They apply for SSI! :rolleyes: Their poor decisions, criminal backgrounds, etc. are not the result of poor choices, poor environment, and poor role models, but instead, manifestations of compensable bipolar, personality disorders, spectrum, ADHD, etc.
There are shitloads of young people like this out there, and not enough unskilled work for them - even IF their history didn’t make them essentially unhireable.
Got a cite for this?
Or is this just hyperbole?
Of course it’s hyperbole. My nephew and his wife both went through nursing school at different times and are happily married. I teach nursing students and there are a lot happy (surviving) marriages out there.
How many of them stay married after graduation?
Ain’t it the truth? One whole branch of my family is on disability (though none of them seem disabled beyond the inability to work for a living). Those who are not on disability have no higher aspiration than to get on disability. Sheesh. It would drive me crazy to live like that.
Don’t forget about complications of drug and alcohol abuse. Even worse are the people who try to get their kids on it - kids whose only “disability” is the people who are their parents.
It makes things MUCH harder for people who really need SSI.
This is a bit of a hijack but here are some numbers on nurses and divorce.
Ly et al. 2015 BMJ article on divorce rates among USA physicians, nurses, allied health and “other”.
Large cohort, ~160K nurses. It appears that nurses have a divorce rate that is higher than many other healthcare professionals (including physicians) but is approximately the same as their “other professions” category.
Their model showed 33% divorce rate of nurses vs ~24% for physicians and 35% for other non-healthcare professionals. The authors conclude that “[f]emale physicians and other female healthcare professionals are substantially more likely to be divorced than their male counterparts”.
They suggest that divorce may not be attributable to the occupations specifically. Other literature suggestions that women in these professions have very unique challenges since they are expected to serve multiple roles, such as being a wife, a mother, and a healthcare professional working long hours.
The authors’ focus was on physicians and so they did not address the question about nursing school or medical school.
Back on topic:
There is evidence that nearwildheaven, Dinsdale and Arrendajo are correct about disability as being a viable option.
This NPR article (“Unfit for Work”) talks about the sharp increase in people going on disability and has some interesting graphs about the recent trends. It is partially a summary of this CBO / SSDI paper (warning PDF).
Ten years ago, the largest cohort that filed for disability was males 40-49 [Cite: NBER paper]. From the same paper: “In 2004, high school dropout males ages 40 through 64 were five times as likely as males with a college degree and twice as likely as males with only a high school degree to receive DI [disability insurance] benefits.”
My understanding is that disability benefits do not have expiration dates in many cases.
as someone who almost lost his ssi due to a very bad day … I was sick and shouldn’t of went to begin with and I said a couple of things just to get through the physical so I could go home and take my medicine you can lose your disability on just someone saying you aren’t
It took a year and 1500 dollars and a admin law judge to say what my doctor said to begin with Cerebral palsy dosent get better or worse … how ever it can cause complications that makes things harder over time …that and ssi had lost my papers 6 months before so they couldn’t counter what my doctor and a second exam said …
So yeah you can get your money taken away and eventually they catch if your faking things so youre on borrowed time if ya are
The funny thing is since my dad retired I’m on his retirement and get more and don’t have to follow most of the ssi rules…and it was their idea or rather the state of ca’s since there not paying for me anymore…
What does ‘being on his retirement’ mean?
His corporate pension pays extra for his dependent son?
He gets more for his federal/state pension?
(Sorry, not an American! Just looking for clarification is all!))
Most of those boomers at least have some Social Security - so there’s that. I’ve vented about my in-laws here before but in summary: no savings, SS is their only income. It’s about 2800 a month, which isn’t enough to live on if you have to pay for housing as well as medical bills, but it’s something. They’re pre-boomers (both were young during WWII).
So for those 136-grand boomers: what average SS money are they expecting, and do they, on average, have a house that’s either paid for, or has enough equity that they could tap to downsize to a paid-for place?
Back to the OP: We see this happening, to some extent, with our own kids :(. Admittedly there are mental health issues at play for one and developmental issues with the other, but both are working part-time jobs that are just above minimum wage. Neither owns a car. Both are working on college, albeit very very slowly - but what happens to them when we kick off?
Not everyone needs much money to be happy. The woman you’re describing is quite a bit different from what the OP is talking about, where people are legitimately total losers.
What they do is, well, end up on disability and welfare. We’ve got a family like that on our street. “Denise” is a nice lady, but her life is just spent… being on disability, I suppose. She and her kids sit in front of the house all day, every day, smoking. I don’t know if they’re happy doing that, but it’s what they do. Oh well.
I’ve seen a number of cases like this over the years. “What happens” largely depends on the resources and generosity of their family. Best case, maybe they inherit grandmas house when she dies or someone subsidizes their living expenses while they pursue being a DJ or actor or whatever. But that presumes a fairly generous family with a certain level of wealth.
