Avocado toast is the least of young Americans’ worries
Getty ImagesMinor expenses can cause major financial problems.
“Millennials are falling victim to common financial vices, such as spending money in coffee shops,” according to a new study by personal-finance site Bankrate.com. The average millennial dines at a restaurant or buys take-out food five times per week and nearly 30% of this age goup say they buy coffee at least three times per week. More than half of millennials (54%) eat out at least three times a week, compared to roughly one-third of Generation X-ers and baby boomers.
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“Often, it’s the minor, habitual expenses, such as take-out and alcohol, that wreak havoc on your budget,” Sarah Berger, a financial analyst at Bankrate, said. “Preparing meals at home and brewing your own coffee can add up to big savings.” Some 59% of all age groups say they don’t purchase any brewed coffee or tea in a typical week and 40% say they buy take-out or dine at a restaurant no more than once per week. But that doesn’t mean they’re all cooking at home.
In fact, the number of phone and internet orders for restaurants surged 18% last year to 1.9 billion, according to data released last March by Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm NPD Group. Some 50% of digital orders come at dinner time, while 35% includes parties with kids. People younger than 35 and those with higher household incomes are among above-average users of digital ordering with apps like Seamless and Grubhub.
Restaurant food is still the No. 1 thing that Americans spend their money on, according to the Principal Financial Group’s annual Financial Well Being Index, which was released last December. They spent 24% of their budgets on restaurant food, up from 22% two years earlier, versus 20% on groceries and 18% on entertainment. All this eating out adds up. For lunch alone, Americans spend an average of $53 a week, or $2,746 a year.
Eating prepared food can also be bad for your health. People have less control over what goes into their meals when they order in. Americans get most of their daily sodium — more than 75% — from processed food and restaurant food, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such foods are high in sodium, so it’s difficult to reduce your daily sodium intake if you don’t cook your own food, or if you eat pre-made sauces or meals.
Millennials also have bigger problems. They shoulder more student loan debt than any other generation and face house prices that are far higher than their parents did at their age in a post-recession environment of stagnant wages. Student loan debt has reached $1.3 trillion as the cost of college has soared. And spending no more than 30% of their income on rent or a mortgage, which was deemed a golden rule for decades, is now almost impossible for many young Americans.
While one-quarter of millennials and Generation X-ers lack any emergency savings, according to a separate Bankrate survey released last week, younger millennials (those aged 18 to 26) appear to have learned from the lessons of their older siblings: They have the highest propensity to have enough to cover 3 to 5 months of expenses (31%). Generation X is most likely to have some savings, but not enough to cover three months’ expenses (28%).
Drugs, tattoos and telephones have got to be line items in their budgets!
Yeah, surely. The guy writing this is a fucking retard, though. Go to Market Watch and look over a few of his other articles. He’s a fucking imbecile.
I predict a coffee shop collapse, and a restaurant bubble.
The Millennials don’t have a pot to piss in. Some day they will have to wake up – and then no more $5 coffees – remember how all those gas stations just disappeared – sometime in the 80’s? Same thing for coffee shops.
Here in Minneapolis at least 10 restaurants open every month. Eventually the shit will hit the fan.
How can anyone stupid enough to take out a loan to finance their education, actually be smart enough to graduate! Just ask’n.
The problem is the parents. I know when I was 18, I was not equipped to make good financial decisions on my own either. HOWEVER, fortunately I had a father who was VERY good with finance, like he managed million dollar portfolios on Wall Street good (back when Wall Street was not a cesspool of stupid yuppies). Besides student loans were hardly necessary back then also. A person could get a job slinging pizzas and afford tuition and books.
The issue is that the parents of these snowflakes (not all of them mind you, but a good proportion) are just as spoiled and ignorant about money, life, etc. as their kids, so expecting these kids to get ANY decent advice or experience from a full on sheeple of a parent is probably asking too much. Generational stupidity is not easily fixed. I have had a personal policy for a while, if I see someone’s offspring who is an asshat or ignorant, 99.9% of the time, the parent is the same. It does not excuse the behavior on the part of the snowflake, but it definitely explains it. What excuse does the 40 year old that still dresses (and thinks) like an 18 year old have?
Without good, smart parents, these kids fall prey to the scams. The parents rattle on about their child’s “need” to go to college no matter what, simply repeating the drum beat of the high-school salesman er… counselor that you will be a failure if you don’t go to college. Same with the health scams – just parroting the MSM and “conventional wisdom” on these matters instead of objectively looking at the math and facts, especially with finance related ones.
The best defense, and future that a modern “youth” can have is a smart set of parents that consistently encourage independent thought, and to operate with the assumption that anything told to you by anyone on TV, Radio or other form of media, or especially an “authority figure” is to be scrutinized carefully, and assumed to be 90% lie until proven true through mathematical analysis, and following the money to see whose agenda it benefits. If it is mutually beneficial, then ok fine (not all things are bad), but you go in to decisions with both eyes open, and all the facts.
“back when Wall Street was not a cesspool of stupid yuppies)”
When was that? Before there was a street anywhere on Manhattan?
Back when financial “wizards” had to eat their own cooking. Hence, if there was a market crash, don’t be around any high rises, or you may get hit with a jumping stock broker…..
You must have gone to college in the 50’s. You sound like one of the asshole parents you are talking about. The ones that say life was rosy and my mother stayed home and cooked didn’t have to work because Dad’s salary was enough for house, food, car, vacation. That time was gone in the late 70’s. When your Dad figured out how to fuck people out of their savings in the stock market. The baby bummer generation that sold out America. You know the losers that shipped the jobs overseas just to fleece America. Yeah, why play the game that the bummers stacked the deck. THIS GENERATION IS THE ONE THAT WAS SPOILED, MORE THAN ANY OTHER. tHEY COULD WORK THEIR WAY THROUGH COLLEGE, BUY A HOUSE ON ONE INCOME AND AFFORD ALL THE SHIT THEY NEEDED. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOUR PIVLEGED ASS DO IT NOW. YOU WOULD BE ON WELFARE LIKE THE REST OF THE SNOWFLAKES YOU LOVE SO MUCH.
