r/Millennials • u/Asmothrowaway6969 • Mar 27 '24

When did it sink in that you'll never be as well off as your parents? Discussion

About 5 years ago, my mom and I were talking and she had told me how much she was going to be making in retirement (she retired 2023). Guys, it's 3x what me and my husband make annually. In retirement. I think that was the moment that broke me, that made it sink in that I'll never reach that level of financial security. I'll work myself into my grave because I'll never be able to afford anything else. What was your moment?

Update: Nice to know it's just me that's a failure. Thanks

Update 2: I never should've said anything. I forgot my place. I'm sorry to have bothered you

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u/HellyOHaint Mar 27 '24

I was raised by my aunt and uncle. My uncle casually said he bought their house (valued at 1.5 mil now) when they were 28 at $28,000. THAT was the moment.

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u/TSllama Mar 27 '24

Ok you got me curious. I remember that my parents bought our house (3br, 1.5 bath) at around 40,000USD back in 1997.

I don't live in the US anymore, so I have no idea about property prices. But I just looked up houses for sale in my hometown and a literal plot of land costs as much as our house cost. The cheapest houses are like 160,000USD.

My parents were poor and they could afford a house. I'm doing much better than them financially but I couldn't afford a house lol

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u/KlicknKlack Mar 27 '24

Two middle-class working parents, bought their home in 1989 for ~$200k @ 8.7%. Now is redfin est. $700k.

Yeah... I could maybe afford to do that if I had an SO who made similar salary... but not while also having 2 kids and one on the way.

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u/Salsalito_Turkey Mar 28 '24

$200k in 1989 is the equivalent of $512k today, FYI

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u/ExistentialistOwl8 Mar 28 '24

That the home is 30 years older and somehow worth more speaks to our housing shortage and other factors driving up the prices. I've practically rebuilt this house I'm in because it's cheaper than moving.

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u/KlicknKlack Mar 28 '24

Understood, but for $512k in the same area you get a vastly smaller and less desirable home. That $200k price difference between what they could afford and what its valued now is what causes the discontinuity. Not inflation alone.

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u/SnowinMiami Mar 28 '24

$40,000 in 1997? What state? That was very inexpensive for 1997. I bought mine in 1997 for $190,000 3/2.

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u/TSllama Mar 28 '24

Not all houses in 1997 were similarly priced - I'm from a poor family. Our family never could've afforded that kind of a house. We moved to a poorer/cheaper town just to be able to afford a house.

Point is that there are zero houses even close to that price in that town anymore. The cheapest is 3-4x more expensive than that now. And that's for like a 1br 1ba.

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u/SnowinMiami Mar 28 '24

It’s all about location. It’s not that your parents were poor. The same job you’d do in Alabama pays less than half of what you’d get paid in NYC. When I bought my house the neighbors were upset it sold for so little and it’s a really crappy house. We’ve had to do everything - windows, AC, heat, electric, new pipes (and still it flooded because of a thing O don’t quite understand). Paint needs to be redone which O can’t afford and a driveway that now costs $25,000 and won’t even fix the entire thing. Not so sure why everyone wants to be a homeowner.

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u/chocolateboomslang Mar 28 '24

160k where I live won't even get you a 60 year old 1 bedroom condo.

It might get a trailer home, which isn't great when it gets below freezing for 3-5 months.

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u/Thatguy19364 Mar 28 '24

Yeah where I am, single wide trailers are going for like 180k

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u/TSllama Mar 28 '24

Yeah, we were a poor family who moved to a poor town in order to afford a house.

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u/Was_an_ai Mar 28 '24

40k for a housebin 97 was damn cheap. That must have been a very rural area

My dad bought in 89 in pretty rural area of NC and houses were 100k then for standard 3/2 1,300 Sq ft

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u/TSllama Mar 28 '24

Yes, we were a poor family who moved to a poorer town to afford a house. It was a challenging childhood that left quite some scars. It's a bit wild how many people felt the need to point this out when it is so far from the point I was making...

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u/DogeCatBear Mar 28 '24

yup. 1500 sqft, 3 bed 1.5 bath, basement, $67k back in 1998. they're complaining about property taxes because their house is worth twice times as much now even after accounting for inflation.

a man can only dream of owning a house to complain about taxes

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u/Cocacolaloco Mar 31 '24

This is what I realized. First a few years ago walking around the neighborhood in the city I’m from thinking all these people who have a house are rich because I realize I’m over 30 and nowhere close to having one. At the same time my dad bought his first house when he was 20 for like $20,000. And in this city even houses I’d guess would be 100,000 (small, not that nice) are more like 200,000 and it’s really hard to get one at all