Hillarious, like the problem isn't that the other half's parents are too poor to help out. Gen Z'ers wages suck, and so do their parents' wages, in general.
this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
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Might be interesting to ask ourselves, what the natural order really is: is intergenerational support the outlier, or the norm? Historically and across cultures.
For comparisons, intergenerational housing of millennials was often viewed as an anomaly, but in fact it is generational housing that is an anomaly, specifically a product of post-war affluence.
This seems kind of meaningless without comparisons to other generations at the same age. And whether this is unusual or not seems to also depend a lot on socioeconomic class...I don't think it's very unusual for well-to-do parents to give some amount of money to young adult children? Actually aren't a lot of gen Z still in high school? If anything I'm surprised so many millennial parents have extra money to give.
Nearly half, or 46%, of Gen Zers between the ages of 18 and 27 rely on financial assistance from their family, according to a new report from Bank of America.
So not in high school.
And I don't think these are millennial parents, since the oldest end of millennials would be 42, meaning to have a kid that's 27, they would've had to have kids at 15... So I think this is mostly Gen X, which would be people from 43-58yo.
But why would millennials be cash-strapped? Millennials are 29-42, which should be right in the middle of their careers. They're not at their income peaks, but they should be getting out of the child care range, which is one of the biggest expenses for a parent (at least until college years).
But why would millennials be cash-strapped?
Most Millennials have been through two market crashes and many are burdened with significant student loans
That's true for most generations, with the exception perhaps of student loans since there was a big change in 1992. Here are some examples of market corrections/recessions for each generation:
- Gen X - dotcom bust in 2000 and then 2008 - most millenials wouldn't be impacted too much by the 2008 crash
- Baby Boomers - OPEC oil shock, stagflation in the 80s, Black Monday
- Silent Generation - more frequent recessions in the late 40s, 50s, and early 60s
And so on. Historically, there's a significant market correction every 8-ish years, on average. Most people will experience 3-4 of them during their peak earning ears, as well as one just before or just after retiring. The 2008 -> 2020 bull run was way longer than usual, and the market corrections weren't as severe or as long as in the past, so theoretically millennials should be better off than their predecessors, assuming they invest a consistent portion of their income (big doubt).
But at least on paper, millennials are no worse off than any other generation. Student loans certainly add some complexity, but I think that balances out with historically low interest rates, with current rates being a little below the median (as in, our current "high" rates are pretty average).
So what we're seeing is recency bias in how we remember how the media portrays things. Crises sell, so we're going to see a lot more negative press than positive press, and we're going to only remember the press that's relevant to us (i.e. things from the past 5-10 years).
I think in the UK they have started to offer intergenerational mortgages, considering how unaffordable housing became.
It blows my mind that back in the days people with very simple jobs were able to afford buying their roof, nowadays it is a challenge even for highly skilled professionals if they happen to live in a highly sought city.
intergenerational mortgages
Oh we're back to generational debt already? Can we start calling it indentured servitude already?