3 ms·

A combination of factors have completely ravaged Millennials' finances: * Technology is capturing more and more of low-wage/low-skill entry level work. * The

by zozin 6y ago

A combination of factors have completely ravaged Millennials' finances: * Technology is capturing more and more of low-wage/low-skill entry level work. * The combination of technology, free-market capitalism and globalization means that American youth have to compete with non-Americans for jobs that were solely done by Americans during most of the 20th century. * Incompetent government policies have created a system where college tuition has outstripped core inflation by 500-600%; all of this in a system where a college education has gone from nice-to-have to an absolute necessity. * Globalization and urbanization have led to congregation of more and more people in urban cores, causing housing and other fixed living costs to increase. * Untimely financial crises have both retarded Millennial career progress as well as their ability to save/invest in the stock market. None of these processes or events are inherently bad, but their combination have created so many negative externalities for a generation of Americans that these people will never be able to recover.

ben7799 6y ago
There is one other weird aspect if you compare millenials with GenX. Millenials spend a lot more money on a lot of stuff that didn't even exist in the period in the 1990s the blog author was talking about. In the early 1990s if you were young & working you: * Possibly didn't have a TV * Were extremely likely to not own a computer - They were REALLY expensive, most people who had them had them because they were in tech and the employer gave you one to take home * You didn't have a $900 smartphone and pay $100 or more a month to use it * Definitely didn't pay recurring software subscription fees, very likely didn't buy any software * Probably went out to eat far less than today * Were less likely to work/live in the Urban core.. you might have needed a car but everything else was cheaper * You weren't going to Starbucks or other Cafes and buying $3-4 Coffee drinks, cause most places didn't even have cafes like that * There was less pressure to keep up with the joneses since Social Media didn't even exist There was a lot of stuff in Millennial culture in the 2010s that was downright expensive.
- treespace89 6y ago
  As a GenX in the 90's my money went to: - Going to the movies - Going out for fast food - Renting movies - Renting video games

by zozin 6y ago

ben7799 6y ago

There is one other weird aspect if you compare millenials with GenX. Millenials spend a lot more money on a lot of stuff that didn't even exist in the period in the 1990s the blog author was talking about. In the early 1990s if you were young & working you: * Possibly didn't have a TV * Were extremely likely to not own a computer - They were REALLY expensive, most people who had them had them because they were in tech and the employer gave you one to take home * You didn't have a $900 smartphone and pay $100 or more a month to use it * Definitely didn't pay recurring software subscription fees, very likely didn't buy any software * Probably went out to eat far less than today * Were less likely to work/live in the Urban core.. you might have needed a car but everything else was cheaper * You weren't going to Starbucks or other Cafes and buying $3-4 Coffee drinks, cause most places didn't even have cafes like that * There was less pressure to keep up with the joneses since Social Media didn't even exist There was a lot of stuff in Millennial culture in the 2010s that was downright expensive.

treespace89 6y ago
As a GenX in the 90's my money went to: - Going to the movies - Going out for fast food - Renting movies - Renting video games