The real problem with millenials

[Balog]

Interesting article, even if the presentation is a bit weak. He's absolutely right about the disincentives to work and raise a family, the "too big to jail" phenomenon, and how Medicare/caid is making everything worse.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=229441

[brimic]

From the comments section:

WE SPENT A LIFETIME BUILDING A PERFECTLY GOOD PONZI AND THESE DAMNED KIDS ARE NOT BUYING IN!!!!

About sums it up...

I recently saw a news article about the cost of child care skyrocketing over the last few years. At one point in time, between my wife and I, we considered having one of us quitting our job to raise the kids simply because child care for 2 kids was getting close to what one of us were making, post- taxes...OTOH, to live and work in the area where we live, you pretty much need 2 incomes. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Most productive people in our area can only afford 2-3 kids, because of the heavy tax burden, yet if you go to walmart any night of the week, you are in the small minority if pay with anything other than EBT cards.

I'm glad the younger generation see the writing on the wall and simply say "eff you, I'm not playing."

[Viking]

but the millennial aversion to marriage in particular is posing a serious new threat to Social Security and other sacred entitlement programs.

Sacred = "don't you dare question it, filthy peasant!".

[RevDisk]

Pretty much. I live with a nice young lady, neither of us are in a hurry to get married or have kids. Bought a cheap house that's very affordable, even if it needs some work. Sticking to economical vehicles, no expensive 'luxury' expenses outside of cell phone and internet.

[Balog]

Pretty much. I live with a nice young lady, neither of us are in a hurry to get married or have kids. Bought a cheap house that's very affordable, even if it needs some work. Sticking to economical vehicles, no expensive 'luxury' expenses outside of cell phone and internet.

The problem is that people who do want to get married and have kids are screwed. And the continued existence of Western civilization is dependent on people having kids in stable families. I will refer you to any large inner city for the effects of .gov intervention disincentivizing raising children in stable homes.

[Jamisjockey]

Pretty much. I live with a nice young lady, neither of us are in a hurry to get married or have kids. Bought a cheap house that's very affordable, even if it needs some work. Sticking to economical vehicles, no expensive 'luxury' expenses outside of cell phone and internet.

Purely anecdotal, but it seems to me that with Millenials, they are into affordable luxuries.  Big TV, Gaming platforms, and the lastest greatest phones.  They just don't seem to give a crap about having a boat or a sports car or an RV. 

[Balog]

Purely anecdotal, but it seems to me that with Millenials, they are into affordable luxuries.  Big TV, Gaming platforms, and the lastest greatest phones.  They just don't seem to give a crap about having a boat or a sports car or an RV. 

Big tv is what, maybe $2-3k for a really nice one? Another $2-3k for all of the gaming systems and a lot of games. Compared to tens of thousands (financed at %8-10) for a boat or sports car...

I'd say they're making a good choice.

[RevDisk]

Purely anecdotal, but it seems to me that with Millenials, they are into affordable luxuries.  Big TV, Gaming platforms, and the lastest greatest phones.  They just don't seem to give a crap about having a boat or a sports car or an RV. 

Well, yes..? Economy sucks. Damn near all millennials with jobs know said jobs can disappear overnight and their employers have little loyalty. Yep. You called it with affordable luxuries. Easily and economically purchased and hold some resale value. You can also sell those affordable luxuries for at least some return on your money. Unlike a trip to... where ever.

Anything dealing with millennials relate to jobs or lack of economic stability. How hard it can be to obtain, and how easy to lose. Everything makes sense once you put it in that perspective.

You did call it. I don't and wouldn't even think about a boat, sports car or RV. Unless I could obtain them for some insane discount or whatnot. All of my 'huge' purchases are carefully planned. Admittedly, the little slash affordable luxuries (ie can be purchased with one paycheck) not so much. Raspberry Pi, blacksmithing tools, small power tools, etc.

This shouldn't be surprising. Our generation has little to no economic stability, so we do what we can within our security zone. We want luxuries, but we dream small about them. Yes, it's good financial sense, but that's not directly why we do it.

Big tv is what, maybe $2-3k for a really nice one? Another $2-3k for all of the gaming systems and a lot of games. Compared to tens of thousands (financed at %8-10) for a boat or sports car...

I'd say they're making a good choice.

Ayep, concur.

