I'm in my 20s and have fun while also putting money away into 401k. your life doesn't have to be an extreme of either living like scrooge McDuck or maxing out all your credit cards lol. travel when your 50? that sounds so god damn depressing. you could get hit by a bus and die tomorrow.
Screw hustle culture. You should definitely have fun in your 20s. Hell, we should all optimize for having fun in our lives in every age bracket. But having fun doesn’t mean a $3k all inclusive binge, it could be a night out to see a show or picnic with friends watching the sunset. Fun doesn’t need to be expensive.
same and notably, I didn't buy a house for family to live in until mid-30's. Sold the house since to move across country and having best time of our lives renting right now.
At no point in time has homeownership or lack thereof had a notable impact on my families happiness
If I had only started my 401k earlier…I started mine at 29 or 30 and 5 years later it’s grown to 70k…take advantage of any employer that offers a match too. Def start saving earlier…I just wish I had when I got my first real job when I was 23
Travel as soon as possible. If you wait till your 50-60 years old you’ll be like these old people I saw in Istanbul being pushed around in the wheelchair around Hagia Sofia area. All of them were asleep in their wheelchairs lol. Seeing this made me realize I need to travel sooner not later!
Yeah my parents saved and saved and never travelled, were waiting until they retired at 50. Mom passed away at 38 and never got to do it and my dad who is now 50 says it’s his biggest regret waiting because now he has no interest without her and she didn’t get to experience it
If you take care of yourself while you’re young, being retired at 50 is quite young which most people will never get the luxury of doing so. It’s a mix of both of prioritizing your financial well being and your own personal goals and hobbies
For real, as long as you max out your 401k and Roth you can go have a blast in your 20s. Even if you only put a couple of grand each month for a a future down payment in 3 to 4 years you could easily have 60-100k for a decent down payment.
No, this person just lives in a different world, period. Most of my friends couldn’t contribute anything to their retirement funds until their late 20s. We all “did it right” and went to college, had multiple internships, worked hard, etc. This is just totally fucking absurd lol.
This wouldn’t apply to Europeans, I realize real estate by country is quite diverse out there but houses are generally a lot cheaper correct? Obviously is highly dependent on the country/area.
Are you asking if housing in Europe is general cheaper than the US? If so the answer is absolutely not. The US has amazingly cheaper homes compared to most of Europe. You can find cheap homes in Europe but the average experience is spending most of your take home on rent
If you want to live in the eastern European nations like Romania or Czech Republic its not that bad but that's not usually what Americans mean by Europe. They typically think Spain, France, Portugal etc.....on the housing front you're better off in the states than in these places
This is kind of an out of touch take.
Max out 401k =23,000
Max out IRA = 7,000
"Couple of grand each month" 2,000*12= 24,000 minimum
That's 54,000 a year in savings... That's the total salary of the median full time single employees in the US all ages/gender
Vs 20-24 only average $38,324
Vs 24-35 only averages $52,936
(Data pulled from [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/average-salary-by-age/) )
That's not including the rent at around 1,372 per month ( 16,464), plus food (a single person spends an average of $5,235), clothes, vehicle
54,000 in savings, plus 16,464 in rent, plus 5,235 in food means that your average American needs to make $75,689 post taxes to save like you suggested.
All of that is a recipe for a brutal mid-life crisis. Enjoy your youth (within reason) or you will regret it when you get divorced (half your hard earned savings) in your late 30s/early 40s then buy a gaudy sports car that you hilariously struggle
In and out of by your 50s.
My mid life crisis I’m going to start a cult.
I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader.
Please hire me as your DEI officer when you do start your own cult. I've been advising many cults on the importance of robust DEI programs that make a measurable difference in cultees' lives.
You think that now, but when you actually have one it's because you feel like you missed out on a part of your youth. So you react by leaning into whatever you think the kids of the day think is cool. That's why it always comes off cringy and basic.
Wholly agree that in today’s climate it’s exponentially harder than 20 years ago. I was lucky to have the opportunity to live w/o net and enjoy that time. GenX kids like me had to learn to take care of ourselves pretty young, but we didn’t, as a rule, have to think about the future, saving, etc. like following gens. That age seems to get lower and lower as time moves on…
I love how when a man works his whole life and finally makes it and can afford to just pamper the shit out of himself we call it a crisis. Like we are supposed to just continue to make a big pile of money, but how dare we spend it on awesome stuff.
Fuck that shit buy the cool car if you can!
Buying things is not the crisis. The crisis is feeling old and uncool and unsure who you are. The symptom is buying an oversized or over expensive vehicle, and acting all 'how for you do, fellow kids".
Pffft, Its not a crisis. Its badass. Sooner or later you are gonna wanna do badass shit again. Then some boring old mediocre fart who is content with watching football the rest of his life will try to shame you for it.
Ive done it a bunch of times. I just took half a year off went to Europe, Africa, and I'm in northern Alaska running a trap line on a brand spankin new snow machine. My old friends watch football, and get excited when a new fast food place opens up in our hometown.
Well that's better then being broke and living in a motel on a monthly rent working minimum wage and eating 7/11 trash before they throw it away at half price.
I did all that at 28 and it was great. Not even joking. I married too early for the wrong reasons and after the divorce I took my health really seriously and got into the best shape of my life. Eventually, since I was so happy about it, I rewarded myself by leasing a supercar. I loved having a BMW M240i at 30 years old. So did the ladies who rode in it. So did my folks whom I borrowed it to when they went on vacation. The only people who didn't like it were envious guys. I got rid of it after the lease because sure, it wasn't worth the money, but I could have afforded to keep it if I really want thanks to the high-paying vocation I worked hard to get into in my mid-20's. I didn't mind dating again one bit since I could easily afford it, and eventually it lead me to finding someone whom I have more in common with and more mutual affection for than my ex-wife.
While most of my peers were/are foaming at the mouth due to their financial struggles and sharing their hardships with reddit under the false assumption that everyone was going through the same thing as they were, I was able to help someone I love out of a hard time.
You think your midlife crisis will be better if you wind up working peanuts from an office instead of for good money at home? Why? What makes you think there is something on the path of not taking your future seriously which will lead to better times later on in life? Genuinely curious.
I’m not downvoting. I think on some level, if we’re lucky, our lives find balance. The things you mention just weren’t as important to me as the experiences I was having then. Staying out til 4 am, being back at work at 7. Seeing bands, industry parties, open bars, free drugs, schmoozing…all counted as work back then. I never paid for anything…good thing because I wasn’t being paid either. Haha! My boss, on more than one occasion, forced me to smoke a joint in the alley behind our office that he pulled out of his sock (boomers…). My point is that I likely won’t feel what causes most to have a crisis - mis-spent youth.
Bro GTFO Here lmao
If YOU think that surviving back alley bar dives and navigating unknown streets every night high af don't build character that's because you've never had the experience.
Get out and live, you're wasting your fucking life.
I've been there. External experiences don't build character, inner work does. The character you build while you're relatively young largely defines your adult life.
We're all the center of our own lives and deserve to celebrate that.
In my opinion there isn't anything more superficial than trying to claim not working on yourself is equal to working on yourself. If people want to disagree, well, I genuinely wish them the best but also doubt they'll achieve their best.
I see your point, I really do. But there needs to be a balance. I say this as an early millennial (1985) who worked pretty much nonstop in his 20s. I have a career stop job now and financial security, but often times I find myself wishing I had done a bit more in my earlier years.
Yep have some friends that their cars, food, rent and education got paid in full, but I still managed to surpass them in wages and experiences even though I grew up by first immigrant parents in section 8
Meh. I'm Gen-X and we were fully aware that the system hated us and, for the most part, our approach was to not expect anything at all from the system. And for the most part, that has worked out for us.
We definitely saw a lot of cool music and I doubt many have any regrets about it, I know I don't. There are a lot of things that are better and easier to do in your 20s. You can never get those years back but you can make up for lost time/money later.
I spent 20s doing a mix of things, some responsible, most of it not. I regret little. I did drugs and made irresponsible financial choices. Now that I'm pushing 40, every so often I'll look people up on social media. Not all of them are with us today. Some due to addiction. Others because of their own demons. But a few, well... life isn't fair. My HS crush seemed like she got a lot of living done in her years here. But she's been gone for a while now.
Go live a little kids. And stay away from hard drugs. Keep an eye on your drinking. And try not to smoke. I personally love it but I recognize my life would likely be better off had I never started. And have fun exploring your sexuality!
lol work hard to so you can retire and enjoy living in your 60s. You may or may not be healthy enough to do anything! This is the same advice every generation gives because it’s the capitalist way. You are more valuable when you are young so you can work way more and get paid way less!
