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[godhandiscen]

60% of millennials earning over $100,000 say they're living paycheck to paycheck

Millennials known as HENRYs — high earner, not rich yet — prefer a comfy lifestyle, but a new survey found that means things can get tight.

www.businessinsider.com

That's partly because of lifestyle choices. Many of these millennials are likely HENRYs — short for high earner, not rich yet. The acronym was invented in 2003, but it has come to characterize a certain group of 30-something six-figure earners who struggle to balance their spending and savings habits.

HENRYs typically fall victim to lifestyle creep, when one increases one's standard of living to match a rise in discretionary income. They prefer a comfortable and often expensive lifestyle that leaves them living paycheck to paycheck.

I remember that I was living paycheck to paycheck until I turned 26 or so when I realized how badly consumerism was dragging me down. What helped me massively was a friend who recommended me this tool:

YNAB

Working hard with nothing to show for it? Use your money more efficiently and control your spending and saving with the YNAB app.

www.youneedabudget.com

Nowadays, I help other friends by introducing them to investing and similar budget tools. Also, I realize that $100k isn’t a lot nowadays, and when you graduate with crippling college debt, it is a different ball game; I went to a public state school anticipating this.

What do you think GAF?

PS: I heard YNAB is kinda shitty and expensive nowadays, but just trying the tool helps you grab the concept of budgeting and gives you visibility into your worst spending habits.

 

[ArtemisClydeFrog]

The basics of finance need to be taught in middle schools or even younger. Pretty ridiculous that, at least the ones I went to, there were basically no instruction on different ways to save, grow, conserve money.

You only live once though and there's no afterlife. "OOOOooooh heaven is a place on Earth!" Spend that cash how you want, G.

 

[Cravis]

Damn I needed a good laugh today!

 

[QuantumZebra]

Living in North Metro ATL above that bracket and we're doing fairly well. We're definitely not wanting for anything and my kids have more toys than they need.

However; I could see someone in an metro area with high COL and a large family having to stretch their budget.

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm sure everyone else appreciates them spending all their money to juice the economy.

No one cares. If they make good money, they'll figure out someday how to save it. Probably they'll get married and their spouse will teach them.

 

[AJUMP23]

If that is the case then they are over extended. They need to learn financial discipline. Who will teach them, enroll in my class for $1000 a person, I will teach you.

 

[BadBurger]

I kind of feel like if they expanded the study to include all age groups it's pretty much the norm. All my life I've known people of all age groups earning high wages and it feels like barely half of them lived within their means or focused on savings and investments. Going back to childhood when I saw my successful friends' families buying boats and vintage cars like they were millionaires when in truth both parents combined income was only around $150k (still a ton of money back then, but not new cars ever few years and boat money).

 

[dorkimoe]

Living in North Metro ATL above that bracket and we're doing fairly well. We're definitely not wanting for anything and my kids have more toys than they need.

However; I could see someone in an metro area with high COL and a large family having to stretch their budget.

Yeah. Shits expensive. Everything that provided entertainment anymore is a god damn subscription. 100k in one state is NOT the same as 100k in another.

 

[BadBurger]

Yeah. Shits expensive. Everything that provided entertainment anymore is a god damn subscription. 100k in one state is NOT the same as 100k in another.

Even within the same state. My best friend moved just two, three hours north into a larger metropolitan area. He constantly complains about money while having a live-in girlfriend who pays some of the bills and rent. When he was earning the same money down here a few years ago he was all big pimpin. The cost of living where he's at now, even though it's the same state and just several hours away, is almost double in every way. Rent, internet, electricity, food, everything.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sounds right for many peers I know making $100k+. And some in their 40s already.

- Still renting a condo in or close to downtown
- Still half broke

On the plus side, they got awesome vacation stories twice year, know the Starbucks menu by heart, and got a sweet BMW or Mercedes at $1000/mth. People in their late 20s or 30s have a better car in the parking lot than some directors and VP. Go figure.

