Reply to New Money Diary in DC

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow, I read the comments on the diary page and they’re so much gentler than here. What a bunch of harpies. [/quote]
I don’t like the term “harpies”, but I was struck by the negativity here vs the comments as well.  The article was well-written, and I enjoyed reading details about what life looks for a family of 3 choosing the DC lifestyle they did compared to my DC area lifestyle with a higher HHI but in the suburbs and with 3 kids. I would love to read more of these DC-focused diaries.[/quote]

Maybe I'm missing some comments but the ones I saw are from younger people saying things like "I hope to have a life like this when I'm your age!" and I think before you get married or have kids reading about someone with a very achievable HHI but a very leisurely life probably sounds nice and potentially an option for your future.  But for those of us who live in DC and have kids and pay our own bills what jumps out is how very scaffolded her life is.  She and her husband don't save money for anything at all beyond retirement.  She didn't save for a downpayment on her house, or her condo, or her car.  She doesn't have savings for college.  She's kind of skating along spending everything that's not a pre-tax deduction and sure: that's nice work if you can get it, but seeing her cheerfully respond to a 30 year old commenter looking forward to having that lifestyle herself in a decade feels almost meanspirited.  This is not a lifestyle you can "achieve," only one you can receive.  And if you haven't had it handed to you at 30 it's not coming at 39.[/quote]

No one receiving tons of parental scaffolding is looking around thinking ‘I’ve created a really nice life for myself and I would be in a much worse place if I was not reliant on family $.’ Instead, they are like ‘I work really hard to have this life.’ They’ve lived in a fantasy land where their parents put them ahead on the board and then kept pushing them ahead their entire life. They may realize when they can’t provide the same scaffolding they received to their child that they were exceptionally lucky to have had what they had. [/quote]

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