Many of the jobs pay a substandard wage and you are expected to pay for most or all benefits like retirement or health insurance so I believe many say WTF ! With the deck clearly stacked against them financially I am sure a few shrewd thinkers are sitting back and waiting for the crash . At that point they will be young enough to take what the dead boomer parents left and stake a claim on property at a bargain ! Or they look at the game , saw how their boomer parents got fucked over in the Tarp bailout with bankrupted pensions and health insurance premiums skyrocketing when their diminished salaries have crushed them at the time they should be retiring or at least throttling back and these kids say fuck that . If that’s the game we choose not to play , we will just skate by on what it takes to good off as much as possible !
OTOH, the younger set doesn’t stand a chance. A lot of the decent paying jobs have been offshored. Used to be the day when a high school graduate could go to work in a factory and earn a good living. Lots of those jobs are gone. Go to college, rack up debt on student loans, and try to find a decent paying job. Home prices are out of the park. And they have to buy a car. Gov’t and Corporations conspire to fuck our citizens and bring in immigrants and H-1B/H-2B. Burnt toast.
Wonder why they turn to drugs.
Not making excuses for them; it is just different today. I used to have a paper route with a one speed bike. Worked summers on various jobs. Some kids worked in grocery stores during summer. Etc. – those are no longer available and many others.
No wonder they vote for Bernie and Socialism.
Yep, a lot of what I did for a living at that age just doesn’t even exist anymore. For instance, quite a few years running, I would work on construction crews for cash, paid under the table, during the summer and tend bar during the winter, paying tax only on the $1.10 per hour I made before tips. The tips were always cash and there was no effort made by the IRS to come after small timers like me who filed for tiny amounts.
Today, if a young guy is able to get a construction job, FICA eats him alive and if he also works part time tending bar, his tips are estimated at an unreasonable dream world amount and his withholding is based on that. Where I could buy a decent used car for cash and rent an apartment for 15-20% of my monthly income, none of these younguns can do that.
You can bet that this author was shepherded through his teens and early 20s by upper-middle class parents and has never faced anything like what most young people are facing now. Fuck this guy, and his stupid “how come” articles on MW, anyway.
Exactly, ask ANON up there how his asshole generation fixed the country.
They sold it out and fucked their own family all the way down to the Great, Great, Great, Grandchildren. There has to be a revolution by then. By 1980 it took 2 incomes. These stupid fuckers just kept on doing what ever it took to sell us out. What do you think will happen it is unsustainable.
I am acquainted with several Millenials with the ‘Fuck it’ mindset. I am sympathetic. They have no future, however prudent they try to be. We know it, they know it, and they know that we know it. We would probably do the same as them in their circumstance. Live well while you still can.
I call bullshit on those saying the younger gen has no chance.
I know a number of folks in that age group well. Here is the thing – they are almost all kicking ass and taking names. They do not fall into the bullshit described above. They are all thrifty, hard-working, and successful. Of course, the reason I know these fine young folks is via my kids. Birds of a feather flock together. Winners hang with winners. I, and my family, do not hang out with idiots. So the young people I know well come from a different standard than what is illustrated above.
But I hear of dozens of young folks that are screwing up big time. My kids and thir friends talk about people they know all the time, and not in glowing terms. The masses of young folks are fuck-ups, and they know it, and love to regale us with tales.
But the fact remains – young, hard-working, responsible, thrifty young people can, and are, doing well for themselves. Their competition sucks, and the cream rises quickly to the top.
One thing, though – these fine young people have different goals than we oldies do. Most have zero interest in owning homes, for instance. Many, if not most, do not want children. Etc.
But in an environment where most people are idiots (common throughout history), opportunity exists. And the young people I know well are universally taking advantage of that fact.
Llpoh, I wouldn’t disagree with your assertions except that the number of ‘failures’ is now staggering. In the Western world from the 50’s to the 90’s, you could project that there would always be 15 or 20% that would end up dysfunctional and living in a shitty tenement or trailer court. But that number might soon reach 80 or 90%. You can’t dismiss that by focusing on the few who are still successful.
Vodka – sorry if I was unclear. I a gree with you. My point is that the good ones will do well. It is easier to do well if you are a relative diamond in a field of turds.
There are certainly many, many turds among the ranks of the young. My advice to the ypung is take advantage of the opportunity that presents. And to not hang around them lest the stink carry over.
Point taken. As a successful businessman you always focus on what can be. That is an extremely admirable trait. I was commenting on the Big Picture of what is happening now. You, and the 5% like you, will not be held back. But what will society be like if 90% are absolute Fuck-ups?? This effects us all, and not in anyway good. I guess I just want a society like my childhood in the early 70’s. Even the Fuck-ups could pay their bills and raise descent kids. It happened then, why not again? The richest nation in history can’t make that happen??
Very true, there is a large degree of acceptance to perceived norms. Hang out with losers and one sees being a loser as the norm ad they accept their lot in life.
Its why a common idea is a person is the average the 5 people they spend the most time with.
Choose wisely.
The outliers really aren’t the point. Yes, there will always be some able to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Some just get lucky. But the article is about an entire generation, and the average millennial is only capable of making ends meet with no realistic chance of changing that anytime soon.
You describe some above-average millennials who are thriving. Well, by definition not everyone can be above average. The bulk are stuck.