All off Amazon:

Vizio 1080p 50 in TV : $548
Vizio 1080p 60 in TV : $798
Vizio 4K 50 in TV : $999.99
Roku 3500R Streaming Stick: $42
Used XBox 360 : $22-73.50
Used PS3 : $130
Used Xbox One : $339.98
Used PS4 : $339.99

Used games can cost between $1-$50. Libraries rent them out now as well.

You could get a brand new big screen TV, a used next-gen console, a Roku box and a couple videogames for a grand. Which is not a lot of money, and cheaper (per hour) than a lot of other sources of recreation or entertainment. Phones are rolled into the contract, or can be purchased barely obsolete (*cough*) for a hundred or less.

My entertainment system is maybe 2 years old, maybe $1200? So $11.50 per week?
Driving to the library is about a gallon each way, so call it $8 in gas and a buck or two in wear on the car.
Damn near same cost.

[Balog]

I think a lot of the millenials have become aware that SS and the Medi-C's are untenable Ponzi schemes, the stock market is just computers trading play money back and forth thousands of times a second, your job is going to fire you as soon as they can get an Ron(jeet) in New Delhi to do it at 1/8 the cost and 1/100 of the quality etc. Add in a culture that preaches practical nihilism and living for the moment is really the most logical choice.

[Boomhauer]

The only thing I'm putting serious money into is tools, and that's because I make my living with them and will 99.99% likely NEVER be unemployed so long as I have a toolbox to push to the next job. Over the next 10-15 years I expect to purchase $30-40k worth of tools.

Everything else, I live fairly cheaply on. Older truck (will be keeping it on the road as long as possible), no real luxuries, and the only major purchases I have planned for the future is a shop with a small apartment built in and an eventual replacement for my current vehicle.

[Jamisjockey]

The only thing I'm putting serious money into is tools, and that's because I make my living with them and will 99.99% likely NEVER be unemployed so long as I have a toolbox to push to the next job. Over the next 10-15 years I expect to purchase $30-40k worth of tools.

Everything else, I live fairly cheaply on. Older truck (will be keeping it on the road as long as possible), no real luxuries, and the only major purchases I have planned for the future is a shop with a small apartment built in and an eventual replacement for my current vehicle.

With the oil boom you have the potential to make that investment chump change working on the heavy equipment you're training for.

[KD5NRH]

Purely anecdotal, but it seems to me that with Millenials, they are into affordable luxuries.  Big TV, Gaming platforms, and the lastest greatest phones.  They just don't seem to give a crap about having a boat or a sports car or an RV.

It's not the affordability aspect; the ones they like are the ones that can be used from a beanbag chair in their air conditioned living room.

Went to drop off my rent yesterday.  Landlord (my cousin) wasn't there, but his car was.  Figured he'd gone visiting on foot.  We know roughly 8-10 households within walking distance of his house well enough to just drop by whenever, so I decided against going around knocking on doors to find him.  On the way back to town, it occurred to me that if it had been anybody else, "walking distance" would have been next door.  In our case, I was thinking of his three closest rent houses, his mom's house 2 miles away, my mom's house just over the fence from there, and his brother's house three miles away, plus a few family friends in between.  We both grew up walking all over that area to the tune of 3-5 miles a day.

By contrast, I watched a college kid get in his car at the laundromat, drive to the gas station two doors down for a soda and drive back.  The time he spent waiting to make his left turn was longer than it would have taken to walk both ways.

[roo_ster]

With the oil boom you have the potential to make that investment chump change working on the heavy equipment you're training for.

Yep.  My backup plan if I get fired is to move the family to the nearest oil patch, plant them at my FIL's home, and drive a truck or do land man work until something better pans out in my preferred industry...or I develop opportunities in the petroleum industry.

[brimic]

Anything dealing with millennials relate to jobs or lack of economic stability. How hard it can be to obtain, and how easy to lose. Everything makes sense once you put it in that perspective.

I've worked with and talked with a lot of them over the last few years in my workplace.
Economic uncertainty seems to be the norm.
The economy wasn't very good when I got out of college in the early 90s, and it took a few years to nail down a good job, but right now, things look a lot bleaker.
Companies aren't hiring, they get to work 3-6 month stints through temp agencies.
In their position, I wouldn't tie myself down with any kind of permanence either.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Yep.  My backup plan if I get fired is to move the family to the nearest oil patch, plant them at my FIL's home, and drive a truck or do land man work until something better pans out in my preferred industry...or I develop opportunities in the petroleum industry.

