Boomer here. I can't tell you how much this angers me. My father had a sixth grade education and worked in a steel mill. My mother was a stay at home mom. Five kids, a 4 bedroom house, two cars, vacations (not extravagant, but a freaking vacation!) almost every year. We never went without meals, clothing, or the necessities for a comfortable life. On one salary! Now even with two incomes, people live paycheck to paycheck, often with the barest of necessities. The world has changed tremendously and anyone who can't see this is either immensely privileged or completely ignorant. My heart goes out to you. People need to wake up and help each other instead of judging and complaining when they have no clue of the stresses of living in today's world.

My 26 year old is back at home because of how hard it is. There is no shame in that and she can stay as long as she needs to so she can pay off her debts and save for her house. She helps with the car and is a blessing for her brothers. We need to help these kids, not shame them because they didn't do what we did back in the day. I'm a Gen X and my Mom is a Boomer and we BOTH support my Daughter being home until she can her on her feet....

The US minimum wage is hopelessly outdated. To put it context, in the UK, at minimum wage you would only have to work 24 hours/week to earn the equivalent of $700/month. A full time job (40 hours/week) gives a salary of roughly £20k (gross - you would have some tax to pay), which would cover a mortgage, but the biggest problem is still getting enough money together to put down a deposit, as almost all of young people's income is taken up in rent.

I just turned 50. My wife and I bought our first house when I was 20. Those are no longer the times we live in... minimum wage has barely changed while costs have exploded. We refuse to pay young people a living wage. We require them to pay a fortune to get a degree and keep them in debt. Housing prices are unreasonable - $200,000 for a "starter home"... how are they supposed to afford that? My stepkids needed until almost 30 to get a footing and we helped them wherever we could. Anyone who doesn't see a problem isn't looking.

This is what happens when homes stop becoming shelter, and become investments. Owners want the value to rise as much as it can, as fast as it can. There is an entire culture based on buying homes, making improvements, and reselling as fast as possible while extracting the most profit as possible. Housing, particularly is the United States, needs a fundamental rethink. One solution that is market based would obviously be to build and sell more homes. Problem therein is that those that already own their homes almost never want new construction close by, especially if it is multifamily homes. Again, this stems from the owner class mentality that the home is an investment. The bottom line is that homes have become another cudgel between the haves and the have nots. Be continuing this paradigm, eventually the underclass will be large enough to have political power. This is where they may finally be able to exercise the strength in numbers, which will most likely make the owner class upset.

Fox News is responsible for a lot of their misconceptions because it's a fantasy network and the people who watch it buy what they spew hook, line and sinker. They fail to understand that the kind of jobs that allowed them to provide for their families back in the day just won't do it now. They also won't admit that the minimum wage isn't even enough to live on, and that the middle class has nearly been squeezed out of existence since the days of Reagan, whose policies began undercutting the middle class and feeding the rich. Many of them (not all) keep voting for the same sick bunch of scumbags who do nothing but funnel money to the rich and corporations, adding to the squeeze. They're part of the problem. Tell them that and they get indignant, but until they wake up and stop voting for a party that only supports the rich (and uses wedge issues to attract voters), nothing's going to change.

I'm a late boomer (1958). Early '80s the President said we are going to become a "service economy". I asked your elders if they would work those jobs and they just smirked. They didn't see or care where it would lead and here we are.

I'm a late boomer (1958). Early 80's grandma lives with mom and I. I come home from my grunt labor job and stretched out on the couch. Granny walks in gets a disgusted look on her face and calls me a bum. Wanders off . Just another day.

Even in the places that pay more then minimum wage moving out that early is financial suicide. I make $18.45 an hour I can't get financing on a house and rent fore and apartment is $1400 a month nothing included for a 1 bedroom which I could afford I I don't mind saving $0 a month a being homeless once my car breaks down or I get sick then I'm on the street in debt and we are back at the bottom and a house starts at about $350k for a 3 bed 2 bath from the 1960s.

I'm wondering what your grandparents estate planning looks like. For example, would they consider subtracting your part of inheritance off the top of the property value & then any money you pay towards rent or other household expenses would be considered house payments instead. I think this is called a reverse mortgage. It would be a win/win- your money is gaining equity & they would be out from under some expenses. I am a 'boomer' and you're right- the cost of living has not kept pace with wages or expenses, making it difficult if not impossible to achieve a similar lifestyle.

My mom just missed the cutoff for being a Boomer. The only way she could afford to buy a house was by buying out her siblings' share of Grandma's house with her inheritance. The only way she still has it is because we co-own the house and share the bills and taxes. As a Millennial, the only way I'll own a house is Mom said she'd move to an apartment and gift me the house as a wedding present, if I ever get married.

