Boomers don’t get it
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That is still waaaaay behind what the youth of the nations parents and grandparents could expect to make at a similar age. Regardless of an individuals tolerance and attention span for hearing about financial complaints from others, there is are very real issues at play that will have an impact on the health of the nation in the future.
It's fine for what it is. My guess is there's a lot of issues that the pics don't show if it's going for 5 digits. Still have to live in Spencer. It would be nice if the rural areas would give young professionals a reason to move there other than cheap old houses.
But none of that goes to the ultimate point the OP was making. Wages haven't even come close to keeping up with the cost of living, housing, and education.
Truly, you need to consider the impact of globalization and the movement of so much manufacturing work to the Far East and India, etc. There are many reasons behind that AND there are both Rep and Dem "finger prints" on all manner of legislative activity that have impacted that AND many of the factors were never going to be fully suppressed by any politician.
Another way to look at it is if you are only making minimum wage then you are too young to be thinking about buying a house.
If you are old enough to be thinking about buying a house, then you should be earning more than minimum wage.
1995 Iowa City:
My portion of the rent was $450 and my car/insurance payment was $250 (my parents didn't go to college they didn't understand I probably should have had a car with a car payment. I learned from that and sold it the next year). I paid for everything I did, except tuition, out of pocket from a part time job, shout out to the Might Shop. I may or may not have had a good side hustle of selling beer after 2:00 am to the johnson street.
You eat ramen, drink water from the tap, don't eat out very often, or shop at goodwill. We furnished most of a house on $200 at goodwill. These are things college kids should do to reduce costs. Don't live to go out so you can post it on social media.
My parents gave me nothing outside of helping cover rent one month. I can remember the one new pair of jeans I purchased on a credit card that year. Even then some of my friends went on spring break with money from student loans, dumb then, dumb now.
My college student loans totaled $17K. My starting teaching salary in 1998 $17,300 with an 8.25% rate. I had to live with roomates to make ends meet and pay off my loans. I bought a crappy house (had a used crappy car), then a better one of each, then built my own home. That's how life works.
My portion of the rent was $450 and my car/insurance payment was $250 (my parents didn't go to college they didn't understand I probably should have had a car with a car payment. I learned from that and sold it the next year). I paid for everything I did, except tuition, out of pocket from a part time job, shout out to the Might Shop. I may or may not have had a good side hustle of selling beer after 2:00 am to the johnson street.
You eat ramen, drink water from the tap, don't eat out very often, or shop at goodwill. We furnished most of a house on $200 at goodwill. These are things college kids should do to reduce costs. Don't live to go out so you can post it on social media.
My parents gave me nothing outside of helping cover rent one month. I can remember the one new pair of jeans I purchased on a credit card that year. Even then some of my friends went on spring break with money from student loans, dumb then, dumb now.
My college student loans totaled $17K. My starting teaching salary in 1998 $17,300 with an 8.25% rate. I had to live with roomates to make ends meet and pay off my loans. I bought a crappy house (had a used crappy car), then a better one of each, then built my own home. That's how life works.
Just so we're all on the same page here, OP stole the thread idea (and title) from Reddit sub r/antiwork.
Here is the nice little interview with a moderator of r/antiwork (probably a pepsi)
Hope we can now better see where we're all coming from here.
Here is the nice little interview with a moderator of r/antiwork (probably a pepsi)
Hope we can now better see where we're all coming from here.
So, are you suggesting that someone who made $2.30 an hour could afford a $44,000 home? If a person then worked 40 hour weeks, every week for a year, they made $4,784 BEFORE taxes. How in the hell could they afford a $240 mortgage payment then, when they made $257 a month after taxes?
What you should be saying is that back then, minimum wage jobs were never intended for homeowners. They were for kids who worked after school making ice cream cones.
i'm not a boomer but i don't think it's a big deal to live (in reasonable comfort) paycheck to pacheck until 25 and it's okay to be unable to buy a house until one crosses 30. coz that's how i rolled and while there were bumps i didn't feel oppressed.
that said, I do see all points of view in this thread which probably means i'm an indecisive bastard. what is the real problem for young people from an outcome standpoint?
that said, I do see all points of view in this thread which probably means i'm an indecisive bastard. what is the real problem for young people from an outcome standpoint?
Living in a small town sounds like a good way to forever impede your career
Career? At 20 years of age, you have a career? My dad was flying B-24 s at 22...he graduated from pharmacy school at 30....he worked the railroad for 2 of the 3 years prior to WW2, then military service during WW2....was married, flipping hamburgers and going to school (GI bill) until he graduated in 1949...now someone is 20 years old, going into debt and complaining his/her career is being delayed?
May I suggest a course in “Priorities”?
Lot of 16-25 year old's on Reddit who hate any form of work and/or capitalism. "Doreen" in the video was a part time dog walker for reference.
