Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My millennials make 100K and 175K.

I guess they are the exception to the rule.

Lol, I make more than both of them and am also a millennial. However, I'm 41 so that means nothing as it relates to the younger millennials.

They are in their upper 20s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 48 and don't make that much. I am a teacher. I must have done something very wrong then.

Teaching is generally a job for trust funders and those with rich spouses.

Maybe in Potomac. Most teachers have blue collar roots and see it as a decent paying job with state gov benefits. Usually the benefits support a spouse working a private sector job or running a small business. Passion jobs for trust funders are all the non-profits in NYC/DC or anything you do with a degree in Fine Arts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m gen x and same. Passion job and still renting.

Were you a white person who grew up in a LCOL area in the Midwest or South? Everyone else (except for people in this demographic I think) knows that “passion jobs” are only for trust funders or those with a rich spouse.

Wow, how did you know my background? I’m GenX, white LMC from very rural LCOL in South, and I totally followed my passion to my peril — and by the time I tried to pivot to make real money, I’ve made zero headway despite hundreds of job applications and job training certificates over a decade

Why do you point out that combo so distinctly?

Anonymous wrote:My millennials make 100K and 175K.

I guess they are the exception to the rule.

Lol, I make more than both of them and am also a millennial. However, I'm 41 so that means nothing as it relates to the younger millennials.

I don't know any teachers who meet this description. If they have a rich spouse, they don't need to work. Teaching isn't just so easy hobby job. I think it's very normal to live paycheck to paycheck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 48 and don't make that much. I am a teacher. I must have done something very wrong then.

Teaching is generally a job for trust funders and those with rich spouses.

Lol neither of those groups want to teach, it's a real job that is hard and requires skill. Teaching is a job for middle class people who (1) actually want to teach, and (2) appreciate the job security and benefits, including a pension and guaranteed holidays off, etc.

Jobs for trust funders and people with rich spouses: novelist, yoga teacher, dog walker, dancer/actor/performer. Jobs where the odds of making no (or even negative amounts, when training and overhead are taken into account) are a real possibility. But also "flexible" jobs where if you want to go live in Bali for a month just because, you don't have to ask anyone for permission. No trust funder is going to sign up for a job where taking a day off when you are scheduled to work involves writing a detailed plan for a sub and then worrying the whole time that they couldn't find a sub at all.

My Gen Z DD (age 23) makes $85k. Went to a university I rarely see mentioned on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m gen x and same. Passion job and still renting.

Were you a white person who grew up in a LCOL area in the Midwest or South? Everyone else (except for people in this demographic I think) knows that “passion jobs” are only for trust funders or those with a rich spouse.

Huh?

My 24 yo with a 3.4 gpa at college works in a MCOL area in a good job that only required A college BA/BS (nothing specific they train you) and they are making $60K first year and $64K 2nd year. My kid is a good kid and somewhat motivated, but was fine with B's in college mentality yet still is making more than that average. They are managing independently just fine without any roommates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m gen x and same. Passion job and still renting.

Were you a white person who grew up in a LCOL area in the Midwest or South? Everyone else (except for people in this demographic I think) knows that “passion jobs” are only for trust funders or those with a rich spouse.

I am a white person who grew up in a LCOL in the northeast, and I know plenty of other people outside this demographic who didn't think passion jobs were for rich people (non-white, from urban areas, etc). That's because our families were poor or middle class and a teacher or nonprofit worker's salary was often as good or better than what our parents made. People on this site are obsessed with saying "only for trust funders" but 99% of Americans are NOT trust funders, even in those jobs. There just aren't THAT many rich people in this country. The PP who said teaching is for trust funders or rich spouses...I mean that's just objectively, empirically wrong, where do you live?

That said, I think these articles use "paycheck to paycheck" pretty sloppily, so I take it with a huge grain of salt.

My millennials make 100K and 175K.

I guess they are the exception to the rule.

Living paycheck to paycheck is what nearly all of humanity does. It's NORMAL.

Why does this surprise anyone?

Anonymous wrote:Some need financial counseling and willpower to save. Really all you need is a paper and pencil to figure out simple math so claiming ignorance doesn't cut it. Even an elementary school child can do the math.
Another problem, wants and needs. You needs to pay bills first before wants. Youngsters are bombarded 24/7 with commercials showing everyone having fun but not working. Social media has become look at me see what I have kind of stupid. I'll say nearly 100% of the people on tv aren't even real yet the want to be someone causes financial stress.
It's an ugly world full of entities looking to steal your food but you bought the happy and now you have no food.
To infinity. It's terribly sad.

Save your useless lecture. Did you see where the article says 66% of Gen X and over 50% of Boomers are also living paycheck to paycheck? So people decades older than the Millennials haven’t figured it out either. It’s a structural problem, not unique to this generation and not a deficiency of character.

This is a stupid headline. “Paycheck to paycheck” doesn’t mean anything. The write up is lazy and doesn’t say how it is defined in the survey, which wasn’t done by a research organization - it was done by a personal finance website to generate traffic.