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42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

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Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#141

Post by brailsafe »

vslira wrote: post #107
Animats wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We don't, as a matter of intentional policy, build enough housing. If actual number of houses was the problem, house prices would not be increasing in areas of population decline. It's existing houses being repriced upward by speculation that makes them unaffordable.

It's not number of houses, it's number of houses where people want to live. "house prices would not be increasing in areas of population decline" -> the causation could be running backwards: a family of 2 (maybe 2 retired people with accumulated wealth) can outcompete with a young family of 4 for the same unit, that drives prices up and population down. I'm not saying this is the case, but decreasing population not b…

This seems to be, or have been, a very common scenario in Canada, which is why I completely discount when most politicians start going on about a "housing crisis" when in another breath they'll say they don't want houses to get cheaper. If it was a "crisis", one might think houses would be treated with special care instead of basically just another commodity. If a person with wealth can just buy up as many of a finite resource within, especially within the same city as they can tolerate the possession of, then nobody should have a surprised Pikachu face when they do that. If all of the food could and was bought up by a few rich people and figuratively removed from access by anyone who can't bid arbitrary amounts for it, there would and should be riots. That's how houses and condos are priced, and more supply without finite policy restrictions just mints more money for people who already have it. If it's a crisis, why is anyone allowed to own more than 1? Level it out.

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#142

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

nonameiguess wrote: post #124
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $350/month [ 2000 ] > $1500/month [ 2026 ] CPI inflation would suggest that the current cost ought to be about $692. So if it really costs $1500 to cover the things you've mentioned (noticeabley absent: student loans, health insurance, car payments) then either our society is deeply fucked or your list has changed or your estimates are wrong or your memory is wrong or all of the above.

The last time I can remember a reasonably low rent payment, I was paying $300 a month in the year 2000 in Fullerton, CA. That was sharing a two-bedroom apartment between four guys, two of whom lived in the kitchen and living room and paid slightly less, one of whom was a speed addict and eventually got us kicked out and our lease terminated, which left me homeless briefly living in my car. No car payment because I'd…

Again, I suspect that the problem isn't the size of your rent payment, it's the size of your paycheck (which is not your fault, but that of your employer, our government(s) and The System (TM)).

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#143

Post by exiguus »

reticulates wrote: post #135
exiguus wrote: post #52

The question that was ask in the survey was: How financially independent you currently feel from your parents (meaning you could support yourself without them if needed) I understand that YC is questioning the results of the survey. The YC community is very privileged; and i bet, if we do the same survey in this community, 20% or less of adults rely on their parents.

I think you have it backwards. Poor people cannot rely on their parents because their parents are poor too. Every person I know who grew up rich relied on their parents until… well, forever. Privilege is being able to rely on your family.

I also think that educated and wealthy parents are better able to support their children; from education and financial literacy to real estate and plain money. However, I do think that this support makes the children more independent when they're adults.

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#144

Post by PaulHoule »

pllbnk wrote: post #79
PaulHoule wrote: post #60

My 20-something son is living with us but he does pay (some) rent. I half expect to have to apologize for this, like when I was growing up people would think you are a loser if you were in this situation. Today people think we are really smart and the people who are paying more rent than they can afford to live alone that are losing.

I can’t understand morally or financially how can parents charge anything of their children. Not judging it, just honestly can’t understand it. Isn’t it the parents’ responsibility to build the foundation for their children and keep building it until it’s there? I am viewing it from a moral angle where it’s the parents’ selfish choice to have a child so they must take full responsibility until a child is or feels tha…

He's paying a fraction of market rate rent and has saved a lot of money.

He's eating food out of the communal pool and it's a running gag at local restaurants that he eats two entrees. I think it's fair that he contributes something, like he is working, except for this summer when he said "take this job and shove it" because he was working for a crew where the foreman was twice his age but didn't have any sense for construction. Instead, he's doing a lot of work around the farm to fix things up, some of which is stuff we need and some of which is stuff he wants.

He expects to inherit the farm, will probably move to our other house if and when he is ready to co-habitate as opposed to getting on the housing ladder in the conventional way.