And some of them complain about cost of buying a home! LOLOLOL

Well, if you retards bought a place 10-20 years ago the rest of us did, you'd be rolling probably a good $500k - $1M home equity due to price appreciation doing nothing but sitting on your ass and letting people do bidding wars. Some people I know who bought a home 15 years ago for maybe $400k (ohhhh... that was so much back then), is now worth $1.5M. A good buddy of mine bought a place 10 years ago for $800k. Worth over $2M now.

You snooze you lose live for the day renters.

 

[StormCell]

The basics of finance need to be taught in middle schools or even younger. Pretty ridiculous that, at least the ones I went to, there were basically no instruction on different ways to save, grow, conserve money.

You only live once though and there's no afterlife. "OOOOooooh heaven is a place on Earth!" Spend that cash how you want, G.

I feel like my teachers tried imparting some of that wisdom when we were in middle school and high school, but we were honestly too far removed from the reality to understand the wisdom being given to us. College is when that stuff starts to hit home, and by then the only kind of economics being taught is government and business economics. Instead of an elective, they could make it a gen. ed. requirement. Then, of course, there are plenty of economic workshops offered for free out there in the world to anyone willing to invest a couple of hours of their free time to learning how to balance a budget.... as if anybody wants to spend their non-working hours on something so dull.

Lucky for me, I had a mentor while I was in college who took the time to teach me about spreadsheet budgeting and living to a budget instead of just buying whatever I wanted as soon as I want it.

 

[The Pleasure]

I'm sure everyone else appreciates them spending all their money to juice the economy.

No one cares. If they make good money, they'll figure out someday how to save it. Probably they'll get married and their spouse will teach them.

Fuck that. Mah Chikin Tendies and Smash Amibos come first!

 

[epicnemesis]

The basics of finance need to be taught in middle schools or even younger. Pretty ridiculous that, at least the ones I went to, there were basically no instruction on different ways to save, grow, conserve money.

As someone who helps families with this as a profession…YES! One million times this!

I think about the shit I was taught in school, none of it is anywhere near as important as compound interest. Simple things like how retirement accounts work. How taxes on those accounts work in retirement. Common bankruptcy pitfalls and how to avoid them.

 

[SlimySnake]

TBH, with kids $100k isnt really a lot of money. It's definitely comfortable living but with a $2k mortgage, child care, multiple car payments, car insurance, student loan payments and of course fucking healthcare premiums going up the wazoo, i can definitely see people living paycheck to paycheck.

I pretty much have to pay $1,500 a month on medical insurance, vision and dental insurance, and some insurance policies that pay out and take care of my kids if I kick the bucket early. That might go down a bit if i switch jobs and go to a company that offers lower premiums but thats easier said than done. 401k also takes 10% of my paycheck so while my retirement savings are increasing, there isnt much savings.

If you go and purchase a house and put down a good 20% to avoid paying PMI every month then you are going to have to dip into your savings. House expenses also creep up. $4-5k a year in a bad year is pretty much a guarantee unless you buy a brand new house.

That said, I have seen millennials out and about at restaurants living it up paying $50 per meal every other day and I am like wtf. So if you are into going out and hitting bars and eating out every other day I can definitely see you wasting a lot of money. But married couples with kids dont tend to do that. I have a friend who makes $100k and he just bought a $60k tesla. Moral of the story: dont get married.

 

[Yoshi]

Living paycheck to paycheck is pretty stupid unless you really earn such a low wage that you can barely pay your food and rent. If you throw out all your money while earning 100k+/y, you could afford some self control.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The basics of finance need to be taught in middle schools or even younger. Pretty ridiculous that, at least the ones I went to, there were basically no instruction on different ways to save, grow, conserve money.

You only live once though and there's no afterlife. "OOOOooooh heaven is a place on Earth!" Spend that cash how you want, G.

Agreed.

Middle school and younger might a bit young IMO, but for sure high school. And maybe force every college/university kid with one personal finance course too.

