Happier, maybe. My dad is an okay guy but they weren’t happy together, my mom wanted out of the marriage for decades. Financially I’m so far behind, it’s not even close.
Hell no, but physical disability… I live in the USA where disability seems like a homelessness death sentence
Yeah, my parents were from a small village without reliable running water and toilets and I’m an computer microchip engineer that lives in a house I own with clean filtered water and a bidet.
Only because my spouse’s parents are both dead (early, accidents) and he inherited several hundred thousand dollars and life insurance money. I personally have a negative net worth, and with divorce I’d probably only break even. I basically lucked out of not living with my parents/grandparents for the rest of their life. On the flip side though, I regret the marriage because he refuses to move to a country with better social safety nets should something go wrong; living knowing that should his nest egg dry up, that we’ll be on the street in retirement, is inherently really stressful [we live in the USA].
I have a BS, with probably no inheritance coming (I’ve been told so).
He’s a certified accountant and makes double what I do. He controls all the money for obvious reasons.
Absolutely yes. I’m very fortunate.
My parents had three kids and owned a 150 m² house in the countryside. I earn more than they used to and I’m renting a single room in a house with four flatmates.
Not financially, we used to go on holiday 3 weeks a year in a touring caravan, plus multiple weekends, in my teens we’d go skiing for a week. Based on that alone I’m not even in the same league.
I would say same standard of living but the difference is they had a kid and my wife and I don’t. We simply could not have the same lifestyle if we had children.
Yeah, kids are darn expensive. I’m damn happy my parents decided to have me despite that fact. :)
To answer OP’s question, also doing better than them at the same age. Big part of it was investing early (time-value of money is a massive deal) and keeping the same car forever. My parents have spent quite a bit on cars over the years, it is probably their largest reducible expense. I bought a lightly used crossover a long time ago, and it’s got a long life ahead of it.
Same.
That’s partly why I never married or had a family. I wanted all my time and money to myself and to have more freedom.
Nope.
Lol, no. They were able to have a house and multiple kids on one salary.
My parents had a mortgage; car loans; and 4 children at my age, while I struggle to maintain employment and don’t qualify for any type of financing because of it and all this despite having a very high demand skillet in tech; I’m not only doing worse than my parents, but worse than most of my peers.
To be fair: I don’t fit the stereotype of an autistic person so people presume I’m neurotypical that that keeps long term employment out of reach for me.
Yes.
I have a home, a good job, and am able to save enough that it’s possible I may be able to retire in my fifties.
The only responsible decision my parents made was to pay off their house. They had over a dozen kids and my dad literally roofed houses until he couldn’t anymore physically. They’re now in their 80’s and driving for DoorDash, in a car they’ve “borrowed” from me for almost a year, that I’m certain I’m never getting back.
And, somehow, despite having no mortgage or car payment, they still aren’t paying their bills on time. (But, to be fair, that’s also a referendum on the US economy and capitalism in general, and none of us can get actual progressives elected.)
Sounds like my parents. I am younger but my dad is a alcoholic and drug addict that pissed away his retirement. He’s 63 and just getting out of rehab for the 50th time.
Yeah, mine was an alcoholic for 25 years but inexplicably quit cold turkey one day when I was a teen.
I think it’s just a ton of undiagnosed, untreated mental illness. My mom’s mother was abusive and her loving father died when she was a teen. My dad’s dad died when he was eleven and he became the breadwinner for his mom and siblings, and didn’t stop working for another sixty-five years. (Well, he drives for DoorDash now, so I suppose he’s still working, but it’s a far cry from roofing.)
I actually feel a little bad for my dad. He worked his ass off his whole life and has almost nothing to show for it, but somehow, could never put his foot down when it came to my mom and adding more kids to the family. In most other countries his lifetime of work and owning a business would have meant a comfortable retirement, but not here. In America, no one gives a fuck.
Yes and no. I probably am a bit better off than my parents, but they raised 4 kids and I raised none. My Mom was mostly stay at home (went back to work after all us kids moved out). My spouse has a good career, which is an added bonus.
Yeah, by a long shot. We didn’t have a lot growing up but my parents made sure I went to school.
Me? Yes, but I am an outlier, and it’s not because I’m doing “well”. It’s more because my parents were both horrible with money. 2 mortgages on the house, multiple car loans, mom was part of an MLM, and we were a family of 4 on a government worker’s salary. One of my dad’s complaints was that he couldn’t go out to eat once a week with coworkers because we couldn’t afford it. In addition they were horrible with credit and loans, took out as much as they could and then paid off things routinely late. I have no idea where they are now but last time I checked their credit score (for them, because they don’t know how), it was in the low 400s.
We grew up poor. Well, I hesitate to say poor because I know there are those who had it worse, and I do blame them for their choices for a good chunk of it too.