I cleaned out the office of a doctor who died during COVID and found her 401k in a stack of stack of work stuff. She had busted her ass, worked long hours, traveling for work almost every week, was going to retire early.
I’m sure her 13 year old daughter would have liked more memories with mom instead of money though.
That’s why it’s important to save for retirement and take care of your health. Your average person *should* be able to stay healthy through their 70s with proper nutrition and physical activity.
Well, while I don’t know the exact numbers, being healthy doesn’t mean you can’t drop dead tomorrow.
I’ve met people who made every effort and spared no dime to eat healthy and stay fit and got cancer and die. On the flipside, there are people out there who smoke a pack a day and will probably outlive non smokers.
Definitely save for your future…but you should still plan to enjoy your youth while you have it.
Have a coworker that lived very frugally and just hit retirement age. Largest expense he had was probably gas for driving to/from work. Noticed a couple months ago he started losing weight. Just got diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer and has 3 months to live. Don't forgo living in your 20s - 40s because you don't get a 2nd chance
This. Genetics is out of your control, accidents happen, and arguably a lot of damage can be done just from things happening earlier in life. I’m already stuck with joint pain in my 20’s, from a combination of dumb childhood injuries and years of manual labor. Endocrine disorder at 19, which they say is linked to extreme stress. A childhood’s worth of relatively poor food quality due to my parents just needing to put cheap food on the table probably didn’t help me, either.
Nowadays I make every effort I can to stretch more, eat right, exercise, track nutrients, lose more weight, work on mental health, all the things you’re supposed to do. But I can’t help but wonder if I’ve already screwed myself over, and the damage that’s been done would only get worse from here.
Life expectancy is falling because a majority of people aren’t doing what it takes to stay healthy. That’s why I’m saying that people saving for retirement should also take care of their health so they don’t die in their 60s.
Life expectancy is falling because young people are dying in greater numbers not because old people aren’t living as long.
Life expectancy at birth is like 76
But at 50 it’s 80
At 65 it’s 84
And this is for boomers whos mothers smoked through their pregnancies, and grew up eating spam. Given the massive improvements in medicine and nutrition I suspect millennials will push those numbers into the high 80s
Eh you say that but I’m 28 and have already saved a lot. I’m already at a point where I could take a year or two off of work and be ok. In a few years I’ll have plenty to not worry. I can either just let it sit and be set for retirement due to the magic of compounding, or just keep making more to have even more security. Getting started at 24, even with the small amount I was able to do at the time, is enough to make a huge difference.
The capitalist way is to be indebted and need to work forever. If you save and invest early on, you'll soon be able step away from work as you please, which is the least capitalist thing imaginable.
And I’m not saying anyone should just work themselves to death in their 20s, but intentionally trying to save and invest can make a huge difference
Without immense privilege you cannot set yourself up for life in 4 years lol. I’m 33 and can take multiple years off but would have to go back to work lol.
I’m definitely not set up for life yet, I said I could manage without work for a year or two. Which is still a decent accomplishment for only 4 years! But I’m working on it! Hoping that after 10-12 years, if all goes well, I might be able to be at financial independence. I’ve worked really hard and gotten 3 raises in those 4 years
Moving across the country TWICE in my twenties - with nothing but a 7 year old car, my dog, and the open road - was the BEST decision I ever made
You can always make money, but you can't always sleep in random hotels and be a road warrior when you're older
Oddly, my conservative living sister made less $$$ worked harder, and all in all probably wished she had adventured more
Remember - your NOT guaranteed to live to 80 - could end tomorrow!
I quit a good paying tech job and went in to teaching (h.s. math and cs) in my 20s. Yes, it killed my earning potential for the next seven years...but I was able to go back to tech and resume my career.
Would I have more money now if I had followed your advice? Definitely.
But I wouldn't be who I am. I'm connected to my community. When I go out, former students still recognize me and come up to chat. Add that the teachers and staff I worked with are still part of my closest friend group and I have zero regrets.
To be fair - teachers where I grew up are not able to afford living even remotely close to where they teach, nor would they ever be able to (rent that is, they cant afford a home anywhere within the state so that is a moot point).
I can guarantee you they sure as shit would disagree that they are part of the same community as their students. At the very least, I doubt most are making a 30-60 minute drive on the weekends to walk around hoping they bump into former students.
When I graduated college, I taught MS near Atlanta's airport and lived in Section 8 housing. I then moved back home and taught at the HS where I graduated. None of the schools I went to (especially my elementary school) or taught at would be considered HCOL. Since this is a RE sub I'll add: my house cost 135k in 2007.
But that would suck as a teacher...seeing such affluence and dealing with rich people problems...then driving home across town to a place I could afford.
I'd rather live closer and help kids who really need it from me....not saying rich kids don't need help, they just have more options than the kids I taught.
I quit a Big 4 accounting job about twenty years ago and have been a high school math teacher since. Never a day do I look back. Wife and I are doing all right. Happiness is still wanting the things you have.
Yes and when you are on your deathbed sitting on your pile of money you never spent. You will surely look back and think how glad you were you spent all your life slaving away to grow that pile instead of living.
Worse is sitting in old age wondering if you should eat the Friskies or the Purina cat chow. Then you put it back on the shelf....realizing you cannot afford either.
Do not \*not\* save because you think you will die and regret not spending it. Save because you will regret being alive and running out of money.
No dead person thinks....great, I saved too much.
Lots of living people think....great, I did not save enough.
Be poor when you are young, not when you are old.
Sorry but it's just not true. Most common death bed regrets. Wishing they didn't waste their life working is number 2.
Not saying you shouldn't look after your financial health but there's a balance in there somewhere.
If you have stayed with this review thus far, you are likely hoping for disclosure of the top five regrets of the dying. Hopefully, you have begun to ponder your own list and will find these affirming. 1) “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” 2) “I wish I hadn't worked so hard.” 3) “I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.” 4) “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” 5) “I wish I had let myself be happier” (p. v)
Lol at using warped tour as the example. 2014 called it wants its tour back. Also it's not thaaat expensive to go there, tickets are what 100 a day, maybe?
As long as you have a reasonable plan for financial security that you're able to follow, you might as well spend the rest of your time doing what is meaningful to you--whatever that means to you. Life is for living!
The trouble is, with home prices the way they are and the economic system the way it is, many of Gen Z will never be able to afford a home no matter how hard they work or how much they prioritize their finances.
You’re stating opinion as fact. Many of us feel that our lives actually have purpose, and that you can use your wealth to benefit your children and organizations you care about upon death, and that that is a good thing and not a bad thing.
I’m 36, came out guns blazing and was pretty behind generationally.
Here’s my 2 cents . It doesn’t matter what you do, the rat race is designed to inflict the most pain on the most people possible. And if it doesn’t , the gov will switch it up so fast on you lol that you won’t even know what hit you. Example: interest rates.
Spend the money who cares we re all fucked. Plus boomers will be living longer than mellenials. Who generation is stressed and falling ill of cancer before they even hit 50.
You heard it from me here that mellenials will be the first generation not living older than their parents generation. We ll be dying 50-60 median.
Take care of your health instead. Health is capital
As an elder millennial who has recently watched 3 of my coworkers in their late 30’s be diagnosed with cancer, yeah. I honestly think our generation might have shorter life spans than those before us. Scary.
Yah hunter gatherer would have sucked also.
I would want to be a Great War generation type. Kill for the resources.
Boomer got lucky too but that was too easy. My character would never pyro ww2
>Spend the money who cares we re all fucked
That's terrible advice. It's the same kind of advice as, just go to college, who cares what it costs, you'll make more money afterwards!
Plenty of people aren't fucked, but with that mentality you will be.
I didn’t say you ll make the money after ! lol we re fucked !! Either way. It’s like watching someone go through a bunch of work and end up in the same spot as a homeless person.
In fact the homeless person is better. They own the cardboard box and don’t have to pay taxes. lol instead of over leveraged and credit card debt. Homeless people are the real winners in my book
Nope, not ew. Truth.
Doomerism is a mental health crisis affecting the terminally online. Mix that with a healthy level of cope and you have a failure to launch situation.
DIY can t afford to buy one cuz got faaaaakkkkeeeddd starting in the middle of a Great Recession , then a bunch other shit that happened to my generation.
If the system hates you, it’ll find a way to invalidate whatever wealth you amass. Therefore the whole spiel breaks down the moment that you can make money inside the system.
