Why it's harder to earn more than your parents

For many who grew up in poor neighbourhoods, their dream is to leave then never come back. Kudos to those who decide to come back, and make a difference.

As a graduate student in robotics and AI coming from a low income, single-parent household, this really hits home! The issue isn't that young people aren't willing to climb the ladder, it's that the ladder has become longer and longer.

My grandparents only studied the primary school, got lower skilled-paid jobs (even grandma used to work full time), BUT still could afford to buy a house, in a very poor neighbourhood, still they owned a 3-bedroom house. Nowadays, a Ph.D. cannot afford even that! This tells you something.....

As a Millennial, I wish people would consider the demographic factors that are holding this generation down, as described in this video, instead of defaulting to calling us “lazy” and “entitled” for not being able to buy a house at the same age our parents did. That’s fundamental attribution error at work (blaming the person, not the circumstances).

The only problem with this video is no mention of Student Debt, and how that may still make it difficult for middle and lower class people to achieve upward mobility, even with a college eduction.

My dad was a high school dropout and got a factory job with a starting wage of $2.85/hr(1961), which is about $5,700/yr. indexing this for inflation, that is approximately $52,000/yr in today’s dollars. When you take into consideration a significantly lower income tax rate and little to no sales taxes, the net or discretionary income is relatively greater than today. Our first home was $5,000 (less than one year’s wage) and was paid off in 15 years. My dad while working at the same plant bought a cottage for $28,000 after the house was mortgage free. Could you imagine what our world would look like if someone right out of high school and with no student debt could make $52K? That would just give us income parity. If your average house cost $52K as well, that would give us wealth parity. These are just my observations and not a documentary…I don’t think I’m the only one who noticed this.

Sometimes I feel that the system is literally designed in a way to push and make wealthy ppl more successful

Nobody can suddenly become prosperous financially. Although they did the background work, we mostly see the ultimate product. Fear is a harmful factor that prevents us from making the courageous decisions we need to make in order to achieve our goals. You have to deal with things like inflation, the recession, Fed policies, and more. In just a few months, I was able to add $289k to my portfolio.

Unfortunately going to university has not catapulted young people into wealth and social mobility because jobs that are well paying are hard to come by.

Cost of living has outpaced wages. Now with inflation, it's getting worse. Corporations need to be incentivized to pay higher wages.

Now with the recent economy, To get financial FREEDOM you have to be Making Money while you're asleep

Life was so easy decades ago. It feels like society is going backwards. My parents bought a house with 4 years' worth of salary. Today that's 40 years in the same area. Mind boggling.

As someone who did move up the income ladder and overcome abuse and neglect, I can say it is incredibly hard. Especially when you think about a child being surrounded by these experiences. And even "overcoming" doesn't erase the damage that was caused that will forever be with me and still affects my choices despite years of therapy.

I grew up in a trailer park. Schools were minimal standard. But when I finished high school in California in the 70’s, Community colleges were free and the California state university system was almost free. I got a degree in electrical engineering. Now I am retired. But I will always be grateful to the people of California for creating opportunity.

As important as education is, the pandemic has taught us how valable people in the service industry are to our society and yet, they are extremely underpaid and in short supply. If we valued people for what they contribute to society and not just their degree, we might find more people willing to take care of our children, as well as the sick and elderly, instead of having all of us chase after the same accounting firms and engeneering jobs.

40 now, and everything is paid for. Fortunately, I had a college economics teacher who taught me a lesson when I was 18 years old. That lesson was: you can't buy something else for every purchase you make. Having multiple sources of income is prudent, as is living within your means. I have a 13-year-old vehicle because it is all I need, I like it, and I can do whatever I want with it. My net worth is $4 million, and I can pay my bills without stress, but I don't live like I have that. I have no complaints.

I'm from Slovenia, which has the lowest income inequality in the world (according to Gini coefficient). And I must say that we don't really have problems like the ones described in this video. I think the main reason is that even university education is free, and equally accessible to all. And we also don't have such differences between neighborhoods, even in the "working class" ones there is no crime or social mobility problem.

I have a bachelor's degree. Eight years later I'm a "team member" at Arby's. I'm 35 and live with my parents. A degree did nothing but give money to the university and put me in debt. So let's not perpetuate the myth that college leads to success.

I’ll give you my personal experience. Ive been working for the same company for 27 years. When I got hired a machine operator in the company made $18 per hr. Today 27 years later machine operators of the same machine make $16. We make way less money nowadays.

My Grandfather finished school at 14, fought in WW2, worked as a Greengrocer and owned his own home filled with furniture and modern electronic goods in the 80's and 90's. My mother got A levels and worked in lower management in the civil service for 30 years. She could only get on the housing ladder because of 'right to buy'. I have an honours degree in Physics and work as a college lecturer. I will likely never own my own home. Progress?