6 ms·

Anecdote: I am Gen Z. This story holds true for my parents and I. My dad was a solider in Latin America, my mom, a nurse. Their job required, at most, 2 years

Anecdote: I am Gen Z. This story holds true for my parents and I. My dad was a solider in Latin America, my mom, a nurse. Their job required, at most, 2 years of education beyond High School. I am a data analyst, with a Bachelor's and a Master's. I earn more than they both did together, adjusted for inflation. My friends are in "specialized jobs" as well -- some even being doctors and lawyers. We still have zero hope of affording a house, let alone retirement. Edit: for anyone wondering, my education was completely free as in my country college is free and I took my Master's in a Nordic country, where education is also free (I worked there to support myself too).

raunak 4y ago
How much do you earn? Sorry if it’s rude, I’m genuinely just curious, I figured you’d make enough as a data analyst in any decent-COL living city to be fine
- rtlfe 4y ago
  In the US many data analysis jobs are at tech companies, so they require living in expensive cities and competing with software engineers for homes, but pay only like 1/3-1/2 of what software engineers make.
recursive4 4y ago
Affording a house in which geographic market?
syshum 4y ago
I am late late GenX, and I have no higher education, own my car out right (late model pretty nice), I will pay off my home in the next 5 years, and I financially support one of my parents. I make less than 6 figures so I would not consider myself to be "rich" I think the key for me is the fact I choose not to incur educational debt getting a BS and/or MS, I also choose to live in a non-coastal region that does not have crazy housing prices. I also had lots of support from my parents* when I was younger so establish myself financially (like enabling me to be able to save for the down payment on this home) I worked very hard and now make a pretty decent wage after decades of working lower wage jobs. * To be clear this is just basic support like a stable roof over my head, the were lower middle class as well, their combined income was less than 6 figures, we had a basic home, food, etc but no luxuries, no vacations, one of the reasons I did not go to college was I did not want debt, and the family had no money for tuition
- iso1210 4y ago
  > * To be clear this is just basic support like a stable roof over my head, Over the course of a few years that's well into 6 figures of support
  - syshum 4y ago
    I agree, but I struggled with the wording to covey that I did not come from a wealthy family with a trust fund or something like that We are a "normal" midwest 2 parent household, in the 50th percentile of income band for the region. My over arching point is there has to be some personal accountability. it is easy to be a victim, blame the system, blame rich people, blame everyone but yourself for your own circumstances. Life is hard and often unfair, and I freely admit I am one serious illness away from bankruptcy, there are things we need to do change the system in many ways However alot of the talk I see about "solutions" will in reality just make things worse and further push victim culture that i see today. I don't have all the answer, but "woe is me, life is soo hard and unfair" attitude I see I can assure people is not a solution
    - JaimeThompson 4y ago
      >it is easy to be a victim When you are one major accident or illness away from losing everything you have saved is kind of makes sense to blame those who have fought so hard to make sure typical people don't have access to effective health care at a reasonable cost.
      - syshum 4y ago
        illness or injury yes, as that would prevent me from working, and earning the money I do today Medical costs however would not the cause of my problems as even in the worst case I would be protected by bankruptcy laws would would allow me to discharge my medical debt while keeping my primary home, and a significant chunk of my personal possessions.
        4y ago
teakettle42 4y ago
> We still have zero hope of affording a house, let alone retirement. This is ridiculous. If that’s actually true, move. Lower your expenses. Figure out something else.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  Moving thousands of miles sucks. Leaving all of your family, friends, and work is an enormous disruption to a life.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - teakettle42 4y ago
    Life isn’t easy. Sometimes you have to make hard choices. What’s your point?
    - UncleMeat 4y ago
      It is still reasonable to call it a broken system even if "move to Idaho" is an option.
      - teakettle42 4y ago
        It’s not broken just because it fails to deliver a luxury you want, when and where you want it, for the price you want to pay.
        stepanhruda 4y ago
        Having unreasonable expectations would be okay, but people are calling it broken because a generation before this had this luxury but pulled the ladder behind them. We are supposed to progress forwards, not backwards.
        4y ago

raunak 4y ago

How much do you earn? Sorry if it’s rude, I’m genuinely just curious, I figured you’d make enough as a data analyst in any decent-COL living city to be fine

rtlfe 4y ago
In the US many data analysis jobs are at tech companies, so they require living in expensive cities and competing with software engineers for homes, but pay only like 1/3-1/2 of what software engineers make.

recursive4 4y ago

Affording a house in which geographic market?

syshum 4y ago

I am late late GenX, and I have no higher education, own my car out right (late model pretty nice), I will pay off my home in the next 5 years, and I financially support one of my parents. I make less than 6 figures so I would not consider myself to be "rich" I think the key for me is the fact I choose not to incur educational debt getting a BS and/or MS, I also choose to live in a non-coastal region that does not have crazy housing prices. I also had lots of support from my parents* when I was younger so establish myself financially (like enabling me to be able to save for the down payment on this home) I worked very hard and now make a pretty decent wage after decades of working lower wage jobs. * To be clear this is just basic support like a stable roof over my head, the were lower middle class as well, their combined income was less than 6 figures, we had a basic home, food, etc but no luxuries, no vacations, one of the reasons I did not go to college was I did not want debt, and the family had no money for tuition

iso1210 4y ago
> * To be clear this is just basic support like a stable roof over my head, Over the course of a few years that's well into 6 figures of support
- syshum 4y ago
  I agree, but I struggled with the wording to covey that I did not come from a wealthy family with a trust fund or something like that We are a "normal" midwest 2 parent household, in the 50th percentile of income band for the region. My over arching point is there has to be some personal accountability. it is easy to be a victim, blame the system, blame rich people, blame everyone but yourself for your own circumstances. Life is hard and often unfair, and I freely admit I am one serious illness away from bankruptcy, there are things we need to do change the system in many ways However alot of the talk I see about "solutions" will in reality just make things worse and further push victim culture that i see today. I don't have all the answer, but "woe is me, life is soo hard and unfair" attitude I see I can assure people is not a solution
  - JaimeThompson 4y ago
    >it is easy to be a victim When you are one major accident or illness away from losing everything you have saved is kind of makes sense to blame those who have fought so hard to make sure typical people don't have access to effective health care at a reasonable cost.
    - syshum 4y ago
      illness or injury yes, as that would prevent me from working, and earning the money I do today Medical costs however would not the cause of my problems as even in the worst case I would be protected by bankruptcy laws would would allow me to discharge my medical debt while keeping my primary home, and a significant chunk of my personal possessions.
      - 4y ago

teakettle42 4y ago

> We still have zero hope of affording a house, let alone retirement. This is ridiculous. If that’s actually true, move. Lower your expenses. Figure out something else.

UncleMeat 4y ago
Moving thousands of miles sucks. Leaving all of your family, friends, and work is an enormous disruption to a life.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- teakettle42 4y ago
  Life isn’t easy. Sometimes you have to make hard choices. What’s your point?
  - UncleMeat 4y ago
    It is still reasonable to call it a broken system even if "move to Idaho" is an option.
    - teakettle42 4y ago
      It’s not broken just because it fails to deliver a luxury you want, when and where you want it, for the price you want to pay.
      - stepanhruda 4y ago
        Having unreasonable expectations would be okay, but people are calling it broken because a generation before this had this luxury but pulled the ladder behind them. We are supposed to progress forwards, not backwards.
        4y ago