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Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

bloomberg.com

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Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#191

Post by gnicholas »

aglavine wrote: post #70
esotericn wrote: post #16

I think the term "poorer", and the monetary analysis done here, is too high level to extract real meaning. The average young person/couple that I know are able to do and buy far more than their parents (e.g. eat out, order takeaway, take holidays, go to bars, buy things for hobbies, buy clothes, ...). They just don't own property and have no path that leads there. In some sense you could say that they have higher inc…

I think that they eat out and order takeaway because they perceive that they never going to save enough money to afford a house.

A friend of mine complains about the young SV crowd that decry unaffordable real estate but also drive expensive cars. I think this is the same motivation that you describe, but on a grander scale. In this case, they're playing the startup lottery, and if they win it won't matter if they drove a Honda or an Audi. And if they lose, they'll have to leave SV when it comes time to buy a house.

I don't personally subscribe to this mentality — I've seen other friends save up $50k, double it with patient investing, and then scrape together a down payment. Even if you end up leaving SV, having had property here can be a good investment.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#192

Post by drankula3 »

jopsen wrote: post #92
esotericn wrote: post #16

I think the term "poorer", and the monetary analysis done here, is too high level to extract real meaning. The average young person/couple that I know are able to do and buy far more than their parents (e.g. eat out, order takeaway, take holidays, go to bars, buy things for hobbies, buy clothes, ...). They just don't own property and have no path that leads there. In some sense you could say that they have higher inc…

It's often lost on us how much more you can buy for a dollar today vs. 40 years ago (when corrected for inflation).

When corrected for inflation,I make 30% less than my father did right out of college.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#193

Post by MrMember »

gambiting wrote: post #36
esotericn wrote: post #16

I think the term "poorer", and the monetary analysis done here, is too high level to extract real meaning. The average young person/couple that I know are able to do and buy far more than their parents (e.g. eat out, order takeaway, take holidays, go to bars, buy things for hobbies, buy clothes, ...). They just don't own property and have no path that leads there. In some sense you could say that they have higher inc…

Agreed. I live the life of incredible luxury compared to when my parents were my age, definitely in terms of "life experiences" and material possessions....except for housing. Getting on the property ladder seems like a dream that's very far away, even when working as an IT professional.

My parents had four kids when they were my age with a combined income likely less than mine (inflation adjusted). I don't know how they did it.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#194

Post by chrisco255 »

I wonder how much of this is permanent and how much of this is related to the fact that millennials came of age in the worst recession since the Great Depression? Maybe millennials will bounce back over the next 10 years, as boomers retire and assuming the economy doesn't suffer another catastrophe.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#195

Post by deadmetheny »

philodough wrote: post #78
LiterallyDoge wrote: post #4

Millenials are killing everything. Except the economy. Boomers killed that.

Boomers made the economy grow incredibly and had some busts along the way. They got up and kept going. The boomers are the most creative and productive American generation period. Millenials are still living with their (wealthy) boomer parents, delaying marriage and waiting for their boomer parents to die, whereupon the millenials will inherit their boomer parents' wealth. Unfortunately this will fail, b/c millenials…

Don't forget to go take your meds, Grandpa.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#196

Post by zippy5 »

will_brown wrote: post #167
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Medicare/social security didn’t exist before the boomer generation Patently false. In the US, Social Security was instituted as part of Roosevelt's New Deal in 1935. From a more global perspective similar systems have been around much longer.

Sorry Medicare and medicade. It doesn’t matter if similar systems have been around much longer, governments have been around much longer than The US government and none of them are $21T in debt.

I'm pretty sure that the 21T does not include future payouts to social security or medicare. I believe that if you do include them, the number goes closer to 100T.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#197

Post by [deleted] »

gnicholas wrote: post #191
aglavine wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that they eat out and order takeaway because they perceive that they never going to save enough money to afford a house.

A friend of mine complains about the young SV crowd that decry unaffordable real estate but also drive expensive cars. I think this is the same motivation that you describe, but on a grander scale. In this case, they're playing the startup lottery, and if they win it won't matter if they drove a Honda or an Audi. And if they lose, they'll have to leave SV when it comes time to buy a house. I don't personally subscrib…

[deleted]

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#198

Post by giardini »

enraged_camel wrote: post #52
twoodfin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or on average they stayed in school longer than their parents, which tends to delay everything, including high earnings years.

Maybe, but it's worth noting that college is tremendously more expensive today than it was back when Boomers were attending it. We're talking an order of magnitude or more. edit: not multiple orders of magnitude

enraged_camel says>"college is tremendously more expensive today than it was back when Boomers were attending it..."

Especially when you're

- unable to understand cumulative interest (slept in math class),

- unwilling to take advantage of cheaper state and community colleges and trade schools,

- unwilling to avoid careers with little to no viable economic future (women's studies, fine arts, politics, history, English,etc.).

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#199

Post by sharadov »

iagooar wrote: post #6

It's funny how this "generation" thing only quite exists (as far as I know) in the English-speaking world. There is no such idea of generations of people where I come from. It's hard for me to even grasp the idea of it. Who draws a line between generations and why? People do not stop being born, nor do they magically change because they supposedly belong to an imaginary generation. Am I missing something?

America as a whole is obsessed with labels and categorization, and an obsession with making things fit neatly in buckets, which is ridiculous. The media especially loves it, look at all the new acronyms they concoct on a daily basis.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#200

Post by [deleted] »

malvosenior wrote: post #150
gambiting wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I live the life of incredible luxury compared to when my parents were my age, definitely in terms of "life experiences" and material possessions....except for housing. Getting on the property ladder seems like a dream that's very far away, even when working as an IT professional.

I think it's worth noting that having a family is a "life experience" and a home is a "material possession". Many would argue that travel, dining out, bars... are shallow and hedonistic experiences while cultivating a family and community are enriching and rewarding.

[deleted]
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