
Why Aren't Millennials Spending? They're Poorer Than Previous Generations - auxym
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/30/672103209/why-arent-millennials-spending-more-they-re-poorer-than-their-parents-fed-says
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throwaway2016a
> The study also noted newer financial obstacles for millennials. Broad
> economic trends depict a rise in health care expenditures, as well as a rise
> in college tuition that has outpaced general inflation that previous
> generations avoided in their young adulthood.

They forgot:

\- Housing cost: previous generations were often able to pay off a house in 15
years. For millennial a 15 year mortgage is either a pipe dream or will
require you to have a worse house in a worse location and still be more
expensive than your parents may have paid for a nice house in a nice location.
And the down payments were lower percentage of income.

\- Lack of retirement options: a lot of people I know (myself included) don't
have an option at work for a 401k and forget a pension, unless you have a
government job it doesn't exist and if it does you probably won't last long
enough without getting laid off to use it.

\- Child care costs: my wife and I both work and we spend $19k (as in
thousands) a year to send our 2 year old to daycare so we can both work. And
we're not sending our kid to a fancy place either.

My wife graduated college in 2008 with $150k in student loan and it took over
a year (with an biomedical engineering degree) to find a job. During which
time I was the sole source of income and at one point we had no income because
I got laid off. And we're two very well educated people with a middle class
upbringing and every advantage. I can't even imagine what people with less
advantage and non-engineer salaries.

~~~
RickJWagner
A worse house? No, I don't think so.

The best house of the 70s would be laughably bad today. Poor climate control,
sub-standard insulation, smaller rooms, etc. Going back even further (to 'the
greatest generation' for example) housing is even more primitive.

Housing, like cars, phones, and almost everything else, gets better as we go
along. The best cars of the 80s are terrible compared to the lowest price of
today's cars. Phones? Not even worth talking about.

Young adults of today do have some disadvantages, that's true. But the goods
they can acquire are better than ever before (but not as good as tomorrow's).

~~~
notacoward
Today's products might be better than yesterday's in some objective way, but
do they create better _quality of life_ either absolutely or per dollar? Does
the modern barely-affordable house make its residents happier than its
"laughably bad" predecessor? Does the modern phone with all of its bells and
whistles make people happier than a more basic one, even before we consider
things like app addiction and the 24/7 "virtual leash" aspect?

People today are paying more and going into debt for things that aren't
_functionally_ any better than what went before, and might even be worse. The
reasons why are worth considering. Alternatives are worth considering.
"Products are better" doesn't really get us anywhere.