Sub does have some really good a-hole boss stories though, even though almost all of them are fake and posted for upvotes. Still entertaining.
It might shock you to find out that if by 20 you haven't had a decent internship, your career path is already stunted
Well, I agree in principle.
But I think that begs the question...is there really no demand for 1500 ft 3/2 houses with a carport?
I don't agree for one second that housing is expensive because everyone wants a huge 3000sf all the bells and whistles house. That's all they're building.
What developer is buying land, and then putting $150k houses on it? If it's a smallish parcel, they're putting $750k luxury townhomes on it.
I mean, I get it, but this is one of the blind spots that comes up in the free market. By no means put it on greedy buyers, there's virtually no alternative modest homes in many markets.
There is some truth in this statement. 35 years ago, who’d have thunk it. I was struggling. But there is nothing shameful about being broke. Cause baby, I ain’t broke now! I was never “rich” but I had a plan. It worked.
They blew up all the smaller homes built in the 60’s - 70’s?
A
anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
Guest
Have you tried to get a loan for a house or car in the last 10 years or so? They basically throw money at you….it’s kind of insane. I even heard someone talking about how they have leveraged ARMs to keep their payment low….I’m like “you do realize that can change right?” “Sure it COULD but they said it wouldn’t without notice!”
Face palm, we are for sure going to repeat history….
and the stock markets are not much better, they’re way inflated too since Trump poured gasoline on the fire.
I feel slighted that ____ didn't provide their pronouns first. I don't know how to address the video until I know what is appropriate.
There is but people are being outbid. Houses that were 120k 2 years ago are now 175k. If something is on the market for less than 100k, it's either going to be 500 square feet or a condemned dump. First time home buyers don't want mansions, they just don't want to live in absolute shitholes.
In post 37, OP admits he messed up and the actual inflation adjustment for minimum wage today compared to 1976 is $11.50 not $28.
You can give your life story, complete with lifting up by your bootstraps anecdotes. But if college and housing is twice as expensive relative to average income, the fact remains we have made life much for difficult for young people to recreate your experience; so your personal story is not relevant.
In 1976 the 30 year mortgage rate was roughly 9%. Over the last year or so the rate has been 3% roughly. That's definitely playing a factor in home prices.
Here's a quick estimate on the monthly payments assuming a 30 yr mortgage
| Home Price | 44,200.00 | 363,900.00 | 8.23 |
| Rate | 9% | 3% | |
| Months | 360 | 360 | |
| DP % | 20% | 20% | |
| Loan Total | 35,360.00 | 291,120.00 | |
| Monthly Payment | -284.51 | -1,227.37 | 4.31 |
Home prices have increased over 8x in this time period, but using the estimates above the monthly payment is only 4.3x. It's also interesting to note that over the 46 year period, the home price has an avg annual increase of 4.6%. What's the median wage growth been over that time period?
I can't find it know but I was catching up on old WSJ articles yesterday and one of them mentioned that housing costs as % of monthly income is still below historical averages (I can't recall what time period they were comparing) and this is likely a big factor.
As a millennial, I really think boomers underestimate how much things have truly changed compared to when they were first starting out but millennials may overestimate as well. I say this too as someone who graduated during the financial crisis with nearly $50k of debt and took a $30k a year job after turning down a $50-60k job in DSM.
I think to get a to a true apples to apples comparison you'd want to look at a median wages for 4 yr college grads and a typical budget and see what the % breakdown is. Perhaps they're closer to the same but I bet factoring in student debt and the costs that have outstripped wage growth would tilt the numbers in favor of 1970-80s.
OK...and you got paid $257 a month after taxes. You couldn't afford a home back then either. Now if you want to argue that even back then it wasn't enough, fine. But we shouldn't act like minimum wage jobs in 1976 were a great way to buy a house. Because that is stupid and wrong.
A major factor is also what region you live in. The poors here in NC have a much higher cost of living than those in Iowa. It’s still reasonable for a couple working low level jobs to own a home in Iowa, definitely not here.
When I started at U of I in 1963, my dad said he'd pay my tuition for one year and then I had to figure it out. In 64 I got a $300 National Defense Student Loan and a 20 hour a week minimum wage job - $1.10/hr back then - and moved out of the house. With that "wealth" I was able to pay tuition, rent a room and eat all my meals at Hamburg Inn #2 and Pearson's lunch counter. Try that now.
It has already been pointed out, but that number is inaccurate. It is actually closer $12/hr inflation adjusted.
https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/items/1976-united-states-minimum-wage
Again I was an 18 year old that didn’t know dick about finances. I wanted to party and get a degree because college. Idk if you know this or not but a lot of 18 year olds getting a loan have no idea how any of this shit works then you add in the freedom of living on your own. Stop being naive to this fact
Who’s at fault? Boomers? Lol. People can educate themselves, libraries are all over the place and the internet is widely available.
You don't get it if you think minimum wage was designed for people to be able to afford a median level house.
