Few milestones in life mean as much to the American Dream as owning a home. And millennials have encountered the kind of trouble totally befitting their generation, which largely graduated into the teeth of the disastrous post-2008 job market. Just as they entered peak homebuying and household formation age, housing affordability is at 40-year lows, and mortgage rates are near 40-year highs.
The anxiety this generation feels about the prospect of never owning their own home affects their entire perception of their finances and the economy, says Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.
“If they feel like they’re locked out of owning a home it colors their perceptions about everything else going on in their financial lives,” Zandi says.
Millennials have long been dogged by a brutal housing market. They faced not one, but two, cataclysmic economic events—the Great Financial Crisis in 2008 and the pandemic in 2020. Both of which left them reeling financially and struggling to afford a home. The Great Recession decimated the real estate market as the economy nearly collapsed under the weight of tenuous mortgage backed securities. While the pandemic brought with it a remote work boom that caused millions of citydwellers to flee to the suburbs, sending housing prices soaring.
During the year abd a half we saved, we only ate out a couple times total? Our anniversary and Christmas. Maybe on my birthday too IIRC.
So yes indeed, while saving money you diont waste it on frivolous stuff like eating out, that is 100% correct and very normal.
Cool. We don’t have anything left to save. If you can save $700 a month by only going out to eat twice in a year, you must be going to extremely expensive restaurants.
But hey, maybe you’re not thousands of dollars in medical debt. We are. I’m looking forward to you telling me that that’s my fault for getting sick.
That sucks mate, the US Healthcare system is fucked.
$700/month in savings is very solid though, and that’s after paying off existing loans as part of our budget.
Great, but your claim was better budgeting software was the problem. It’s not the problem for many, many people. Debt is the problem. So is the fact that over 60% of Americans can’t afford to save anything because all of their money is gone to pay bills, rent and debts once they get paid. And better budgeting software won’t pay off debt if you aren’t paid enough to do it. Nor will it pay inflated rent. And it certainly won’t get you a house.
We’re lucky enough to already have a house and we still had to take out a HELOC on our mortgage just so we could cover other costs.
We don’t buy endless luxuries. We don’t buy the latest goods. My computer is from 2015 and was a gift. My phone is from 2018. My car is from 2016 and I only bought it (used) because my 2002 car’s engine block cracked. Our kitchen is not filled with high-end brand name foods. Yes, we very occasionally do something fun as a family. Should my child never get to have fun just so we can somehow magically save $700 a month through budgeting software?