Addressing what I can, I suspect that dividing the average home price by the average income is pretty similar across generations. I’m sure it’s now more expensive in trendy areas and lower in others. Our forefathers generally didn’t have the luxury of enjoying trendy areas. Also, I suspect that there may be more estates inherited.
Education? Same thing. Do a little shopping for a quality teachers in a quality program in a state school. They’re not hard to find, but you have to follow what’s available, not what you wish was available, just like our parents had to do. Find a room to share and trade the car for a bike just like your parents perhaps did. It’s dirt cheap compared to average wages, and there are all kinds programs in existence today to help that didn’t exist for our parents.
You can have as many kids as you like, but it’s a trade off just like it was with your parents. Double up on bedrooms and make sure you work in a company with insurance. If you want more than 4-5, you’re lifestyle options are going to be more limited, just like they were with our parents. But even if you refuse and want it both ways, the public pays, and you still get your kids (an option unavailable to our grandparents).
All that’s not nearly as difficult as it was 60 years ago. Respectfully, life’s too short to focus on the dark side and morph into the old grump that we remember from our childhood.
I think you'll find the average home price/income ratio took a huge jump in the 1970s and another one in the past decade. As far as education goes, past generations learned through high school what now requires a college education, and didn't have to endure 15 years of socialist indoctrination to do it.
Having kids ain't the same deal now that corporal punishment is borderline-criminal and family law is seemingly designed to shatter families.
And that's not even touching on the quality of life for the millions in the post-boomer generations who never survived to see the outside of a womb. The wholesale devaluation of human life is one of the biggest wounds to quality of life that the boomer generation has perpetrated.
You're right elfman. A little sacrifice along the way brings rewards. There are always ways to survive if you work smart.