Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise • Hacker News Board

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#61

Post by al_borland » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

bradleyjg wrote: post #51

al_borland wrote: post #6

> It’s Hard to See My Parents Live So Lavishly While We’re Struggling While I won't deny there are some problems currently, I think people comparing where they start to where others end is a huge mistake and leads to a lot of unnecessary anguish. Someone in their 60s is supposed to be doing better than someone in their 20s. They had 40+ years to work and save. If they did it right, that will put them in a better posi…

> Someone in their 60s is supposed to be doing better than someone in their 20s. That’s an incredibly new, and probably temporary, phenomenon. Across the vast majority of space-time the non-working elderly are poorer than their still working children and rely on them. As late as the Greatest Generation senior discounts weren’t a sick joke.

The barrier to entry for investments used to be pretty high. Most people felt limited to what their employers offered. Even as access started getting easier, the knowledge was still difficult to get.

Currently, the barrier to entry has never been lower, and the access to information has never been better. I don't see either of those things changing any time soon.

Of course, even with that, basic financial literacy with younger generations seems to be at an all time low. The finger pointing on that could go in many directions.

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#62

Post by slopinthebag » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

dachworker wrote: post #40

standardUser wrote: post #27

"Marriage follows the same pattern. Women now substantially outnumber men on university campuses and outpace them in degrees earned, yet the preference for husbands who match or exceed a wife’s income and education has not correspondingly relaxed. The result is a radical market mismatch." I read a lot on this particular topic and this is a little too narrow of a reading. There is a more dominant trend - women and men…

I find all this gender wars crap competely untrue in real life. I wouldn't be surprised if it was all due to sampling errors.

I think it also depends on where you live and the political sphere you spend your time in. Broadly speaking I believe men and women are spending less time with each other but I think it’s less about gender war nonsense and more the destruction of third spaces, cost of going out, social media pseudoaddiction, etc.

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#63

Post by ghastmaster » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

victor9000 wrote: post #55

Denying your own child a $15K business loan just to placate your sadistic delusions perfectly describes the mindset of aging boomers. They're happy to watch their own children struggle for the opportunity to validate their ideology. They don't have enough empathy to help their own children, so it's futile expecting them to care about anyone else in society. They use tragedy of the commons situations to justify endles…

Without knowing the personality of the child and the history of behavior, it is rather hard to determine whether the parent made the correct decision or not. The article provides very little context. Sometimes this may be the correct decision based on the individual. Every child is different and requires different approaches to discipline and support.

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#64

Post by happytoexplain » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:32 PM UTC

jamilton wrote: post #57

like_any_other wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's look at those claims: "the vast majority of other children would belong to intact families" In 1975, the single motherhood rate was 15%. In 2015, it was 40%: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_parents_in_the_United_S... "communities like their own," In 1970, the US was 83.5% non-Hispanic White. In 2020 it was 57.8%: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_racial_and_ethnic_d... "and would speak English as a…

Sure, it's just such an odd bundle of claims that were not fully interrogated in the essay. 1. That these things have changed from "small minority" to "significant minority" in public school populations, 2. they haven't changed similarly in private school populations 3. these things increasing are bad and undesirable for you and your child, and 4. there are not cheaper ways to fix this than sending your child to publ…

Language is an absolutely critical part of community, identity, socialization, and connection. Even just not sharing the same first language as another person begins to chip away at these metrics. Much moreso if you share no language in which you are both thoroughly fluent. It's not either person's fault, and it's true even if both parties have absolutely no racism or xenophobia or whatever in their hearts (though isms multiply the effect - even the unconscious isms that most people supposedly harbor).

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#65

Post by win311fwg » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

like_any_other wrote: post #50

jamilton wrote: post #43

>For example: an American family in 1975 could send their children to public school on the assumption that the vast majority of other children would belong to intact families, communities like their own, and would speak English as a first language. Now, realistically, many parents must turn to private schooling for the same reassurances. It was hard to take the rest of the article seriously after reading this.

Let's look at those claims: "the vast majority of other children would belong to intact families" In 1975, the single motherhood rate was 15%. In 2015, it was 40%: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_parents_in_the_United_S... "communities like their own," In 1970, the US was 83.5% non-Hispanic White. In 2020 it was 57.8%: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_racial_and_ethnic_d... "and would speak English as a…

Except the claim that many parents must now to turn to private schools. Private school enrolment has declined since 1975.

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#66

Post by mindslight » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:37 PM UTC

archonis wrote: post #26

honeycrispy wrote: post #13

Every time I think I have money I get massive insurance bills, massive property tax bills that increase seemingly every year, a fence I had to install so my kids don't get mangled by the pitbull 2 doors down that was $12k that was $4k 10 years ago. I know because my parents installed the same fence at their house. I'm paying a not insignificant portion of my income into a social security program that I'll never see a…

I feel you. My property tax has gone up more in the past decade than it did during the previous 3 decades. Cost and necessity of permits for renovations plus re-asessment of property after renovation for tax increase means every path forward is much more expensive than it would have been in decades past.