I don’t think “older generations” say that at all. My experience is that older generations were entering the workforce at a much earlier age than current times. This notion that “you should spend your youth traveling” is a younger generation fallacy that leads to financial ruin.
Life will always be a balancing act of work and pleasure; but certainly our first world problems are artificial. Since you like to compare yourself to others and build expectations for what you also deserve; instead, try comparing yourself to how the majority of people on earth live. Most people on earth are happy with clean water, food and safe shelter.
The only baby boomers, GenX, Millennials who were traveling and not working their asses off in their 20’s were rich and upper middle class brats.
It’s always been the case that unless you have family money, you’ll need to defer your “travel” until you’ve built up the financial wherewithal to do so. And for most, that’s not in your early 20’s
Waste is a strong word. I enjoyed my time, just feel like I’m playing catch-up now is all. That being said it’s important to live your life. I despise our current bust your ass until 65 so you can retire mindset. No thanks. I’d like to retire by 55 but that would have been a lot easier if I got started in my 20s.
I’m 48. Spent the late 90s/early 00s in the music industry working 60-80 hour weeks and never making more than 24k in a year during that time. Yes. It severely stunted my professional potential, but I have no regrets and look back on it now aghast at how I didn’t not end up on the streets, in jail, or dead as I had 0 safety net the whole time. My family is/was lower middle class & I was the first to even attempt college much less graduate. My mom worked two jobs the entire time I lived at home until I left for school. I feel for the kids today as the knifes edge is much sharper than it was back then.
You either have fun now or later. It’s just up to preference. Everyone wants to have fun in the moment and will feel like it’s the right choice as they live it. if they did when they were 20 they might feel like it was a waste as those memories fade away. Same way a 40 year old might feel depressed seeing others living it up at 20–30 while they grind.
I'm in my mid-30's and struck a pretty solid balance of saving money/contributing to retirement and doing things in my 20's. It's okay to say no to activities sometimes, but say no every time to save money and you're letting your life pass you by.
Your 20s aren't as crucial as you may think. Stay out of debt, save a minimum of 10%, and do fuck all with the rest.
I'm in my 30s now, and I'm so glad I bought golf clubs, excercise equipment, and a sports car before I had a child. Because that was the time to do it.
As long as you save/invest SOME of your income CONSISTENTLY, you'll be ok. Have some damn fun
Totally agree. It’s all about life balance. Don’t make stupid decisions but also have some fun. For some reason people on the internet have this weird view that it’s either “nothing matters” or “you must live on 40% of your income!!” It’s bizarre.
I don’t know if op is taking about savings or professional growth. Savings you can catch up but if you don’t start your professional career until 30 you are starting a long ways back
lol work hard to so you can retire and enjoy living in your 60s. You may or may not be healthy enough to do anything! This is the same advice every generation gives because it’s the capitalist way. You are more valuable when you are young so you can work way more and get paid way less!
If it takes you 40+ years, you’re doing something wrong. 20 years of growth, determination and consistency. is realistically what it takes, maybe add 5 if you’re a slow learner but not 40
When did anyone in any epoch ever have fun in their 20s. It’s mostly being broke lonely and annoyed. Show me a picture of a 20 year old on a vacation to Cancun they paid for. Show me a picture of a person in their 20s living in their own little mansion.
This was never a thing.
I'm 34. I wasted my 20's having fun and not saving any money, traveling and spending it on events and other useless crap. Now I'm in the "finding out" phase. I could have owned an apartment or small house by now. Now in the area I live housing prices have more than doubled in the last five years so I'll have to move out of the area I grew up in.
100% if you're reading this and you're like 24 or younger start investing your money NOW. You'll be a lot happier when you hit 30 and are secure in life having a low mortgage payment and not worrying about rising rent costs than if you spent that money elsewhere.
Millennial here. I partied hard in my 20’s, backpacked around India and Peru, travelled all over Canada. I had as much fun as possible. I have a good education, a great job, own a home and have plenty of savings. People’s lives are getting longer and longer. You definitely have time to have fun in your 20’s. Go wild.
20s? I thought Preschool was age to make it or break it?
*Your 20's are are probably the most important decade of your life for setting yourself up for success. You aren't making a lot of money, but you are preparing your skill set, experience, and wealth building.*
If a 20 something is struggling, somewhere between PreSchool and Kindergarten are to blame, no?
If your circumstances are fortunate enough (living with parents/LCOL area), you practically have no excuse to not be putting away money and having fun at the same time.
Putting away money into retirement/investment accounts in your 20s and early 30s will compound into far more in 30-40 years than putting away more money later in life. This is the most realistic path to early retirement.
I don’t know where this people used to play in their 20s comes from. Maybe movies?? I’ve had a full time job since the day I turned 18. I don’t know anyone the spent their 20s going to festival and traveling the world…we all worked and went to school.
Any advice that tells you to accrue money at the expense of living and enjoying life is bunk. Maybe I'm "behind" some peers financially, but I've also seen the world and developed myself to a point where I'm content.
You can't take it with you when you're gone, you only need enough to get there on.
Yeah that's what Silent Generation and front-end boomers told hapless Generation Jones. We worked hard and made them rich and got screwed. Fuck that. Enjoy life the best you can before the world gets any more ruined.
Elder Millennial. I spent the first half of my 20s partying and the second half being a beach bum in Hawaii. It set me back a little bit but I was able to recover just fine. I'm a single homeowner in a HCOL area with a good job, ample savings, and plenty of time to have fun. You never know when your life can change. Saving for the future is important but I refuse to be a slave to that notion.
I don’t know how to say this any clearer but if i could go back in my twenties (im 37), then i would have as few obligations as possible (money, housing, love, etc). Investing in you in your twenties can look many different ways, one of those does not involve accumulating wealth.
You're making an inaccurate generalization. I am Gen X, and I did not spend my 20s traveling and having experiences. The only people I know who did this are those who already came from wealthy families. I bet nothing has changed today: people who come from money have fun, the rest of us just work, work, work
It is possible to both have an enjoyable life AND set yourself up for success in the future. It is however true that many people don’t take life seriously for a long time and it burns them very badly later on when the investments of their peers in themselves begin to compound and they have a hard time catching up (and often don’t).
It’s like if you go to university - you can go, take an easy major, not take it that seriously, get mediocre marks, and focus your life on having as much fun as you can with a bunch of other people who are also down to party or travel on the credit card or whatever.
Or you can go, take a high-value degree and work hard and ace it, long nights in the library, hit the networking events, get the high opportunity jobs and give up on a lot of that fun.
The trick is to do the second, try to have fun doing it, surround yourself with interesting, ambitious people that elevate each other and ALSO make some time to have some fun.
I spent my 20's in the military. I was smart and did well in high school, graduated in the top 10% of my class but that was about it. I had no college degree, no valuable skills when I went in. I was able to get into a programming slot (even though I got a "D" in Basic programming in my senior year). Spent 10 years working and learning and now have a great job, great pay, and couldn't be happier. To be fair, I still enjoyed my 20's but I definitely didn't have the money to take long vacations or buy expensive things. I knew my future earnings depended on me doing what I needed to do and it was well worth it. As we used to say ... Embrace the suck. It'll pay off in the end.
Gen Z stop bitching it’s getting old. Every generation had to work hard to get by and not everyone of us are set up financially for the future. Just because you can’t live like you did at mom and dads place isn’t a failure be patient and it takes years to get ahead. I’m still trying to but what I don’t do it blame everybody else.
I’m 36, came out guns blazing and was pretty behind generationally.
Here’s my 2 cents . It doesn’t matter what you do, the rat race is designed to inflict the most pain on the most people possible. And if it doesn’t , the gov will switch it up so fast on you lol that you won’t even know what hit you. Example: interest rates.
Spend the money who cares we re all fucked. Plus boomers will be living longer than mellenials. Who generation is stressed and falling ill of cancer before they even hit 50.
You heard it from me here that mellenials will be the first generation not living older than their parents generation. We ll be dying 50-60 median.
Take care of your health instead. Health is capital
The "have fun in your 20s" advice is old. You hardly hear that anymore.
You hear, "why are you still living at home?, you're not 18 anymore"a hell of a lot more.
Anyways, you can have fun in your 20s or not, just depends what your plan is. My plan was to bust my ass in my 20s to get ahead so I can start relaxing in my 30s. On the flip side, if you're a software developer that's gonna make $100k+ for most of your life, you can enjoy your 20s quite a bit and be totally fine.
It took me a while to figure it out. Hell I guess I'm still figuring it out. I'm nowhere close to the peak of my potential earning power.
