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One Millennial's Thoughts from the Coffee Shop


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2 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

When I was 25, I got married, had an OK job but not great.  I went to a inflation calculator and found that my salary equates to around 41,000 today.  That's with a college degree and a little debt.  I then went from that to getting audited two years alter because I made nothing for two years.  That was when my wife and I also bought our first home and had our first kid.  I then spent the next 10 years trying to grow a business which paid me OK but nothing that provided a ton of extra money.  15 years after being married, my wife and i didn't have anything for retirement because we didn't make enough to save a lot.  

 

I'm saying this to point out that back in the 80s and 90s, there were lots of 20 somethings that didn't have a lot of money either.  

 

 

Sure. It's not like nobody has ever experienced being broke into their adulthood before. But the truth is somewhere in the nuanced middle between "this isn't anything new" and "millenials are broke in a way the world has never seen". The main differences, generally speaking, are that the same 25-27 year old in your shoes but extrapolated into modern times, will have a disgustingly inflated amount of college debt and (at least in most rising urban areas) will be paying way way way more for a house. It's not as bad for people in smaller towns, it's not as bad for people in smaller midwestern cities, but then again those aren't usually the places the most ambitious of us want to make a name for ourselves.

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42 minutes ago, Landlord said:

 

 

Sure. It's not like nobody has ever experienced being broke into their adulthood before. But the truth is somewhere in the nuanced middle between "this isn't anything new" and "millenials are broke in a way the world has never seen". The main differences, generally speaking, are that the same 25-27 year old in your shoes but extrapolated into modern times, will have a disgustingly inflated amount of college debt and (at least in most rising urban areas) will be paying way way way more for a house. It's not as bad for people in smaller towns, it's not as bad for people in smaller midwestern cities, but then again those aren't usually the places the most ambitious of us want to make a name for ourselves.

 

I have spoken here about the need to reduce the cost of education, it's a major problem that needs resolved.  However, some kids are spending way too much on education and that's their choice.  

 

Also, maybe some people need to stop chasing the bright lights of the big cities and move to some of these small midwestern cities and towns.  Life is pretty good here and affordable.  I hear people all the time saying no way would they ever move to a small town....then complain about how expensive it is to live where they are.  

 

You know that if you're a nurse or doctor and move to my town, the local hospital will pay 100% of your student loans?

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1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said:

Also, maybe some people need to stop chasing the bright lights of the big cities and move to some of these small midwestern cities and towns.  Life is pretty good here and affordable.  I hear people all the time saying no way would they ever move to a small town....then complain about how expensive it is to live where they are.  

Does that mean rural people need to stop complaining about the lack of jobs and move to the big cities?

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7 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

When I was 25, I got married, had an OK job but not great.  I went to a inflation calculator and found that my salary equates to around 41,000 today.  That's with a college degree and a little debt.  I then went from that to getting audited two years alter because I made nothing for two years.  That was when my wife and I also bought our first home and had our first kid.  I then spent the next 10 years trying to grow a business which paid me OK but nothing that provided a ton of extra money.  15 years after being married, my wife and i didn't have anything for retirement because we didn't make enough to save a lot.  

 

I'm saying this to point out that back in the 80s and 90s, there were lots of 20 somethings that didn't have a lot of money either.  

I just did that, and my starting salary out of college in 92' would be the equivalent of $21,700  today.  ugh.  I knew things were tight - I was lucky to have a good living situation (at a friends' family home that was on the market)

 

 

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1 hour ago, NM11046 said:

I just did that, and my starting salary out of college in 92' would be the equivalent of $21,700  today.  ugh.  I knew things were tight - I was lucky to have a good living situation (at a friends' family home that was on the market)

 

 

 

 

My income the last two years after deductions has been $17,000 and $19,000. I think so far this year I've made... $4,500? Granted I had a lot saved up that I was living off of and traveling the first few months this year, and I have a lot of deductions working for myself, but I've lived on very very little in Chicago/Seattle/Atlanta.

