So…Adults living with Parents…What’s going on? Why?

Question

Obviously a languishing economy and inflation. But I haven’t felt any issues. Can Zoomers not find jobs to live off of and have to stay with Boomer parents? Why?

Learn a fcking lucrative skill and move out. I was out at 17.

Flatmanlewis · Accepted Answer

I think there are a few factors as to why.

Is it all a horrible financial situation which leaves this poor generation in a helpless situation? Well, kinda yes and kinda no.

A/ This economy is brutal. I’ve seen my own expenses increase dramatically. The ACA increased my health insurance costs five fold. It was devastating. Inflation is beyond my comprehension. From gas to milk to insurance to utilities - EVERYTHING has doubled to tripled in price since I bought my home a decade and a half ago. I couldn’t even afford to buy where I live if I didn’t live here already.

B/ There is a predatory college-for-profit industry that has brainwashed an entire generation into thinking they NEED a college education to be “successful”. You have 25yr olds with a nearly worthless degree, $50K to $200K in debt and baffled why their “business degree”, “(insert ethnicity here) studies degree”, or whatever humanities degree they got isn’t getting them paid $100,000 a year to start. I know a few plumbers, electricians, and car mechanics who are living quite well. There is an entire trade industry out there doing very, very, well but we don’t treat them like they are successful because they get dirty hands.

C/ People are used to using credit very differently. Credit USED to be for large expenses. Now the absolutely immoral credit industry is luring every 18yr old with the fake image of success by tempting them to have and buy the things that make them look “successful” (there’s that damn word again!) by simply buying it now and paying for it. You can’t even buy a shirt without some sales clerk asking you if you’d like to open a store credit card. A shirt that cost $1.25 to make, they bought it for $2.00, mark it for $65, sell it “on sale” for $50 (making the buyer think they got a deal) and offering 20% off that shirt when you open a credit card - at 28.5% interest! And you got happy customers skipping out of frigging the stores all day long doing this.

Lastly, we have a generation which isn’t seeking out careers but rather well paying jobs. There IS a difference. The “new middle class” is populated by skilled labor with either career required & specific degrees (lawyers, nurses, accountants, etc.) or skilled and certified labor that may not necessarily require a degree but DOES require specialized training and certification. Paramedics, commercial pilots, peace officers, dental hygienists, commercial truck drivers, etc. What we called essentials during COVID.

lightbulb27 · Accepted Answer

some are having a hard time financially due to poor decisions up front... but as well, it's not easy getting started. getting house/apt pricy, our society pushes debt, so people end up starting in the hole.

I stayed home for few years to benefit myself and parents. Definitely delayed my perosnal life some, but wouldn't trade it back, was best of times with parents.

TheRealPepperPotts · Accepted Answer

I say this gently; things are not the same as when you were young? A 700 sq ft house is selling for roughly the same as a 1500 sq ft house, regardless of condition or neighborhood much of the time. To get an education to make themselves competitive is prohibitively expensive and essentially taking on a mortgage. Rent is through the roof and everything is expensive, regardless of actual value. There is no "buy a fixer upper" or "live in a less expensive part of town".

My thought is to stop selling to foreign buyers buying cheap US real estate for investment, until the housing debacle is corrected, or wages compensate for the gap. Housing is a basic need like food. Investment is secondary. The housing will continue to be inflated until those issues are addressed, which requires legislation. Keep in mind that housing selling at high prices is beneficial to the government, because they can tax it at a higher rate, making it a low priority for them to address the problem.

Many millennials I know have moved back in to try and get ahead of the economic conditions, the zoomers are still trying to further their education, the boomers are ageing in place instead of moving to a nicer, smaller home (meaning less housing for young families), and Gen X (the forgotten generation) is trying to make it all work for everyone.

There are deadbeats in every generation, but I'd be slow to condemn an entire generation, especially one coming later than me. The reason is because I am the one who has lived long enough to actually try to make the world a better place for them. If I've failed in that, that's on me.

Agape93 · Accepted Answer

With my company, they never last. They either just up and quit without warning, they never show up, they get an attitude or they make demands when they haven't been around past probation. I haven't had someone under 25 last a month so I wager a lot of it is their own fault. They're entitled and lazy.

HighValue · Answer

Consider this. Many people that go to college and get a degree end up making around $50,000 per year, clearing around$2,900 per month after taxes and deduction. A bottom end new house costs AT LEAST $350,000. After 20% down, there is $280,000 remaining. that often comes to around $2,500 to $2,800 per month. That leaves them with only $100 per month for food, utilities, transportation, clothing, entertainment, etc. The very high interest rates, along with very high inflation of more than 100% in the last few years make it significantly more difficult for people that didn't already start buying a house before things went down hill in the USA.