This shit is more important for most people than the career program they choose. Money and finances affect everyone. Taking a course in college is hit and miss whether it applies to you in your real job.

Some reason schools would rather teach geography and what makes a cloud or volcano erupt, but finance/life skills are avoided like the plague when it will be a maker/breaker for many people in life when there's a cash crunch.

Then again, maybe they teach this in some schools now. They didn't when I did school.

 

[The Pleasure]

Agreed.

Middle school and younger might a bit young IMO, but for sure high school. And maybe force every college/university kid with one personal finance course too.

This shit is more important for most people than the career program they choose. Money and finances affect everyone. Taking a course in college is hit and miss whether it applies to you in your real job.

Some reason schools would rather teach geography and what makes a cloud or volcano erupt, but finance/life skills are avoided like the plague when it will be a maker/breaker for many people in life when there's a cash crunch.

Then again, maybe they teach this in some schools now. They didn't when I did school.

We need to teach street fighting too. Bullying would dramatically go down if everyone is taught how to catch a fade.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

TBH, with kids $100k isnt really a lot of money. It's definitely comfortable living but with a $2k mortgage, child care, multiple car payments, car insurance, student loan payments and of course fucking healthcare premiums going up the wazoo, i can definitely see people living paycheck to paycheck.

I pretty much have to pay $1,500 a month on medical insurance, vision and dental insurance, and some insurance policies that pay out and take care of my kids if I kick the bucket early. That might go down a bit if i switch jobs and go to a company that offers lower premiums but thats easier said than done. 401k also takes 10% of my paycheck so while my retirement savings are increasing, there isnt much savings.

If you go and purchase a house and put down a good 20% to avoid paying PMI every month then you are going to have to dip into your savings. House expenses also creep up. $4-5k a year in a bad year is pretty much a guarantee unless you buy a brand new house.

That said, I have seen millennials out and about at restaurants living it up paying $50 per meal every other day and I am like wtf. So if you are into going out and hitting bars and eating out every other day I can definitely see you wasting a lot of money. But married couples with kids dont tend to do that.

True. Depends where you live and if your single/married/kids.

I was making $50k 20 years ago, and was breaking even living pay cheque to pay cheque, but was able to pay off below:

My net pay cheque was about $1500/stub. So about $3000/mth, plus the extra 2 pays you get per year as its 26 pay weeks. So at it up, and I lived on net pay of about $39,000. Not doubt things cost more now. But people also get paid more too. There is no way 20 years ago, there were so many people at the office making $100k+.

- Tiny ass 1 bedroom/1 bath condo $1,100/mth mortgage
- Honda Civic $300/mth (5 yr financing)
- Student loan $200
- All utility bills, condo monthly maintenance, property tax $600
- Car insurance $200
- Gas $200
- Eating out and other goofing around $400

The only time I ever went into goods debt. Needed furniture and bought $3000 worth of tables, bed, mattress etc.... The typical retard will go on credit card debt at 20%+ interest. I paid it off slowly using their 24 month no interest deal where the only thing you get dinged is an $80 or $100 admin fee (their way of making some money back).

My fall back plan would be Line of Credit at prime +5% I think (I forget what it was but it was shit as it was my first LOC). But still better than breaking out my VISA card.

 

[teezzy]

I don't even make half of that

 

[Dthomp]

Man, 1st world problems right there. Most of Americans everywhere outside of the few hub cities in the country have to survive on half of that or even less. I just can't believe how often I see these types of headlines. Me and my wife get by on her 58k a year salary, can't imagine how hard life is at 100k or more

 

[Blade2.0]

Man, 1st world problems right there. Most of Americans everywhere outside of the few hub cities in the country have to survive on half of that or even less. I just can't believe how often I see these types of headlines. Me and my wife get by on her 58k a year salary, can't imagine how hard life is at 100k or more

After finally visiting San Francisco I can understand. But it's also because we never use our taxes for any social benefits. My friend makes 260k in the bay but still lives in a one bedroom apartment on rent because cheapest houses are over a million. His rent is 2500 a month and the apartment isn't even that great. But we get nickel and dimes on everything in the states. We need health insurance payments on top of taxes. Where as other countries pay taxes and then have no health premiums at all. There's other things where we pay way more at in the states that makes it even crazier. Like daycare. Just having a fucking kid is about 30k in this hellhole.

