I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with much of this. The millennials I know almost all live with their parents because (supposedly) they're saving up money, but they lack for nothing (new iPhones, clothes, cars) and take ski trips to Aspen. I have a hard time imagining that their bank accounts are flush.

One is actively looking for an apartment -- with his mom, of course -- and has turned down every option for some reason: too small, too dark, the kitchen isn't updated, too loud, too close to public housing, too far from mommie and daddy. He wants to get a roommate, but he refuses to share a bathroom and his mother agrees that sharing a bathroom with "a stranger" is unacceptable for her snowflake.

Can't exactly weep for them.

It's not just millennials. I know a lot of people who live like this. I have numerous friends who have student loans or I'm certain aren't saving any money but manage to go on expensive vacations, have iPhones, take uber everywhere, dine out and order takeout frequently. They don't seem to bat an eye at living like this.

I'm Gen X. Graduated top 5 law school with $160k in loans. Did BigLaw briefly, hated it, have worked in more nontraditional and low paying jobs ever since.

I was 27 when I graduated. I lived in a terrible, affordable apartment. Paid off as much as I could of my loans. Now, in my 40s, I only get to live somewhere nice because my husband has a more traditional sort of job.

Even when I was $160k in debt, I ate out, I traveled, I did other things you'd probably turn your nose at, as beneath someone in debt. The reason is because life is for living - not just for saving and paying off loans. The loans suck, and aren't going anywhere whether I get Thai food for dinner tonight or not. You are basically suggesting that people whose parents weren't rich enough to pay for their tuitions or to keep them in well-appointed homes during their 20s and 30s shouldn't get to enjoy their youths in any way. Well, I'm glad I enjoyed my youth. I'm glad I got to do things, and experience things, even though I was also trying to make my own way in the world.

I think you have to find a balance. There's a difference between not enjoying your youth and never traveling or eating out and eating out and traveling all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:European here. A lot of Americans don't appreciate the finer things in life, even though they can afford so much more. A Frenchman is fine renting, a small space too, because they want to be able to buy a niece piece of cheese and wine and fresh fish and a beautiful jacket. So if the millennials are doing what you say they are doing, kudos to them.

You really cannot compare Europe to the US. You have cradle to grave social benefits - we do not. What happens when these folks who have screwed off their entire life arrive at retirement with no money? They become a burden on their children or the state.

Those benefits are paid for by significant taxation and coupled with much lower salaries. I think net net it evens out over a life time. In any case, I think it's a philosophical difference. As I mentioned, given X amount of disposable income, a Frenchman will chose to rent vs. owning, in order to afford small luxuries/quality. Many Americans overemphasize housing or cars to the detriment of many many other things that make life pleasurable. I am most surprised by the very well educated and well off couples who seem to squirrel away millions while leading Spartan lives. Many post here. So no I don't judge a millennial, who is saddled with debt and facing crazy housing costs for not buying in to the current scheme.

Well, kinda. For the average worker, yes. But tell me about the last Microsoft, Apple, Google, Uber, life changing Pharma, Telsa, etc that came out of France? You are paying with a lack of dynamism in the economy. That is unique to the US. You cannot wish for only one component of European model - you will get them all. The US is the innovation engine for the world, France - not so much.

None of those things are irreplaceable; there's an entire world of OSS that could easily replace Microsoft and Apple, search engines besides Google, electric car companies besides Tesla, and taxi services besides Uber. It's also ironic that you mention Uber because the founder got the idea when visiting France. I'd also take France's transportation network over the US' any day; it's safer and far more diversified and less car-dependent. And the "life-changing pharma" is useless if you can't afford it, which the vast majority of Americans can't. That average worker you mentioned will live longer in France than in the US, and that's been the case for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'd say a bigger part of the difference is that there are much more limits on corporations there and as a result, a much stronger artisan culture. Speaking about France, in particular, there's a much stronger present tradition of small businesses than there is in much of the US, especially in rural areas, where your choices are WalMart and WalMart. The tide is turning in the US, especially as the word gets out of how many toxins are in our profit-at-all-costs food chain, but as the PP noted, we're much more willing to spend our money on gaudy than on quality. I remember when reading FKEE how the author quoted a lady noting that there, they were more likely to want to choose between 10 ice cream flavors, compared to here, where most Americans would prefer to have a store with 50 options. The lady in France basically stated that the quality couldn't possibly be as good if there were that many options.