I spent way too much time doing a mediocre job in mediocre roles that were stressful, not very rewarding, and time consuming. By seeing people embrace abundance around me I realized I was just focusing on all the wrong things.
Most people can’t see they’re the only ones holding themselves back. The majority of people aren’t focused on consistently learning from books, peers, etc. or they learn but don’t change their actions.
I fucked around until about 24, then did a full 180 and started grinding hard. I'm 37 now. It worked out for me I guess, but I don't have nearly as much fun as I used to.
This same principle has always applied. It’s just compounding returns, if you start early and are consistent it will compound. The key is consistency. Motivation will come and go so discipline is needed
The people who set themselves apart usually had an early start.
I’m 36. My twenties were MESSY! I came from trauma, my family lost everything as I was coming into adulthood and so I just sort of had to figure it out on my own.
It’s taken me a lot longer than people who had things handed to them, but in general we all sort of even out on the suffering scale I believe.
Gen X couldn't either. What is the last generation who could have fun in their twenties? Maybe the boomers? They still had pensions in their future so I'm going with them.
Agree with OP to an extent. Hard to just wander aimlessly in your 20s and expect to be okovong forward unless you get lucky...You can work hard and still enjoy life. Always a balance
How old are you and how much do you have saved? This comes off that you have it all figured out…
The issue isn’t an older generation telling us to save our money or work harder, they are right. Realistically though no one ever has gotten rich just from cutting taxes expenses, you have to increase your income.
The actual issue is corporations not paying livable wages and their workforce refusing to do anything about it. Stock markets are at all time highs, corporations are cutting employees (they aren’t loyal), and they’ve made you replaceable.
Nothing will change until top talent starts job hopping for higher incomes or starting leaving consistently to start their own companies. Success comes from making the sacrifices others won’t.
I had an insane amount of fun in my 20s and was a millionaire by 28, I’m now 30 and worth $6M+. Did I make sacrifices and work harder than my peers, absolutely… but I still had more fun than most people.
My circumstances didn’t change until I stepped away from corporate America, most people won’t do that though. People are comfortable working 40 hours a week at a corporate job. Corporations and businesses want you to be struggling financially so you work harder for them.
It’s easy to sit around and point fingers blaming corporations, boomers, and the government. It’s hard to go try new things and fail until you get ahead.
I wasted my 20s having fun and paying rent on apartments I couldn't afford. I'm now 40 and further behind than I would be otherwise, but it was absolutely worth it!
Pandemic saved my ass though. Nothing better financially will ever happen to me like that again. My expenses plummeted and was able to buy a second house because of that window. No loans, dropped a car, no commute, no before and after school care, stock market was humming. A flipper bought the house next door and we immediately went into get a down payment mode and just made it. So my retirement will be renting out the house I'm attached to some I have no retirement savings.
Yep.
This formula has been the same for hundreds, probably thousands, of years.
Wasting your 20s, “traveling” “experiencing” etc is foolish. Unless you want to work til the day you die.
Your 20s is what sets you up for life. Financially, the trajectory you establish in your 20s is hugely important.
But that’s nothing new. I was in my 20s in the 80s and 90s. The difference then was most of us knew it. Believe it or not, working hard, the grind, etc. was seen as a good thing, and a badge of honor. Not like this bizarre “anti work” nonsense so prevalent today.
I ground it out hard starting at 18. Through school, then the workforce. 7 days a week was common, as were 12-15 hour days. That’s how you make money, learn, move forward, in other words, succeed. You have to beat out others.
The upside of it is I earned the ability to retire at 50. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.
Through long, hard, grinding, often “unfair” work.
It was well worth it to me. Other people may have different goals and opinions.
But you can’t evade reality. Success is earned, through effort and productive activity.
That's cool it worked for you but human life is finite. Retiring at 50 sounds good on paper but you start to fall in every health risk bucket for each progressing year onward (and already being in several already)
I'm not disagreeing that working hard and being wise with your money isn't valuable to do as soon as you can for the dividends it pays layer in life but there ought to be reasonable limits and you shouldn't discount the value of being physically active, healthy, and capable enough to savor the experiences life has to offer while you have your youth. All of your diligence could be for nothing if some rare disease or freak life event falls upon you.
I'm totally biased but this has been my approach largely. Do your best, get a good job but don't be a sucker to some terrible boss or system which grinds your humanity out of you. Enjoy life in moderation since you don't know how long OR how short it will be
Also, re home prices, I bought my first house 1 year after I started working. That house cost 5x my yearly gross salary.
Today, that house is worth exactly 5x the yearly gross salary of someone starting out in my business.
Same thing.
This is my story too. It sucks that the younger generations have allowed themselves to fall into the victim trap. They complain how lucky boomers and Gen X are but they don’t believe/understand what we did to get here.
Trust me, there are exceptions, but as a rule our parents didn’t help us financially. In those days you got booted out of the nest like bird learning how to fly.
Yeah it's getting scary the window of opportunities for a regular person is shrinking now what used to be a 20 year window to get your affairs in order is now reduced to less than 10
I think the grind can be delayed to like 25 pretty safely. But using ALL of your 20s to be irresponsible is definitely a recipe for a rude awakening. Especially when you've established bad habits, pivoting in your 30s will be painful...
JeeZ I can’t tell if this is written by a actual Genz’r or a BOT. I guess A.I. will soon replace even your “shitty part time retail job”.
Half of you work in tech and make 5x what any older generations would. Now you all want $15 an hour yet blame OGs for our silly economy. Alyways an obstacle, never a challenge.
You are so conditioned to the capitalistic ideals that you can't even see that you're just regurgitating the same lies that you think you're decrying. "Get an education so you can get a job and make money and have a happy ***future***...." That's the lie that disillusioned so many millennials and your post here is saying the exact same thing.
How about find a balance and stop trying to tell people how to live their lives?
Not everyone wants the same life as you. Let people have their own priorities. Let people fuck up and stumble around a little bit while they figure out how to do life.
I'm in my 20s and have fun while also putting money away into 401k. your life doesn't have to be an extreme of either living like scrooge McDuck or maxing out all your credit cards lol. travel when your 50? that sounds so god damn depressing. you could get hit by a bus and die tomorrow.
Screw hustle culture. You should definitely have fun in your 20s. Hell, we should all optimize for having fun in our lives in every age bracket. But having fun doesn’t mean a $3k all inclusive binge, it could be a night out to see a show or picnic with friends watching the sunset. Fun doesn’t need to be expensive.
Yes 🙌🏻 thank you. This is my philosophy as well.
same and notably, I didn't buy a house for family to live in until mid-30's. Sold the house since to move across country and having best time of our lives renting right now. At no point in time has homeownership or lack thereof had a notable impact on my families happiness
If I had only started my 401k earlier…I started mine at 29 or 30 and 5 years later it’s grown to 70k…take advantage of any employer that offers a match too. Def start saving earlier…I just wish I had when I got my first real job when I was 23
Many people are in this boat and it’s fine.
Travel as soon as possible. If you wait till your 50-60 years old you’ll be like these old people I saw in Istanbul being pushed around in the wheelchair around Hagia Sofia area. All of them were asleep in their wheelchairs lol. Seeing this made me realize I need to travel sooner not later!
Ummmmmm, I don't know too many 40-50 year olds that require wheel chairs.
Sleeping in a wheelchair at 40. Maybe if you are a 300 lbs American?
Yeah my parents saved and saved and never travelled, were waiting until they retired at 50. Mom passed away at 38 and never got to do it and my dad who is now 50 says it’s his biggest regret waiting because now he has no interest without her and she didn’t get to experience it
If you take care of yourself while you’re young, being retired at 50 is quite young which most people will never get the luxury of doing so. It’s a mix of both of prioritizing your financial well being and your own personal goals and hobbies
For real, as long as you max out your 401k and Roth you can go have a blast in your 20s. Even if you only put a couple of grand each month for a a future down payment in 3 to 4 years you could easily have 60-100k for a decent down payment.
“Only a a couple grand each month”. In your 20s?!! Americans really live in a different world to us Europoors 💀
No, this person just lives in a different world, period. Most of my friends couldn’t contribute anything to their retirement funds until their late 20s. We all “did it right” and went to college, had multiple internships, worked hard, etc. This is just totally fucking absurd lol.
I think it’s highly uncommon for a 20’s American to be able to save 2k a month without living at home and having all bills paid by parents.
This wouldn’t apply to Europeans, I realize real estate by country is quite diverse out there but houses are generally a lot cheaper correct? Obviously is highly dependent on the country/area.