I'm ranting now.

 

[Nester99]

In the last 30 years "the basics" of life have changed. dramatically. - Cell phone bills, internet bills, Subscription costs, car note - all relatively new expenses, that our parents did not have (most folks did not buy a car over 7-8 years of monthly payments back then)

When planning for your retirement, make sure you account for about expenses/hobbies and activities that re not even invented yet! - good luck with that lol

 

[highrider]

Sounds right for many peers I know making $100k+. And some in their 40s already.

- Still renting a condo in or close to downtown
- Still half broke

On the plus side, they got awesome vacation stories twice year, know the Starbucks menu by heart, and got a sweet BMW or Mercedes at $1000/mth. People in their late 20s or 30s have a better car in the parking lot than some directors and VP. Go figure.

And some of them complain about cost of buying a home! LOLOLOL

Well, if you retards bought a place 10-20 years ago the rest of us did, you'd be rolling probably a good $500k - $1M home equity due to price appreciation doing nothing but sitting on your ass and letting people do bidding wars. Some people I know who bought a home 15 years ago for maybe $400k (ohhhh... that was so much back then), is now worth $1.5M. A good buddy of mine bought a place 10 years ago for $800k. Worth over $2M now.

You snooze you lose live for the day renters.

Well to be fair you have to sell it for that appraisal lol. I don’t think it really matters much anymore unless you have children, so few people in this age/income bracket do. And nobody works physical jobs anymore, what are you going to retire from working at home lol.
And these childless thirty somethings are meaningless to society unless they are inventive or outstanding, there’s really no reason for them to move in a way that a family man or woman would. They are doing what they are meant to do, spend money.

 

[UltimaKilo]

A lot of it has to do with the location where you live: San Francisco, NYC, Miami, D.C. and a couple of others, are incredibly expensive. The again, even in these places you can survive more than “paycheck to paycheck” but it takes a lot of Discipline, living in the suburbs, cutting down on subscriptions, eating out, large purchases, etc.

Investing pays off down the road.

 

[j0hnnix]

Leave San Francisco partial problem solved.

 

[AlteredForms]

"Most people don't like us because of our religion. That's right, Americans WORSHIP MONEY. Above all else, they worship money."
- Chris Rock

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

People forgot that $100K is nothing in most major cities like NY, Cali, etc.

If someone makes that much you can guarantee they probably have a boat load of student loan debt and they are recovering from the credit card debt they probably used to get through college.

Also most jobs in major cities are usually located in the downtown area, so people have three options:

1. Get a apartment that is far from work which means longer commute and added stress
2. Get a apartment in the downtown area and pay crazy rent prices
3. Buy a house which isn't possible for a recent graduate who has student loans and not enough saved for a down payment on a house.

The salaries for most jobs are way too low to begin with so it makes people think $100K is this big salary when it really isn't depending on the circumstances.

I think people just need to do more critical thinking on this topic before they pass judgment.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

Leave San Francisco partial problem solved.

And go where? To Nebraska and make like $30K a year for the same job?

Most good paying jobs aren't in non major cities

 

[Pagusas]

And go where? To Nebraska and make like $30K a year for the same job?

Most good paying jobs aren't in non major cities

..or Dallas, Austin or many other midwest major cities and make 80-90% of the wage and live way cheaper, while saving up so you can one day live where ever you want without being paycheck to paycheck. The job I'm doing now paid $165k in San Diego and $150k in Dallas. My cost of living is soooo much better.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

And some of them complain about cost of buying a home! LOLOLOL

Well, if you retards bought a place 10-20 years ago the rest of us did, you'd be rolling probably a good $500k - $1M home equity due to price appreciation doing nothing but sitting on your ass and letting people do bidding wars. Some people I know who bought a home 15 years ago for maybe $400k (ohhhh... that was so much back then), is now worth $1.5M. A good buddy of mine bought a place 10 years ago for $800k. Worth over $2M now.

