Housing market

Right but it's asinine to ignore the fact that your generation grew up in that and now we're facing much harder circumstance and yet all we hear is that we're just terrible with money and we're all in debt cuz we don't know what we're doing when in reality it was forced upon us.
TIL That Generation X grew up in the 50s. Lol.
 
It was always easier for the generation before and the generation after has always been bad with money. What the storyline always has been.

Some people may always claim this, but actual data makes it more true for some than others.
 
No response to the approximations for debt I talked about on the last page?
About college debt? If so here’s a few things.

My son graduated in May with the same degree as I received in 94 so let’s make apples to apples.

1) I needed 128 credits, he needed 120 credits, effectively reducing one semester.

2). He graduated in 3 years since he was nearly a sophomore when he arrived since his HS offered college credits. They were not offered at my time.

3). His starting offers for the same position that I took out of college was 55k, I was the highest paid in that position when I left at 24k, per the ISU placement office. Effective increase 3% per year.

4) average tuition per year for me, IIRC was 1200/semester. Very few scholarships were available also. Sons average was approximately 4000 per semester. An average increase of 4.4% per year roughly.

5). Internships were generally unpaid. Sons were all paid internships.

So over 3 years, my sons tuition was roughly 24k (not factoring in the kickbacks while he was there). Mine was 9600. When you factor in the difference in wages versus tuition, it isn’t that crazy.
 
A starter home is $300 k now a days. It's not just because people have bad credit, and let's not forget we had the Great Recession and the Pandemic. That's two of the worst economic instances the modern world has known in 10 years for the Millennials and Gen Z. Nothing has been normal in my life since 9-11. I was 16.

This is a wildly dramatic post. If you were 16 for 9-11 you should have been about 35 years old when the pandemic hit and been prepared to buy every asset you could for pennies on the dollar.
 
About college debt? If so here’s a few things.

My son graduated in May with the same degree as I received in 94 so let’s make apples to apples.

1) I needed 128 credits, he needed 120 credits, effectively reducing one semester.

2). He graduated in 3 years since he was nearly a sophomore when he arrived since his HS offered college credits. They were not offered at my time.

3). His starting offers for the same position that I took out of college was 55k, I was the highest paid in that position when I left at 24k, per the ISU placement office. Effective increase 3% per year.

4) average tuition per year for me, IIRC was 1200/semester. Very few scholarships were available also. Sons average was approximately 4000 per semester. An average increase of 4.4% per year roughly.

5). Internships were generally unpaid. Sons were all paid internships.

So over 3 years, my sons tuition was roughly 24k (not factoring in the kickbacks while he was there). Mine was 9600. When you factor in the difference in wages versus tuition, it isn’t that crazy.
Not a Boomer LOL
 
This is a wildly dramatic post. If you were 16 for 9-11 you should have been about 35 years old when the pandemic hit and been prepared to buy every asset you could for pennies on the dollar.
Yes cause it was daisies and sun shine the last 22 years of my life. Privileged much? Go buy a 3rd acre developed land anywhere in Des Moines right now. $150k-$250k.

Besides you're making it personal. I was talking about generations, now you're attacking my personal finances without any idea about them.
 
Not a Boomer LOL
Tell me what part of that, outside the last sentence isn’t facts?

It seems you want a pity party. Was I dumb with money in my 20s? Yes. Like most are, we gain knowledge. Did I think my parents had it easier, yes. But they really didn’t, we just believed it was always more difficult.

Seeing that you can dumb one sentence out of a full post, or you are dumbing facts, proves you don’t want honest discussion.
 
Add in skyrocketing rents taking away money that could have been used to save for down payments.

Just overall symptoms from not enough units being built over the last 10-15 years driving things up across the board.

Not just the quantity of home being built, but the right homes being built. After the '08 crash, a lot of big spec home builders went under because they were sitting on too much inventory that they couldn't move. So now we've been left for the most part with the only new homes being built by custom builders which tend to be on the higher end.
 
