On the flip side, I see a lot of people working and struggling to get by. Maybe some of the stress is self-induced and a psychological adjustment is in order. For instance some people feel miserable because they can’t afford a house in the school district they want in San Diego. They could just move away to a more affordable area. But then they’d be miserable about that.
Expensive areas like San Diego require a well paid job or some help if you are to live the life of your dreams.[/quote]
Yeah, CA is not really for people making little and if you want to live in the Bay Area and “succeed (save for retirement/home…)”, you better be making > $200k. Probably more.
If I was single, young, no kids, I’d personally move out of CA.
I think the problem now with say, 30-40 years ago is that a basic existence 30-40 years with a modest house, decent schools, safe areas, 1-2 cars, good affordable healthcare, higher education, fuel, etc etc etc was attainable by the general person/job. As another message mentioned, you had communities where doctors lived in the same school district as the plumbers, factory workers, etc…Schools were also better back then.
Nowadays, with our over-supply of labor and “global” economies, there simply aren’t enough good paying jobs for enough people to make a decent living to have, what was 40 years ago, a “modest” living compared to now. Even if you got rid of all luxuries (and I mean all like cell phones, cable, internet, netflix, dining out, etc), it’d be tough for most people since healthcare is (was with ACA now) insane, education much more, gas 4x higher, food…more…
For a lot of people barely getting by, it’s really not about sacrificing or self induced stress I feel (having seen/lived it personally as well as reading everything I can about it), but there is just tougher times for many folks with more limited opportunities.
As any tech worker will tell you now and many people here can attest to as well, when you start hitting 35+ with a family, you are simply not as desirable to hire. Most companies also don’t want to bother retraining I’ve seen personally even if you “were” the hotshot years ago.
Yes, there are always top people who can always get hired, but “most” work isn’t really revolutionary I feel so you almost have to get a little lucky in the work/field you end up doing.
I know a few workers w/ families from QCOM who are constantly complaining about the hours and saying they can’t help but do it since some of the non-parents will take advantage if they were to not do it or complain to much.