You snooze you lose live for the day renters.

So much this. Start buying an apartment the very first moment you can.

 

[j0hnnix]

And go where? To Nebraska and make like $30K a year for the same job?

Most good paying jobs aren't in non major cities

There is options. Obviously if they are making 100k they have the ability to leave and find another location and possibly better job, on top of that, remote work is available in 2021. As one mentioned non state tax areas Texas, Florida then you have Georgia. Ohama is slowly becoming small tech hub. I work remotely for a team in Omaha from Georgia and have thought of moving there.

obviously if you have a family it's definitely not as easy as packing up and leaving, so I don't want to say it can be done easily with a family at all.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

..or Dallas, Austin or many other midwest major cities and make 80-90% of the wage and live way cheaper, while saving up so you can one day live where ever you want without being paycheck to paycheck. The job I'm doing now paid $165k in San Diego and $150k in Dallas. My cost of living is soooo much better.

Your making a lot of assumptions .... "I did it so you can too"

There is options. Obviously if they are making 100k they have the ability to leave and find another location and possibly better job, on top of that, remote work is available in 2021. As one mentioned non state tax areas Texas, Florida then you have Georgia. Ohama is slowly becoming small tech hub. I work remotely for a team in Omaha from Georgia and have thought of moving there.

I don't see how that would be "obvious". Jobs in major cities usually pay the most when it comes to most fields. Back when I graduated, I got a few job offers and the offers in places like NY, Cali had like a $10K+ difference in salary which was mind blowing for me to see at the time.

Also while I think remote work is great, I don't think its permanent for most jobs. As restrictions start to ease in more places I can see more employers demanding workers start to come back to the office.

 

[IDKFA]

That's what? £72k per year?

Jesus, the cost of living in somewhere like San Francisco must be more insane than London.

 

[j0hnnix]

Your making a lot of assumptions .... "I did it so you can too"


I don't see how that would be "obvious". Jobs in major cities usually pay the most when it comes to most fields. Back when I graduated, I got a few job offers and the offers in places like NY, Cali had like a $10K+ difference in salary which was mind blowing for me to see at the time.

Also while I think remote work is great, I don't think its permanent for most jobs. As restrictions start to ease in more places I can see more employers demanding workers start to come back to the office.

I understand your point locations like California, New York will offer more to offset the cost of living but then it's dependant on the company, if good, to manage your raises to meet the changing cost of living on a yearly basis which is a joke , those 2% raises and for some who are lucky receive 5% is still miniscule in those states.

With remote work, I agree and also feel extremely frustrated that many positions can easily move to remote work but use the excuse of in person "collaboration" which I find in this day an age a joke with Teams, WebEx , sad but used Zoom. Reducing costs in physical locations and possibly improve on raises for employees in higher cost of living states or all states.

 

[DeafTourette]

Folks making that much money should live one, maybe 2 rungs below their means. I know a few nice places in Atlanta that are nice and relatively safe (well, all of existence is RELATIVELY safe) and under $1000 a month, including utilities. I would LOVE to have that much per year.

 

[Paulxo87]

kids need to live at home now as long as they can. If they have good relationships with their parents and pay rent and help out while saving money to really get a good launch pad into the world. perhaps save 20% down payment for a home, etc. This is especially true in the north east. Just leaving home these days at age 18 and just saying fuck it just sets you up for failure to launch lol. and you know what? you wont look back one day when your parents are gone and regret the extra time spent with them

 

[Arimer]

As one of the older people on reddit whenever personal finance comes up i've noticed younger people think they shouldn't have to deprive themselves of aything. Usually they'll say something like 'the world sucks so why should i give up my 10 dollar coffee as its the only thing that makes it bearable" When i was 17 i joined the army and saved every penny i could then when i got out i lived in a shitty cheap apartment to save even more until i could buy my first house. And now i'm comfortable where I am and ready for the future.