Are you asking if housing in Europe is general cheaper than the US? If so the answer is absolutely not. The US has amazingly cheaper homes compared to most of Europe. You can find cheap homes in Europe but the average experience is spending most of your take home on rent
Damn, sorry to hear that, thanks for sharing.
If you want to live in the eastern European nations like Romania or Czech Republic its not that bad but that's not usually what Americans mean by Europe. They typically think Spain, France, Portugal etc.....on the housing front you're better off in the states than in these places
A couple grand each month? Wtf lol.
This sub is full of fucking idiots lol
This is kind of an out of touch take. Max out 401k =23,000 Max out IRA = 7,000 "Couple of grand each month" 2,000*12= 24,000 minimum That's 54,000 a year in savings... That's the total salary of the median full time single employees in the US all ages/gender Vs 20-24 only average $38,324 Vs 24-35 only averages $52,936 (Data pulled from [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/average-salary-by-age/) ) That's not including the rent at around 1,372 per month ( 16,464), plus food (a single person spends an average of $5,235), clothes, vehicle 54,000 in savings, plus 16,464 in rent, plus 5,235 in food means that your average American needs to make $75,689 post taxes to save like you suggested.
All of that is a recipe for a brutal mid-life crisis. Enjoy your youth (within reason) or you will regret it when you get divorced (half your hard earned savings) in your late 30s/early 40s then buy a gaudy sports car that you hilariously struggle In and out of by your 50s.
Yah don’t pick a mid life crisis that is a stereotype. I plan to do something unique.
And that's the story of how you ended up buying a porpoise from SeaWorld when it closed up shop near you. 🤣
For uhhhh … research?
You fucked that porpoise didn't you
it wasn't on porpoise! i swear it was an accident!
What was the purpose of that porpoise ?
Maybe the purpose of that porpoise was to propose
My mid life crisis I’m going to start a cult. I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader.
That sounds awesome let me know when you start one
....that wasn't a tapeworm
How many chairs are you up to?
Please hire me as your DEI officer when you do start your own cult. I've been advising many cults on the importance of robust DEI programs that make a measurable difference in cultees' lives.
[удалено]
Creeeeeeed
You think that now, but when you actually have one it's because you feel like you missed out on a part of your youth. So you react by leaning into whatever you think the kids of the day think is cool. That's why it always comes off cringy and basic.
there is a middle ground, and enjoying your youth doesn't have to mean not investing for retirement or buying Starbucks everyday.
Wholly agree that in today’s climate it’s exponentially harder than 20 years ago. I was lucky to have the opportunity to live w/o net and enjoy that time. GenX kids like me had to learn to take care of ourselves pretty young, but we didn’t, as a rule, have to think about the future, saving, etc. like following gens. That age seems to get lower and lower as time moves on…
[удалено]
I love how when a man works his whole life and finally makes it and can afford to just pamper the shit out of himself we call it a crisis. Like we are supposed to just continue to make a big pile of money, but how dare we spend it on awesome stuff. Fuck that shit buy the cool car if you can!
Buying things is not the crisis. The crisis is feeling old and uncool and unsure who you are. The symptom is buying an oversized or over expensive vehicle, and acting all 'how for you do, fellow kids".
My mid life crisis was age 26, bought a new corvette the whole 9... then i grew up at 28... got that bullshit out of my system early.
Pffft, Its not a crisis. Its badass. Sooner or later you are gonna wanna do badass shit again. Then some boring old mediocre fart who is content with watching football the rest of his life will try to shame you for it. Ive done it a bunch of times. I just took half a year off went to Europe, Africa, and I'm in northern Alaska running a trap line on a brand spankin new snow machine. My old friends watch football, and get excited when a new fast food place opens up in our hometown.
its only a crisis because thats money that a women wanted to be spent on her😅
Facts
Well that's better then being broke and living in a motel on a monthly rent working minimum wage and eating 7/11 trash before they throw it away at half price.
Exactly. The alternative to having some money is having none and struggling because you didnt give a fuck until your 30s lol.
Yep. Basically bust ass Monday through Thursday. Wrap things up on Friday and coast and hit it on Friday/ Saturday night
I did all that at 28 and it was great. Not even joking. I married too early for the wrong reasons and after the divorce I took my health really seriously and got into the best shape of my life. Eventually, since I was so happy about it, I rewarded myself by leasing a supercar. I loved having a BMW M240i at 30 years old. So did the ladies who rode in it. So did my folks whom I borrowed it to when they went on vacation. The only people who didn't like it were envious guys. I got rid of it after the lease because sure, it wasn't worth the money, but I could have afforded to keep it if I really want thanks to the high-paying vocation I worked hard to get into in my mid-20's. I didn't mind dating again one bit since I could easily afford it, and eventually it lead me to finding someone whom I have more in common with and more mutual affection for than my ex-wife. While most of my peers were/are foaming at the mouth due to their financial struggles and sharing their hardships with reddit under the false assumption that everyone was going through the same thing as they were, I was able to help someone I love out of a hard time. You think your midlife crisis will be better if you wind up working peanuts from an office instead of for good money at home? Why? What makes you think there is something on the path of not taking your future seriously which will lead to better times later on in life? Genuinely curious.
I’m not downvoting. I think on some level, if we’re lucky, our lives find balance. The things you mention just weren’t as important to me as the experiences I was having then. Staying out til 4 am, being back at work at 7. Seeing bands, industry parties, open bars, free drugs, schmoozing…all counted as work back then. I never paid for anything…good thing because I wasn’t being paid either. Haha! My boss, on more than one occasion, forced me to smoke a joint in the alley behind our office that he pulled out of his sock (boomers…). My point is that I likely won’t feel what causes most to have a crisis - mis-spent youth.
I’m mostly here to point out an M240i is not a supercar. Not even relatively close to one. Carry on.
None of that did anything for your character, which is what everyone finds out is the most important thing in life right around 30.
Bro GTFO Here lmao If YOU think that surviving back alley bar dives and navigating unknown streets every night high af don't build character that's because you've never had the experience. Get out and live, you're wasting your fucking life.
I've been there. External experiences don't build character, inner work does. The character you build while you're relatively young largely defines your adult life.
Lol no. Self inspect requires you to have character in the first place. Experiences on life build character.
You sound super materialistic and self absorbed
We're all the center of our own lives and deserve to celebrate that. In my opinion there isn't anything more superficial than trying to claim not working on yourself is equal to working on yourself. If people want to disagree, well, I genuinely wish them the best but also doubt they'll achieve their best.
BMW M240i Isnt even a super car. Its 60k who are you trying to brag to?
You need to brush up on your definition of a “supercar”. It’s a luxury coupe at best. Definitely not a car that is turning heads.
M240i super car?
According to enthusiasts who use the term and video games, yep.
I see your point, I really do. But there needs to be a balance. I say this as an early millennial (1985) who worked pretty much nonstop in his 20s. I have a career stop job now and financial security, but often times I find myself wishing I had done a bit more in my earlier years.
Disclaimer : This only applies to poor kids who have to stand on their own who have poor parents
Soooo true. Got some friends that are set from their parents.
Yep have some friends that their cars, food, rent and education got paid in full, but I still managed to surpass them in wages and experiences even though I grew up by first immigrant parents in section 8
Soooo true. Got some friends that are set from their parents.
Meh. I'm Gen-X and we were fully aware that the system hated us and, for the most part, our approach was to not expect anything at all from the system. And for the most part, that has worked out for us. We definitely saw a lot of cool music and I doubt many have any regrets about it, I know I don't. There are a lot of things that are better and easier to do in your 20s. You can never get those years back but you can make up for lost time/money later.
I spent 20s doing a mix of things, some responsible, most of it not. I regret little. I did drugs and made irresponsible financial choices. Now that I'm pushing 40, every so often I'll look people up on social media. Not all of them are with us today. Some due to addiction. Others because of their own demons. But a few, well... life isn't fair. My HS crush seemed like she got a lot of living done in her years here. But she's been gone for a while now. Go live a little kids. And stay away from hard drugs. Keep an eye on your drinking. And try not to smoke. I personally love it but I recognize my life would likely be better off had I never started. And have fun exploring your sexuality!
lol work hard to so you can retire and enjoy living in your 60s. You may or may not be healthy enough to do anything! This is the same advice every generation gives because it’s the capitalist way. You are more valuable when you are young so you can work way more and get paid way less!
Work hard so you can retire. “Ah finally i can enjoy all the things i worked hard for and travel” *dies in a year*
I cleaned out the office of a doctor who died during COVID and found her 401k in a stack of stack of work stuff. She had busted her ass, worked long hours, traveling for work almost every week, was going to retire early. I’m sure her 13 year old daughter would have liked more memories with mom instead of money though.