Not being above average and “being stuck” is a conscious choice, not mere happenstance. Choices have consequences. Wallowing in self pity and blaming others (victim mentality) is a conscious choice as well.
The trouble is, no one ever taught these kids to have goals and to reason out the steps required to achieve those goals. Instead, they were given trophies for participation. Life doesn’t work that way.
I agree a great number of young people are hustling and making it . You are missing the argument ! It’s about percentages and viable oppurtunities . My parents were very rough on my brother and I and staying home and working to get a college degree was not an option ! I went into heavy industry and my younger brother joined the military right out of high school 1972/76 . Yes the military is still an option but not a good one today and heavy industry with apprentice training classes are nearly nonexistent .
I supported and still do support president Trump although some things he does make it difficult . I said the first time he announced MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN ! I asked where with what and by who ?
FYI: carrier is laying off now and the Mexico plant is happening now that the dust settled !
You are the POS that created the situation we are in now and are to stupid to see it. You created the fucking of America where it takes two or three incomes to live. After 1978 productivity increased while wages remained the same. If wages had kept pace with inflation the min. wage would be $18.00. That was why I coulden’t work my way through college. I worked a 40 hour week and went to school full-time. IT WOULD NOT PAY FOR COLLEGE. NOT BY A LONG SHOT. IDIOT. Did your kids pay for their own way or did you. After you fucked us all with the bank bailouts and retired.
I ate restaurant food today. Two cheeseburgers from the BK Lounge (Burger King). $2 + 15 cents tax. And a free glass for water.
Near as I can tell around these parts millenials have plenty of job opportunities. Of course they may not be able to launch that power career in wimmens studies, community organizing, gender studies, underwater basket weaving or diversity expert but plenty o jobs are to be had.
They’ve been trained since birth, like most of us, to spend, spend, spend at all costs. If they could be made to seek employment in one or more jobs outside of what is printed on their diploma and then live below their means and save the difference, they could all be millionaires before they retire. That will never happen as long as they are spending $50+ per week on eating out for lunch and 24% of their income on restaurant phood and 18% on entertainment. Getting ahead is doable, it just has to be an actual goal you actively work towards on a daily basis. That might mean skipping or delaying a few things along the way but I doubt they will remember what they spent $100 on at that restaurant they ate at the second wednesday of each month anyway so it’s no big loss right? They’ll sure know what they SHOULD have spent it on once they close in on retirement age.
In the meantime, play the victim card and party on!
IS, the .1% loves you as a spokesperson! Keep telling the grunts that, no, they’re not getting fucked. This is how it is. Suck it up, Johnny.
You would have made a good ‘boss’ at the company camp in the Grapes of Wrath.
So what’s the alternative? Give up? A go-getter with a small amount of self discipline can fucking get ahead. I see it happening myself.
Where did I say they were not getting fucked? If you were born after 1913 the deck has been stacked against you. You’ve been getting fucked. That IS HOW IT IS!
But go ahead…….roll over…..cry uncle. Go on the welfare. Be a whiner blaming everyone else for your problems. That makes life easier for me and the go-getters out there.
Let’s hear your realistic solutions….I’m all fucking ears!
Go read Charles Hugh Smith’s article today. 6/27
Great article, and outlines THE problem, which if fixed, would make most of our other problems go away. Here is the link for those that don’t know the site: http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html
IS,
I don’t have a solution. I’m ‘set’ in life. I live on a farm that is paid for. But I don’t feel good about telling the younger generations (including my own children) to “go get ’em!. Work hard and you’ll succeed!”, when I know it’s a lie. My great frustration is I don’t know what advice to give the youngsters. But I know not to tell them to believe in this system and that it will somehow all work out for them. That is a goddamned lie.
Who the fuck tells them to believe in the system? I tell them to use every part of the system to their own advantage and fuck what anyone else thinks.
I skipped college. Fresh out of high school I went to work for about $4.10/hr. Worked several jobs simultaneously. Every job was a step up in pay and responsibility. Got married, got stupid with credit cards for a short time before figuring out that was a road to ruin. We pissed away a small fortune for a few years keeping up with the Jonses. Had we invested that small fortune instead, even with market crashes, we’d be multi-millionaires already. Had we simply cut expenses, stuck to a budget and invested the excess we’d be multi-millionaires even after pissing away the small fortune.
We didn’t, but we are on the fast track now saving about five times our monthly expenses and beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The trick is having a goal and perseverance to achieve it.
Living below your means, saving and investing ten percent of your income IS doable by just about anyone. Hell, most could do it simply by skipping the phast phood they eat every month. My only real regret is not having or seeing the value of that knowledge earlier in life.
You’re right. It won’t just “somehow all work out for them”. Nothing just works out for anybody. You need a goal and a plan and the common sense to work toward that goal in a deliberate manner. I’m guessing that’s similar to what you did. The same thing is achievable today. Maybe their nest egg will only be five million instead of ten million owing to inflation and other more onerous things that you never faced but anything is better that giving up and dropping out. I do appreciate those quitters though! 🙂
DITTO!
The author gets a lot right.
1. Zero tattoos or weird piercings for me or my wife.
2. Starbucks is a “once a month” treat. Other than that its Folgers.
3. We cook quite a bit. We try to have a “date night” once a week. I skip lunch most days.
4. Our home is sensible. We qualified for 250 initially, 350 after my wife got her promotion. We got a 68k foreclosure instead. Agent was pissed.
5. We go to the bar maybe once a quarter. When we travel we pack local wine we get for cheap since we do trade for service with the owners (wife helps with marketing).
6. Wife technically is a “travel agent.” So we get the discounts. If its not a discounted trip we don’t go. Knocks off the price to around a third of normal. We double up work conferences with vacations to help defray costs frequently.
