The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents • Hacker News Board

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#41

Post by Aeolun » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:43 PM UTC

wonderwonder wrote: post #11

Millennials face a very real risk of being a lost generation financially. They have endured 2 major, years long recessions, and now the Covid pandemic coupled with social isolation and massive unemployment that does not appear to have an end date in sight. Housing is more expensive for them than prior generations, wages are stagnant, school is expensive and social conflict is also currently on deck. WW2 was of course…

Anecdotally at least, all of my friends around my age (32) have by now managed to buy homes at very reasonable rates (Meanwhile my parents are stuck with their much higher 10% boom years interest rate, even though the absolute amount was much lower initially.

Of course this is in Europe, not the states.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#42

Post by save_ferris » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:44 PM UTC

risyachka wrote: post #36

save_ferris wrote: post #8

I moved back into my parents house after my lease expired, primarily to have regular social interaction again. > "While moving back home during the pandemic makes sense and is seen as socially acceptable or even smart, it also means you are living with people who still see you as your 18-year-old self." One of the biggest things I’ve noticed among millennials is how many parents fail to understand the emotional and m…

I really don't understand the argument of "time to grow up" if a person lived without parents fine for years. Obviously he/she had already grown up.

I think it’s cultural. American society absolutely looks down on those that live with their parents as failures. If I were to guess, some parents might see their children asking to return home as a reflection on their ability as a parent to prepare for the “real world”, but that’s just my guess.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#43

Post by paul_f » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:44 PM UTC

A majority? That's astounding. Unless unemployed, why don't millennials do what we did in our twenties, find two or three roommates and split the rent?

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#44

Post by dcdevthrowaway » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:45 PM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #23

Those parents often shout about "greedy developers" (or, if pressed, "parking and neighbourhood character") when, heaven forfend, someone tries to build new homes near them. Treating homes an investment was one of the worst mistakes of the 20th century.

You say mistake as if it were an intentional choice that turned out to be a bad one. I don't know my history of this subject very well, did policymakers really sit down and encourage homes to be treated as investment, leading them to become less affordable? Or were homes becoming less affordable just the natural consequence of having an expanding population and fixed supply of land? I'd always sort of assumed the latter.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#45

Post by ratsimihah » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:45 PM UTC

I've lived my 20s far away from home, and having moved back in in my 30s now, even if it took some time amd awkwardness, my parents understand I've grown and changed and they respect my need for space and intimacy.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#46

Post by Cro_on » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:46 PM UTC

curiousllama wrote: post #30

Cro_on wrote: post #18

I grew up on the farm, but have spent most of my adult life living in big cities. But I take a month or so home most years for a bit of farm work / harvest celebration. Corono got me good traveling SEA in February, and have been now living and working at home since March. I could have never thought about living here beforehand. At least I always think that twenties and thirties are for the movement of the city, and t…

Don't let the awesomeness turn to pessimism! The gap between "this is great" and "this is the only realistic hope" is huge. Others - even outside of farm life - have found community too.

It's not pessimism!

I guess it wasn't worded clearly, but I meant that it's the only hope for a less wasteful economy.

EDIT to add: In the short term! Right now the infrastructure is totally oil based, and consumerism relies on ecological destruction. But I am definitely not saying that we can't have a global zero carbon everything you want economy. But that is a question that I do not have the patience or information to ponder seriously!

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#47

Post by smeeth » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:46 PM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #41

wonderwonder wrote: post #11

Millennials face a very real risk of being a lost generation financially. They have endured 2 major, years long recessions, and now the Covid pandemic coupled with social isolation and massive unemployment that does not appear to have an end date in sight. Housing is more expensive for them than prior generations, wages are stagnant, school is expensive and social conflict is also currently on deck. WW2 was of course…

Anecdotally at least, all of my friends around my age (32) have by now managed to buy homes at very reasonable rates ( Meanwhile my parents are stuck with their much higher 10% boom years interest rate, even though the absolute amount was much lower initially. Of course this is in Europe, not the states.

Is refinancing not a thing in Europe?

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#48

Post by Aeolun » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:47 PM UTC

risyachka wrote: post #36

save_ferris wrote: post #8

I moved back into my parents house after my lease expired, primarily to have regular social interaction again. > "While moving back home during the pandemic makes sense and is seen as socially acceptable or even smart, it also means you are living with people who still see you as your 18-year-old self." One of the biggest things I’ve noticed among millennials is how many parents fail to understand the emotional and m…

I really don't understand the argument of "time to grow up" if a person lived without parents fine for years. Obviously he/she had already grown up.

Depends. When I stay with my parents I somehow forget that I can do the dishes and washing myself. I very deliberately have to remind myself.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#49

Post by paul_f » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:48 PM UTC

wonderwonder wrote: post #11

Millennials face a very real risk of being a lost generation financially. They have endured 2 major, years long recessions, and now the Covid pandemic coupled with social isolation and massive unemployment that does not appear to have an end date in sight. Housing is more expensive for them than prior generations, wages are stagnant, school is expensive and social conflict is also currently on deck. WW2 was of course…

"Major, years-long recessions"? In the lives of anyone 25 and under, there have been three recessions, the current 7-month recession, the 2008 recession which lasted 18-months, and the 2001 recession which lasted 8-months. Recessions in the US almost never last more than a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_Unit...

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#50

Post by iso1631 » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 12:48 PM UTC

collyw wrote: post #13

save_ferris wrote: post #8

I moved back into my parents house after my lease expired, primarily to have regular social interaction again. > "While moving back home during the pandemic makes sense and is seen as socially acceptable or even smart, it also means you are living with people who still see you as your 18-year-old self." One of the biggest things I’ve noticed among millennials is how many parents fail to understand the emotional and m…

I will probably be going against the grain here, but I managed to rent a flat by myself while in university years ago with a part time job in a supermarket at weekends and applying for some hardship funds and other money available at the time. Rents have risen a lot since then, but is it really impossible for someone in work to be able to afford rent? Or are they insisting on living in a fashionable part of town? (Fo…

I started as a trainee broadcast engineer in London on £17,800 a year in 2003. This left me with £1,082 a month (back then student loan payments were far higher than now). Rent for a tiny bedsit with a shared bathroom was £520 a month, 2 mile walk from work. I could live further out, but commuting costs outweighed any savings.

That's the equivalent of £828 a month now. Bills were included.

You can actually pick up a studio flat for £737 in the same area, which actually looks better - it's about 60 square feet which I think it a little smaller than the one I had, but it has it's own toilet. Council tax is on top of that at £45 a month, but still fits in the budget, just.

Assuming the same 50% of take home wage in rent, or a net wage of £1500pcm, would be about £21k/year

My £17800 salary in 2003 would be £28,300 today, or net of £1900pcm, so could afford (on the same ratio) £910 a month, which gives you a fair amount of choice at the moment in W14 according to rightmove.

I'm surprised as I felt renting was far harder now than 20 years ago, but seems it might be slightly better. Of course rents on tiny studios are presumably depressed because of covid19, I'm not sure what they were this time last year.