It's an interesting question because I grew up in poverty (actual definition, not exaggeration). So when I was on my own the minute I turned 18, I had a one bedroom apartment in a safe neighborhood with a futon for a couch and an IKEA entry level price bed (which was still expensive for me at the time), an extremely cheap dining room table with two plastic chairs, a TV and a stereo system (my most expensive possession at the time). I thought I was living my best life because it was so much better than what I'd had as a kid.

My DC only knows what they know based on their life, being UMC the entire time. So I would imaging they will experience some "downward mobility" when they graduates college/grad school and gets their first job. And guess what? They'll still be making a hullava lot more in their first job than I did and hopefully have a leg up vs. where I was.

Anonymous wrote:I think some kids may think they are going to roll out of their parents' houses and into houses that look like their parents' houses. My housing was pretty grim in my 20s and early 30s.

Give the kids time. They'll work it out.

+1 My first apartment was a tiny studio in a crappy part of LA (I'd had a bad roommate experience my last year of college and refused to have roommates, not the best decision!). Now I live in a house that is valued at just about the same amount as the house I grew up in (I looked them both up on zillow). And, like my parents, we can pay for our kids to go to public universities with no debt and doing well in funding our retirements.

That's a pretty normal path IME. It takes time.

I know many peers that are really obsessed with this and working like crazy to build wealth to leave to their kids. I understand it, but I just don't agree. We have enough to support our kids with the big things (college, first mortgage, our end of life care, emergency needs), but otherwise I believe it's up to them to make smart choices and work hard to set themselves up for success. I'm not willing to work myself into the ground and miss their childhoods in the name of generational wealth. I've also seen how fast generational wealth can disappear, and it just feels like you're sacrificing your own quality of life for an outcome that won't help more than a generation or two.