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#145

Post by patmorgan23 »

heroiccocoa wrote: post #137
LastTrain wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hate this “we don’t build enough housing” narrative these days, because it implies this is a simple supply and demand problem, which it is not. I see so many progressives repeating this line, apparently not understanding that they are suggesting unfettered capitalism (up zoning…) is the solution. The fundamental problem is we simultaneously want our housing to be affordable and good investment. It can’t be b…

I can't think of a good reason as to why people would want housing to be a good investment except if their own wealth depends on it or they want to preserve the wealthy character of their own neighborhood. It takes away investment from local enterprise, local government, which would spur innovation, salary growth, better infrastructure, municipal services, etc.

For the average American homeowner 25-50% of their wealth is in their home.

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#146

Post by LastTrain »

antinomicus wrote: post #132
LastTrain wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hate this “we don’t build enough housing” narrative these days, because it implies this is a simple supply and demand problem, which it is not. I see so many progressives repeating this line, apparently not understanding that they are suggesting unfettered capitalism (up zoning…) is the solution. The fundamental problem is we simultaneously want our housing to be affordable and good investment. It can’t be b…

Public housing is the answer to this.

I agree that is a necessary component.

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#147

Post by JKCalhoun »

slibhb wrote: post #80

Downward mobility is almost entirely caused by housing costs, which are a self-inflicted problem. We don't, as a matter of intentional policy, build enough housing. I live in an expensive area and I'm always shocked by how many of my friends who cannot afford to buy a home (or even a condo) are NIMBYs. These are people in their 20s through 40s who have been earning since college, can't afford to buy, yet get annoyed…

"…get annoyed whenever there's new construction…"

People "getting annoyed" doesn't prevent construction of affordable housing. I often see NIMBY comments but never see anything to back up the notion.

Greedy developers that want the largest profit on a given plot of land is probably where you should be looking instead. Why build two inexpensive starter homes when you can build one luxury home and make a larger profit? (Never mind that the county gets larger property tax returns on the more expensive homes.)

And yet. They build high end homes and they sell them anyway. So there seem in fact to be buyers out there?

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#148

Post by ffsm8 »

thegrim33 wrote: post #114
Animats wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We don't, as a matter of intentional policy, build enough housing. If actual number of houses was the problem, house prices would not be increasing in areas of population decline. It's existing houses being repriced upward by speculation that makes them unaffordable.

Anyone with 60 seconds of free time can trivially see that your claims hold no water. Simply Google for cities/areas with declining population, choose one, look up average housing prices there over the last 10 years or so, see how they've changed, correct the figures for inflation, and you'll see that in almost all cases inflation-adjusted prices are lower today in those places than they were 10 years ago.

And anyone with a braincell would've remembered that wages didn't keep up with inflation, hence the point you're making isn't actually being made.

You're just being rude for no reason, which is also why I'm now rude to you. You could almost call it rudeflation, tomorrow we'll probably cause a rudeness singularity

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#149

Post by alistairSH »

piguin wrote: post #30
alistairSH wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source: https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-st... OK, now I'm questioning the whole thing... it also claims 17% of Boomers reliant on their parents. So, we have some substantial number of 62-80 years olds relying on their 90-100 year old parents? Seems unlikely.

Maybe you're not familiar with the entire economy? There are a lot of households that depend on retirement checks of the oldest members and households that don't have traditional work but may have family homes, businesses and farms still in the name of the oldest relatives. Different groups would have different results as far as whether they will inherit independence or become destitute if parents die.

Sure, totally get that, but we're talking about a cohort that is mostly retirement age themselves... How many of those 70-80 year old Boomers have parents left alive from whom to receive those retirement funds? That's why I'm hesitant to believe the number.

Re: 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

#150

Post by scarmig »

reticulates wrote: post #135
exiguus wrote: post #52

The question that was ask in the survey was: How financially independent you currently feel from your parents (meaning you could support yourself without them if needed) I understand that YC is questioning the results of the survey. The YC community is very privileged; and i bet, if we do the same survey in this community, 20% or less of adults rely on their parents.

I think you have it backwards. Poor people cannot rely on their parents because their parents are poor too. Every person I know who grew up rich relied on their parents until… well, forever. Privilege is being able to rely on your family.

It's a kind of free insurance: if a bad financial event happens, you're protected against the worst downsides.

If you're from a poor family and break out of poverty, you're still in a worse financial state than someone from a rich family, even holding income and assets constant. You've got to effectively self insure (by taking fewer risks; being more conservative in investments; cutting down on rich people expenses that help with networking) to plan for the worst case scenario. And rich kids don't even realize how much their families' financial status enables and drives their behavior.

And that's not even starting to count financial expenses to take care of aging parents who can't afford to take care of themselves.

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