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Tell me what part of that, outside the last sentence isn’t facts?

It seems you want a pity party. Was I dumb with money in my 20s? Yes. Like most are, we gain knowledge. Did I think my parents had it easier, yes. But they really didn’t, we just believed it was always more difficult.

Seeing that you can dumb one sentence out of a full post, or you are dumbing facts, proves you don’t want honest discussion.
You used your son who took 3 years to graduate when at most big state schools it takes 4 or 5. And your 4 years in 1994 were still 5000 dollars cheaper than 3 years in today's money.
 
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You used your son who took 3 years to graduate when at most big state schools it takes 4 or 5. And your 4 years in 1994 were still 5000 dollars cheaper than 3 years in today's money.
I asked my son (so one major) and he said most are 3-3.5 in his major. Daughter will be 3.5, she had 4 less credits entering than my son and needs 2 more for her degree. Her bf, an engineer will be 4 he thinks, he entered with 40+ credits but only 30 or so lined up class wise. From what I’m told engineers usually take a semester or two longer than most.

Talked to one of my sons HS classmates, engineering at ISU, and he will be four years. Sons Roommate graduated in 3.

I know that that is just a few off hand, but I have yet to run into a five for a bachelor lately.

EDIT: didn’t see the last sentence right away. I didn’t use an inflation calculator, so I did after reading that. You are correct with that being 5k more. I then entered in the wage, and man, his is totally blowing away mine. 8k per year more for the same job in todays dollars.
 
And credit issues would be their own fault. Those I don’t feel sorry for
Oh 100% agree. That’s the point I was making with my original post that their poor past decisions are making them have to pay a higher monthly payment in the form of rent compared to it being cheaper to own here.
 
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I asked my son (so one major) and he said most are 3-3.5 in his major. Daughter will be 3.5, she had 4 less credits entering than my son and needs 2 more for her degree. Her bf, an engineer will be 4 he thinks, he entered with 40+ credits but only 30 or so lined up class wise. From what I’m told engineers usually take a semester or two longer than most.

Talked to one of my sons HS classmates, engineering at ISU, and he will be four years. Sons Roommate graduated in 3.

I know that that is just a few off hand, but I have yet to run into a five for a bachelor lately.

EDIT: didn’t see the last sentence right away. I didn’t use an inflation calculator, so I did after reading that. You are correct with that being 5k more. I then entered in the wage, and man, his is totally blowing away mine. 8k per year more for the same job in todays dollars.
At iowa state that 4 year number is 45%, nationwide its in the mid 30s. I don't think your sample is representative of the average college kid. I say that as someone who also graduated in 3 years. The time the government uses for timely graduation is 6 years.
 
At iowa state that 4 year number is 45%, nationwide its in the mid 30s. I don't think your sample is representative of the average college kid. I say that as someone who also graduated in 3 years. The time the government uses for timely graduation is 6 years.

You mean their anecdotes which had everything go right for them and had all the best circumstances possible aren't an accurate depiction of all the people in America?
 
At iowa state that 4 year number is 45%, nationwide its in the mid 30s. I don't think your sample is representative of the average college kid. I say that as someone who also graduated in 3 years. The time the government uses for timely graduation is 6 years.
I agree that 3 years is probably not the norm. I actually went 4.5 years due to the load, I just used 4 so it didn’t want it to look like I was trying to twist things. 4.5 was very common when I went since no HS courses could get you college credit. My sister, who was more dedicated (you couldn’t get much less dedicated to studying than I was) got her CPA from UNI in 89 in 4.

Focusing strictly on debt, when the talk of 10k being waived, I read that that would clear 1/3-40% of all borrowers out there. That means that there are huge amounts of debt by a small portion. My niece has a quarter million of college debt, but she will pay that off in about 2 years, guess what her occupation will be in a few months.

Like I mentioned earlier, every generation says the generation before had it easier and the generation after them (when they are older) pees away money. Things are just different and it’s rougher in the beginning with less resources and knowledge to assist you.
 

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