Millennials Are Way Poorer Than Baby Boomers Ever Were

a reply to: burgerbuddy


I bought my first US Savings Bond when I was ten years old. My Dad showed me the math on how to make money just by saving money. My parents had been buying them regularly since WWII. They were our college funds. My parents married and began their family at the beginning of the Depression. They knew how to "make do" when cash was in short supply and they learned to put something aside for a rainy day or a specific want or need. We were taught to manage our money, something I doubt gets done in homes today.

The biggest difference I see in living cost today is the burden imposed on the millennials is the cost of their education after high school and the burden of their health insurance. This hits the middle class the hardest since they are too "rich" to qualify for grants. The insurance costs keep a lot of these young people in corporate jobs for the benefits rather than going into business for themselves. A family of three can pay as much as $800/month for their insurance. That's a far bigger chunk of their paychecks than we boomers ever paid.

a reply to: toysforadults

Being One , Yeah , at Least I Had Wheels , a Girlfriend that Liked Sex , an Apartment All to my Own during High School , and Plenty of Beer in the Fridge . ......Ah , the Good Ole Days............)

originally posted by: diggindirt
I bought my first US Savings Bond when I was ten years old. My Dad showed me the math on how to make money just by saving money. My parents had been buying them regularly since WWII. They were our college funds. My parents married and began their family at the beginning of the Depression. They knew how to "make do" when cash was in short supply and they learned to put something aside for a rainy day or a specific want or need. We were taught to manage our money, something I doubt gets done in homes today.

Saving today is for the wealthy, most people don't have enough income to put anything aside. When you're living on $1000 a month there's simply nothing you can trim from your budget to put anything into savings.

It doesn't help matters that we have a safety net system that will actually disqualify you (and sometimes even come after you for money) if you're getting help such as food stamps, but are putting anything into savings.

a reply to: Aazadan

When you're living on $1000 a month there's simply nothing you can trim from your budget to put anything into savings.

See---right here is the problem. You don't "trim from your budget" to save money. In a proper budget, saving is part of that process. If you weren't taught that by your budgeting teacher, you were taught incorrectly and need to do a bit of work on learning that process. There are a multitude of on-line services that will help with this. A quick search turned up this one: bettermoneyhabits.bankofamerica.com...

Secondly, if you are living on $1000 month, you need to work more hours a month and/or find a skill or talent that pays more than minimum wage.

a reply to: toysforadults

Being someone who remembers when $80 bought a cart full of groceries to it buying 3, MAYBE 4 plastic bags of groceries, I concur. Wages have not, in any sense of the word, kept up with the cost of living. A single person, not even twenty years ago, could survive on a thousand dollars a month, now they struggle on $2000 a month. People with families are almost in a situation where if they're not making 4-5 thousand a month a piece, they're struggling to make ends meet.

I don't see it getting any better either.

a reply to: SpeakerofTruth

depends on how and where you live. if you live in certain rural areas $1000 a week will have you living high on the hog but in a place like san fran you would be barely scraping by. we live in a materialistic society and bills can add up quick so if you want all the bells and whistles you really have to work for it one way or the other. on the other hand if you can get by with out the most expensive cell phone w the most expensive plan, a cable bill, a car payment, expensive clothes, overpriced housing etc etc you could live comfortably and save but i know how hard it is to live frugally.

originally posted by: diggindirt
Secondly, if you are living on $1000 month, you need to work more hours a month and/or find a skill or talent that pays more than minimum wage.

Welcome to the problem facing most millennials. The job market is such that the majority of what's available is 29 hours a week at or near minimum wage until you're highly educated. A single Bachelors degree is no longer enough in the job market, getting one and not going further simply leaves a person with a lot of debt and no job prospects.

