Yeah, I have a wife who stays at home with our three year old, and a son in Catholic shcool. I was able to save a huge chunk of money in the 3 years between college and getting married because I traveled with work and never spent my own money. That allowed me to lay down a huge down payment on a house with a 15 year mortgage that we pre-pay on. We drive used paid for cars, don't eat out very often, and only buy things we can afford. The next three years are going to be rough though. I will have two private school tuitions and nursing school tuition for my wife all on my salary. Once my wife is working I will feel like I am rolling in dough. She hasn't worked outside the home in six years.
Its been rolling downhill for sometime but picked up considerable pace in fall 2008 and even more last fall.
When I hear stats of how so many baby boomers have less than a few hundred thousand in savings, I think there are many "kids" that delayed growing up that will have to help care significantly for their parents in the near future. I finished college at 22 and was married at 23 but do not begrudge those that delayed growing up (if within reason). However, if they lived off their parents into their mid 20s and then do not step up to the plate when their parents need them, karma will get them.
I have no issues with kids who live with mom a little while longer as long as they behave and act responsibly like adults. Part of that responsibility is to look out for their own savings and retirement. Responsibility is a multi-generational thing . . . responsible parents tend to raise responsible children. Most boomers I know have done well and can retire comfortably. Mostly their kids are doing well, too, and will not even need the inheritance they will be getting some day. The boomers who can't retire comfortably because of poor decisions made in their youth also can not count on their children for help, for they are making the same poor decisions and will end up in the same leaky boat with no inheritance and no savings. Kids learn by observation. I just think that these football players are legal adults, are treated like men on the field and should be treated like (and behave like) men off the field as well. That includes learning how to deal with reporters and social media responsibly.
I was out of the house, but I wasn't an "adult" by any other standard. I worked crappy fast-food jobs that I treated like toilet paper, disposing of them like the temporary gigs I knew they were. I had no plans for the future, marriage, kids, retirement, anything. I lived in the moment, doing whatever the hell I pleased, and to this day I miss that kind of freedom. It wasn't until I started WANTING to settle down and become stable that I began to look to the future and see what I needed to get there. Before about 25, I just didn't care. And you can't blame my upbringing. I was taught better. It's part of the reason I WASN'T at home any longer than I had to be. I got tired of all my decisions being micro-managed and scrutinized and criticized. I didn't buy into what they were selling, and it just became harrassment that led to many a fight. At 25, I got my first real job with real benefits. Now I make over 70k a year with zero debt. Of course, I have very little saved, but I own my house and vehicles outright. The point is, some people take longer to mature than others. To comment on your last question, one of the main differences today from 40 years ago is that 40 years ago, you could graduate high school and get a job that paid enough to support a family. You can't do that any more. Add four years of education, another four years of, basically, "internship", where you make crappy money while learning how to get the job you REALLY want, and you're not able to stand firmly on your own two feet until you're in your mid twenties.
the boomers you know are the minority. Studies indicate that upwards of 70% of boomers do not have enough saved for retirement and will be heavily dependent on social security and charity. Most boomers will outlive their nestegg. I don't know that I agree here. I havent seen the data but it seems to me that the Gen Xers and millenials do a better job of living within their means, possibly learning from their parents mistakes. I have many reckless and broke 30 something friends, but many more who are very responsible. Most of the reckless ones are trust fund babies and will inherit fortunes one day.
I know plenty of people that still take large amounts of money from their parents well into their 40's. I graduated from LSU @ 21, barely made enough to live, yet didn't get financial support from my parents. They'd provided my education, and I figured out a way to make ends meet--like eating on $20 a week. I'm happy to say I still haven't taken money from my parents; in fact, I'm able to buy nice things for them now that they are retired.
Ahh, I understand. That is just the transition phase that we all go through, brother. It doesn't mean you were still a kid at 25. Mother nature has a way of helping us cut the apron strings by creating strife. Mine was earlier, my dad and I could barely speak between 17-21. But maturity does come with time, not all at once. I got a job right out of college and have always worked hard and spent frugally, but I lived very large and dangerously in my twenties and didn't get serious about retirement and investing until I was in my thirties. And I still haven't gotten my head around the wife and kids thing. I guess I don't see those maturity milestones as measures of adulthood. To me you are no longer a kid the day you take charge of your life and can make all of your decisions without asking mom and dad for permission or instructions. For me that came the day I finished my first year of college and did not go home for the summer . . . it wasn't home anymore. Home was where I lived my life. My parents house became back home. Job availability is a change, I suppose. But it's always been a thing where you had to get the training, then the experience, and suffer low pay before getting the breaks and opportunities. Rush Limbaugh only said one thing that I ever agreed with . . . "Nobody pays you top money until you are 40". Too many youngsters are expecting to get a 100K job with a wet B.A. at 22 and build their million dollar dream house at 25. I lived in an aged off-campus duplex apartment north of campus for 19 years, kept vehicles for 12 years or longer, and didn't buy a house until I was forty. A small house at that. Now I am retired, making more income than when I was working and can live any lifestyle I please. Success is a curve that steepens as time goes on for the successful. But the early flat curve must be endured. I think a lot of young people (many with jobs) just prefer rather stay in mom's nice lake house with the pool and the maid and eat for free instead of living frugally on their own, eating a lot of mac and cheese, and earning some character that will pay off in the long run.
So did most of the GG and so will most of the X'ers and Millennials. The boomer numbers mean little if not compared to the numbers of the other generations. Boomers have always suffered logistically because there are so damn many of them. The pie got sliced very thin in almost everything. Well, come back when you have the data. I ain't seeing it. I've watched a lot of students from both generations driving sports cars, living in high-rise condos, and owing $25,000+ in student loans before they ever get their first paycheck. Just look at how much they pay attention to Credit Scores . . . advertisers know that its because many are living at the very edge of what they can borrow. My generation never knew what a credit score was when we were young. I do think perhaps that the evolution from traditional pensions to 401-K pensions has forced X'ers and Millennials to pay more active attention to their retirement accounts than Boomers needed to, which is good. Many of the pensions that GG's and Boomers worked hard for have been decimated by inflation, but there was nothing they could do about it. The wisest added an IRA and other investments, the unwise get surprised at age 65. But best at living within their means? . . . show me the numbers.
