have 500 in ~7 years and i know i use HN too much you comment on HN multiple times a day and appear to have done that for some time

https://xkcd.com/303/

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#584

Post by _jxdz »

CodeyWhizzBang wrote: post #350
lol768 wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would be cheaper to get a mortgage, but I fail the "affordability" tests I naively thought that these affordability tests would involve looking at whether my take home income minus my monthly costs was higher than the monthly cost of the mortgage. That sounds like a reasonable definition of "affordable", right? We can account for increases in interest rates too. In reality, the amount of ridiculous hoops that ne…

There's also the point that banks want you to put down a sizeable deposit so that if the market crashes and you lose your job they can sell the house, recover their outstanding debt and you lose your deposit. So you might be able to afford £1,200 a month in mortgage payments (which on a 30 year mortgage could mean you could borrow £400,000) but you'd need a 20% deposit, meaning you'd need to have saved up £100,000 to…

Yes, £500k doesn't get you much here. This is why I champion remote working and possibly relocating to more affordable areas of the United Kingdom, thus spreading the wealth around a bit more.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#585

Post by dang »

Philip-J-Fry wrote: post #94

I'm my early 20s and in the UK. I earn more than my Dad who is in his 50s. He managed to get a house, have money left over for an expensive hobby, decent car, the odd holiday etc. I'm a 90th percentile earner. Will 95+ percentile earner in a few years time. Yet it feels like I am not as well off as I should be. I don't live in an expensive area either. Yet I need to save so much money to even have the opportunity to…

(We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24491909.)

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#586

Post by kelnos »

gonehome wrote: post #454
danans wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it has much to do with wealth. In fact, in old societies primogeniture practiced by the wealthy meant that the eldest son was expected to stay at home. The second sons with limited inheritance often set out on their own. In the US context, it has historical connections to the glorification of pioneerism and expansion through the western frontier (along with the genocide that accompanied that). After tha…

I'm not sure how irrelevant it is (though Covid may change that). If I wasn't engaged I would have gone home to WFH immediately during the pandemic, it would have been nice to spend time there and be with family (rare opportunity for easy ability to work remotely and spend time with family on the east coast). That said, most of the successful people I know moved out to areas with more opportunity and those that staye…

> Why live in Palo Alto and waste lots of money on rent because of stupid housing policy when you don't have to? When you can't go out and do stuff?

I hear sentiments like this a lot lately, and it feels short-sighted to me. COVID restrictions are not going to be around forever. There are financial, professional, social, and other costs that come with moving somewhere else.

For people who genuinely don't like it in $HCOL_AREA regardless of the pandemic, and see this as a way to get out permanently, then that's great, and they should do that. If it's more like "it's expensive here and I can't go out to my favorite bars/restaurants right now", the latter half of that situation should fix itself by next summer, and hopefully earlier in some fashion. Sure, that's a while to wait, but isn't much time when considering that an alternative is to uproot your entire life.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#587

Post by abnry »

Sodman wrote: post #353
PaulStatezny wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the thing is, nobody said you have to pay for Netflix or Amazon. Each person is responsible for making good choices with his or her money. Lack of financial discipline is not society's fault. Yes, managing finances takes some level of skill when there are many different expenses in a modern personal budget. But there are ways to live frugally and get ahead. They just aren't flashy or fun. On two very small income…

Outside of the obvious "don't buy a gas guzzler" tropes, most of the best ways to save money will end up costing you time. Whether it's living with a longer commute or working more hours, there is a point at which people are just happier living their lives than wasting years in their prime scrounging and being miserable to afford a downpayment on a house in worse condition than what they could afford to rent. Big bud…

I think part of the disconnect is that many people today assume that life will be, or should be, pain free. Life is hard. It's always been hard. It's hard today.

I think the reason we want to believe otherwise is because of the tremendous wealth we have experienced recently, so we expect that trend to continue indefinitely.

To me, it is the lack of gratitude for what we do have and can afford that galls me.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#588

Post by irrational »

spencerflem wrote: post #568
irrational wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Oregon where the world is literally on fire, but I certainly don't feel like the future is bleak.

As a 23 y/o, the future seems bleak to me. Our government and leadership has failed us, nobody is doing anything about climate change, and there is record unemployment. On a personal level, especially with covid but also just life in general around now, all of my friends moved elsewhere and while we can keep in touch with social media it's still not as good as it was. There just doesn't seem to be anything worth buil…

Life has it's ups and downs. Things seemed bleak at times during past recessions, the 70s energy crisis, the cold war, etc. But life also has it's ups and they will come sooner or later.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#589

Post by stinkytaco »

tanilama wrote: post #526
munificent wrote: post #464

I really love the quote at the end: > I'm a dad who is happy to have his daughter and fiancé living with me. They pay the utilities and make me nice meals, and it makes it a lot less lonely here. ... I like the multi-generational thing. I know it won't last forever, but it makes life better for now. It's so easy to get into that cold statistical mindset about these large-scale trends, but it's good to remember that t…

I agree. I don't like what the title tries to suggest that living with your parents is something wrong/abnormal? Why is that? I understand for many it is not a choice, but it doesn't necessarily meaning people are suffering as a result.

Though I agree that it's not wrong or abnormal (at least for most of the world), in this context it represents a pretty large economic step backwards. There was a time in most middle aged people's memories where starting a career, affording a house and starting a family were all realistic goals in your twenties. Now that's not possible for many, even as economic indicators like GPD, the stock market, inflation, etc. improve. This statistic simply reflects a growing income inequality and corresponding quality of life decrease.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#590

Post by throwaway2048 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #439
computerphage wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just a regional problem if it's happening in every region.

The rust belt cities don't have skyrocketing housing prices if you're willing to buy non-McMansion older stock.

And how likely are you to get a job that lets you afford said house?
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