DrPepper12 · Answer

I'll give it to you from two sides. Those aging boomers fucked over the economy completely. They got theirs and then pulled up the ladder behind them!

Those same boomers are now living with me, generation X, because the cost of nursing home or old age care is prohibitive.

That leaves us with the millennials and Gen Z. The economy is a dystopian hellscape for them. They have massive debt and no job to show for it cuz All the boomers haven't worked their way to retirement yet. Good jobs in a service economy are increasingly hard to come by so they end up waiting it out in mom and dad's basement (spoken as a dad of a 23 year old who can't stand the word Indeed any more AND an uncle of a 26 year old who is STILL taking low stipend internships just to make himself more marketable for when those jobs do arrive.

And here's me, paying for visiting nurses and college tuition on both sides of the squeeze. Fuck this place.

Avicenna · Answer

Well, there are always some lazy deadbeats, but I suspect that for the most part it's due to inflation and higher interest rates greatly increasing the overall cost of living. Ask yourself, for example, what your cost of living would be if your mortgage rate was 7% instead of 2.5% and your car payment was 6% instead of 2% or less. Rents are crazy as well, including for dumpy apartments.

A kid moving back in should pay a reasonable rent until they're able to get on their feet. Could be a win-win.

bobby_bush_eater · Answer

I moved back after leaving the military and finishing my degree. Rent is high and I only need to stay at my parents for less than a year, I'm moving abroad where I have some things planned.

People my age didn't save, they don't save money at college instead they accumulate debt. They're not financially literate in the worst time in US history to not be.

They have no choice and they still keep their bad spending habits because they didn't develop good ones in college which is for most of them the first time they have real responsibility for themselves.

msc545 · Answer

You are also 40 years old and things were different when you were 17 than they are now. I doubt that rent was as high as it is now and I doubt the jobs were as difficult to get as they are now. Just because you were able to do something, doesn't mean you should expect others to be able to do it.

HelpfulWoman · Answer

XD imagine not understand times have changed.

because there's no need to throw your kids out if you don't have to. many will just charge a lower rent so the kids stay and can actually save. which is better all around then being chucked out on your arse and losing all your paycheck to the renting system.

Anonymous · Answer

I'm 22 still living with my parents. My brother is 25 and he's still at home too. As part of our religion we only leave when we're married. I've had a full time job since I left school at 17 and have managed to save over $250k which would've been impossible if I was living away from home.

Anonymous · Answer

Jobs are much lower paid. Most college graduates are leaving college with a degree that gets them a minimum wage job. Everything is more expensive. House prices and rent are higher. Everything is more regulated. Cash jobs are non existent. Medical care costs more. People are more unhealthy due to obesity. Ilegal immigration drives down wages. Automation and AI is replacing jobs. It's only going to get worse.

Loner111 · Answer

There r a lot of adults living and moving back in with their parents.

Don't hate the players, hate the game.

It's the economy. Rents and houses r not what they used to be before.

U should be grateful u did not have to do that when u were their ages. U were able to get ur own place and have peace and quiet.

Paul09 · Answer

I was out when I was ready. I was 33 years old. It's silly to move out at such a young age. I waited till I had enough to buy my own home. I'd never ever rent. Just sucks I have no one to share it with. That would be a huge help. Everything keeps getting more and more expensive, while my pay barely goes up.

ICanSmellTheCosmos · Answer

My two grandmothers will die in a few years, and I am helping to take care of them (one lives with us) to relieve the burden on my parents.

I have a job and am saving money for a potential business that I want to start. There is no reason to move out and spend 1/3 - 1/2 my income on renting a place when I can live with my parents for free and move out at any time with a decent bank stash.

Levin · Answer

Ah fuck it, man.

We all fail at something.

Some fail to be healthy and not overweight.

Others fail in their relationships.

Others fail in this economy.

Unless you've succeeded at everything, don't judge.

CrabCakes11 · Answer

lol the most American post ever. You do realize a vast chunk of the world has inter generational households, right?

exitseven · Answer

After my kids graduated from college I told them that they could live rent free for a year until they got settled but after that I expected them to pay room and board. They all moved out and I never collected a dime.

handsomelad70 · Answer

What f**king lucrative trade? Wages for non-college-educated dudes have cratered in the last half-century. Now take off your MAGA hat and look around you, boyo !!!

serious · Answer

There can be many reasons.

So…Adults living with Parents…What’s going on? Why?

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