[quote=livinincali] . . . The big problem between 1970 and today is our standard of living and the costs that go a long with that have gone up quite a bit. You didn’t have a cable bill, an internet bill, a cell phone bill, you cooked at home, and had one family car in 1970. Now we expect a lot more and wages haven’t keep up with those expectations. Maybe we need to reduce our expectations and live more within our means.[/quote]
Very astute of you, livinincali, except for the one-car family. I was there and it was common in that era for families to own two vehicles and even more if they had the land to park them on. I’ve been posting this same mantra here for years. Today’s “lifestyle” expectations for those born between about 1970 and 1990 (even straight out of the gate) are thru the roof!
Even the vast majority of “millenials” today who are still teenagers have no idea even how much an i-phone costs to operate every month, let alone a car-insurance premium. I’ve been listening to snippets of their conversations lately and you would be surprised how many in this group believe they can completely live on their own today with a full-time minimum-wage (or slightly above) job. Even if they’ve been told the cost of things by their parents, there is a HUGE disconnect with this group between a known cost figure of a monthly bill (ex: their i-phone, either on a parent’s plan ($50-$60)… or on their own bill ($80-$90)) and how many hours they would have to work every month to pay the bill. Even if they already HAVE a part-time job, many of them couldn’t tell you what their take-home hourly wage is, after taxes.
Compared to boomers, especially the older set, most of Gen Y seems very “high maintenance” to me.
