I think you deserve an accolade if you pulled off any reasonable version of the American Dream during the last 5 - 10 years. We always hear about the plight of different demographics but I truly believe people in their late-20’s to mid 30’s undergo the most life challenges in short order:
Go to college
Graduate from college
Start paying off that debt
Start a career
Find a spouse or partner
Take on new debt to buy a house
Have a child or two
Pay for your children while dealing a working world that really hates the fact that you have them at all.
Save for your own retirement as well as your kids future
It is an almost impossible recipe yet I know for a fact that many people have pulled off successful versions of it. If you did many of those things, you are doing quite well. You will never get so many challenges in such a short amount of time as you will during that ten year period. If you are unlucky and have to deal with trying times later, you will have more life experience (and hopefully money) to deal with it.
I am almost 40 now so I am not including myself. Things get easier every year and it will for you too as long as you make good long-term decisions. I will try to never forget how hard that was especially since the American Dream faded among a black cloud of financial disasters that were not of your making. Older generations, especially the Baby Boomers, set the stage for complete generational failure for you but many of you did not fall for it and persevered.
If you are still living in your parent’s basement and working part-time at Wal-Mart with no better prospects, this doesn’t apply to you but I applaud those that did make it and hope that other people see you as the new hope for America’s, and the world’s, future.
I am almost 40 now so I am not including myself. Things get easier every year and it will for you too as long as you make good long-term decisions. I will try to never forget how hard that was especially since the American Dream faded among a black cloud of financial disasters that were not of your making. Older generations, especially the Baby Boomers, set the stage for complete generational failure for you but many of you did not fall for it and persevered.
If you are still living in your parent’s basement and working part-time at Wal-Mart with no better prospects, this doesn’t apply to you but I applaud those that did make it and hope that other people see you as the new hope for America’s, and the world’s, future.
[/QUOTE]
I liked you post, I am a baby boomer and could not agree with you more. Your list made me fel good because I know my mid 30’s son has all those bases covered. I helped him through college and helped him get his home but I feel his generation has a little comming from us.
It was the “no better prospects” part that was important. I don’t fault anyone for working at Wal-Mart, McDonald’s or anywhere else but you can’t live any version of the ideal by burning off time by flittering around part-time jobs at such places.
However, you would be shocked at how much Wal-Mart store managers or McDonald’s regional managers make (in a good way) if you work your way up. There is certainly nothing wrong with that either as long as it is a directed path.
I just wanted to applaud all those that made it through some of the worst financial circumstances in living memory. I am old enough to have experienced the internet boom of the mid-1990’s and I still get real benefits just by being born when I did rather than just a few years later. People only slightly younger than me didn’t get that and, even then, many of them are doing quite well despite such adversity.
I truly believe they are the most under-appreciated demographic in all of society.
I’m 27. I’ve got 1 through 4 done. Up until a couple months ago I thought I had 5, and was looking forward to all the rest.
I now accept I’ll be stuck at 4 for a while (paying off debts), and may skip 5 all together and go straight to 7. A house isn’t so important, but having kids is my dream and I don’t want to have them any later than 32. Not much time to find another guy in that period of time, especially considering I need at least another year or two to heal from the pain of my break up.
I feel fortunate. I’m making a decent middle class income (not rich but able to afford all necessities and have some fun money), I am about to get married and I own a home. I have an enormous student loan debt but I am one of the lucky ones who has a realistic chance of paying it off. In the meantime thank God for IBR.
Anyone who’s on this side of the ground deserves kudos. Basement or no. We’re all just bumping around blindly, hoping that our decisions turn out to be the right ones.
I’ve got some of the bases of the so-called American dream covered. The others I don’t give a fuck about. We’ll all be better off ditching the “ideal” and striking out on our own paths of happiness. I hope this is the lesson we take from the recession.
Okay, I’m coming in for a big old pat on the back. In the past ten years I have:
Graduated with a B.S., a B.A., an M.A., and Ph.D.
Had no debt except a mortgage and car loan
Gotten a six-figure industry job
Bought a house
Sold a house
Bought a new car
Paid off that car
Married
Had a baby
Put a respectable nest egg in the bank
I did, however, quit the job when my daughter was born. It was no crying shame–they had us at 70% pay then, and went under six weeks later.
I’ve achieved 5 of those things, but I don’t want kids.
I don’t think I want a house, if I lived in an area with better weather I think I would like living in a camper van. But the weather varies from 110F in summer to -20F in winter here. Living in a van sounds freeing.
Since you asked: I’m 29, living comfortably, in the middle stages of a professional career in IT/programming, don’t want kids, and enjoy not being the sort of person who feels entitled to judge others’ human worth based on their financial prospects. Cheers.
I realize I didn’t answer these specifically
I have a BA in Health Services Administration and a Master’s in Anthropology
I have deferred all my loans due to income (blech)
I have a full time career in sales, and I actually love it
Been married 8 years!
We rent because we have too much student loan debt, another blech
Have 5 year old twins and a new baby girl on the way, due June 1st
I am able to afford preschool for the kids, which is a godsend, while working full time FROM HOME
No significant savings yet, but this is a goal.
I had a college degree, no debt, a house and my own business by the time I was 27 (I’m 34 now). I still have all that, except a smidge of credit card debt.
Sure, I’ve failed on the relationship front but that’s the failing of the men I meet, not me
At 27 I haven’t accomplished a single thing on that list, and have no particular plans to, besides the last (though I don’t plan on retirement - sitting around all day trying to find things to do when you’re old seems like a recipe for a sadder and shortened life, unless you’re truly wealthy and can travel all the time - saving for old age is important). So I can definitely join in the round of applause for those who are proceeding through those steps. It is hard work, and very stressful, and takes an enormous amount of discipline.
I have, however, been completely self-sufficient since I was 18 years old. I also have negligible debt. Which I can’t say of any of my peers that I know, who have followed those steps. Most of them have relied heavily on financial support from parents and have a lot of debt (I include mortgages as debt…) often crippling amounts they will be trying to pay their entire lives. Honestly - I don’t regret following the path I have.
I feel extremely fortunate, and that feeling is it’s own reward. My life isn’t perfect, but I would not swap seats with anyone else.
I think the kudos should go to those who are financially struggling, desperately single, and/or slaving away in soul sucking jobs (or no job at all) but haven’t lost hope yet and still plugging away to make a better future for themselves. Let’s clap for those who are trying to make the best of their lives despite having been dealt crappy hands.
I’m 27 and I’m working my way steadily down that list.
1-5, check. Also have two cars completely paid-off, and a small start on retirement savings.
I’m just finishing my second year in a PhD program. After I finish, job prospects aren’t that great… but despite all of the bitching and moaning PhDs in my field aren’t unemployed.
I have a pile of student loan debt still, in deferral due while I’m in school. The government is paying interest on about half, and I’m paying the interest and a little extra on the rest.
My wife is just finishing her MS and looking for jobs now. Which is scary, but she has a lot of specialized experience that means she should be able to find something. I think the worst case is that she goes back to an entry-level position like she had before starting the MS.
6-9 are all somewhere in the near future but there are no specific plans yet.