7. We don’t job hop or “start over” frequently. Its hard to build a contacts list when you are always “just getting your feet under you” in your first year at a position.
Frankly, I don’t know what to say. My “little” company has plenty of opportunities. We just have trouble finding people willing to work 40 hours a week. Everybody just wants to show up, play on their phone, and draw a paycheck.
I can think of 3 young fellers (23-26) who would be clearing 50k a year with ZERO COLLEGE EXPERIENCE OR PRIOR EXPERIENCE….if I could just fucking count on them.
They are intelligent enough. Organized enough. But they are not consistent at all. If they have a “hard day” one day they take it out on us by slacking in other ways the rest of the week.
Unfortunately they are the best we can do. Modern work ethic sucks.
The virtue-signaling is getting thick. Ok, I guess everything is alright in the good ol’ U S of A. Just work harder, you fuckers. It’s your own fault if you can’t get ahead. Government and businesses would never have anything except your best interest in mind. Drink the Kool Aid.
Most give up before they ever enter the race. Its sad. I can sort of understand for Minnies in my own position who literally in college when everything went to hell between 2001-2010, but for those who came after there is no real damned excuse.
The work force in this country is weird. On the one hand businesses generally are undervaluing their employees and expecting us to be on call borderline 24/7 for even the most mundane of positions.
On the other hand the work force is in a race to the bottom quality wise. Small biz and mom-pop organizations are rapidly becoming a thing of the past due to government regulations, and these historically were the ones that “took a chance” and had a much more personal hiring experience.
Now we have mega-corporations that assume everybody is a shitheel and assign us all a number internally. No amount of skill will protect your job in that environment.
Like so many problems in the US this is a multi-faceted problem, and there is not a silver bullet to help fix the issue.
If I had to start, I would even the playing field between Entrepreneurs, Mom/Pop, Small Biz, and Mega Corps.
yEP, IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE BABY BUMMERS TO FUCK IT ALL UP EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER. WOULD YOU TAKE A $10.00 AN HOUR JOB WORKING 25-30 HOURS A WEEK (SO THEY WON’T HAVE TO PAY BENIFITS) GETTING OUT OF COLLEGE. tHE INTEREST PILES UP EVERY DAY. DON’T GO TO COLLEGE AND YOU GET MINIMUM WAGE. there IS NO WAY OUT. NO WAGES AND A COMPANY THAT CAN FUCK YOU WHENEVER THAY WANT. (BECAUSE OF REAGAN)
Goddamn you’re a whiny piece of shit. I never had benefits at any job I worked until 2006. You just feel that you’re fucking entitled to something. The ONLY thing you’re entitled to is an OPPORTUNITY. It’s up to you to do with it what you will.
So you fucked up, went into debt for a degree that had no monetary value in the real world and you’re pissed off about it. I would be too but there is a lesson to be learned. If you put half as much effort into working as you do whining you’d already be getting ahead.
I’m no genius. I skipped college despite huge pressure to attend and don’t regret it a bit. I worked multiple, menial jobs taking advantage of opportunities for advancement everywhere I could. I even married a military member so a stable career life was not an option either. I never even considered bitching about it. I just kept my head down working towards a goal. Thirty years later, owing to a few fuck ups of my own, it’s finally paying off. I’ve had and continue to have a great time navigating this shit show.
So, fuck off. You won’t last around here. Slither back to your safe space and eat lead for dinner.
See there Vodka, three jobs where a millenial could clear 50K a year just to show up and do the job. I’m the kind of guy who would take that job, arrive 15 min early, leave 15 min late, volunteer for every shit job and overtime and quickly become the go-to person at that place. I know because THAT IS ME! That’s what I do in addition to all the other things TPC mentioned he and his wife are doing. I even qualified for a $260k mortgage, bought a house for $76k and pissed off the agent.
I do love your attitude though Vodka. It perfectly suits me and those like me who are willing to get shit done to get ahead. You should become a high school guidance counselor or college career advisor………convince all the lazy bastards to just give up.
By the end of the year I’ll be debt free with a million dollar net worth because I ignored people like you. Five years after that I expect to be a multi-millionaire. I owe that to people like you so Thank You! It is appreciated.
YES, ANOTHER BABY-BUMMER THAT THINKS HE WAS THE SHIT. JUST ANOTHER LOSER THAT MADE THE MESS WERE IN. SECURE BEFORE ALL THE SHIT HIT THE FAN. LET THE CONSPIRITORS WALK AWAY BECAUSE THEY GAVE YOU A CUT WHEN THE BANKS FAILED. I WOULD HAVE SAID LET IT FAIL AND WE ALL STARVE TOGETHER INSTED OF YOU CROWING ABOUT HOW GOOD YOU ARE BECAUSE YOU GREW UP WHEN THINGS WERE PEACHEY.
You’re one ignorant cum stain. The best part of you ran down mommy’s leg.
I’m not a boomer. Parents weren’t boomers. I didn’t grow up when things were peachy. No one gave me anything. I was in favor of letting the banks fail and still am. I never claimed I was good either. I just work hard, live below my means, save the difference and leave people the fuck alone.
All I ask is that everyone pull their own weight.
Your parents were brother and sister right? Did they have any kids that lived?
Vodka- I/S was not afraid to get his hands dirty when he was young, concrete work and hard labor. Minnies won’t do that kind of work BECAUSE ITS HARD……Whaaay! There is plenty of work out there for tradesmen but you can’t whine about the fact that you have to rise very early and work your ass off.
Vodka – seripusly, hard-working, smart, thrifty kids can do great. The pissing and moaning is from those who are anything but.
Less bitching and more working is what is needed.
