I’m a GenX/Y cusp as Im 36. Some observations for people in my age group who live in high cost cities – IE SF, NY, LA, SD.
I know many couples who met in college and have lived together ever since or have had serial relationships of cohabitation. Both are professionals and lived in high rent cities. For them, they saved over 300k over 10 years simply by living together in the form of rent, utilities, internet/cable, etc.
Then there are those savings on health insurance, car insurance ( combining onto 1 household policy), groceries, etc
For those of us who waited till our 30s to shack up…well that is a lot of money that could have been invested, used to purchase a home, etc. that 300k savings ended up being a lot more after it was invested and gains were captured. Those friends who co-habited were able to start buying homes sooner. They were able to take advantage of rise in the housing in the early 2000s ( their early 20s), and take the gains to roll them into the next house. They are now on their 2nd or 3rd homes, or also own investment rentals ( they bought condos that they held onto that are now rentals) Many of them have 15 year mortgages because they borrowed very little by the time they took gains from 1-2 home sales and rolled into next purchase. Most 30 something single friends in these expensive housing markets either still rent ( haven’t been able to afford to buy or chose not to with the runup), or have bought crappy small condos that they really hate living in (crappy HOAs, no yard, etc) but are now stuck with them and can’t afford to buy a home in the neighborhoods they want to live in.
I agree with FLU and the frustration about the learned helplessness. I’m really tired by how many people are so damn entitled but don’t want to work for it or spend the time to figure it out for themselves yet want to complain when things don’t work out.
However, having had several friends pass away in recent years, in their 30s and 40s, or their lives altered by horrible accidents, I also take the live life while you’re young approach so do the things you in enjoy, in moderation. Because you 50 or 60s may never arrive. Or when they do, you’re not in the physical condition to enjoy what you thought you’d be enjoying. For us, we love to travel, golf, and enjoy wine. But we also still save between 30-40% of net income in cash, outside of maxing out our retirement accounts.
We also have no kids and don’t really desire to have them. That makes a huge difference in our disposable income.
And I’m with FLU on how scary it is when medical issues arise. I’ve personally spent thousands of dollars even though I had great insurance to deal with chronic problems from a car accident. I’ve had to help my parents out financially, cancer can really wipe your savings out. I’ve spent much of my adult life being a constant worrier/planner/saver, but then I realized that I don’t want to live my life always preparing for the worst. Because thats made me very risk adverse but also tied me down to things I became slave to, like a high paying job I hated or ideals of what success looks like.