Until we have more protections for small businesses and a lot more demand for quality over quantity here, it'll continue to cost a lot more to offer alternatives to the mainstream. A quick example involves milk. To avoid the hormone-ridden "milk" from poor cows that are chained to overcrowded stalls and literally fed sawdust, candy, and chicken poop (yes!), we recently switched to Oberweis milk. The cows are humanely raised and humanely fed, and it's worth it to us to have them treated well and fed well. However, that means we now spend about $11.58 a gallon instead of the $2-3/gallon milk we used to buy. We do get $3 back with returning the bottles, but it's still much more expensive. It's also the only option for milk we can trust.

In France, in comparison, it would be much easier to buy milk directly from farmers or even in the stores with much tighter restrictions on how they're fed and treated. The more you learn about what we're putting into our bodies if we eat things from the regular food supply here, the less it'll surprise you why folks are willing to try other things, even if they aren't as affordable as they would be overseas.

What is FKEE?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy League class of '01. Bought my starter home in 2010 with my mother as cosigner on the loan and she put up $20K towards the down payment. Just paid her off a few months ago (zero percent interest loan) and we're refinancing to take her off the title/mortgage. Plus she helps out with daycare payments every once in a while when we are short. Still have barely started contributing to the 529 plan yet.

Don't blame milennials.

These are accomplishments? 15 years out from an Ivy degree and still getting help from Mommy? Good lord.

I'm a mom of young adults and that 2001 Ivy grad post is really depressing. Mine are not that old. 6 years to pay back $20,000 no interest loan? Mom on the mortgage? Helping pay for daycare? I'm a generous and a confused person.

I don't get it either. I am an older millennial. I graduated undergraduate with zero loans (all scholarships) from a state school. I got paid to go to graduate school. I worked jobs all throughout high school, college, and graduate school. DH and I are very frugal and we managed to save 120k for a down payment for our starter house in 2006. In 2010, we sold the starter home and bought our current home with 180k down and 100k in renovations. Currently, we have a healthy 401k and max contributions every year. We also save a lot and so have quite a bit in investments. We did a 15 year loan so our house is half paid off. My sister graduated from an Ivy League in 2014 and she completely can pay off her loan, but decides to enjoy her life instead. She has a lot more earning potential than me, but I don't know if she will accumulate as much as me. However, I do wonder if she is happier because she has experienced more in life. As I read on a recent study, buying things do not give you happiness but buying experiences (e.g. activities) will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with much of this. The millennials I know almost all live with their parents because (supposedly) they're saving up money, but they lack for nothing (new iPhones, clothes, cars) and take ski trips to Aspen. I have a hard time imagining that their bank accounts are flush.

One is actively looking for an apartment -- with his mom, of course -- and has turned down every option for some reason: too small, too dark, the kitchen isn't updated, too loud, too close to public housing, too far from mommie and daddy. He wants to get a roommate, but he refuses to share a bathroom and his mother agrees that sharing a bathroom with "a stranger" is unacceptable for her snowflake.

Can't exactly weep for them.

It's not just millennials. I know a lot of people who live like this. I have numerous friends who have student loans or I'm certain aren't saving any money but manage to go on expensive vacations, have iPhones, take uber everywhere, dine out and order takeout frequently. They don't seem to bat an eye at living like this.

I'm Gen X. Graduated top 5 law school with $160k in loans. Did BigLaw briefly, hated it, have worked in more nontraditional and low paying jobs ever since.

I was 27 when I graduated. I lived in a terrible, affordable apartment. Paid off as much as I could of my loans. Now, in my 40s, I only get to live somewhere nice because my husband has a more traditional sort of job.

Even when I was $160k in debt, I ate out, I traveled, I did other things you'd probably turn your nose at, as beneath someone in debt. The reason is because life is for living - not just for saving and paying off loans. The loans suck, and aren't going anywhere whether I get Thai food for dinner tonight or not. You are basically suggesting that people whose parents weren't rich enough to pay for their tuitions or to keep them in well-appointed homes during their 20s and 30s shouldn't get to enjoy their youths in any way. Well, I'm glad I enjoyed my youth. I'm glad I got to do things, and experience things, even though I was also trying to make my own way in the world.

