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it isn't just homes. there is no starter car, no starter tv, no started anything. I regularly work with tech support persons who are spending more than I am on

it isn't just homes. there is no starter car, no starter tv, no started anything. I regularly work with tech support persons who are spending more than I am on a wide range of goods and services. It is mind boggling to me. Yes some have trade offs but that seems to be either they are house poor or car poor but mostly the latter. What catches them as with those who do have the money is all those monthly bills can add up really quickly. Adding twenty to thirty to your monthly phone bill for a new phone doesn't sound bad until they add in other similar arrangements. Sadly far too many seem to think they are just free this or free that away from having it all. (as in if healthcare were only free or college was only free they would not have such problems - welcome to the poison of politicians and mass merchandise marketing combined)

OJFord 6y ago
I don't think anyone that says it intends it this way, but this is how I read 'generation rent'. Not 'forced into renting instead of buying property' but 'subscription over ownership for everything'. No money left, lots of stuff, as little of it as possible actually bought and owned. Lease car, rented flat, rented furniture, takeaways and meal box kits, craft beer / organic veg boxes, etc. In many cases it's a reversion rather than a new idea, and fine, it's not wrong, just different. Very different though, and largely not for me (though I fall in the generation described).
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  And the question is whether it's better to: Incur cost being an outlier and then hope it all comes crashing down and you're left standing. I.e. do everything right and be financially prudent. Or: Just do what everybody else is doing and hope that you'll get bailed out eventually at the expense of the group that chose the other option.
stan_rogers 6y ago
"Starter TVs" are certainly still a thing. And it's not just inflation-adjusted; you can get a 24" LED for about the same dollar price that a 15" B&W CRT TV would have been when I left high school. And there are used units out there as well.

OJFord 6y ago

I don't think anyone that says it intends it this way, but this is how I read 'generation rent'. Not 'forced into renting instead of buying property' but 'subscription over ownership for everything'. No money left, lots of stuff, as little of it as possible actually bought and owned. Lease car, rented flat, rented furniture, takeaways and meal box kits, craft beer / organic veg boxes, etc. In many cases it's a reversion rather than a new idea, and fine, it's not wrong, just different. Very different though, and largely not for me (though I fall in the generation described).

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
And the question is whether it's better to: Incur cost being an outlier and then hope it all comes crashing down and you're left standing. I.e. do everything right and be financially prudent. Or: Just do what everybody else is doing and hope that you'll get bailed out eventually at the expense of the group that chose the other option.

stan_rogers 6y ago

"Starter TVs" are certainly still a thing. And it's not just inflation-adjusted; you can get a 24" LED for about the same dollar price that a 15" B&W CRT TV would have been when I left high school. And there are used units out there as well.