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Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

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Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#201

Post by sumedh »

1982734234 wrote: post #189
lonesword wrote: post #107

23 year old Indian developer here. The concept of 'moving out' of your parents home is baffling for most of us. I now live in a different city and I share a decent apartment with friends. I can afford to live alone in the apartment I now live in - the rent is 30% of my monthly income and the apartment is 15 minutes away from where I work - but living alone would be just awful. So I'm now paying 11% of my income for r…

Wait, so when you get married, do you keep living at home with your parents?

Not OP, yes many Indians do live at home after marriage, the girl moves in.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#202

Post by mechagodzilla »

FussyZeus wrote: post #185
epalmer wrote: post #174

I have two girls, 24 and 18 years old. Both live at home right now. The 24 year old graduated from a selective private liberal arts college in 2015 and is working part time in a library. She does not qualify for health insurance or many other benefits. She does not make enough to live on her own. She is also in graduate school online for a Master of Library Science (MLS). She wants to be a librarian and you pretty mu…

I don't understand this situation with your daughter: - Wanted to be a librarian - Studied to be a librarian - Graduated school to be a librarian - Got a job as a librarian - Doesn't make enough to live on her own and pay the cost of her education to be a librarian And this isn't isolated to librarians, it's just a very instructive example. How is it we now have entire classes of jobs where the education they require…

My spouse is a librarian. There are cheap and expensive ways to acquire an MLS degree, depending on your financial means, and the pay varies substantially based on your location and the type of work you do. In the case here, their daughter is a grad student living at home and working part time to finance their education, which is perfectly reasonable for many people. Most public librarians earn around the average household income, so it's as viable a career as many other options, and it doesn't involve crazy hours or physically taxing work that can get difficult as one ages.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#203

Post by epalmer »

FussyZeus wrote: post #195
knz wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why a librarian needs a master's degree? Is it just due to competition for a limited number of positions? Or are there skills gained from post graduate study that are essential to being a librarian?

I don't understand that either but for the purposes of the question it isn't really needed. The library has decided these are the requirements yet is paying a salary to a worker that doesn't sustain those requirements, and I'm wondering why this is allowed.

FuzzyZeus you are correct. However the free market is dictating that an MLS is required. this may change in time. Many librarian jobs are going away with the advent of great search engines and robotic book stack pickers.

She got 4 years of experience in the college library doing digital library work (scanning, tagging, metadata, etc.). We are hopeful this will sustain her once she is a librarian for ten or more years. Part of this is we notice in our little world that non-digital librarians don't want to learn digital library skills. Their loss her gain.

Wow this world is complicated.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#204

Post by Amezarak »

dursk wrote: post #164
ryandrake wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gen X here, just turned 40. If you compare how I'm doing with how my parents (who were solidly middle class) were doing, it's not even close. At 40, they had multiple homes, were secure in their savings and retirement through generous pensions, and practically debt free. This was on school teachers' salaries! Me? Student loan debt set me back years, crippling housing costs, and a crappy 401(k) that is probably worth…

If you've been investing in index funds for the past 20 years, your 401k is certainly worth more than what you put in. Hell, even if you invested two lump sums right before the dot-com bust and the 07/08 recession, you're still net positive. The markets are currently at all-time highs.

Unfortunately, you don't always get that choice. my 401(k) doesn't offer a US stock market index fund option.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#205

Post by dforrestwilson1 »

The nuclear family concept was always odd to me anyway.

Myself, my wife, and my daughter are building a house with my parents right now. If you can find a good job in the same city, I have trouble understanding why someone wouldn't want to live together.

The economies of scale and the benefits of having extra helpers around with our daughter (and 2nd one on the way!), more than outweigh any downsides to us. The psychological impacts to our children of having our grandparents around as positive continual influences seem pretty valuable to us?

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#206

Post by epalmer »

FussyZeus wrote: post #200
epalmer wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a little more complicated and it is not as bad as it sounds for her. Undergraduate degree in sociology and a minor in anthropology. BA in sociology is not very employable but is the most common undergraduate degree for librarians. Once the affordable care act (ObamaCare) was made into law the library (local public library) started making most non-librarian jobs part time so they don't have to provide health ins…

Oh alright, I misunderstood on a few points. Thanks for clarifying and tell her good luck from a rando person on the Internet.

Thanks. She is sitting beside me right now and I will tell her.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#208

Post by epalmer »

packrat wrote: post #197
knz wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why a librarian needs a master's degree? Is it just due to competition for a limited number of positions? Or are there skills gained from post graduate study that are essential to being a librarian?

I had one library manager admit to me that it was a bit of a guild system: really, the only place you use the proprietary bits of a library science degree is in a library. If they hired anybody who showed proficiency in Dewey Decimal System, processing books and conservation , who would ever get a Master's Degree in it ever again? and of course, these are not a significant portion of the equation anymore.

Packrat I think this is very accurate. My daughter read your comment and agrees.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#209

Post by madaxe_again »

icebraining wrote: post #171
madaxe_again wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father was an employee of a series of banks. Nothing hugely special - earning the equivalent of about £100k today at that point - but the lifestyle they had by my age is astounding. By 34 they owned a huge house in the country, several large holiday homes abroad, three cars, private education for the kids, first class flights (for them - I always flew alone to school, economy), motorbikes, you name it. At the same…

Be careful about generalizing from your own experience. Only 0.4% of Brits own a second house, let several large holiday homes. While there were certainly some years of rapidly increasing consumer welfare, most of their gains were in stuff we take for granted today, not luxuries.

I'm not generalising - as I say in my comment I know I'm exceptionally fortunate.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#210

Post by msimpson »

q-base wrote: post #196
msimpson wrote: post #193

First of all, housing in America is a dual income trap. So unless you are comfortable with roommates, have a significant other, or can attain a lucrative salary, you have limited options. Second, renting is for chumps; as you will simply throw money away to the tune of a monthly mortgage payment. Therefore, you should stay where you are (if possible) and save until that down payment can make a worthwhile home afforda…

Renting also equals freedom. YES you may throw away money in the light of the ability to sell a property at equal or higher price than you payed. BUT you may also end up losing a lot of money or being bound to a property if market changes and prices drop. Renting is a transparent way of knowing the cost of living where you do. In a liquid somewhat stable housing market you probably are better off buying - but just to…

"Renting also equals freedom."

Only if you plan to relocate often.

"...you may also end up losing a lot of money or being bound to a property if market changes and prices drop."

Which is why making good investments and leveraging refinancing is very important.

"...saying renting is for chumps is bit of a simplification..."

Yet in most cases, it isn't. Just like leasing a car.

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