There has been a lot of pontification, hand-wringing and outright whining about economic conditions for Millenials and Gen Zs who have recently entered the US workforce. At the top of the complaint lists are: costs for college education, housing prices/rent, gas, groceries and consumer goods.
I grew up poor living in lower class neighborhoods. I never worried about the price of gas because I didn’t have a car. My only possibility of paying for college was going to an in-state school with lower tuitions that I paid for via scholarships, grants and student loans. I couldn’t afford my own place of my own until I dropped out of college and found a full-time service job. The thought of buying a home in my 20s and early 30s was a fantasy. We lived paycheck to paycheck using credit cards to make ends meet. We could barely come up with a security deposit for a rental, muchness a downpayment for a home.
I harbored no expectations of homeownership, financing a new car or even landing a job with medical benefits.
Today, when I hear about the “affordability crisis” of the younger generations, I wonder how many of them grew up living cushy middle to upper-class lives. I hear stories (and see example in my own suburban neighborhood) of kids who go to expensive private high schools and private colleges paid for by their parents. High schoolers drive late model SUVs, trucks and luxury cars paid for by their parents. They live in McMansions. Their parents employ cleaning people, gardeners, tutors, therapists and others to ensure the kids are pampered. Very few of them work.
I’ve heard stories about vacations abroad, spending a year studying in Europe and partying through 6-8 years of school coasting to get a Master’s Degree in psychology, marketing or international studies.
No wonder reality hits them hard in the face when they are confronted with the costs of trying to live the lifestyle their parents provided them.
That lifestyle is completely unrealistic for most self-supporting people entering the workforce.
Just like it was for me when I was their age.
Of course many of these kids will get an assist from the parents – college will be paid for, cars will be purchased, rent will be paid, down payments and weddings will be funded. That will undoubtedly help those who are fortunate enough to be beneficiaries of a continued parental subsidy.
As for the others, they’ll have to adjust their expectations.
It’s not an unaffordability crisis. It’s a reality check.