Old Gen Xer here. I have to say I really cannot fathom 160K in debt out of school. Graduated in 88 with maybe 10K in debt - I was very fortunate with scholarships and parents that paid most of my tuition. I can see the reaction of just throwing up your hands and saying to hell with it, I'm going to live my life and not worry about the mountain of debt. It's a very natural reaction. Having a good set of mentors, whether parents or others, to structure a way to address it is critical. Otherwise you give in to that feeling of helplessness and the problem only compounds. There was an article recently that people are starting to have their Social Security garnished for old student loan payments - that means that through a working lifetime, student loans were never paid off. That is crazy.

I'm the PP with the $160k in loans. It's been very hard, being in debt like that. I don't blame anyone for it - I turned down a scholarship at a state law school because I thought it was more important to have that impressive degree, and then deal with the debt. But yes, it's been $700-1500/month for 16 years now, and will be like that for another decade still.

But I've still gotten to live a great life, even with the debt. Some of that is luck, some of it is fecklessness. Some of it is that I've had to be resourceful and scrappy, to be able to pay my bills and loans, and also enjoy myself.

I just really resent and reject this idea that everyone you know who has a lot of school debt, and also has an iPhone, is simply a moron. Yes, there are things you can't do, if you have debt. But saying that you've got to basically not live for a couple of decades so that every available penny can be put toward Key Bank - I think that's bullshit. Great for you if you did that and it works for you. I hate the idea of looking back at my life and wondering where it all went, because I refused to go anywhere or do anything for fear of not paying off those goddamn loans more quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with much of this. The millennials I know almost all live with their parents because (supposedly) they're saving up money, but they lack for nothing (new iPhones, clothes, cars) and take ski trips to Aspen. I have a hard time imagining that their bank accounts are flush.

One is actively looking for an apartment -- with his mom, of course -- and has turned down every option for some reason: too small, too dark, the kitchen isn't updated, too loud, too close to public housing, too far from mommie and daddy. He wants to get a roommate, but he refuses to share a bathroom and his mother agrees that sharing a bathroom with "a stranger" is unacceptable for her snowflake.

Can't exactly weep for them.

It's not just millennials. I know a lot of people who live like this. I have numerous friends who have student loans or I'm certain aren't saving any money but manage to go on expensive vacations, have iPhones, take uber everywhere, dine out and order takeout frequently. They don't seem to bat an eye at living like this.

I'm Gen X. Graduated top 5 law school with $160k in loans. Did BigLaw briefly, hated it, have worked in more nontraditional and low paying jobs ever since.

I was 27 when I graduated. I lived in a terrible, affordable apartment. Paid off as much as I could of my loans. Now, in my 40s, I only get to live somewhere nice because my husband has a more traditional sort of job.

Even when I was $160k in debt, I ate out, I traveled, I did other things you'd probably turn your nose at, as beneath someone in debt. The reason is because life is for living - not just for saving and paying off loans. The loans suck, and aren't going anywhere whether I get Thai food for dinner tonight or not. You are basically suggesting that people whose parents weren't rich enough to pay for their tuitions or to keep them in well-appointed homes during their 20s and 30s shouldn't get to enjoy their youths in any way. Well, I'm glad I enjoyed my youth. I'm glad I got to do things, and experience things, even though I was also trying to make my own way in the world.

I think you have to find a balance. There's a difference between not enjoying your youth and never traveling or eating out and eating out and traveling all the time.

Indebted PP - yes, for sure. A balance is correct. I was just responding to the PP who said s/he knows people who have new clothes and travel, and whose bank accounts s/he's imagining aren't flush. Mine isn't. I'm sure I made some financial mistakes that weren't worth it, on top of the things that were worth it. My bank account wasn't going to be flush whether I went to India or not. I'm glad I went to India.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with much of this. The millennials I know almost all live with their parents because (supposedly) they're saving up money, but they lack for nothing (new iPhones, clothes, cars) and take ski trips to Aspen. I have a hard time imagining that their bank accounts are flush.