As far as budgeting goes, my point was, when you need every dollar to live you can't afford to put anything aside.

a reply to: Aazadan

you get your foot in the door, prove you are a competent individual, and you move up, get more hours, higher pay etc etc.

on the other hand if you have a lousy dead end attitude you will never move up.

people have to stop making excuses. there opportunities are out there. there are no dead end jobs only dead end attitudes.

a reply to: conspiracy nut

Service sector jobs don't have upward mobility. There is no getting your foot in the door.

a reply to: Aazadan

Take the experience learned and start your own business. Become the employer instead of the employee. Try and see the silver lining in things, I'm hearing a lot of don't and can'ts from your generation. Lol I come from generation x the slacker generation and I chased dreams as well but I always had two, three different forms of income. If u want it u gotta go out and get it!

originally posted by: SpeakerofTruth
a reply to: toysforadults

Being someone who remembers when $80 bought a cart full of groceries to it buying 3, MAYBE 4 plastic bags of groceries, I concur. Wages have not, in any sense of the word, kept up with the cost of living. A single person, not even twenty years ago, could survive on a thousand dollars a month, now they struggle on $2000 a month. People with families are almost in a situation where if they're not making 4-5 thousand a month a piece, they're struggling to make ends meet.

I don't see it getting any better either.

nope, not when we have people actively fighting against people who want to do better for themselves such as many people in this thread who are arguing against improving the job market

oh yeah start your own business it's easy

a reply to: conspiracy nut

That's bad advice, 90% of businesses fail. Encouraging people to strike out on their own, creates a bunch of people who don't make it.

a reply to: Aazadan
Wow, that's some defeatist attitude you've acquired. You can't encourage people to make a better life for themselves because they might fail? I know a lot of people who have failed at one business or another. Every one of them learned from those failures and ultimately learned how to have a successful business and life. You might chase one dream to have it fail but in the process you find other goals. That's the process called life. Ya win some, ya lose some but you certainly will never win if you don't make the attempt.

I'd be willing to bet that out the 90% who fail, at least 90% of those folks didn't have a well-considered plan for that business. Of the 10% who succeed, I'd bet that 99% had a well-considered plan, including how to budget money.

Service sector jobs have no upward mobility? I can show you a kid who began working as a dishwasher at a resort when he was 14 years old. By the time he was 17 he was the kitchen manager and by the time he was 19 he was manager of the resort, a job he held until he left town for graduate school. His college costs were paid by academic and sports scholarships. He had a plan to meet his goals.

Now he has a new plan that includes having his own business. One thing that is slowing him down is the cost of his family health care plan.

a reply to: Aazadan

Well with your attitude you would never succeed. Might as well just give up.

They just had a story on FOX this morning that MOST Millennials have $100,000 tucked away. Their reasoning was that they kids are living at home and saving their pennies that way. They sure didn't interview any such "Millennials" in my neck of the woods!

a reply to: diggindirt

Suggesting people follow a path where the majority fail isn't how you have a productive work force. You need to focus on plans where the majority who want to succeed do. And all businesses that open up have well thought out plans, you can't get a business loan without one.

That's the process called life. Ya win some, ya lose some

I would rather not lose.

a reply to: Aazadan

Well if you are able to live a comfortable life and pay your bills on time with your present attitude more power to you.

a reply to: toysforadults

Nothing worth anything in life is easy the sooner you accept that the better off you will be. If you are complaining about your current life situation and not doing anything to improve yourself I really can't feel sorry for you.

originally posted by: conspiracy nut
Well with your attitude you would never succeed. Might as well just give up.

Actually, in most ways I consider myself to be a failure because I fall well short of the goals I set for myself. For example, a few months ago I came up with a new system at work that saved us $100,000 a month and doubled our teams productivity. My boss was thrilled with that, and thought it was a major success. I had the opposite opinion, I thought it was a huge failure because it took me 4 months on the job to figure it out, when it's something I should have figured out in the first month, so that's $300,000 of company funds I wasted. The way I see it, that level of gross incompetence on my part should be a fireable offense.

Another example: A process I invented at work is likely going to be getting a patent. It took me 7 months to figure it out. It's something that I would have expected myself to figure out within 2. Everyone is thrilled with this... except me, because I hold higher standards for myself than that.

I've already accepted that I won't succeed at life by my own metrics. I expect more of myself than I'm capable of delivering.

a reply to: seasonal

speaking of the 70s, I always like to use the Brady Bunch example. Its from tv, so, its not real, but, it is a still a good indicator as to what was normal and or believable. And it was one of the most popular shows of its time. So, the producers had to appeal to a Lot of Americans.

In the 70's, it was at least believable to millions of people, that an architect, a middle class career, could support 6 children, a wife who doesn't work, AND a live-in maid/nanny. And a dog. And they lived in a house. Which they owned. And built and designed from the ground up. Which any of us should be able to do just as easily as he with 1 additional step- hire an architect, or learn architecture.