Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
The issue is that everyone in the younger generation is expected to take a huge step back.
If you are a hard worker, good saver, and find a big income, you should be able to do quite well with that 30 years ago, but will now find yourself at the bottom.
Once again, we aren't talking about people in their early 20s, who spend too much, not being able to afford basic housing. We're talking about people in their late 30s, who've spent a decade working. Do the simple math. If you're a teacher, a nurse, or fireman, making $65k/year. How much can you realistically save after taxes? Now compare that to the average home price in various neighbourhoods.
Even if you never had a coffee in your life...although the concept of a middle class person not getting a morning coffee is something new....I can assure you coffee shops, diners, etc... existed well before this generation and were always well populated.
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I'd argue the younger generation just expects more. What kid doesn't have a a smart phone? This is not an argument of not having a smart phone as the value it provides is way higher than the cost of it, but with the amount of 'stuff' everyone has access to (ie $500 blender on a payment plan) its real easy for young people to say "fudge it! YOLO!" and buy one more item that they dont need and slowly incrementally diminish their investing potential and therefore diminish their wealth potential.
I dont buy the people in their 30's argument. If this is only becoming an issue in the last bit what's their excuse when they were in their 20's? Albeit I'm not in my 30's yet and didn't try and buy a house a decade ago, but i do recall prices being significantly lower.
Time value of money is real, the earlier you start the process of wealth growth the better your will be off later, this comes down to choices of the individual plain and simple.