My advice is make a budget, write it down, use an app, something where you have to interact with it every few days. You need to see where your money is going. Think long term success over short term satisfaction. You don't need starbucks or mcdonalds. Dave Ramsey can be kind of annoying but his steps to success are pretty good ideas. Look them up.

 

[QuantumZebra]

Yeah. Shits expensive. Everything that provided entertainment anymore is a god damn subscription. 100k in one state is NOT the same as 100k in another.

Yeah, 100% this.

If we lived in say, metro NYC or LA we would not be able to live anywhere near what we do.

Some folks shitting on people in here may think $100k/yr is a lot... but if you have a family, mortgage, car payments... shit adds up fast.

That's what? £72k per year?

Jesus, the cost of living in somewhere like San Francisco must be more insane than London.

It is. It's fucking insane out in Cali.

Which is mind-boggling to me, because I'd never want to live there.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

TBH, with kids $100k isnt really a lot of money. It's definitely comfortable living but with a $2k mortgage, child care, multiple car payments, car insurance, student loan payments and of course fucking healthcare premiums going up the wazoo, i can definitely see people living paycheck to paycheck.

I pretty much have to pay $1,500 a month on medical insurance, vision and dental insurance, and some insurance policies that pay out and take care of my kids if I kick the bucket early. That might go down a bit if i switch jobs and go to a company that offers lower premiums but thats easier said than done. 401k also takes 10% of my paycheck so while my retirement savings are increasing, there isnt much savings.

If you go and purchase a house and put down a good 20% to avoid paying PMI every month then you are going to have to dip into your savings. House expenses also creep up. $4-5k a year in a bad year is pretty much a guarantee unless you buy a brand new house.

That said, I have seen millennials out and about at restaurants living it up paying $50 per meal every other day and I am like wtf. So if you are into going out and hitting bars and eating out every other day I can definitely see you wasting a lot of money. But married couples with kids dont tend to do that. I have a friend who makes $100k and he just bought a $60k tesla. Moral of the story: dont get married.

My two cents: QUIT LIVING IN BIG CITIES.

I have two kids (both in private schools) and we live on a combined 90k salary with 2 nice cars and a 4K sq ft house that I only paid 170k for. The only debt we have is one student loan and our mortgage.

If 100k is not enough then there’s something fundamentally wrong that needs to be examined in your finances.

I pretty much agree with everything else you said.

 

[SlimySnake]

QUIT LIVING IN BIG CITIES.

I have two kids (both in private schools) and we live on a combined 90k salary with 2 nice cars and a 4K sq ft house that I only paid 170k for. The only debt we have is one student loan and our mortgage.

If 100k is not enough then there’s something fundamentally wrong that needs to be examined in your finances.

I never said it's not enough. I said it's comfortable living and I am able to contribute 10% of my check into my 401k.

I dont live in a big city. I live in a suburb of a city with less than 1 million people. But my 2.5k sq ft house cost more than twice what you paid for. My kids go to public schools. I wish i could go live in north dakota but thats not an option for me or 60% of the millennials.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

As one of the older people on reddit whenever personal finance comes up i've noticed younger people think they shouldn't have to deprive themselves of aything. Usually they'll say something like 'the world sucks so why should i give up my 10 dollar coffee as its the only thing that makes it bearable" When i was 17 i joined the army and saved every penny i could then when i got out i lived in a shitty cheap apartment to save even more until i could buy my first house. And now i'm comfortable where I am and ready for the future.

My advice is make a budget, write it down, use an app, something where you have to interact with it every few days. You need to see where your money is going. Think long term success over short term satisfaction. You don't need starbucks or mcdonalds. Dave Ramsey can be kind of annoying but his steps to success are pretty good ideas. Look them up.