Wait! If you lost preferred job you would do what you have to to take care of family?   Well aren't you outa step with the in vogue philosophy of life .
I too am handicapped like that and I fear I may have passed this defect on to my kids.


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[Balog]

Yep.  My backup plan if I get fired is to move the family to the nearest oil patch, plant them at my FIL's home, and drive a truck or do land man work until something better pans out in my preferred industry...or I develop opportunities in the petroleum industry.

I'm actively looking at other places to move to, but that has more to do with WA's push to become ever more stupid in its laws.

[RevDisk]

Another issue is also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU

People state that new technology opens up more jobs for more people. This is an article of faith, not an actual economic forecast. While it has in the past, there's no guarantee that new technology will provide new jobs to replace those that are obsolete. A lot of jobs that have moved overseas aren't coming back. Expensive education, even well chosen, is no guarantee of a successful career.

[Fitz]

Wait! If you lost preferred job you would do what you have to to take care of family?   Well aren't you outa step with the in vogue philosophy of life .
I too am handicapped like that and I fear I may have passed this defect on to my kids.


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This. I have a friend who spent some time unemployed and really hurting. Perfectly capable of manual labor. At the time, the oil boom was in such a huge swing, that you could literally show up with no experience being able bodied and make damn good money.

He didn't want to do it.

"but I'm a programmer, etc etc etc."

Yeah dude, i getcha. But your'e a friggin FATHER first.

If I lost my job, I'd take whatever I had to in order to take care of my wife and kid. I'd shovel *expletive deleted*it if needed.

[Balog]

This. I have a friend who spent some time unemployed and really hurting. Perfectly capable of manual labor. At the time, the oil boom was in such a huge swing, that you could literally show up with no experience being able bodied and make damn good money.

He didn't want to do it.

"but I'm a programmer, etc etc etc."

Yeah dude, i getcha. But your'e a friggin FATHER first.

If I lost my job, I'd take whatever I had to in order to take care of my wife and kid. I'd shovel *expletive deleted* it if needed.

The whole Biblical concept of "If you don't work, you don't eat" solves a lot of those problems. Also, googling that passage for a reference results in a truly hilarious Daily Kos link. I love it when fedora atheists do mental gymnastics to make the book they claim is so evil and false support their political beliefs.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Yup. I lost a big chunk of income when housing market tanked. Delivered newspapers to make up some of the slack. Several guys in same boat asked what I was doing and laughed when I told em. Wasn't me that got foreclosed on though.  Real close to it but just barely hung on. And I got lots of side work from the rt.


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[Boomhauer]

I have a friend who spent some time unemployed and really hurting. Perfectly capable of manual labor. At the time, the oil boom was in such a huge swing, that you could literally show up with no experience being able bodied and make damn good money.

He didn't want to do it.

"but I'm a programmer, etc etc etc."

People like that...who think they are too "good" for a job...*expletive deleted*ing piss me off...

[Fitz]

People like that...who think they are too "good" for a job...*expletive deleted*ing piss me off...

I've turned down jobs before because i felt I was "too good"

But NEVER, EVER when i was wanting for employment. If I need a job, the first job that comes my way is what gets taken, and if i dont get results in my chosen field VERY soon, i start looking elsewhere.

Hell, i moved across the country to take a help desk job when i KNOW that my skill level was higher, and I did NOT want to live in DC

[Balog]

I've turned down jobs before because i felt I was "too good"

But NEVER, EVER when i was wanting for employment. If I need a job, the first job that comes my way is what gets taken, and if i dont get results in my chosen field VERY soon, i start looking elsewhere.

Hell, i moved across the country to take a help desk job when i KNOW that my skill level was higher, and I did NOT want to live in DC

This is why having a 6-12 month emergency fund is a good idea. So you can hold out for a good job instead of moving cross country to do the digital equivalent of flipping burgers.

[Fitz]

This is why having a 6-12 month emergency fund is a good idea. So you can hold out for a good job instead of moving cross country to do the digital equivalent of flipping burgers.

This is true. I wish I had told my young, fresh from mobilization self that.

Had a little bit of a fund saved, but with a surprise pregnancy, no health plan at the time, etc etc... we drained that fast.

[Balog]

This is true. I wish I had told my young, fresh from mobilization self that.

Had a little bit of a fund saved, but with a surprise pregnancy, no health plan at the time, etc etc... we drained that fast.

I hope that didn't com across as critical. We've depleted the savings badly since we went single income with the girls too.