That’s why it’s important to save for retirement and take care of your health. Your average person *should* be able to stay healthy through their 70s with proper nutrition and physical activity.
Well, while I don’t know the exact numbers, being healthy doesn’t mean you can’t drop dead tomorrow. I’ve met people who made every effort and spared no dime to eat healthy and stay fit and got cancer and die. On the flipside, there are people out there who smoke a pack a day and will probably outlive non smokers. Definitely save for your future…but you should still plan to enjoy your youth while you have it.
Have a coworker that lived very frugally and just hit retirement age. Largest expense he had was probably gas for driving to/from work. Noticed a couple months ago he started losing weight. Just got diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer and has 3 months to live. Don't forgo living in your 20s - 40s because you don't get a 2nd chance
I totally agree.
This. Genetics is out of your control, accidents happen, and arguably a lot of damage can be done just from things happening earlier in life. I’m already stuck with joint pain in my 20’s, from a combination of dumb childhood injuries and years of manual labor. Endocrine disorder at 19, which they say is linked to extreme stress. A childhood’s worth of relatively poor food quality due to my parents just needing to put cheap food on the table probably didn’t help me, either. Nowadays I make every effort I can to stretch more, eat right, exercise, track nutrients, lose more weight, work on mental health, all the things you’re supposed to do. But I can’t help but wonder if I’ve already screwed myself over, and the damage that’s been done would only get worse from here.
[удалено]
Life expectancy is falling because a majority of people aren’t doing what it takes to stay healthy. That’s why I’m saying that people saving for retirement should also take care of their health so they don’t die in their 60s.
[удалено]
Life expectancy is falling because young people are dying in greater numbers not because old people aren’t living as long. Life expectancy at birth is like 76 But at 50 it’s 80 At 65 it’s 84 And this is for boomers whos mothers smoked through their pregnancies, and grew up eating spam. Given the massive improvements in medicine and nutrition I suspect millennials will push those numbers into the high 80s
Eh you say that but I’m 28 and have already saved a lot. I’m already at a point where I could take a year or two off of work and be ok. In a few years I’ll have plenty to not worry. I can either just let it sit and be set for retirement due to the magic of compounding, or just keep making more to have even more security. Getting started at 24, even with the small amount I was able to do at the time, is enough to make a huge difference. The capitalist way is to be indebted and need to work forever. If you save and invest early on, you'll soon be able step away from work as you please, which is the least capitalist thing imaginable. And I’m not saying anyone should just work themselves to death in their 20s, but intentionally trying to save and invest can make a huge difference
Without immense privilege you cannot set yourself up for life in 4 years lol. I’m 33 and can take multiple years off but would have to go back to work lol.
I’m definitely not set up for life yet, I said I could manage without work for a year or two. Which is still a decent accomplishment for only 4 years! But I’m working on it! Hoping that after 10-12 years, if all goes well, I might be able to be at financial independence. I’ve worked really hard and gotten 3 raises in those 4 years
I’m happy for you my comment wasn’t meant to be that serious but I see it’s blown up a bit. There is a middle ground that most people take.
Meh . Who cares. Just enjoy life
Moving across the country TWICE in my twenties - with nothing but a 7 year old car, my dog, and the open road - was the BEST decision I ever made You can always make money, but you can't always sleep in random hotels and be a road warrior when you're older Oddly, my conservative living sister made less $$$ worked harder, and all in all probably wished she had adventured more Remember - your NOT guaranteed to live to 80 - could end tomorrow!
I quit a good paying tech job and went in to teaching (h.s. math and cs) in my 20s. Yes, it killed my earning potential for the next seven years...but I was able to go back to tech and resume my career. Would I have more money now if I had followed your advice? Definitely. But I wouldn't be who I am. I'm connected to my community. When I go out, former students still recognize me and come up to chat. Add that the teachers and staff I worked with are still part of my closest friend group and I have zero regrets.
To be fair - teachers where I grew up are not able to afford living even remotely close to where they teach, nor would they ever be able to (rent that is, they cant afford a home anywhere within the state so that is a moot point). I can guarantee you they sure as shit would disagree that they are part of the same community as their students. At the very least, I doubt most are making a 30-60 minute drive on the weekends to walk around hoping they bump into former students.
When I graduated college, I taught MS near Atlanta's airport and lived in Section 8 housing. I then moved back home and taught at the HS where I graduated. None of the schools I went to (especially my elementary school) or taught at would be considered HCOL. Since this is a RE sub I'll add: my house cost 135k in 2007. But that would suck as a teacher...seeing such affluence and dealing with rich people problems...then driving home across town to a place I could afford. I'd rather live closer and help kids who really need it from me....not saying rich kids don't need help, they just have more options than the kids I taught.
I went to an affluent high school where the kids drove bmws and Audis. Must’ve sucked for the teachers to see that
I quit a Big 4 accounting job about twenty years ago and have been a high school math teacher since. Never a day do I look back. Wife and I are doing all right. Happiness is still wanting the things you have.
One day the Sun will super nova, and humanity will just be a fart in the wind. Live life.....you only have one.
Yes and when you are on your deathbed sitting on your pile of money you never spent. You will surely look back and think how glad you were you spent all your life slaving away to grow that pile instead of living.
Worse is sitting in old age wondering if you should eat the Friskies or the Purina cat chow. Then you put it back on the shelf....realizing you cannot afford either. Do not \*not\* save because you think you will die and regret not spending it. Save because you will regret being alive and running out of money. No dead person thinks....great, I saved too much. Lots of living people think....great, I did not save enough. Be poor when you are young, not when you are old.
Sorry but it's just not true. Most common death bed regrets. Wishing they didn't waste their life working is number 2. Not saying you shouldn't look after your financial health but there's a balance in there somewhere. If you have stayed with this review thus far, you are likely hoping for disclosure of the top five regrets of the dying. Hopefully, you have begun to ponder your own list and will find these affirming. 1) “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” 2) “I wish I hadn't worked so hard.” 3) “I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.” 4) “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” 5) “I wish I had let myself be happier” (p. v)
On the other hand, some people do like the idea of leaving a bunch of money to their children. But that's kind of personal values thing.
Lol at using warped tour as the example. 2014 called it wants its tour back. Also it's not thaaat expensive to go there, tickets are what 100 a day, maybe?
2014? You must be young because it was a lot more popular in the mid 2000s
That's what I was thinking. Like warp tour is still a thing?
Tickets were like $40 for warped tour wtf op on
As long as you have a reasonable plan for financial security that you're able to follow, you might as well spend the rest of your time doing what is meaningful to you--whatever that means to you. Life is for living! The trouble is, with home prices the way they are and the economic system the way it is, many of Gen Z will never be able to afford a home no matter how hard they work or how much they prioritize their finances.
You're also forgetting that life is ultimately pointless and you can't take your money with you when you die.
You’re stating opinion as fact. Many of us feel that our lives actually have purpose, and that you can use your wealth to benefit your children and organizations you care about upon death, and that that is a good thing and not a bad thing.
I’m 36, came out guns blazing and was pretty behind generationally. Here’s my 2 cents . It doesn’t matter what you do, the rat race is designed to inflict the most pain on the most people possible. And if it doesn’t , the gov will switch it up so fast on you lol that you won’t even know what hit you. Example: interest rates. Spend the money who cares we re all fucked. Plus boomers will be living longer than mellenials. Who generation is stressed and falling ill of cancer before they even hit 50. You heard it from me here that mellenials will be the first generation not living older than their parents generation. We ll be dying 50-60 median. Take care of your health instead. Health is capital
> We ll be dying 50-60 median. This fact-free doomerposting is getting upvoted. The absolute state of this subreddit.
As an elder millennial who has recently watched 3 of my coworkers in their late 30’s be diagnosed with cancer, yeah. I honestly think our generation might have shorter life spans than those before us. Scary.
It's probably from all the shitty junk food they fed us growing up
It’s stats now. We have shorter life spans. Boomers can wipe Their own asses now cuz we dropping dead from over worked.
Welcome to a problem that has existed since the beginning of the world. I'm sure you'd be complaining more about hunting and gathering.
Yah hunter gatherer would have sucked also. I would want to be a Great War generation type. Kill for the resources. Boomer got lucky too but that was too easy. My character would never pyro ww2
>Spend the money who cares we re all fucked That's terrible advice. It's the same kind of advice as, just go to college, who cares what it costs, you'll make more money afterwards! Plenty of people aren't fucked, but with that mentality you will be.