FWIW the traditional path for renovations was to add "sweat equity" by doing the work yourself, slowly and without permits. You can still do this today, perhaps even more effectively than previously with Youtube videos/LLMs. Although you might need to hire more "handymen" to replace what would have been bartered labor with friends/family (tying back to the social capital concept of the article).

(I'm not trying to detract from the thrust of your comment though! I'm describing a dynamic of coping rather than sustaining)

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#67

Post by jimbokun » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:37 PM UTC

al_borland wrote: post #6

> It’s Hard to See My Parents Live So Lavishly While We’re Struggling While I won't deny there are some problems currently, I think people comparing where they start to where others end is a huge mistake and leads to a lot of unnecessary anguish. Someone in their 60s is supposed to be doing better than someone in their 20s. They had 40+ years to work and save. If they did it right, that will put them in a better posi…

Yes but the article also cites that the average age for home ownership has gone way up, houses cost far more relative to median income than before, rent is more expensive, and cultural changes requiring two income families and paid childcare have driven up child care costs.

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#68

Post by mindslight » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

ghastmaster wrote: post #63

victor9000 wrote: post #55

Denying your own child a $15K business loan just to placate your sadistic delusions perfectly describes the mindset of aging boomers. They're happy to watch their own children struggle for the opportunity to validate their ideology. They don't have enough empathy to help their own children, so it's futile expecting them to care about anyone else in society. They use tragedy of the commons situations to justify endles…

Without knowing the personality of the child and the history of behavior, it is rather hard to determine whether the parent made the correct decision or not. The article provides very little context. Sometimes this may be the correct decision based on the individual. Every child is different and requires different approaches to discipline and support.

I guess nobody can know anything and there is no point in trying to look at the typical experiences of generations, since we can never know if someone is just making up a sob story about what are actually their just deserts. (/s)

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#69

Post by jamilton » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:40 PM UTC

happytoexplain wrote: post #64

jamilton wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, it's just such an odd bundle of claims that were not fully interrogated in the essay. 1. That these things have changed from "small minority" to "significant minority" in public school populations, 2. they haven't changed similarly in private school populations 3. these things increasing are bad and undesirable for you and your child, and 4. there are not cheaper ways to fix this than sending your child to publ…

Language is an absolutely critical part of community, identity, socialization, and connection. Even just not sharing the same first language as another person begins to chip away at these metrics. Much moreso if you share no language in which you are both thoroughly fluent. It's not either person's fault, and it's true even if both parties have absolutely no racism or xenophobia or whatever in their hearts (though is…

That is a point that could be made in the essay! I don't think it's a given, but it's treated as one. My experience is that children who are ESL assimilate pretty heavily.

Re: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

#70

Post by yesco » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

Avicebron wrote: post #8

al_borland wrote: post #6

> It’s Hard to See My Parents Live So Lavishly While We’re Struggling While I won't deny there are some problems currently, I think people comparing where they start to where others end is a huge mistake and leads to a lot of unnecessary anguish. Someone in their 60s is supposed to be doing better than someone in their 20s. They had 40+ years to work and save. If they did it right, that will put them in a better posi…

Well a lot of those now 60 year olds were buying houses and land in their 20s-30s..

I purchased a house within commuting distance of Boston in my mid 20s, back in 2022. Didn't need PMI, the mortgage terms weren't unreasonable to me (fixed 5% interest), and the monthly payments for utilities plus the loan are still well within my means. It's even got an attached garage.

I don't want to get too specific here for privacy reasons, but I believe the main difference between myself and my peers is that I chose to live with my parents and save for a house instead of moving out and getting an apartment right away during/after college. With almost zero real expenses outside my student loans, and the median software engineer salary for the region, I was able to save enough for a down payment after just a couple years. I did this because I disliked the idea of having no equity and paying rent to offset someone else's mortgage instead of saving for my own. My parents really liked that reasoning.

In many respects I'm fundamentally an outlier, yet once I bought mine, my peers with much lower incomes started doing the same after I explained the financials. When they actually sat down and calculated the mortgage payments, they realized it wasn't that bad, as long as they got something on the smaller side, which is still bigger than an apartment anyway.

To be clear, housing costs were crazy and still are. But I sense "crazy" is pretty relative when talking to people online from other countries. Housing in the US is expensive, especially compared to various convenient periods within the last 100 years. But even now, it's not the unrealistic back-breaking dream it seems to be when I talk to Europeans about it, and I suspect that's why so many Americans on social media overestimate the costs.