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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

#211

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…

This seems like a huge cultural difference from the west. I personally can't imagine having lived with my parents into my 20s. The people I know who did are mostly far more dependent. I think this has a lot to do with our focus on individuality. I don't think I would have developed into the person I am today without having dealt with the hardships of making my own way in life as an independent person. I can absolutel…

This is a recent phenomenon, mostly localized to the U.S. It happened after WW2 in the 1950s I believe. There's no reason it will continue.

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

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the time the young adults of today are too old to work, they will have long since inherited their parent's house. I would bet in 25 years when 10,000 baby boomers are dying every day, housing prices will be in free fall. So many of today's young adults will pay little, if anything, for the house they retire in.

Speaking as a younger person, I have and will have no interest in living in a rural suburb with no jobs. I'll have to sell, and when that time comes it won't be for much. The reverse white flight into cities is going to wreak havoc on this country.

Speaking as someone in their early 30s, I heard the same story from many of my peers... peers who are now living in the suburbs with their spouse and 2.5 kids. Youth seeking out the cities for opportunities and entertainment is hardly a new phenomenon. But, it certainly seems that for many people either age or the desire to have a family makes city life a lot less appealing.

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

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sorry I did not intend for my comments to be disparaging - if the market demands that level of education then it's necessary to enter that field. I understand that and can relate (my wife is a teacher who was required to obtain a master's degree in her specialty).

I just find it interesting that post graduate education is now required in many fields. I suspect it's partly due to demand for a limited number of positions but also due to shifts in expectations about on the job training and entry level positions. I also suspect that the evolution of hiring and professional HR staff has some role in it.

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

#214

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…

Independence is prized in the West, America especially. Do you think John Wayne lived with his parents? Joking aside, even (especially?) very wealthy American families expect their children will basically do everything for themselves beyond a certain point, which is pretty arbitrary. Theres pressure from parents to be independent and achieve. It reflects poorly on you and them for you to live at home. I don't see this with some of my friends from other cultures who are unashamed to accept significant financial help from their parents and whose parents are unashamed to provide it.

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

#215
post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sorry I did not intend for my comments to be disparaging - if the market demands that level of education then it's necessary to enter that field. I understand that and can relate (my wife is a teacher who was required to obtain a master's degree in her specialty). I just find it interesting that post graduate education is now required in many fields. I suspect it's partly due to demand for a limited number of positio…

I did not read your comments as disparaging. All is good.

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

#216
post #140
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Student loans are stupid unless taken for CS or Medicine. Otherwise the military or community college is just fine. Don't follow your passion unless you have a trustfund with >1mm and can pay for college. It's not that hard, you put 23k/yr total in the roth IRA & Roth 401k in VFIAX. I do not work in the tech industry anymore and am still doing this, just stop eating out, live cheap. Compound this over 40-45 years and…

The military is fine until you're sent to Afghanistan and you're assigned to missions where you end up killing people. They're dead, and you're messed up for a long, long time. Happened to a couple friends of mine. One of them is de facto permanently disabled (though refuses help from the system itself), bounces from one job to the next, spends every waking moment high, because of the things he did over there. As for…

Many of my friends and some relatives joined the armed forces in the early 90s. The world seemed relatively safe then, trending upwards, and it seemed like a stable path to a middle class life.

Then the never-ending wars came. And, many of these people now have serious injuries and most have PTSD. They came back changed.

Now, I would never let a relative join the armed forces. Maybe it was a heroic thing to do at one point; I don't know. But, nowadays they're exploited and used carelessly for missions of dubious purpose.

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

#217
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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?

You can search "library science masters curriculum" and see what courses they are taking. Librarians do a bunch of random stuff, from helping people with research projects to book preservation to running literacy programs.

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

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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…

Why do people even spend $200,000 on a degree if they're not rich? I went to community college for my associates degree in IT (about $5000 total), and then went to university for a bachelor's of science in IT (roughly $15,000 all in). Since you work at a university, what does that extra $180,000 buy? What's the sales pitch you'll give to students to get them to pay so much?

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

#219

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…

Why do people even spend $200,000 on a degree if they're not rich? I went to community college for my associates degree in IT (about $5000 total), and then went to university for a bachelor's of science in IT (roughly $15,000 all in). Since you work at a university, what does that extra $180,000 buy? What's the sales pitch you'll give to students to get them to pay so much?

That's what we all wonder when Oberlin students paying $65k/year complain about "privilege"...

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

#220

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…

Heh.. I moved out when I was 16 (went to a high school and then followed by University) and have now lived alone for 22 years. I can't even entertain the idea of not having my own privacy and my own place to do exactly what I want, when I want how I want. I'm already getting anxious about the holidays and spending a few days with family. It's so exhausting, all that useless meaningless chatter etc. Makes one so weary…

Is the chatter meaningless to the other participants too?
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