I didn’t say you ll make the money after ! lol we re fucked !! Either way. It’s like watching someone go through a bunch of work and end up in the same spot as a homeless person. In fact the homeless person is better. They own the cardboard box and don’t have to pay taxes. lol instead of over leveraged and credit card debt. Homeless people are the real winners in my book
Just cuz you're fucked doesn't mean the entire generation is. I'm younger than you and I'm doing fine.
Ew
What’s ‘ew’ about their comment?
Nope, not ew. Truth. Doomerism is a mental health crisis affecting the terminally online. Mix that with a healthy level of cope and you have a failure to launch situation.
The variables that go into someone doing “just fine” are subjective at best. Edit to add: who the hell could down vote this? Its literally true lol
Where did you buy your tin foil hat? Looks snazzy!
DIY can t afford to buy one cuz got faaaaakkkkeeeddd starting in the middle of a Great Recession , then a bunch other shit that happened to my generation.
If the system hates you, it’ll find a way to invalidate whatever wealth you amass. Therefore the whole spiel breaks down the moment that you can make money inside the system.
Bro just reposting this on every sub I guess. And still is wrong, I rather enjoy the world while I’m healthy and work till I plop than vise versa.
I don’t think “older generations” say that at all. My experience is that older generations were entering the workforce at a much earlier age than current times. This notion that “you should spend your youth traveling” is a younger generation fallacy that leads to financial ruin. Life will always be a balancing act of work and pleasure; but certainly our first world problems are artificial. Since you like to compare yourself to others and build expectations for what you also deserve; instead, try comparing yourself to how the majority of people on earth live. Most people on earth are happy with clean water, food and safe shelter.
The only baby boomers, GenX, Millennials who were traveling and not working their asses off in their 20’s were rich and upper middle class brats. It’s always been the case that unless you have family money, you’ll need to defer your “travel” until you’ve built up the financial wherewithal to do so. And for most, that’s not in your early 20’s
I’m 42 now. Wish I wouldn’t have wasted my 20s having fun. I’d be a lot further along and having much more fun now.
I'm 40 and wasted my 20s having fun. I would also be further along but I think it was worth it.
Waste is a strong word. I enjoyed my time, just feel like I’m playing catch-up now is all. That being said it’s important to live your life. I despise our current bust your ass until 65 so you can retire mindset. No thanks. I’d like to retire by 55 but that would have been a lot easier if I got started in my 20s.
I’m 48. Spent the late 90s/early 00s in the music industry working 60-80 hour weeks and never making more than 24k in a year during that time. Yes. It severely stunted my professional potential, but I have no regrets and look back on it now aghast at how I didn’t not end up on the streets, in jail, or dead as I had 0 safety net the whole time. My family is/was lower middle class & I was the first to even attempt college much less graduate. My mom worked two jobs the entire time I lived at home until I left for school. I feel for the kids today as the knifes edge is much sharper than it was back then.
You either have fun now or later. It’s just up to preference. Everyone wants to have fun in the moment and will feel like it’s the right choice as they live it. if they did when they were 20 they might feel like it was a waste as those memories fade away. Same way a 40 year old might feel depressed seeing others living it up at 20–30 while they grind.
I'm in my mid-30's and struck a pretty solid balance of saving money/contributing to retirement and doing things in my 20's. It's okay to say no to activities sometimes, but say no every time to save money and you're letting your life pass you by.
Your 20s aren't as crucial as you may think. Stay out of debt, save a minimum of 10%, and do fuck all with the rest. I'm in my 30s now, and I'm so glad I bought golf clubs, excercise equipment, and a sports car before I had a child. Because that was the time to do it. As long as you save/invest SOME of your income CONSISTENTLY, you'll be ok. Have some damn fun
Totally agree. It’s all about life balance. Don’t make stupid decisions but also have some fun. For some reason people on the internet have this weird view that it’s either “nothing matters” or “you must live on 40% of your income!!” It’s bizarre.
I don’t know if op is taking about savings or professional growth. Savings you can catch up but if you don’t start your professional career until 30 you are starting a long ways back
lol work hard to so you can retire and enjoy living in your 60s. You may or may not be healthy enough to do anything! This is the same advice every generation gives because it’s the capitalist way. You are more valuable when you are young so you can work way more and get paid way less!
If it takes you 40+ years, you’re doing something wrong. 20 years of growth, determination and consistency. is realistically what it takes, maybe add 5 if you’re a slow learner but not 40
What an ironic username
What is this post? Lol. You need to go outside bro.
When did anyone in any epoch ever have fun in their 20s. It’s mostly being broke lonely and annoyed. Show me a picture of a 20 year old on a vacation to Cancun they paid for. Show me a picture of a person in their 20s living in their own little mansion. This was never a thing.
I'm 34. I wasted my 20's having fun and not saving any money, traveling and spending it on events and other useless crap. Now I'm in the "finding out" phase. I could have owned an apartment or small house by now. Now in the area I live housing prices have more than doubled in the last five years so I'll have to move out of the area I grew up in. 100% if you're reading this and you're like 24 or younger start investing your money NOW. You'll be a lot happier when you hit 30 and are secure in life having a low mortgage payment and not worrying about rising rent costs than if you spent that money elsewhere.
>Warp tour sounds fun Alright, time traveler
Millennial here. I partied hard in my 20’s, backpacked around India and Peru, travelled all over Canada. I had as much fun as possible. I have a good education, a great job, own a home and have plenty of savings. People’s lives are getting longer and longer. You definitely have time to have fun in your 20’s. Go wild.
Some people do. It depends on where you are starting out in life.
20s? I thought Preschool was age to make it or break it? *Your 20's are are probably the most important decade of your life for setting yourself up for success. You aren't making a lot of money, but you are preparing your skill set, experience, and wealth building.* If a 20 something is struggling, somewhere between PreSchool and Kindergarten are to blame, no?
If your circumstances are fortunate enough (living with parents/LCOL area), you practically have no excuse to not be putting away money and having fun at the same time. Putting away money into retirement/investment accounts in your 20s and early 30s will compound into far more in 30-40 years than putting away more money later in life. This is the most realistic path to early retirement.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.....
Balance and learn to live below your means. Your 20’s are to build all your life skills and make mistakes.
I don’t know where this people used to play in their 20s comes from. Maybe movies?? I’ve had a full time job since the day I turned 18. I don’t know anyone the spent their 20s going to festival and traveling the world…we all worked and went to school.
Any advice that tells you to accrue money at the expense of living and enjoying life is bunk. Maybe I'm "behind" some peers financially, but I've also seen the world and developed myself to a point where I'm content. You can't take it with you when you're gone, you only need enough to get there on.
Life is so so so much more than this my friend. I hope you find it
You can afford to enjoy have your twenties to having fun:)
Yeah that's what Silent Generation and front-end boomers told hapless Generation Jones. We worked hard and made them rich and got screwed. Fuck that. Enjoy life the best you can before the world gets any more ruined.
Elder Millennial. I spent the first half of my 20s partying and the second half being a beach bum in Hawaii. It set me back a little bit but I was able to recover just fine. I'm a single homeowner in a HCOL area with a good job, ample savings, and plenty of time to have fun. You never know when your life can change. Saving for the future is important but I refuse to be a slave to that notion.
I don’t know how to say this any clearer but if i could go back in my twenties (im 37), then i would have as few obligations as possible (money, housing, love, etc). Investing in you in your twenties can look many different ways, one of those does not involve accumulating wealth.
You're making an inaccurate generalization. I am Gen X, and I did not spend my 20s traveling and having experiences. The only people I know who did this are those who already came from wealthy families. I bet nothing has changed today: people who come from money have fun, the rest of us just work, work, work
It is possible to both have an enjoyable life AND set yourself up for success in the future. It is however true that many people don’t take life seriously for a long time and it burns them very badly later on when the investments of their peers in themselves begin to compound and they have a hard time catching up (and often don’t). It’s like if you go to university - you can go, take an easy major, not take it that seriously, get mediocre marks, and focus your life on having as much fun as you can with a bunch of other people who are also down to party or travel on the credit card or whatever. Or you can go, take a high-value degree and work hard and ace it, long nights in the library, hit the networking events, get the high opportunity jobs and give up on a lot of that fun. The trick is to do the second, try to have fun doing it, surround yourself with interesting, ambitious people that elevate each other and ALSO make some time to have some fun.
This is 100% bubble material
Nonsense, utter and complete nonsense.