More often than not, they might be able to avoid homelessness by rotating through the couches of various friends and family. Unfortunately, as you get older, the sort of people who tend to tolerate unemployed friends and family sleeping on their couches for extended stays, tend to not be the best influences. So if the person in question already has a penchant for alcohol and/or drugs their choice of “friends” could exacerbate those issues leading to jail, actual homelessness or worse.
Very few people at 30 are “unemployable”. The world always needs bartenders, waiters, and busboys. If you live in New Jersey, gas stations always need attendants (illegal to pump your own). Maybe the local fast food restaurant needs a cashier. The education requirements for these jobs is quite low and many of them don’t care about a minor criminal background.
But often, the people we are talking about feel those jobs are beneath them. I had a high school friend like that. By our 20 year reunion, I think he was still living at home, getting drunk every weekend and refusing to get even a shitty job with “those losers”. It’s like, you dropped out of community college and live at home with your parents. You are one of “those losers”, dummy.
It can sometimes work out. I have a friend who dropped out of college to get married, never worked, was divorced by 25 and moved home. She then spent 5 or 6 years just crashing at home. She would occasionally try and jump start her photography business but never did more than a few shoots. It looked pretty bad for a number of years there.
Then she pursued (paid for by her parents) a degree from the local Comm College that was in radiology (or some sort of radiology type cert). She graduated in about 2.5 years, had an immediate job offer and was suddenly making good money. She moved out of her parents house, bought a house and dog, etc. Still not sure what sparked it, she had people trying to motivate her for years…
No one is “un-employable”.
I knew a woman who fit most of that, she even has a criminal record from when she was in a gang.
She went to work for mcD’s. She was hardworking and dependable. In no time she was a shift manager, then a assistant manager, then to Hamburger U, now she has her own.
There are plenty of crap, low-end jobs out there- which most of the working in them treat like crap, dead-end jobs. Show up on time, volunteer for extra shifts, work hard, and quickly you will move out of that job.
Some defined benefit plans (or defined contribution plans where your savings are converted to an annuity) allow you to designate a co-recipient.
Usually this is your spouse but in some cases it can be a non-spouse family member. I think the actual pension figures are calculated based on some formula that takes into account the beneficiary’s age. So if I were due a pension of 1,000 a month, I could opt for a reduced amouint so that my husband got some when I left - e.g. I’d get 800 a month and he’d get 400 a month once I die or something like that. With an adult child, I imagine the amounts would be lower - say 700 / 350 or whatever.
I’m not familiar with the beneficiary getting the payouts immediately (before the parent dies), but I admit I’m not export on this, I’ve just looked at the figures for my own company’s plan.
Thanks for the numbers regarding nurses. The comment didn’t feel like hyperbole, but like an actual stat (not one of the 62.34% that are fabricated), which is why I asked for the cite. Not surprised to find that the numbers are nowhere near 100%.
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I guess I’m going to watch a slow-motion train wreck in most of these cases.
This is the part of what’s got me concerned. We aren’t involved with the extended family and are largely ignored out here in the wilds of Tejas. But there was a huge family event recently which our 20-something kids attended (we stayed back to care for a disabled relative so his full-time caregiver could have a week on the beach). Apparently our kids were quite a hit, and really stood out among the Young Felons of Tomorrow in their age group. But now, relatives are starting to notice us as other possibilities for the couch-based Nihilists occupying their den(s). I told my wife it was great that the kids got to meet everyone, but bringing everyone up to date on us may have turned the Eye of Sauron westward toward the Shire. 
There’s already been one “Gosh and shucks, I bet there’s lots of good jobs out there in Texas and I could probably get a fresh start if there were somewhere to stay” calls, and I’m worried there could be more. My wife pooh-poohs my concerns, but I pointed out with the kids gone we have lots of extra space for freeloaders. And we may have to hurt some feelings keeping our empty nest – empty.
Don’t worry about hurt feelings, true freeloaders seem to be immune to having their feelings hurt. They might get angry and entitled, but hurt…I don’t think I’ve ever seen hurt happen - not to the freeloader. To my brother in law when he realized his freeloader left with all his valuable stuff…
You could dissuade them with - “No, the Texas job market here isn’t that good (if that’s the case)” or “We would like to have some peace and quiet since it was busy raising the kids and an empty nest is what we need for quietness,” etc. Or other hints such as “You need a place to stay? There is an apartment complex nearby, rent is only $700 a month, etc.”
This sounds like the best option, but I’d be more specific:
“you need a place to stay?–sure I’ll help you!
There’s an apartment complex nearby for only $700…, I’ll go there and get a copy of the contract for you. You can sign it, and return it to me with the first months rent, and then I’ll take the money over to the office, get the key, and set up the kitchen for you, so when you get here, you’ll have a good place to stay.”