are you better off than your parents were at your age?

[SloppyOneXXVI]

I like how open ended this question is because it has given a wide range of results. Define "better off"? My parents had three kids, a house on one income, and were a suburban, middle class, nuclear family.

I'm married, own a nice house in a city, we both work (and each of us probably work more hours than just my Dad worked), and have a higher income, even counting for inflation. However; we couldn't afford to take care of three kids right now, but that is probably due to other expenses. So.... are we better off? Depends on what you want.

The lifestyle of my generation "requires" more monthly expenses. My parents didn't pay for internet, cell phones, cable, netflix, xbox live, etc. If I cut all those costs, I could probably afford the children. People did not have as many options for entertainment/expenses 30 years ago, so they could live on less without "missing out" on fun. Now, in our society of consumerism, we have to have "more." My wife and I could easily live in the suburbs on my (or her) income and have some kids, but that's not what we want right now.

So are we better off... I would say no, we're just different.

[Henry]

At my age my dad switched from working for the Department of the Treasury to become a partner in a DC law firm practicing international trade law. And also at my age we had just moved from a townhouse to a 5 bedroom single family house. So while he and I might be on the same plane at this very instant (I'm a moderately successful freelancer and we own a 4 bedroom house in a similar neighborhood), he's about to meteor way ahead of me. I ain't no lawyer.

At my age my mother was working as an urban planner and developer but a few years later became an assistant to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Henry Cisneros ... she's got some stories, let me tell you.)

These days they are pretty darn wealthy retirees, and unless I inherit a ton of money from them (which is no longer a given since the economy tanked and they can no longer live off the interest of their savings) they will end up WAY ahead of me and my wife (a corporate recruiter.)

We do ok, mind you, but I'd say we are solidly middle-class folks compared to wealthy like my parents were.

[Elessar78]

**** yeah. They had to watch all their tv shows live, in standard def. 5 channels. They didn't have cell phones. Their computers were 64 bit. My 2 YO has toys with more computing power. I got heated seats in my ride.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Still got a long ways to go though to beat them at 40. At that age they had 2 ridiculously awesome young sons

I didn't realize you had two brothers, that's awesome.

[Jeeb]

Nope, in addition to both actually having some sort of career path, they had already had me and owned their own house at 25.

However, I am the only college grad in the entire family, TAKE THAT MOM AND DAD

[Henry]

I didn't realize you had two brothers, that's awesome.

Zing!

[Predicto]

I didn't realize you had two brothers, that's awesome.

[DCSaints_fan]

From a mental survey of my friends, the one thing I see is that very few of them would not be able to buy their parents house, at the same age when their parents did. But perhaps coming from the NoVa area that is a somewhat skewed standard.

[mcsluggo]

fortunately you have moved to the affordable and sane Palo Alto real estate market.

---------- Post added September-10th-2012 at 02:15 PM ----------

I'm better off than my parents were, although they were comfortable. We have two incomes, more assets, more home equity, more in retirement, take better vacations, buy nicer things, send our kids to private schools, etc.

---------- Post added September-4th-2012 at 05:01 PM ----------



I heard that you dicked your siblings over on that deal.



I don't think he became senior to you until the mid-late 70s.



I think you probably are even or perhaps a bit ahead of where they were. You own your house free and clear and you more in assets than they did in the early 70s. I know what your dad was earning then (and what he retired at), and it was good money, but not amazing.

It's hard for people to assess their parents' finances with accuracy, but that's my take on it.

its hard to assess myself above my folks in the "home ownership" category ... since yes, they hadn't finished paying theirs off yet in their mid 40s, but then they GAVE it to me (which is why MINE is paid off in MY mid 40s)

but yeah... I think I am doing fine, i just think they were doing better. and i am almost positive they are doing better if you measured it in a "keeping up with the Robinsons" context. I am fairly sure that they were in a higher income percentile, when measured against their peers.

but ... i get to say that i am "chief economist", and the chicks always dig that.

[skinsmarydu]

From a mental survey of my friends, the one thing I see is that very few of them would not be able to buy their parents house, at the same age when their parents did. But perhaps coming from the NoVa area that is a somewhat skewed standard.

I bought a house almost identical to the one I grew up in, in '98 on a VA loan. By myself. Kept it for 8 years, by myself.
However, even married now, my husband and I would never be able to afford the home my parents live in now. And hubby has a gooood income.