42% of Americans under 30 say they’re ‘barely getting by’ financially

End Time Headlines Ministry ^ | April 24, 2025 | Staff

[Theoria]

'In 1986, I was working for $3.35/hr-20 hrs a week- and going to school. With that income, I paid for my apartment, a car payment on a new Honda Accord, my school tuition (in cash, no loan) and for all of my essentials and utilities.'

You were making in todays money, $9.85 an hour, working 20 hrs a week and doing all of that?

Kinda obvious that the world has changed and that prices have inflated themselves out of the youth to be able to pull that off again.

Anybody you know working 20hrs a week, paying off college in cash, affording rent and utilities $200 a week?

[T.B. Yoits]

We lived in a 1968 Trailer for 21 years...

You could. Very few younger folks these days even have that option. Instead they're looking at rent that devours 60-70% of their monthly take-home pay.

[SaxxonWoods]

Yes, I remember that very well. We called it scraping by.

[BipolarBob]

That was upstyle. At least it wasn't a van down by the river.

[Red Badger]

There was a time we had to live in our car for a month...............

[T.B. Yoits]

The numbers for cost of living in all areas point to the young having a legit complaint.

They've also been saddled with $37 trillion in debt. Their individual share of that debt averages somewhere in the vicinity of $450k - that's what they owed the moment they were born.

Their parents and grandparents didn't start that far in the hole - they started on flat ground.

[T.B. Yoits]

I just don’t hear of any kids having dreams and aspirations in life - they don’t talk about dating, having a family, the future, what they want to be when they grow up. Very sad.

It's not just the $37 trillion in debt - it's the stark awareness that they live amongst the perpetrators who put them in that debt and complacent bystanders stood by and said nothing. Others stuck their head in the sand and pretended it wasn't happening.

They've been taught garbage, intentionally deceived in education, and are reminded constantly that no one is going to change their situation.

[desertfreedom765]

Generations of labor pay suppression policies and inflation has destroyed the standard of living for many people.

Yes their is much to criticize in some young people, but many/most are trying very hard to do the right thing.

[rellic]

I’m sorry but I can’t relate to people that depend entirely on government transportation. There is some where I live, but you’d die if your life depended on it.
You need a means of transportation that you control, not some bureaucrat.

[ripnbang]

Please explain.

[Jim from C-Town]

It’s called being in your twenties!

[metmom]

My stepdaughter attended a Community College and obtained a certificate in respiratory therapy. She and her husband lived in a trailer while her husband built their first house. The manage their money well, and live a good life. It can be done

Just like young people starting out have ALWAYS done.

I'd be interested in hearing what their money management skills are like.

[TheWriterTX]

Unless you live in the ghetto or rent a single bedroom in a house, no one is getting by on $200 per week.

Insurance alone on a car (basic liability) is at least $70 a month. A shared space room in my area is $500 per month. WiFi is $25 per month. We haven’t even touched food, gas, water, electric, oil changes, toiletries, or medical.

A decent apartment in a non-ghetto area is DOUBLE the mortgage payment on my first home. Unfortunately, the salaries are NOT.

When Gen X was looking at housing, it was roughly 25% of our net pay. Young people are paying 35% of their gross pay.

Huge difference.

[Red Badger]

Kids nowadays think they deserve a six figure job when they graduate high school...............

[metmom]

Yes, and if you skip the manicures, hair coloring appointments, botox, meal deliveries, car detailing (seems to be a big thing lately?), and online subscriptions... pretty soon you are saving a healthy amount - AND - developing much better financial habits, IMO.

Tanning salons, tattoos, gym memberships, massage therapy, video games, the latest electronic paraphernalia, and eyelash perms.

[metmom]

You have that correct. The hatred for boomers is off the charts for young people. When you listen to them, they make sense. They have a point. The numbers for cost of living in all areas point to the young having a legit complaint.

No, they don't.

They think that they have the right to start life at the economic level their parents and grandparents reached after DECADES of buying used cars and starter homes, and living on a shoestring budget.

The whole concept of blaming the boomers is just them looking for a scapegoat to blame for their perceived injustices and justify hating.

[metmom]

You have that correct. The hatred for boomers is off the charts for young people. When you listen to them, they make sense. They have a point. The numbers for cost of living in all areas point to the young having a legit complaint.

No, they don't.

They think that they have the right to start life at the economic level their parents and grandparents reached after DECADES of buying used cars and starter homes, and living on a shoestring budget.

The whole concept of blaming the boomers is just them looking for a scapegoat to blame for their perceived injustices and justify hating.

[TigersEye]

When I was 30 I was barely getting by. That was 1985.

[Red Badger]

Same here................

[metmom]

Cars can still be worked on.

Mr mm still does most of the work on ours and they are not that old.