One is actively looking for an apartment -- with his mom, of course -- and has turned down every option for some reason: too small, too dark, the kitchen isn't updated, too loud, too close to public housing, too far from mommie and daddy. He wants to get a roommate, but he refuses to share a bathroom and his mother agrees that sharing a bathroom with "a stranger" is unacceptable for her snowflake.

Can't exactly weep for them.

It's not just millennials. I know a lot of people who live like this. I have numerous friends who have student loans or I'm certain aren't saving any money but manage to go on expensive vacations, have iPhones, take uber everywhere, dine out and order takeout frequently. They don't seem to bat an eye at living like this.

I'm Gen X. Graduated top 5 law school with $160k in loans. Did BigLaw briefly, hated it, have worked in more nontraditional and low paying jobs ever since.

I was 27 when I graduated. I lived in a terrible, affordable apartment. Paid off as much as I could of my loans. Now, in my 40s, I only get to live somewhere nice because my husband has a more traditional sort of job.

Even when I was $160k in debt, I ate out, I traveled, I did other things you'd probably turn your nose at, as beneath someone in debt. The reason is because life is for living - not just for saving and paying off loans. The loans suck, and aren't going anywhere whether I get Thai food for dinner tonight or not. You are basically suggesting that people whose parents weren't rich enough to pay for their tuitions or to keep them in well-appointed homes during their 20s and 30s shouldn't get to enjoy their youths in any way. Well, I'm glad I enjoyed my youth. I'm glad I got to do things, and experience things, even though I was also trying to make my own way in the world.

Old Gen Xer here. I have to say I really cannot fathom 160K in debt out of school. Graduated in 88 with maybe 10K in debt - I was very fortunate with scholarships and parents that paid most of my tuition. I can see the reaction of just throwing up your hands and saying to hell with it, I'm going to live my life and not worry about the mountain of debt. It's a very natural reaction. Having a good set of mentors, whether parents or others, to structure a way to address it is critical. Otherwise you give in to that feeling of helplessness and the problem only compounds. There was an article recently that people are starting to have their Social Security garnished for old student loan payments - that means that through a working lifetime, student loans were never paid off. That is crazy.

I'm the PP with the $160k in loans. It's been very hard, being in debt like that. I don't blame anyone for it - I turned down a scholarship at a state law school because I thought it was more important to have that impressive degree, and then deal with the debt. But yes, it's been $700-1500/month for 16 years now, and will be like that for another decade still.

But I've still gotten to live a great life, even with the debt. Some of that is luck, some of it is fecklessness. Some of it is that I've had to be resourceful and scrappy, to be able to pay my bills and loans, and also enjoy myself.

I just really resent and reject this idea that everyone you know who has a lot of school debt, and also has an iPhone, is simply a moron. Yes, there are things you can't do, if you have debt. But saying that you've got to basically not live for a couple of decades so that every available penny can be put toward Key Bank - I think that's bullshit. Great for you if you did that and it works for you. I hate the idea of looking back at my life and wondering where it all went, because I refused to go anywhere or do anything for fear of not paying off those goddamn loans more quickly.

Iphones are rather comical devices. Think of all the people who get govt benefits with iphones, northface etc. Before deciding on a top 5 law school and taking on that debt , the PP should have worked at a big law firm. Assessed the environment, hours, etc.

Perhaps the law is attractive but not firm demands so ... then again many state law schools don't have instate breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'd say a bigger part of the difference is that there are much more limits on corporations there and as a result, a much stronger artisan culture. Speaking about France, in particular, there's a much stronger present tradition of small businesses than there is in much of the US, especially in rural areas, where your choices are WalMart and WalMart. The tide is turning in the US, especially as the word gets out of how many toxins are in our profit-at-all-costs food chain, but as the PP noted, we're much more willing to spend our money on gaudy than on quality. I remember when reading FKEE how the author quoted a lady noting that there, they were more likely to want to choose between 10 ice cream flavors, compared to here, where most Americans would prefer to have a store with 50 options. The lady in France basically stated that the quality couldn't possibly be as good if there were that many options.