So you think $10 coffee is the problem? wow

I am sure that the house you ended up buying costed like $150k at the time and that same house would probably go for like $500K today.

The issue with people that read these articles is they can only think of their situation when making judgment. For example, If you make $50k a year you think "If I made $100K I would be better off so this idiot should be too". But your not realizing your not "that person". This person could have more expenses than you like kids, student loans, credit debt from being broke in college, live in a expensive city, etc.

Basic jobs require more education now and colleges are way more expensive now than in the past so basically most of these kids are starting life at a disadvantage compared to previous generations. The cost of housing and other important things have increased in price but wages have not improved in years.

Young adults with jobs are living at home with their parents at record numbers due to being priced out of the housing market. The problem isn't as simple as people are making it out to be here because people see that $100K number and get jealous instead of thinking critically.

Everyone keeps saying "don't live in major cities" but its like they can't seem to understand that the pay in the other areas is crap so it really doesn't make much of a difference.

I would recommend young adults to live at home for at least 2-3 years and work if that option is possible but I also understand that its not a great situation all around for millennials right now.

 

[IDKFA]

Yeah, 100% this.

If we lived in say, metro NYC or LA we would not be able to live anywhere near what we do.

Some folks shitting on people in here may think $100k/yr is a lot... but if you have a family, mortgage, car payments... shit adds up fast.



It is. It's fucking insane out in Cali.

Which is mind-boggling to me, because I'd never want to live there.

It sounds insane. If people struggle to get by on 100k then it's a failed state. Do all the homes in California have sweet nectar coming out of the taps (faucet) rather than water?

How do people in low paid jobs, such as retail or fast food etc, survive? Do they pay a monthly rent to sleep on the golden paved streets?

 

[Nester99]

kids need to live at home now as long as they can. If they have good relationships with their parents and pay rent and help out while saving money to really get a good launch pad into the world. perhaps save 20% down payment for a home, etc. This is especially true in the north east. Just leaving home these days at age 18 and just saying fuck it just sets you up for failure to launch lol. and you know what? you wont look back one day when your parents are gone and regret the extra time spent with them

No one buys their first home with a 20% down. - That is the OPTIMAL Way to do it, First time buyers do not need to do this and it will work against them.

Get into the market as soon as you can and build equity asap.




Kids do not pay rent to "help parents out" they pay rent to learn how life works. Parents who charge kids rent do not do it for the money, they do it for the lesson.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

I never said it's not enough. I said it's comfortable living and I am able to contribute 10% of my check into my 401k.

I dont live in a big city. I live in a suburb of a city with less than 1 million people. But my 2.5k sq ft house cost more than twice what you paid for. My kids go to public schools. I wish i could go live in north dakota but thats not an option for me or 60% of the millennials.

I re edited my post to soften my tone.

Your points are well taken. You can make it happen but it might not be what it was drummed up to be especially if you aren’t living on a budget.

I was offered a job in DC making around the same that I’m making now. Except I couldn’t find rent affordable for anything above a 1200 sq ft house.

 

[kutthoat5150]

Don't let your spending grow proportionally with our income. Practice delayed gratification because you don't need the latest and greatest right now. Do you want to drive a stupid BMW tomorrow, or save and invest that money for a decade or 2 and drive a Mclaren with enough money to retire comfortably if you wanted to?

 

[SlimySnake]

I would recommend young adults to live at home for at least 2-3 years and work if that option is possible but I also understand that its not a great situation all around for millennials right now.

Yep. And the thing is after the recession, most millennials did exactly that. we got fucked by that recession. i literally graduated the same month U.S lost a net total of 660k jobs. those of us who were lucky to get a job were underpaid by $20-30k. we had no option but to live with my parents. i got lucky and stayed with my brother who had graduated just a couple of years earlier and managed to buy a house when the housing market crashed. paid off most of my student loans during that time, but others werent so lucky.