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10 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

When I was 25, I got married, had an OK job but not great.  I went to a inflation calculator and found that my salary equates to around 41,000 today.  That's with a college degree and a little debt.  I then went from that to getting audited two years alter because I made nothing for two years.  That was when my wife and I also bought our first home and had our first kid.  I then spent the next 10 years trying to grow a business which paid me OK but nothing that provided a ton of extra money.  15 years after being married, my wife and i didn't have anything for retirement because we didn't make enough to save a lot.  

 

I'm saying this to point out that back in the 80s and 90s, there were lots of 20 somethings that didn't have a lot of money either.  

Peak earning years rarely happen in our 20s or 30s.

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5 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

2% unemployment. 

Right now maybe, but what about when unemployment is higher? If you're going to say people need to move away from high cost of living areas, then it stands to reason that other people would need to move to where the jobs are.

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13 hours ago, RedDenver said:

Right now maybe, but what about when unemployment is higher? If you're going to say people need to move away from high cost of living areas, then it stands to reason that other people would need to move to where the jobs are.

Rural and Midwest small city unemployment tends to fluctuate much less than other areas. 

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I’m sure there are lots of people who don’t move to smaller towns just because they don’t feel like it.

 

That said, I’m guessing a lot of people would be under-employed if they were to do that and it might not improve their financial situation even if the cost of living improved. Just throwing out my field as an example, I don’t think my hometown has a job that relates to my major. I think that’d be true for most STEM majors. There are probably a few computer programming jobs though.

 

There aren’t normal people jobs with higher salaries there. There are a few people who’d make over $100k, like doctors, heads of law firms or insurance agencies, bigger business owners, heads of bank branches, etc. 

 

I think there are some decent jobs that pay over $15/hour but I’m sure there’s a big gap where there aren’t many making above $50,000.

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There are a lot of legitimate generational spending shifts, too. Really big shifts in credit scores, for one. Past generations bought homes and cars and used credit cards frequently, often building up credit in their 20s and 30s. New generations rent, Uber, and prefer debit cards and Venmo. Immigrants and people in the military service often don't show up on the books, either. There are 70 million Americans who are virtually invisible to traditional credit screening, and a lot of them have perfectly viable income. 

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19 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

There are a lot of legitimate generational spending shifts, too. Really big shifts in credit scores, for one. Past generations bought homes and cars and used credit cards frequently, often building up credit in their 20s and 30s. New generations rent, Uber, and prefer debit cards and Venmo. Immigrants and people in the military service often don't show up on the books, either. There are 70 million Americans who are virtually invisible to traditional credit screening, and a lot of them have perfectly viable income. 

 

 

 

I used debit until I was 32 or so. Except I applied for an NFM card when I was around 18 because I wanted a laptop. (They only gave me $300). I never bought anything with it.

 

I never used credit cards because I didn’t trust myself and that was probably a good idea at the time. But I missed out on the $ you can get back from credit cards. Now I have about 5 different cards I use depending on which will give the most rewards.

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52 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

I’m sure there are lots of people who don’t move to smaller towns just because they don’t feel like it.

 

That said, I’m guessing a lot of people would be under-employed if they were to do that and it might not improve their financial situation even if the cost of living improved. Just throwing out my field as an example, I don’t think my hometown has a job that relates to my major. I think that’d be true for most STEM majors. There are probably a few computer programming jobs though.

 

There aren’t normal people jobs with higher salaries there. There are a few people who’d make over $100k, like doctors, heads of law firms or insurance agencies, bigger business owners, heads of bank branches, etc. 

 

I think there are some decent jobs that pay over $15/hour but I’m sure there’s a big gap where there aren’t many making above $50,000.

What are “normal people jobs”?

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29 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

What are “normal people jobs”?

 

 

I’m mostly thinking about jobs for people who work for an employer. Jobs where a person could rather easily up and leave the city for a small town. In the context we’re in I’m not talking about the people who can afford to live in San Francisco because they aren’t relevant to the conversation. The relevant people would be the ones that would make $0-$150k in the small town who can’t afford to live in the city. There aren’t many small town jobs that pay $50-150k, at least in my small town.

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