There are plenty of opportunities out there. My 3 sons are doing great. Oldest is Engineer. 28. Putting off buying a car to pay his loans off in a couple years. The next works construction looking to apprentice in trade. Youngest in Math. Still not sure what he’ll do but he graduates next year from Uni.
Yes there are lots of shitty jobs. No doubt millions of young folks are going to be left behind because their womyn’s studies and history degrees don’t translate in the modern world. I say tuff on them. They only have themselves to blame. Dying hair blue and getting tattoos and piercings ain’t helping and nobody who is honest can say with straight face that they weren’t warned. If little Suzie is still working at Starbucks at 35 then she only has herself to blame.
Pissing and moaning about it won’t help either. While working hard helps even the odds. Picking the right education will tilt those odds in their favour. In some ways it is easier for my sons than it was for me. These days showing up on time for work without a cell phone in hand is seen as a virtue.
Too bad guidance counsellors didn’t spend moar time telling all the snowflakes to shut the fuck up and get to work. But they don’t.
Instead they cheer on shit like this…..
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Why hire this guy?
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Or him?
All the people like those two snowflakes above fucken’ deserve the shitty lives they are going to get.
When was the last time you used “intersectionality” in a sentence, huh?
Can’t remember, gettin’ old eh!
A lot of millennials are reaching their 30s now and have given up on the traditional trappings of adulthood. It’s a big shift from 5 years ago when they will still scratching their heads trying to figure out what steps to take to pay off debt, buy a house, start a family, and save for retirement.
Honestly a lot of them have figured out that their current way of life just isn’t so bad. Houses, cars, family, and retirement are expensive — but not everything is. Food, drink, and most of all, entertainment is dirt cheap. Yes, it makes a hole in your monthly budget. But if all you’re really living for is the endless X-box gaming, the new season of Game of Thrones and some shots of cheap whiskey to make it all seem more exciting then it’s actually a pretty cheap way of life.
Millennial math is really just figuring out if you’re going to break even or not at the end of the month.
I don’t know if it’s really a well-reasoned response or not. On one hand, no one wants to be a sucker and play a rigged game. Jobs go to minorities and the well-connected offspring of government hacks. Most marriages end in divorce with the man footing the bill. Young women are out of control, swiping right on every stud that crosses their iphone instead of forming meaningful relationships. It makes sense not to play. On the other hand a lot of it is just laziness, bred into a generation that took a thousand standardized tests but never once hammered a nail.
No answers here.
DIRT CHEEP? WHAT ROCK DID YOU CRAWL OUT FROM UNDER. I STARTED WORKING AT 12 MOWING LAWNS, EVEN DID SOME FOR HALF PRICE FOR YOUR MOTHERS WHN THEY WERE OLD. 40 HOUR WEEK IN COLLEGE FULL TIME. AND …FUCKED IN THE JOB MARKET. MASTER’S DEGREE, MANAGEMENT HAVE MADE SOME COMPANY’S BIG BUCKS. NO LOYALTY FROM THEM EITHER. YOU CORK SMOCKERS KNOW IT CHEAPER TO HIRE 2 FOR $25,000 THAN TO PAY THE STAR $75,000. YOU KNOW, THE ONE THAT MADE THE COMPANY $$.
Saving money while loosing at least 2% of your purchasing power per year is also a great incentive to save. NOT.
Funny. We’ve got four millennials here for the summer. They are out doing chores at 6am, we break for lunch around midday, take a siesta for an hour after, get back at it and they finish evening chores around 7pm.
They eat a lot, but it is all either produced on the farm or purchased in bulk. Some evenings we cook for everyone, but most times they feed themselves. Recreation involves swimming, fishing, canoeing, hiking, campfires, reading, watching movies, horseshoes, croquet and taking naps on their off day (everyone gets one day a week off, staggered so it’s not all of them at once).
Their skills are growing faster than I would have hoped in my wildest dreams and they are happy. Really happy. They are taking pride in the things they’ve accomplished, look forward to new projects as we get to them and are acting the way you’d hope 20 somethings would- no ennui, no sad gloomy faces, no hand held devices distracting their every moment.
Every one of these guys will be able to go out into the world with something to offer and a easily figure their way through whatever challenges are out there, no question. The pampered full sized babies that represent the SJW class are living in their heads, not the physical world and that’s why so many of their decisions are poor ones. Someone is subsidizing them, obviously or they wouldn’t be able to live such extravagant and indulgent lifestyles. What kind of imbecile would spend a quarter of their weekly budget on restaurant food? How could they go more than a month without realizing what tools they are?
HSF – birds of a feather. Good kids find good kids.
Llpoh- You are so right about this. Good kids will do well and usually hang with other successful young people. They don’t let the doom hold them back from living a real life.
So much of life is just showing up, especially now with the majority being such a bunch of broke dicks. Things do suck right now, with the boot of a multigenerational tyranny about to land upside the head of sovereign humanity. So what? One still has to feed oneself.
The (( ptb )) have certainly narrowed the amount of opportunity available. The fact that so many people have so few skills creates an even greater opportunity for those willing to work hard. Show up 15 min early stay 15 min late and for the love of pete leave your electronic pacifier in you car. You can play with it at lunch. You are not that damn important. If your mama needs to ask why you didn’t pick up the basement she can call the office.
I constantly tell my kids how much I would love to be in their shoes. That to be young at this point in history is a blessing. That there is still some time left to scurry up the food chain if they make the right choices. From my experience with my own kids, as well as my friends with minis, I do believe that a big difference exists between the older ( around 30 ) and the younger late teens early 20s. The attitudes and the friends are a world apart.
Millenial here.
I used to work as an engineer getting paid more than I could spend, and managed my cash flow responsibly, zero debt. But I wasnt happy.
