The REAL reason why people are broke and don’t have any savings for an emergency

[AquaCityBoy]

I'm not mad at this, honestly.

With inflation plus these stagnant wages, whatever little bit they can scrape away for retirement won't go very far by the time they're ready to retire anyway, and Social Security will almost certainly be dried up by then.

Why forego life experiences in your youth just to save a little funky ass amount of money that won't do shyt for you in retirement?

 

[Rakpo98]

It’s a couple of different reasons why this is occurring for Gen Z. First of all, the cost of living is astronomical, compared to how it was for their parents & grandparents. The average price for a home is now over $400K, when it wasn’t even $200K 2 decades ago. How are people supposed to save $100K just for a down payment, when wages are not keeping up with the increase in home prices? Also, student loans are insane today. The average person is reaching the age of 25, at least $100-200K in the hole, from going to a state or private institution for college. Add in the fact that the minimum amount to retire at 65 is now approaching $3 Million, how can people keep their heads above water?

Young people are also scared of climate change, and a lot of them believe that there won’t be much left of normal civilization by the time they reach retirement age. To them, what’s the point of saving all this money, when earth might be inhabitable in 30-40 years? That’s why many of them are traveling more and living their lives.

 

[AquaCityBoy]

This is the equivalent of "Millenials are broke because Starbucks and avocado toast" for Zoomers, btw.

 

[Born2BKing]

You can never be so arrogant to think you are going to live a long life. Enjoy life while you can.

But it's really because life is crazy expensive now. Wages are low and rejt has never been so high. Buying a house insane interest rates.

Yeah people work there whole life to save enough to be retired at 65 and too to enjoy the money. I am going the real estate route to generate income after retirement but I'm not putting 70% of my check in a hedge fund like some people suggest.

 

[BrothaZay]

It’s a couple of different reasons why this is occurring for Gen Z. First of all, the cost of living is astronomical, compared to how it was for their parents & grandparents. The average price for a home is now over $400K, when it wasn’t even $200K 2 decades ago. How are people supposed to save $100K just for a down payment, when wages are not keeping up with the increase in home prices? Also, student loans are insane today. The average person is reaching the age of 25, at least $100-200K in the hole, from going to a state or private institution for college. Add in the fact that the minimum amount to retire at 65 is now approaching $3 Million, how can people keep their heads above water?

Young people are also scared of climate change, and a lot of them believe that there won’t be much left of normal civilization by the time they reach retirement age. To them, what’s the point of saving all this money, when earth might be inhabitable in 30-40 years? That’s why many of them are traveling more and living their lives.

ok blow all your money. That’s a better solution. You’re right.

 

[Iceson Beckford]

i see people posting brunch on weekends, even on weekdays then traveling somewhere new every week. then they buy new clothes to flex on IG while being 40k+ in debt. idk bro it annoys me a little but it’s not my business though

it makes me feel like im missing out on my entire 20s having no exposure living in a cave while nikkas is flexing on me and bytches thinking they’re better than me but at least im not blowing bread like crazy.

Why does it bother you

 

[BigBlackSea]

ok blow all your money. That’s a better solution. You’re right.

Dude is elaborating on the root causes of the issue at hand. That's the first step towards remedying a problem as systemic as this, identify the issue and the causes.

Unless you are referring to another post, I don't see where he stated everyone should be draining their bank account.

 

[NYChase718]

Youre in a social media /status era where everyone wants to shine and show off living beyond their means
People dont even care about maxin out credit cards

 

[africngiant]

Why does it bother you

the second paragraph. people assume they’re better than you based on your ig

 

[Iceson Beckford]

For Gen Z

Does feel like a lot of people don't even care at the moment, see alot of holidays etc.

For me, I wanted to go to work ASAP and save instead of going to University. House Market here is cooked due to interest rates and salaries suck.



Deciding to study instead, feels like no point even bothering for now.

 

[feelosofer]

If you don't save up or make 3-4 million dollars you can't retire anyway and social security will be gone by the time the Z's reach their mid 60s. Most of these kids don't see a long term future for themselves.

 

[Rakpo98]

If you don't save up or make 3-4 million dollars you can't retire anyway and social security will be gone by the time the Z's reach their mid 60s. Most of these kids don't see a long term future for themselves.

Bingo. By the time Gen Z gets to retirement age, there’s an extremely good chance that there won’t be Social Security, AND the minimum amount to retire safely will be at minimum $5-6 Million or more. Plus, the climate will be even more extreme than it is now, making the world unlivable in certain areas of the world. For Gen Z, they’re probably thinking what’s the point? There might not be much of anything left in 40-50 years.

That’s why they’re so pissed at Boomers, and why Climate Change is the number one issue for Gen Z. The Boomer generation has done NOTHING to come up with solutions to climate change, housing or wages. Political involvement with young people has surged in the past 10 years. Young people are angry, and they’re starting to realize that they might have to take matters into their own hands to save this country.

 

[MaxPain]

Cuz it doesn’t exist. Balance is another word for working half assed.

It does exist, you just don’t know how to do it.

It took me a while, but I’m there. Work smarter not harder.

 

[IIVI]

Taxes and shyt being expensive.

It's funny, I saw an article recently about how much it'll take to comfortably live in Los Angeles purely on your own. They said $75k is on the borderline of accomplishing that. If you penny-pinch on $75k you may be alright.

However, that's $75k after taxes. If you make $100k salary, after Cali and federal tax hits you're under $70k. That's before you can even spend a dime.

If you think taking that $75k job will hold you down when you move to Cali, you'll find out you make about $20k less than that $75k you heard was recommended. Now you got a slightly above average salary, but you're down bad while everyone is looking at you like you're wasteful so they give you no benefit of the doubt.

That was also before overall rent skyrocketed.

This is a cheap version:

How Much Does It Cost to Live in Los Angeles? – 2023 - MovingWaldo

We arranged important monthly expenses to summarize the cost of living in Los Angeles and provided the average monthly rent by district!

www.movingwaldo.com

Housing: Average rent price for a 1 bedroom apartment (Manhattan Beach) + Employer-Sponsored Healthcare for one person + Average utilities cost
$2442.52 + $653 + $200.1

Transportation: Metro Pass (1 month)
$100.00

Groceries: Daily recommended minimum amount of money for food per person/ Regular grocery basket for one person
$12.83 x 30 days = $384.90

Entertainment (for 1 time only): Meal Inexpensive restaurant + Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat + Taxi 1-hour Waiting
$16.00 + $29.91 + $15.00

Health and Fitness: Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult
$44.25

Total: $3,885.68 x 12 = $46628.16 ​

So that's $50k after taxes to live in LA with a bus pass, watching one movie a month and spending $10 a day on food.
If you make $75k out here, you on a bus pass and no savings basically.

However, throw in a car, phone bill, streaming services/apps, internet, gas, etc.

Don't start having car problems.
Don't get sick.
Don't have health problems.
etc.

I'm born and raised here, but I remember when I first started living on my own out here it really hit me how much they price gouge in taxes and expenses. Being from here also means I have a local support system with resources like family and that was critical.

 

[desjardins]

yea it's not mutually exclusive
wages aren't rising fast enough and people are doing dumb shyt with the money they are getting
the ppa loan shyt showed that giving people more money didn't have any real impact on savings or people changing their position in life