Submitted 8 months ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to globalnews@lemmy.zip
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/12/parents-adult-children-financial-support
Soaring costs of food and housing forcing many to still rely on parents to cover expenses, as they risk retirement security
Archived version: archive.ph/ZPt30
My dad had to help me out in my period of unemployment. After this was over I found out he basically has no retirement. He has money from his current income, but nothing saved up. He’s nearly 70.
We will all die at our desks. The generation of the majority of American workers being able to ever retire is dead. And corporations and billionaires celebrate perpetual labor.
Boomers grew up with the promise of a pension and did not adjust when pensions went away.
so the parents arent exiting the job market then?
They took our jobs!!
Capitalism; literally robbing the cradle.
One thing this article overlooks that also contributes to this problem is the jobs that are available for these generations. Unfortunately, there are only so many jobs available in fields that offer an actual possibility at having a career, like being an engineer, programmer or getting into some well paying finance role. Lots of people around my age are stuck working jobs in the service industry, other “unskilled” labor, or turning to unstable gig economy jobs, and it’s not exactly easy getting out of them and landing a job that offers the financial stability and security that would let them become more independent. When you’re stuck in a job that doesn’t even pay a living wage and half the country goes full commie hunting mode at the mere suggestion that we maintain even the very minimal and highly means tested social safety nets we have, it’s no wonder younger people are finding it challenging, if not impossible, to make it on their own.
Just look at SNAP benefits eligibility in NY, one of the supposedly more progressive states in the country. If you have two newlywed millennials who are struggling to make ends meet, they’re disqualified from receiving SNAP benefits if they make more than $25,644 gross between both of them. To stave off any, “But don’t live in NYC if you don’t make much money!” lets assume our hypothetical couple lives in the middle of nowhere upstate, somewhere like Colton, with a massive population estimated at 1,434 people. Since NY is backwards as hell, for some reason there are 3 different minimum wages, depending on where you live, and they drew the short straw living in the zone with the lowest minimum wage of $15/hour. If either one of them worked full-time, they would be disqualified from receiving benefits for making too much money. Upstate is not known for its robust public transportation, so in all likelihood, they would need to have at least one car between them to get to and from work and any other places they need to go, keep up with gas and repairs, pay rent, pay for groceries and pay utilities, without working more than 65.75 hours a week between the two of them on average if they are to have a chance at receiving any benefits. Say they do this, but don’t even have a home and are sleeping in their car, grossing $2136 a month and just pay for gas and a phone bill, what do they qualify for? An absolutely princely sum of $135 a month!
That’s hardly enough to live on, even in the parts of the state with the lowest cost of living, and you can’t even realistically expect it to be enough to save up and move away somewhere else with better job prospects. It shouldn’t really come as any great surprise that young people are finding it difficult to survive without support from their family in these sorts of situations, much less so in areas with a higher cost of living where wages are not that much better to make up for it.
Yea I kinda figured it was around that number considering how many people I know whose parents bought their cars and paid their home down payments when they’re in their 30s-40s
How’s everyone’s parents retirement/planning going?
They been saying "I'll work till the day I die" since I was born... Nothing changed.
Is retirement a lie told to us to keep us docile?
One of mine medically retired from Army decades ago after falling when bouldering. The other has worked at the same company for like 40 years and somehow got a remote gig before that was a thing in pandemic and about to retire. They’re luckier than most.
Planning for this, investing money to give to my kids. It ain’t gonna just magically get fixed.
Yup know many boomers that have kids now that they are covering their rent. Some moving from city to city trying to find work after the promise of going to well known colleges getting them a good job. That never happened.
That never happened.
How old are you?
This shit literally happened after 2008. Most millenials didn't get good jobs until after 2015 if at all.
Before 2015 you either were super elite or super smart/lucky if you were young with a good job.
If you were blue collar type, forget it! Boomers were not taking any greenhorns back then, unlike now.
penquin@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Yup. I’m planning on keeping my kids in the house until they’re 100% able to afford life on their own, and I’m planning on not retiring until I’m kicked out of my job. Fuck this country and fuck capitalism.
Coasting0942@reddthat.com 8 months ago
Sounds like somebody needs a stint at the Walmart Re-education savings center.
penquin@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Bruh. 😂. I laughed hard. Wtf
Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m not having kids. I live in this world, why would I ever want to afflict that on anyone else.
penquin@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I hear you and I 100% understand. Kids are not easy. And when you’re not financially ready, they’re almost impossible. Don’t listen to that bullshit “you’re never ready” or “you’re ready when they’re here” blah blah. They’re fucking hard and if you don’t have the money, don’t have them. It’d only get 10 folds worse for you. I went through all of that myself. It wasn’t fun at all. I wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy.
JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
You’re a good parent.
penquin@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Thank you 🙏🏽