Are you better off than your parents at your age?

[thebigguy@lemmy.ml]

The world was always a shitty place, we are definitely facing new and frightening challenges but they can be overcome it will just be difficult.

[pixellateddave@lemmy.world]

I cannot own my own house. Something about I don't earn enough.

I am allowed to pay rent at nearly double what a mortgage would be and this is financially allowed.

[Guest]

I am thanks to a combination of my learning how credit should actually be used and careful budgeting as well as an excellent choice to get into information technology. I can actually support my adult son as well as take care of his brother and my disabled wife and living what would’ve largely been considered middle class by their standard. At this point they were getting mortgage calls for juggling payments and spending wrecklessly while living in a double wide mobile home in the rural appalachias.

[korhaka@sopuli.xyz]

Better: I live near the sea so I can easily cycle to the sea for a swim in my lunch break. My PC is a lot better than the one my dad had at the time and relative to inflation costs a lot less, even without inflation it isn't that much more.
Worse: Pretty much every other way. I guess my job is safer but we both have to work while my mum didn't have to work. We don't have kids either.

[treczoks@lemmy.world]

Definitely. We lived in an old house without central heating, and I know what hunger is. My father died when I was a kid, after a long sickness, and taking care of him and us kids took a lot out of mum.

Now I can support my family from my income, with both kids at unversity without debts.

Yes, we are better off. But the way to here and now was hard.

[showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website]

I am very much so … but that’s only because both my parents were shithead drug addicts in their 20s. My mom got in AA and turned her life in to a better place but she was starting again from the bottom. My dad didn’t get help and was still using and dealing and struggling last time I heard.

[clif@lemmy.world]

I don't have kids, so yeah.

[stunt_granny@lemmy.world]

Part of me wants to think so; I'm making a lot more money than they did at my age, even accounting for inflation. Aside from my car note, I'm debt-free. All objectively good things.

They had each other though. I'm a few years older than they were when they had their first kid, and they'd been married for a few years before that. I'm alone, and after I had some bad experiences, I don't bother with dating. Whether that's "better" than what my parents did or not, I don't think it's fair for me to decide.

[horsey@lemmy.world]

Only because my spouse’s parents are both dead (early, accidents) and he inherited several hundred thousand dollars and life insurance money. I personally have a negative net worth.

[rebekahwsd@lemmy.world]

Oh, no. Hella worse. They were solidly middle class with two solid careers at this point. And kids, but I don't want that part so that's a wash. But nicer house, nicer stuff entirely. But me and my husband are in a better place relationship wise so I got that over them??

[rbwells@lemmy.world]

Kind of? My dad died before he was my age and my mom told me "he died and I'd never had that much money in my life and all I wanted was him."

So financially I'm worse off than my mom was, but in other (and probably more important) ways, better off. And certainly better off than my dad.

[pantanopete@lemmy.zip]

Yeah, my parents were from a small village without reliable running water and toilets and I'm an computer microchip engineer that lives in a house I own with clean filtered water and a bidet.

[noel_skum@sh.itjust.works]

Mentally, yes. Financially, no.

[noobnarski@lemmy.world]

Financially maybe, my parents were probably still at university at my age.
They'd make more money than I do afterwards though.

And they had already found each other, while I've never even had one relationship yet.

[thewolfofsouthend@lemmygrad.ml]

Not financially, we used to go on holiday 3 weeks a year in a touring caravan, plus multiple weekends, in my teens we’d go skiing for a week. Based on that alone I’m not even in the same league.

[annafrankfurter@lemmy.ml]

Financially yes. I'm paying more in tax than my father earned when he was retiring. But socially not even close. We didn't have much growing up. So I just spent my time studying and all never really enjoyed any moment. The only "friends" I had were the people who hung around me so they could cheat off of me in exams. And the most cruelest part is growing up I always wanted fancy toys and other such stuff. But now I don't care about any of those. I thought if I earned more all the pain and suffering will go away but it is still there.........

[jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world]

No. Close, but no.

[Guest]

My parents had three kids and owned a 150 m² house in the countryside. I earn more than they used to and I'm renting a single room in a house with four flatmates.

[phoenixz@lemmy.ca]

Happier, maybe. My dad is an okay guy but they weren't happy together, my mom wanted out of the marriage for decades. Financially I'm so far behind, it's not even close.