Living with your parents for 2-3 years is definitely the way to go. your sex life will suffer but you will save anywhere from $20-30k from rent and utilities. money that can go towards saving for a house or paying off student loans. student loans nowadays are only 3% interest whereas we had to pay 6.75% rates even for federal stafford loans. so probably not a bad idea to not pay those off right away and put it towards a new home.

my first house was only 140k but i ended up making a cool $45k profit off of it in just under four years. people really need to stop renting right out of college. it's just money down the drain. you get to live your life as a bachelor but just waiting 2-3 years can help you get a house in your mid 20s albeit a cheaper small house. by the time you are 30 or mid 30s and ready for a family, you wouldve built enough equity to buy a much bigger and more expensive house.

 

[The Pleasure]

..or Dallas, Austin or many other midwest major cities and make 80-90% of the wage and live way cheaper, while saving up so you can one day live where ever you want without being paycheck to paycheck. The job I'm doing now paid $165k in San Diego and $150k in Dallas. My cost of living is soooo much better.

I was in dallas and shit wasn't cheaper. Housing was cheaper and gas was cheaper but food and those fucking toll roads along with other costs don't make it as cheap as you think. You want significantly cheaper and your gonna have to commute.

 

[RedWhiteBlue]

The basics of finance need to be taught in middle schools or even younger. Pretty ridiculous that, at least the ones I went to, there were basically no instruction on different ways to save, grow, conserve money.

You only live once though and there's no afterlife. "OOOOooooh heaven is a place on Earth!" Spend that cash how you want, G.

I guess we get conditioned into associating happiness with making consumer purchases.

If people can be content with less and happy with contentedness then it's almost problem solved if you get just an OK job.

Problem is so many shiny and new and affordable things are waved in front of us all day long.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

people really need to stop renting right out of college. it's just money down the drain. you get to live your life as a bachelor but just waiting 2-3 years can help you get a house in your mid 20s albeit a cheaper small house. by the time you are 30 or mid 30s and ready for a family, you wouldve built enough equity to buy a much bigger and more expensive house.

Near impossible where I live unless you want to be a debt slave for 30 years. Also a huge gamble considering how insane house prices are. The probability of a price crash in the near future is rather high. (Reminder = if the price crashes, your mortgage goes to shit and you lose your house unless you have a couple hundred grand on the side)

t. couple with "decent jobs" where we both combined have like 60 grand a year after taxes while a "decent house" starts at 500k

 

[jshackles]

I'm technically a millennial.

I've made nearly that much the last few years, and my pay has been steadily going up every year. The problem is that where I live, the cost of living is insanely expensive. Last year the cheapest place to rent I could find was $1,800 a month for a 3 bedroom. I have a wife and kids and all the shit that comes with that. I lived paycheck to paycheck for the last 20 years while raising my family. I wasn't living the lap of luxury or anything - I didn't get to take vacations or have a nice car. There were a few years I worked some part-time jobs after hours just to make ends meet. My wife is disabled, but got denied disability (I make too much money, apparently) meaning we had to lawyer up and it turns out we didn't have the money for that either. For the better part of 8 years I drove around in an old Pontiac van until it literally fell apart and I drove it until the repairs were more expensive than I could afford. I tried for years to get the money together to buy a house, but at no point did I have the ten thousand+ I would need to accomplish that without sacrificing the potential safety of my family.

Turns out, it's really easy to be poor in America these days while still earning $100,000 a year.

The bright side though was that last year I was able to buy a house before all this super crazy shit started. I used my government stimulus money along with profits I made on eBay selling my vintage game collection to come up with the down payment, escrow, etc. We found a place that was within our means and thankfully got through the mortgage process although it was a bit touch and go. Now I'm paying $1,300 a month on my mortgage that's given me a lot more money freed up every month to do things like pay off my car ($3,000 left!) and credit cards (all gone!). Before people start crying "well now you're living below your means" - the house I'm in now is better and in a better location than the place I was paying $1,800 a month for. If I didn't get the house I'm in now, I'd be in an even worse position as that place I rented has gone up to $2,200 a month.