So I quit my job, traveled the world, and have been living a good and fulfilling life with my girlfriend. When the time comes, I will be happy to work hard in order to put a roof over my family’s heads.
But theres no point collecting electrons in a virtual bank account that will just disappear the next financial crisis. Hundreds of trillions of debt/unfunded liabilities, and a financial bubble waiting to pop any day now. Family law is a joke, personal property is an increasingly elusive fantasy, even privacy is no longer a guantee. Life is very different to when you boomers graduated college.
I do work, but not more than I need to- I know everything can be taken away at the stroke of a pen. Id also be happy to go the extra mile for an employer that sticks to their word and agreements, but unfortunately theyre hard to come by. In the meantime, Im having a great time.. Better to enjoy life than spend it building sandcastles in front of a tsunami.
Nothing wrong with what you are doing Guy. But are things much better or much worse than they were years past. You are young. Live life and have fun.
Anyways see the world!
As long as you aren’t moving forward while accumulating debt you can pick up where you left off anytime you want.
“Better to enjoy life than spend it building sandcastles in front of a tsunami.”
Exactly the way I see it, Guy. I don’t find any fault at all in your choices. Doing what’s best for yourself will often draw criticism from those who can’t see your point, but I admire your decision to get away from the kind of atmosphere our overbearing government has created for people your age.
When I was your age, something better still seemed possible. 40 years later, the mask is off and the ones pulling the strings have revealed that they want everything for themselves and they also intend to control everybody they see as their inferiors. I can’t see how I would have done anything different 40 years ago from what you’re doing now, if only I’d known what was to come.
THE PROBLEM WAS, GENIUS THAT YOU AND YOUR GREAT HANGING OUT BUDDIES ARE THE ONES THAT *UCKED EVERYTHING UP. WHAT HAPPENED TO PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE, PAVING THE WAY FOR THE NEXT GEN!? YOUR WHOLE GENERATION SOLD THE COUNTRY OUT.
Guy, I’m guessing you’re not one of the whiners then. If you’re confident enough in your beliefs that you can enter/exit the job market at will, make plenty of money and avoid debt then more power to you. Too many of your generation seem to feel entitled to something and whine about it.
Also the premise of the article is a bit ridiculous. For instance, people spending too much on lunch. $53/week is about $200/month. I agree thats too much, but how much is their rent? Student loan payments? Utilities? Auto loan? Auto insurance? Gas? All that adds up to maybe $1500/mo or more.
A huge chunk of their income gets eaten up by tax, insurance, and other mandatory payments. By the end of the month theres maybe $200 left over, if theyre lucky. So an extra $1 or $2k/year, great, you can buy a house on that surely.
Meanwhile the whole global financial system is ready to blow. So if its between working, saving every penny and living like a monk the next 5 years for fuck all, or going out and having a nice coffee or meal once in a while, its easier to see why one is chosen over the other.
You’ll be sorry.
Nah, he’ll just vote to tax all your money.
Guy you said ” so if it’s between working, saving every penny and living like a monk the next 5 years, or going out and having a nice coffee or meal once in a while, it’s easier to see why one is chosen over the other.”
The thing is you don’t have to chose one over another. Save 10% from everything before you do anything. If you don’t trust the powers then buy a little piece of raw land somewhere with access to water and low property tax. Land will always retain relative value.
And just so you know the global financial system has been shaky most of my adult life. In my 52 years on this earth I have lost track of how many times this shit has been papered over and kicked down the road so you might want to keep that in mind.
Yep
If Guy wants to live like that then he better not be one of those people pissing and moaning at 40 wondering why they ain’t got shit. I say go out and live life but someday it will be time to grow up and grow a pair. He makes it sound like the millenials were first generation to face adversity. That line my friends gets first place on Comedy Central.
It is a free world though however setting up for failure guarantees a life lived as a loser and if Guy wants to live it then so be it. Like you said Norman it has been one slow motion shit fest of kicking the can down the road. Maybe it has always been that way. But hoping that it will blow up doesn’t seem a great financial plan to serve one into old age.
You are right RINS hoping things blow up is not a good plan. I learned the hard way betting against the house in 2005. I wish I hadn’t but some lessons just need to be painful and expensive.
I do see his point however about digits being wiped out with the stroke of a pen. If a youngster has a little extra $$ maybe he/she should put it into learning a skilled trade. Maybe robot/drone design/repair.
I once tried living based on socially imposed expectations. On paper, I had it all: good paycheck, nice car, 401k, down payment on a house. I had everything I was supposed to, following the life script others wrote for me.
As you are now, I once was. As I am now, you may never be.
I had a chance to travel the world with my lovely girlfriend and I took it, and it was one of the best decisions of my life!
Does that mean Ill end up on welfare? HAHAHA!! What a vivid imagination you have.
I have good savings, no debt, have a good degree and work history. Im already getting offers for jobs and opportunities for graduate study in different countries.
Go ahead and just say it, youre jealous you never had the balls to go out and see the world. Or maybe you resent that Im not paying your welfare ponzi schemes called social security and medicare. Well, gonna have to find another sucker for that. Have a nice day pops!
I know you are not talking to me. I have seen the world fuck o probably a great deal more of it than you ever will. So no jealousy there.
As for ponzi scheme bullshit I paid a ton more into ss than most of my peers (self employed, double taxation) I don’t think I will ever see that money again.
The fact that I am debt free except for a small amount on my doom stead is allowing me the freedom to not have a full time job. I take small gigs that have a high return on the hard work I invest.
Also I have never taken one dime from any kind of govt program. So if you were talking to me you can go fuck yourself.
Wasnt aimed at you, it sounds like were in similar boats actually.