Until we have more protections for small businesses and a lot more demand for quality over quantity here, it'll continue to cost a lot more to offer alternatives to the mainstream. A quick example involves milk. To avoid the hormone-ridden "milk" from poor cows that are chained to overcrowded stalls and literally fed sawdust, candy, and chicken poop (yes!), we recently switched to Oberweis milk. The cows are humanely raised and humanely fed, and it's worth it to us to have them treated well and fed well. However, that means we now spend about $11.58 a gallon instead of the $2-3/gallon milk we used to buy. We do get $3 back with returning the bottles, but it's still much more expensive. It's also the only option for milk we can trust.

In France, in comparison, it would be much easier to buy milk directly from farmers or even in the stores with much tighter restrictions on how they're fed and treated. The more you learn about what we're putting into our bodies if we eat things from the regular food supply here, the less it'll surprise you why folks are willing to try other things, even if they aren't as affordable as they would be overseas.

What is FKEE?

French Kids Eat Everything, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Took a field trip to Union Market this weekend. Filled with young people looking very spiffy, drinking $5 coffees and buying things like $30 candles and locally sourced food that is 2x the price of Safeway. There was a stall there selling $200+ Japanese knives. All this 'everyday luxury' is killing you guys.

Well, then, let them cake.

I doubt those young people are griping about their student loans. They are probably rocking their associates' job at Biglaw.

Just because you don't know any Millenials who are struggling, doesn't mean they don't exist.

[Anonymous]

I have zero debt except for the reasonable mortgage on my home. I occasionally indulge myself in something like a $5 coffee or a candle, but overall, I'm pretty frugal.

How do you know I wasn't spending my Christmas or birthday money, Grandpa?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember when you took out that HELOC? When you didn't actually save for your kids' education but instead thought of your house as an ATM?
As crazy as you may think it, the Millenials did NOT cause the housing crash. They did not dissolve your retirement funds. They were too young to buy when all that went down.
You may be bitter and have a few more years of wear, but you mid-forty somethings and up are not the geniuses you think you are.

It took a million pages, but finally someone points this out.

Older Gen Xers and crusty ass Boomers are very judgmental and smug for a group that literally caused one of the greatest financial recessions in our lifetime from being greedy, materialistic and living completely beyond their means.

-Younger Gen Xer

We oldsters are not responsible for the ludicrous lending to unqualified borrowers. That was PC-homes for all. Don't slam the group that believed in 10-20+% down and fixed rate 30 year mortgages. No funk.

Actually you are. Those bankers and brokers dividing up those bonds and creating the greatest recession and housing slump were not our current 1980+ born generation. That was all you.
Those younger kids were just beginning to enter and graduate college when you fucked up the entire economy.

Not the vast majority of us who thought it was incredibly stupid to relax standards. My age group may have done deals but for whose benefit? The bundling of crap mortgages was based on prior bundling before our govt allowed crap loans so all could get housing ownership.

PC gone amok. PC crap still flows http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/07/bank-requires-few-loan-documents-seems-like-housing-deja-vu.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:....

But I've still gotten to live a great life, even with the debt. Some of that is luck, some of it is fecklessness. Some of it is that I've had to be resourceful and scrappy, to be able to pay my bills and loans, and also enjoy myself.

I just really resent and reject this idea that everyone you know who has a lot of school debt, and also has an iPhone, is simply a moron. Yes, there are things you can't do, if you have debt. But saying that you've got to basically not live for a couple of decades so that every available penny can be put toward Key Bank - I think that's bullshit. Great for you if you did that and it works for you. I hate the idea of looking back at my life and wondering where it all went, because I refused to go anywhere or do anything for fear of not paying off those goddamn loans more quickly.

Bottom line is ALL loans need to be repaid and at reasonable interest rates. No fluff rates for people getting degrees in useless fields. No grants with public money. You go to school -you pay it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember when you took out that HELOC? When you didn't actually save for your kids' education but instead thought of your house as an ATM?
As crazy as you may think it, the Millenials did NOT cause the housing crash. They did not dissolve your retirement funds. They were too young to buy when all that went down.
You may be bitter and have a few more years of wear, but you mid-forty somethings and up are not the geniuses you think you are.

It took a million pages, but finally someone points this out.

