Young adults in the U.S. are experiencing a very different trajectory than their parents, with more of them hitting key milestones later in life and also taking on more debt, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
A majority of young adults say they remain financially dependent on their parents to some extent, such as receiving help paying for everything from rent to their mobile phone bills. Only about 45% of 18- to 34-year-olds described themselves as completely financially independent from their parents, the study found.
Not surprisingly, the younger members of the group, those 18 to 24, are the most likely to rely on their folks for financial support, with more than half relying on their parents to help take care of basic household expenses. But a significant share of 30- to 34-year-olds also need assistance, with almost 1 in 5 saying their parents provide aid for their household bills.
More broadly, the survey offers a portrait of a generation that’s struggling with debt in a way that their parents did not, with more of them shouldering student loans and, for those who own a home, larger mortgages than their parents had at their age. But the analysis also showed that young adults expressed optimism about their futures, with 3 in 4 who are currently financially dependent on their parents saying they believe they’ll eventually reach independence.
I bet they’re just lazy. They should just buy less machiatos and avocados. They could fix their economy if they bought this new cheap and fantastic product called “Gruel”. You can also get the lunch variety, “Scop”. Only available through company credits.
As a guy who almost exclusively “eats” Soylent, I feel targeted lol. I know your post is supposed to be dystopian satire, but… Unironically though, I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been (375lbs -> 225lbs), and my monthly food expenses are less than a quarter of what it used to be. Been doing this almost 8 years now and while I recognize it’s not for everyone, some people could use a little gruel.
The problem is it should be optional. A family of 4, a single parent, or a college grad working 60hrs a week shouldn’t only be able to afford gruel.
If you watch old educational and industrial movies from the 1950s (yes, some of us here on Lemmy are, amazingly, weird), you find out that people living on a single income of a father working at a service station could afford a house and a decent dinner for their family.
That may not be 100% accurate, but the fact that they even show it as plausible would be seen as utter nonsense today.
Even going back to the 1980s- Both Roseanne and Dan in Roseanne have trouble holding down a job, but they can still afford a house for their large family and they don’t go hungry. Even on Married With Children, they are poor, but they have a house for their four-person family and don’t go hungry on a single shoe salesman’s salary and no one thought, “how ridiculous! A shoe salesman? With a house?” at the time.
You do have to factor in race, that a lot of what you see on tv was idealised even at the time, and that we now also have unimaginable luxuries that we take for granted. Proper insulation, phones, computers, unlimited music, etc.
In 1950 you could buy a median US house for $20k. A fridge/freezer cost $400, a tv cost $300 and a washer and dryer would cost $500.
Now a median house costs $400k. If the cost of household appliances and electronics had risen as much as houses had, a freezer would cost $8000, a tv would cost $6000 and a washer + dryer would set you back $10000.
It’s also worth noting the quality of the items you were receiving. Those washers and dryers never broke, and if they did, they were easily repairable.
You can still buy commercial grade fridges and washing machines for half the price.
I dont know a single person who wouldn’t be happy to buy a 8k freezer, a 6k tv and a 10k washer+dryer if it meant they could buy a 20k house.
Obviously it was idealized, but no one looked at it and thought “this is absolutely ridiculous and unachievable.” And definitely race is a factor, since all the families I mentioned were white, and in the 1950s also benefited from the whites only G.I. Bill, but the idea that it was achievable for anyone on a low income as plausible rather than so idealized as to be impossible shows that it wasn’t as ridiculous as it is today.
I mean you also had poor families, both white and black, on TV- The Honeymooners and Good Times both come to mind. But even there, they did mostly okay. And Good Times took place in the projects.
Very similar. I am on two bottles of Soylent a day to lose weight. It is working but I can’t wait until I get to normal weight and not have to drink soy juice anymore.
There is something so wrong with everything when I am working at my desk, my 12:00 alarms beeps, I spend two minutes drinking my lunch, and now I can just go back to work. Like what the fuck. My ancestors toiled for a 100,000 years for this?
Do you have a plan for not rebounding? The thing about weight is it’s simple, not easy. Simple as in calories in <= calories out. Not easy as in willpower to maintain the net equation. If you get down to a weight and immediately go back to what you were doing, you’ll just gain the weight right back. Your lifestyle shift doesn’t need to be bottles of goup for 2 meals a day but you do need to find a sustainable way to have <= 400kcal breakfasts and lunches forever.
My solution was to just keep drinking the goup lol
You honestly piss me off because I have a mystery disease and have not eaten solid food for five months. I live on Ensure and Gatorade. The fact that you can choose to eat want you wanted but don’t?
And sure, I’ve lost weight too. And I was overweight. I’m now within 10 pounds of my ideal weight according to my BMI. I don’t get to go to the Mayo Clinic until the end of March. I will be underweight by then. Possibly significantly- my weight loss amount tends to fluctuate, but it can be over a pound a day sometimes. Hoo-fucking-ray. Oh yeah, also I’m not spending much on food BECAUSE I CAN’T FUCKING EAT IT.
(Please no medical advice. If I’m going to the Mayo Clinic, you don’t have the answer.)
I’m far from alone even with people who don’t have mystery diseases. There are plenty of people on severe dietary restrictions because of their health who would love to do nothing more than eat a large pizza or a burger, something they will never be able do to again for the rest of their lives.
Go eat some real food. Because you can.
I haven’t been so annoyed in a while.
I upset you because… I found a sustainable way to eat better without breaking the bank, and I’m now healthy for it? I’m sorry that you have to deal with whatever you’re dealing with; nobody deserves to live in a universe where their body rejects common foods. I’m not a doctor don’t worry; I have no medical advice for you. I do have some philosophical advice though. You should look within to figure out why you’re mad at me; I’m not your enemy.
You upset me because you could eat whatever you want and instead live on nutrition shakes when, not just me, but a huge number of people wish they had the choice you did. And wouldn’t brag about it.
I cannot “eat whatever I want”. Eating whatever I wanted lead me to be 375lbs. Since I cannot eat whatever I want, I choose to eat something convenient, easy to count, and inexpensive to obtain. I live a life closer to yours than you think, constantly wishing I could eat whatever I desired and remain healthy. I brag about it because for me it’s hard to choose to do the right thing, and I make the right choice every day, multiple times a day.
An alcoholic should be proud to brag about being 8 years sober, shouldn’t they?
Okay, you’re right. I apologize.
We’re all in this world together dude/dudette/dudelse, I truly wish you the best and hope you get whatever you’ve got figured out. I’m glad we found some common ground; that’s what this place (is? should be?) all about!