The others here would be telling you that instead of working odd jobs and enjoying life on your doomstead, you should be working 3 jobs while life passes you by. But it doesnt fit the whole generation wars narrative. It does suck about SS, some family friends running a business had the same fate, but then again we seem to want to attack each other instead of the politicians who force this crap on all of us.
Personally, I think anyone who finds a way to put a roof over their head, food in their mouth, and do it all without leeching off others doesnt owe anyone anything.
I could have chosen to continue to work in a toxic environment hoping for an enjoyable retirement in 40 years.. that may never come.
But I chose to do what I always wanted BEFORE becoming a husband and father, so that I can devote my full time and attention to them when the time comes.
Will the gap affect my employability? Most likely, and I fully accept that. But in the meantime Ive been learning invaluable lessons from being thrown into many different environments and forced to adapt. Dont forget Jim Rogers attributed much of his success to being a vagabond biker in strange lands.
Either way, no debt, have savings, living a great life, plan to return to work soon. Dont see what the problem is.
Fair enough. And good luck to you.
Guy pisses and moans about this place being full of toxic people then writes that.
Whatta fucken’ hypocrite! Ladies and Gents let this man take a bow! Hey fucknuts you ain’t the first person to see the world and you won’t be the last. Keep exploring Asia. I hate (ed. well not really) to blow up the bubble you are living but Marco Polo beat you getting there by about 800 fucking years.
Whatta maroon!
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Have a nice day!
Aww Guy gotta a boo-boo….
But will do and have a nice day..
This true. Actually I saved over half my paycheck at my last job, have zero debt, and a decent nest egg.
Currently living in Asia where the cost of living is quite low, so a much slower burn rate. Gonna travel around a bit more then get back to work full time. But probably not in America, Asia is a much more free environment in some respects, and the future center of the global economy.
A lot of toxic people here. Im sorry my happiness offends you 😉
Not offending me bud. Just don’t come with your hand out in 15 years when you are trying raise a family. Good Luck sounds like you are going to need it.
RiNS- Sum Yung GUY is free to wander but when your resume says you are a flake that wanders off for years, companies frown upon that. In a way I understand his desire to do more than just work BUT he will miss the boat building a life if he doesn’t get started til middle age. My house was paid for by age 49, could not have done that if I had itchy feet.
I dont get this sentiment. A house is just a thing, a possession, or more accurately, a false belief of possession of a thing you dont actually own.
You worked hard for decades to gain temporary rights to a place to live, which can be taken from you if you stop paying property taxes. Or if the government deems so.
Granted, if living in that house helps give you a happy life, and all those years of sacrifice are worth it, then Im sincerely happy for you.
My worldview is not money or possession centric, so I already know that accumulating more than I need wont give me a happy life. But everyone is different, so YMMV.
I also think the financial and legal environment that existed for boomers doesnt parallel well for millenials. We see the farce for whats being sold to us, and have no interest. There are no guarantees on anything, and the future is uncertain, so we live while were young. That being said, Im all for living under ones means. But our priorities will be different.
Guy- Do you live in a yurt? Where do you hang your hat?
Somewhere along the line YOU have to have a place to live…..period. You can rent but rents are ever increasing while spendable income is being ravaged by inflation. You will wake up one day and find yourself old, maybe not in good health and without affordable housing unless you don’t mind living in a tent or camper/trailer.
Best thing to do is follow I/s’s example, buy way below what you qualify for, pay the house off and don’t play the McMansion game like the maroons. Taxes are not that bad in most states, you should be able to swing the tax payment each year no problem. Flapping your gums about the taxes and not considering what rents will be when you are an older adult just tells me that you are not willing to buckle down and be responsible. Sheesh….just settle in a low tax rate area.
yep..
I rent, my parents own a house, I pay less rent than they pay in property taxes. Thus I dont see the argument in “owning a house”. Its a depreciating asset that requires costly maintenance and recurring payments. The land may appreciate, but thats also not a guarantee. My relatives had to flee a dangerous Germantown because the neighborhood went to shit, along with their property values. Maybe there are low property tax areas, but trying to find one near a middle class job in a good school district aint easy.
Theres no reason I have to play the rent/housing market game in the US. I live in a country with world class infrastructure, and an exceptional healthcare industry at a cost many multiples below what Id be paying in the US.
I also have friends that are paying $2-300/mo for impressive apartments, while pulling in thousands each month through online projects and freelancing. Most of them hustle for a few years, then are able to get by on 2 hours of work per day. If they never left, theyd still be working dead end jobs with shit pay for the cost of living. A true capitalist goes where the market is ripe!
Guy- All things considered, I am sure you are much better suited for the Asian life. Assuming you are a white boy, it’s all fun and games until anti-American sentiment strikes and you are high-stepping your way to GTFO of there. War is ugly and so are the crowds yelling, “death to imperialist dogs”.
BL- true, more or less. But anti-white sentiment varies greatly by country. In some places we’re worshipped, in others we’re resented for our money or frankness. Some places are more tolerant and multicultural than you might expect. Some groups are inherently welcoming and tolerant.
But I also see danger brewing back home. Race riots, open mass death threats of Trump supporters, and so on. So seeing other places firsthand helps me see what all my options are. Call it market research..
A place to live is kind of important. It doesn’t have to be a mansion. A modest house will do. You are correct BL. Starting on a household in late thirties makes it difficult to prepare for retirement. It is easy to make ends meets when young. Funny thing is you can do exactly what you did then get the itchy feet in 50’s and 60’s.
These days it seems everyone is in a competition for the most interesting life. Do things just to post on facebook. Probably why I am not on it. I found it superficial, a mile wide and an inch deep.
All the buzz about the Iphone. Pretty much sums up for me what is important for a lot of people these days. Maybe not for our new buddy Guy but for many all the same.