I'm an X'er and it wasn't/isn't much better for us. i had to work 2 jobs to be able to get ahead. had to take a part time temp job (which took me over a year of searching, applying to get) in the field i was trying to get into, while working full time at another. i was working 6 days a week totaling somewhere around70-75 hours per week between the two. and for 2 years before that it, I was at the one job full time AND going to community college. It eventually got better, but sometimes it sucks for awhile before that happens

I feel for the kid in terms of rent and housing but there are a few flags from him as well. Works two jobs, but if he works both the same day he works no less than 9 hours? So, similar to a regular full-time job then? He has a degree and admits his degree barely has openings in his field so either try to find a job out of area and move or open your own side gig and build it up. As for the grandparents, they have hot mess written all over them.

I'm 35 gonna be 36 in June and aside and I've never been able to move out and away from my parents. I only did it once back in 2018 when I took an under the table Security Guard Gig at a Housing Construction Site. Made $500 a week and lived in a crappy trailer. I also went to School for Medical Billing but was unable to find work after graduating, and got sick and had to go back home. I'm finally gonna be on my own, but only because my parents are moving out of of the apartment we've lived in for over 20 years. It's a three bedroom split between me, my parents, and 2 brothers. My parents share a bedroom, my little brother gets his own room, and I share a bedroom with my twin brother. My parents and little brother are moving out, and I'm gonna stay in the apartment with my twin

I would let them to have a close meeting with the reality. Stop supporting them when it's not needed. You didn't made it? Boo hoo, neither did I. They need a reality check, otherwise they will still live in that paradise

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The problem here is on both sides of the fence. Many older people havn't kept up with prices and don't understand the house they built in 1950 for $9000 now sells for $150000 or more. Younger people don't understand that as minimum wage increase, the cost of living increases even more, leaving you with less in the end. This is why before the 70's many could afford a house and car on a single income. Now, many can't afford them even with 2 full time incomes. I know people that make 6 figures, don't have a mortgage or student loans and are still living paycheck to paycheck.

A long, long time ago, I worked in a large company doing office work. Most of us didnt get paid enough to have an apartment or live bnb on our own. Raises weren't good. More people made their own clothes to help their money go further. We all had home economics in highschool and we were taught how to sew. I didnt start sewing my slacks until I saw the other young women's neat slacks, etc. My daddy gave me a sewing machine that my mother says she won in a raffle. I still have that machine. The skill still comes in handy for things I do without patterns. I have made table runners and sewn upholstery together before redoing the seat of a hope chest.

Gets an IT degree and lives in an area with no IT jobs. Dude, you have to move to where the jobs in your degree are or you will always be stuck working two jobs for minimum wage. That's like my nephew who got a degree in sports management but refuses to live anywhere but his tiny hometown (population 2000) with no sports teams.

I'm 59, my kids are 28 and 31. Today's world is vastly different than my parents and worlds away from how my grandparents had it. It's wrong to judge or criticize you. Even I can't get anything but minimum wage jobs.

It sounds like this guy is out in the suburbs, where his grandparents will rent to him for $100. But it’s legally zoned out there against the affordable high-density housing that young singles need, and the jobs are dead-end service, not entry-level professional. Maybe he needs to climb onto the roof of a train with hundreds of others fleeing poor villages for a teeming megacity. Oh wait, he doesn’t have to because he still lives in a first-world nation.

My Dad graduated from Michigan State in 1972 and bought himself a brand new Camero SS V8 with an MSRP of under $3,000. He was a park ranger making $35,000 a year. He and my mom got married shortly after graduation and bought their first house immediately just on my dad's salary.

This sounds bad, but it's only op side of the story. Where are these people accumulating all this debt? That's kind of what I don't get, as a boomer. I see my niece and nephew struggling financially, but no worse than I did at their age. I also see them spending frivolously, so there's still room to cut corners. Fancy hair and nail salons, tattoos, meal delivery, brand new vehicles ( newer than mine!) lead me to believe some of the hardship is self inflicted. Also, I bought 2 1/2 cars for nephew, all recked in record time, and niece has college completely paid for. They both inherited substantial money that would have helped them, but they pi$$ed it away... I'm not feeling much pain for them and their choices.

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save up from your job.... look for a job out of town for better money.. move. I don't get this. I am 35... but I've never asked for a penny and I made it work. It CAN be done. Complaining won't get you anywhere

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HEY WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE, enough with the outrage porn. Just post happy cats FFS this stuff is useless and divisive.

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He's a loser. I loved our of my single mothers townhome during the largest financial crisis on the planet. Got a welding ticket and nothing past highschool. I worked my a*s off to get into a career I loved (suspension). You're just f*****g lazy. Go get a trade and get a real job. I'm sick of losers complaining like you.