Older Gen Xers and crusty ass Boomers are very judgmental and smug for a group that literally caused one of the greatest financial recessions in our lifetime from being greedy, materialistic and living completely beyond their means.

-Younger Gen Xer

We oldsters are not responsible for the ludicrous lending to unqualified borrowers. That was PC-homes for all. Don't slam the group that believed in 10-20+% down and fixed rate 30 year mortgages. No funk.

Actually you are. Those bankers and brokers dividing up those bonds and creating the greatest recession and housing slump were not our current 1980+ born generation. That was all you.
Those younger kids were just beginning to enter and graduate college when you fucked up the entire economy.

Different PP here. You're as bad as the OP. OP paints an entire generation (Millennials) as irresponsible because they prioritize small luxury items and services over paying down debt and saving for life milestones. You paint two entire generations (Boomers and Gen-X) for the economic recession that was created by a portion of greedy bankers and brokers and people who bought more than they could afford, or listened to the bankers and brokers who told them they could afford more. The funny thing is that the victims in both situations (the millennials that OP castigates and the older overspenders that you blame) are the same type of people. These are people who spend on the present instead of saving for the future.

Essentially both of you are flagging the same type of people, showing that they really do span generations. There are savers and spenders in all generation. As I said several pages ago, the only difference I see is that there may be slightly spenders than savers now than there were in prior generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:European here. A lot of Americans don't appreciate the finer things in life, even though they can afford so much more. A Frenchman is fine renting, a small space too, because they want to be able to buy a niece piece of cheese and wine and fresh fish and a beautiful jacket. So if the millennials are doing what you say they are doing, kudos to them.

You really cannot compare Europe to the US. You have cradle to grave social benefits - we do not. What happens when these folks who have screwed off their entire life arrive at retirement with no money? They become a burden on their children or the state.

Those benefits are paid for by significant taxation and coupled with much lower salaries. I think net net it evens out over a life time. In any case, I think it's a philosophical difference. As I mentioned, given X amount of disposable income, a Frenchman will chose to rent vs. owning, in order to afford small luxuries/quality. Many Americans overemphasize housing or cars to the detriment of many many other things that make life pleasurable. I am most surprised by the very well educated and well off couples who seem to squirrel away millions while leading Spartan lives. Many post here. So no I don't judge a millennial, who is saddled with debt and facing crazy housing costs for not buying in to the current scheme.

I like this person. Gen Xer. No school debt, parents paid my way. Bought a house in DC back in the early aughts for less than $200K. It has appreciated nicely. I earn $125K. I save but I live. I am in my early 40s and in the past few years have seen too many friends die. Tomorrow is not promised so I will balance planning for the future with enjoying life today. I get the good cheese and the good wine and take the trips now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:European here. A lot of Americans don't appreciate the finer things in life, even though they can afford so much more. A Frenchman is fine renting, a small space too, because they want to be able to buy a niece piece of cheese and wine and fresh fish and a beautiful jacket. So if the millennials are doing what you say they are doing, kudos to them.

You really cannot compare Europe to the US. You have cradle to grave social benefits - we do not. What happens when these folks who have screwed off their entire life arrive at retirement with no money? They become a burden on their children or the state.

Those benefits are paid for by significant taxation and coupled with much lower salaries. I think net net it evens out over a life time. In any case, I think it's a philosophical difference. As I mentioned, given X amount of disposable income, a Frenchman will chose to rent vs. owning, in order to afford small luxuries/quality. Many Americans overemphasize housing or cars to the detriment of many many other things that make life pleasurable. I am most surprised by the very well educated and well off couples who seem to squirrel away millions while leading Spartan lives. Many post here. So no I don't judge a millennial, who is saddled with debt and facing crazy housing costs for not buying in to the current scheme.

Count me in that group. My lifestyle is far from Spartan, and very wealthy in comparison to how I grew up. But we only spend maybe half our income and save the rest. I drink drip coffee from the pot bought at BJ's, and bring a thermos on road trips so I can avoid Starbucks. Our combined HHI is rarely below 600K, and often quite higher. I view a $38 candle as being quite ridiculous. We love to travel with our kids, but fly coach and use hotel points whenever possible.

Well, no one is forcing you to buy one. But why do you care if someone else does? Maybe that is their ONE joy in life?