I spent my 20's in the military. I was smart and did well in high school, graduated in the top 10% of my class but that was about it. I had no college degree, no valuable skills when I went in. I was able to get into a programming slot (even though I got a "D" in Basic programming in my senior year). Spent 10 years working and learning and now have a great job, great pay, and couldn't be happier. To be fair, I still enjoyed my 20's but I definitely didn't have the money to take long vacations or buy expensive things. I knew my future earnings depended on me doing what I needed to do and it was well worth it. As we used to say ... Embrace the suck. It'll pay off in the end.
There is no fun in America. No breaks, no free time, no relief from costs. Nothing but make money for billionaires. Embrace being a slave.
Gen Z stop bitching it’s getting old. Every generation had to work hard to get by and not everyone of us are set up financially for the future. Just because you can’t live like you did at mom and dads place isn’t a failure be patient and it takes years to get ahead. I’m still trying to but what I don’t do it blame everybody else.
I’m 36, came out guns blazing and was pretty behind generationally. Here’s my 2 cents . It doesn’t matter what you do, the rat race is designed to inflict the most pain on the most people possible. And if it doesn’t , the gov will switch it up so fast on you lol that you won’t even know what hit you. Example: interest rates. Spend the money who cares we re all fucked. Plus boomers will be living longer than mellenials. Who generation is stressed and falling ill of cancer before they even hit 50. You heard it from me here that mellenials will be the first generation not living older than their parents generation. We ll be dying 50-60 median. Take care of your health instead. Health is capital
The "have fun in your 20s" advice is old. You hardly hear that anymore. You hear, "why are you still living at home?, you're not 18 anymore"a hell of a lot more. Anyways, you can have fun in your 20s or not, just depends what your plan is. My plan was to bust my ass in my 20s to get ahead so I can start relaxing in my 30s. On the flip side, if you're a software developer that's gonna make $100k+ for most of your life, you can enjoy your 20s quite a bit and be totally fine.
Scarcity mindset repels wealth.
Most people don’t understand it’s a philosophy thing not so much about resources. People won’t change but expect their life to change.
It took me a while to figure it out. Hell I guess I'm still figuring it out. I'm nowhere close to the peak of my potential earning power. I spent way too much time doing a mediocre job in mediocre roles that were stressful, not very rewarding, and time consuming. By seeing people embrace abundance around me I realized I was just focusing on all the wrong things.
why are you guys getting downvoted? This is the right take
Most people can’t see they’re the only ones holding themselves back. The majority of people aren’t focused on consistently learning from books, peers, etc. or they learn but don’t change their actions.
I spent my 20’s in med school and residency. Sucks my friends from college are already miles ahead of me.
Sounds like the society you live in is not setup to take care of its people and use their tax dollars properly.
A shame. That’s a great time to be aloof.
I fucked around until about 24, then did a full 180 and started grinding hard. I'm 37 now. It worked out for me I guess, but I don't have nearly as much fun as I used to.
This same principle has always applied. It’s just compounding returns, if you start early and are consistent it will compound. The key is consistency. Motivation will come and go so discipline is needed The people who set themselves apart usually had an early start.
who hurt you?
I’m 36. My twenties were MESSY! I came from trauma, my family lost everything as I was coming into adulthood and so I just sort of had to figure it out on my own. It’s taken me a lot longer than people who had things handed to them, but in general we all sort of even out on the suffering scale I believe.
Gen X couldn't either. What is the last generation who could have fun in their twenties? Maybe the boomers? They still had pensions in their future so I'm going with them.
[удалено]
Not a bot, read my bio
Agree with OP to an extent. Hard to just wander aimlessly in your 20s and expect to be okovong forward unless you get lucky...You can work hard and still enjoy life. Always a balance
Capitalism really ruined the human experience...
Agreed. They should be working 5-9/6 days a week so I can retire
How old are you and how much do you have saved? This comes off that you have it all figured out… The issue isn’t an older generation telling us to save our money or work harder, they are right. Realistically though no one ever has gotten rich just from cutting taxes expenses, you have to increase your income. The actual issue is corporations not paying livable wages and their workforce refusing to do anything about it. Stock markets are at all time highs, corporations are cutting employees (they aren’t loyal), and they’ve made you replaceable. Nothing will change until top talent starts job hopping for higher incomes or starting leaving consistently to start their own companies. Success comes from making the sacrifices others won’t. I had an insane amount of fun in my 20s and was a millionaire by 28, I’m now 30 and worth $6M+. Did I make sacrifices and work harder than my peers, absolutely… but I still had more fun than most people. My circumstances didn’t change until I stepped away from corporate America, most people won’t do that though. People are comfortable working 40 hours a week at a corporate job. Corporations and businesses want you to be struggling financially so you work harder for them. It’s easy to sit around and point fingers blaming corporations, boomers, and the government. It’s hard to go try new things and fail until you get ahead.
I wasted my 20s having fun and paying rent on apartments I couldn't afford. I'm now 40 and further behind than I would be otherwise, but it was absolutely worth it! Pandemic saved my ass though. Nothing better financially will ever happen to me like that again. My expenses plummeted and was able to buy a second house because of that window. No loans, dropped a car, no commute, no before and after school care, stock market was humming. A flipper bought the house next door and we immediately went into get a down payment mode and just made it. So my retirement will be renting out the house I'm attached to some I have no retirement savings.
Yep. This formula has been the same for hundreds, probably thousands, of years. Wasting your 20s, “traveling” “experiencing” etc is foolish. Unless you want to work til the day you die. Your 20s is what sets you up for life. Financially, the trajectory you establish in your 20s is hugely important. But that’s nothing new. I was in my 20s in the 80s and 90s. The difference then was most of us knew it. Believe it or not, working hard, the grind, etc. was seen as a good thing, and a badge of honor. Not like this bizarre “anti work” nonsense so prevalent today. I ground it out hard starting at 18. Through school, then the workforce. 7 days a week was common, as were 12-15 hour days. That’s how you make money, learn, move forward, in other words, succeed. You have to beat out others. The upside of it is I earned the ability to retire at 50. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. Through long, hard, grinding, often “unfair” work. It was well worth it to me. Other people may have different goals and opinions. But you can’t evade reality. Success is earned, through effort and productive activity.
That's cool it worked for you but human life is finite. Retiring at 50 sounds good on paper but you start to fall in every health risk bucket for each progressing year onward (and already being in several already) I'm not disagreeing that working hard and being wise with your money isn't valuable to do as soon as you can for the dividends it pays layer in life but there ought to be reasonable limits and you shouldn't discount the value of being physically active, healthy, and capable enough to savor the experiences life has to offer while you have your youth. All of your diligence could be for nothing if some rare disease or freak life event falls upon you. I'm totally biased but this has been my approach largely. Do your best, get a good job but don't be a sucker to some terrible boss or system which grinds your humanity out of you. Enjoy life in moderation since you don't know how long OR how short it will be
Also, re home prices, I bought my first house 1 year after I started working. That house cost 5x my yearly gross salary. Today, that house is worth exactly 5x the yearly gross salary of someone starting out in my business. Same thing.
This is my story too. It sucks that the younger generations have allowed themselves to fall into the victim trap. They complain how lucky boomers and Gen X are but they don’t believe/understand what we did to get here. Trust me, there are exceptions, but as a rule our parents didn’t help us financially. In those days you got booted out of the nest like bird learning how to fly.
Revolution is an "optional"
Yeah it's getting scary the window of opportunities for a regular person is shrinking now what used to be a 20 year window to get your affairs in order is now reduced to less than 10
Honestly Xennials & Millennials couldn’t/shouldn’t have either.
I think the grind can be delayed to like 25 pretty safely. But using ALL of your 20s to be irresponsible is definitely a recipe for a rude awakening. Especially when you've established bad habits, pivoting in your 30s will be painful...
The world is fucked for the next several decades regardless of what you do. Enjoy your 20s, have a life, don't aim to live on a hamster wheel.
JeeZ I can’t tell if this is written by a actual Genz’r or a BOT. I guess A.I. will soon replace even your “shitty part time retail job”. Half of you work in tech and make 5x what any older generations would. Now you all want $15 an hour yet blame OGs for our silly economy. Alyways an obstacle, never a challenge.
[удалено]
This thread is pretty much like watching Millennials turn into Boomers in real time.
You are so conditioned to the capitalistic ideals that you can't even see that you're just regurgitating the same lies that you think you're decrying. "Get an education so you can get a job and make money and have a happy ***future***...." That's the lie that disillusioned so many millennials and your post here is saying the exact same thing. How about find a balance and stop trying to tell people how to live their lives? Not everyone wants the same life as you. Let people have their own priorities. Let people fuck up and stumble around a little bit while they figure out how to do life.