Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:37     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Anonymous wrote:I am with OP, I drink coffee made at home, my teen DD wants Starbucks all the time. There is no way she will change once on her own. I hope she will, but hope is slim. It is our fault, for sure, to some extent. I refuse to buy her Starbucks more often than I buy it, but you can see almost all of her school at SB every morning getting coffee, so clearly other parents suports this as well. My BIL is paying a two weeks winter break trip for his college DS to Florida to get scuba certification. No way would my parents or my DH's parents ever pay for anything like that at all. DH worked to pay for his bike at 7 years old with a a weekend paper route. Truth is that new generations are more and more spoiled, and if we are to measure degrees of spoiled, I would say it is increasing more rapidly than in the past. We became pushover parents, who provided at our own expense for our kids, and kids are clueless how to fend for themselves. We are part of the problem.


+1. I'm 50, grew up outside NYC. I had a job from about 12 onward - delivering papers, bagging groceries, etc. Worked every summer in college, and I did not grow up even remotely poor. Last year, I paid for my kids to get officiating certifications in their sports - unless I take the initiative, they don't even bother to sign up for assignments. I feel like I went wrong somewhere. My spouse and I work like dogs - travel, long hours, etc. I see younger people at my job come and go rather quickly, looking for some perfect job that is just not out there. We had one guy that had to work a few weekends and quit within 6 mos. Every generation is different early on, but eventually they all revert to the mean. They eventually want homes, good schools, educations for their kids, safe streets. Floating from job to job, collecting side hustles, not saving any money - none of this will look good from 40.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:36     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Anonymous wrote:Millennial here.
Bought a starter townhouse at the bottom of the market. Still had student loans. Just sold and bought our forever house. Still have student loans to pay off, but can now afford to pay them off more quickly.
Contrary to this board, many people have student loans and mortgages. It is possible.
Get off your high horse.


Forever house already? Now, you see, that is the difference between thinking wisely and prudently. You shouldn't have bought your dream house while still paying off student loans. You should have stayed in the starter home until you paid off your other loans. You are proving OP's point. Too much, too soon.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:28     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Millennial here.
Bought a starter townhouse at the bottom of the market. Still had student loans. Just sold and bought our forever house. Still have student loans to pay off, but can now afford to pay them off more quickly.
Contrary to this board, many people have student loans and mortgages. It is possible.
Get off your high horse.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:28     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Anonymous wrote:Oooooh OP call the nytimes! Tell them, "I've cracked it guys! $35 candles!! Youths!!"


Hahahaha I was thinking the same thing!
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:27     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
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.


You're 15 years out of college and your mother covers day care bills?! That Ivy League degree sure is paying off
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:26     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
I am with OP, I drink coffee made at home, my teen DD wants Starbucks all the time. There is no way she will change once on her own. I hope she will, but hope is slim. It is our fault, for sure, to some extent. I refuse to buy her Starbucks more often than I buy it, but you can see almost all of her school at SB every morning getting coffee, so clearly other parents suports this as well. My BIL is paying a two weeks winter break trip for his college DS to Florida to get scuba certification. No way would my parents or my DH's parents ever pay for anything like that at all. DH worked to pay for his bike at 7 years old with a a weekend paper route. Truth is that new generations are more and more spoiled, and if we are to measure degrees of spoiled, I would say it is increasing more rapidly than in the past. We became pushover parents, who provided at our own expense for our kids, and kids are clueless how to fend for themselves. We are part of the problem.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:26     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not everyone is clamoring to buy a house and some people genuinely enjoy smaller luxuries more than you. And who cares about ending to pay off student loan debt? It's possible for people to love a lifestyle that's different than the one you chose for yourself.


OP here. Sure people make different choices, and that's great, especially for the person making and selling $38 candles. Just don't make those choices and come back when you are 30 or 35 and whine about not being able to afford a house in the perfect neighborhood, or how horrible it is that you are still paying off student loans.


So you went to a city shopping area, saw young people splurging at the end of a long holiday weekend, and made a mental note to make sure and remind Millenials when you got back home that they have it coming if they still have student debt in a decade or so? LOL.

- Dreaded boomer who still recognizes a misanthrope
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:25     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
So this is your take away after your wife read about Union Market earlier this year in the Post and decided to do something new over the holidays? Well, what can I say? Enjoy the drive back to centreville.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:21     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
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.


No, that's exactly the opposite of my point. I am not a millennial, but faced the same difficulties/live the same life OP is ascribing to them. But I did manage to buy a house eventually. And they will too.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:21     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Oooooh OP call the nytimes! Tell them, "I've cracked it guys! $35 candles!! Youths!!"
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:19     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
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.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:11     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
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.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:05     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
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.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:02     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you really believe this is why we can't afford houses or pay off student loans, I have a very affordable bridge to sell you. Killer deal. But your mentality lets me know that you are def one of the ones who ruined the economy for us. Now you sit back hypothesizing about every other thing that could be wrong but you will never accept responsibility for how you set us up for failure. Thanks, geezer.


I'm not OP and I'd wager I'm about 10 years older than you. There is some validity to OP's point. OTOH, if I was fairly certain that I could never afford a $675K condo or a $1.7 million colonial on the Red Line, no matter how far up the ladder I moved in my nonprofit, I would personally be tempted to buy $18 bespoke cocktails, too, like you guys. I mean, what do you have to lose? You're never going to close that gap between your income and real estate, esp with your loan debt from Haverford (vs. In-State U.)


This is the mentality we had when we lived in NY. Many of the nice coops require well over a 25 percent downpayment. Even though we made good money I couldn't fathom saving up 500k plus to purchase a tiny 2 bedroom apartment for 1 mm plus. So we spent most of our money on dining out and entertainment.

Looking back I wish we had understood that even saving 1-2k outside of retirement each month would have added up to a lot over time. We wasted literally hundreds of thousands of dollars dining out and taking cabs over the time we lived there.

The good news is we've grown up and now live in DC and save probably too much money.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2017 18:01     Subject: I know why Millenials can't afford houses and pay off their student loans..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you really believe this is why we can't afford houses or pay off student loans, I have a very affordable bridge to sell you. Killer deal. But your mentality lets me know that you are def one of the ones who ruined the economy for us. Now you sit back hypothesizing about every other thing that could be wrong but you will never accept responsibility for how you set us up for failure. Thanks, geezer.


I'm not OP and I'd wager I'm about 10 years older than you. There is some validity to OP's point. OTOH, if I was fairly certain that I could never afford a $675K condo or a $1.7 million colonial on the Red Line, no matter how far up the ladder I moved in my nonprofit, I would personally be tempted to buy $18 bespoke cocktails, too, like you guys. I mean, what do you have to lose? You're never going to close that gap between your income and real estate, esp with your loan debt from Haverford (vs. In-State U.)


How in the hell would you know that you are 10 years older than them when "millennials" are a generation- meaning they span at least 20 years. That's some serious guesstimation going on.