Yea I dont really get that either. Ive seen many people who will travel for days to see a unique spot, take a few pictures for their instagram, then leave.
Or theyll go into debt to buy the newest iphone, only to lose it and complain their life is over. So much time and effort trying to build a false persona to please others without questioning what its doing for themselves.
Guy all kidding aside. It sounds like you have right perspective on life. It appears you have managed to navigate the minefields of consumerism and vanity. Figured out how to enjoy life while still young.
Enjoy it! Like was said earlier if at some point you decide to change course it sounds like you will able.
Cheers
Brown bag that lunch every week instead of spending $50+ and you can save $200+ each month. Pare down the cell phone plan a bit, reduce restaurant meals to 5% of the budget and trim that 18% for entertainment back significantly and golly gee…….there’s money to pay down debt or if you’re already semi-intelligent, money to save/invest/pay cash for for things.
It’s the “little things” and “once in a whiles” that really hurt in the long run. I know first hand. Once you change those behaviors, wealth builds up in exactly the same way as debt accumulates.
FINALLY SOMEONE WITH A SENSE OF REALITY.
Whatever
My son seems to be doing OK. Works hard drives a 2014 Stingray.
Did I mention he WORKS HARD?
Cut the kids a break. Hard to throw a dinner party when you are living in a cramped apartment or, as is often the case today, have roommates. Eating and drinking out is how young people socialize. You can make noise at a Sports Bar but if you ‘party’ in your apartment the neighbors will complain.
Millennials are doing some seriously sick things with sex and money
by Catey Hill
Young lovers use money to control one another
Sex, money and power go hand in hand for millennials.
Nearly two thirds (60%) of millennials say that a romantic partner has used money to manipulate, or gain power and control in a relationship, according to a survey of 2,000 people ages 18-34 released Tuesday by personal finance site CentSai. And that’s just the latest survey to show millennials think money equals power in a romantic relationship. Data out earlier this month by U.S. Trust found that 66% of rich millennials in a relationship agree with the statement “whoever earns the most money has the most influence in the relationship;” just 37% of Gen Xers and 29% of boomers say the same.
The need to control or manipulate a romantic partner using money — or any other means — is often born out of high levels of anxiety, says psychologist Fran Walfish, the author of “The Self-Aware Parent” and co-star of WE TV’s “Sex Box.” And millennials — many of whom struggled to establish their careers and find long-term romantic relationships for the first time in the depths of the recession — are especially prone to high anxiety, she adds. (Indeed, data show that anxiety levels for young people are at an 80-year high.)
Also see: Millennials are going bald from too much stress
What’s more, millennial’s potentially unhealthy relationship between money and sex doesn’t end there. The CentSai survey found that 60% of millennials say a romantic partner has lied to them about money, or hid money or debt from them. “Lying about money or hiding money is usually indicative of shame around what it was spent on – too much food, clothing, handbags, golf, drugs, etc.,” says psychologist Erika Martinez. (In millennials’ case, it could be shame about food spending, as research shows that drop more on dining out, or booze purchases, as they go to bars more frequently, than do older generations.)
And lying about debt, she says, also has to do with shame, as well as a feeling like the debt will be a hinderance to a partner. “I think this is especially true for millennials, given the burden of educational debt they face as a whole and having experienced the effects of the 2008 recession,” she says, adding that many millennials may also lie about debt “for fear of scaring off a good potential partner.”
Whatever the reasons for using money to control a lover, or lying to a lover, the consequences can be extreme. For 30-year-old financial services professional Ryan Kwiatkowski, it meant having to break up with a “fairly controlling” ex girlfriend, who used a variety of things — including, on a small handful of occasions, money — to try to control his behavior. Though she never said anything explicitly, Kwiatkowski felt she tried to get him to do tons of work around her apartment just because she earned more than him and would sometimes pay for them to do things he couldn’t then afford.
But when he’d try to talk to her about the controlling behavior, “I would never be able to explain how I was right,” he says. After a couple years, he realized “it wasn’t going anywhere” and put a stop to it. “It should not matter whether you’re a P.E. teacher or run a hedge fund, people should be treated equally [in a relationship] no matter their bank statement.”
Hence why I moved to Asia.. there are still good girls out there.
“And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run –
You missed the starting gun…”
— Pink Floyd
“BOOM” Bob. I use that all the time
yeah go bust your ass at a job and save 20% and wait for tax time to roll around… the tax burdens of the nation has nothing to do with anything i’m sure
You’ve got it figured out monger. Whining is where it’s at. You go boy!
BABY BOOMERS ARE A BUNCH OF DELUSIONAL EGOTISTICAL PUSSIES THAT THINK WE ARE LIVING IN THE 70’S AND CAN MAKE A LIVING ON $7.25 AN HOUR BECAUSE A COKE STILL COSTS .25 CENTS.
I wouldn’t know as I’m not a boomer. What else ya got? I do know that right across the street from where I work the Coca Cola bottling company has a bank of coke vending machines that will indeed dispense one ice cold, HFC filled Coca Cola for the aforementioned .25 cents. If you’re the observant type you’ll even find .75 cents change in the change slot from some other moran who forgot to grab it.
Want some cheese to go with that whine?
You want to improve your situation? Close your cock holster, define a goal and do whatever it takes to reach that goal. Work two or three menial jobs at a time. Stop envying your friends who party using money they don’t have. Live your own life looking for and taking advantage of opportunities along the way. There are millions of you loser millenials sitting on the sidelines so you have little competition.
Or?
Be a fucking loser and sit on the sidelines and watch as I and others mop up the crumbs you leave behind with your “I’m better than that” entitled mentality. Fucking cave men got it done back in the day but all you can do is whine and cry. Your tears are yummy!