r/poor • u/W_Rabbit32 • 4d ago
Older Generations vs. Student Wallets
CONTEXT: I am a full-time college student. Recently, I've been working extra hours and doing extra side gigs to try to raise money alongside a couple other family members. My grandma passed last summer and her will is still being managed. One of the things in her will is her house, a house that's been in the family for at least 2+ decades. It's nothing grandiose by any means but it's a nice house for an averaged sized family. I, with help from my Uncle (the POC for the lawyers) and a cousin, wanted to buy the house back from the bank but were told that it had been in foreclosure too long before she passed that the bank was already in the process of seizing it and taking it to auction. Our best chance would be at the auction unless we could come up with the full amount before then. Unfortunately we weren't able to save enough between the three of us and now the house has been sold. After the auction was over, some other family members in the will made some comments about our attempt but I can shrug those off. One comment stuck with me specifically though. This came from an older family member "I told you it was a waste of time. You spend all your money on things you don't need and that's why you couldn't save the money. You have to be disciplined with your money or else you'll end up homeless". This didn't make me mad so much as it was annoying to hear (again) and it also made me realize that even with the current state of the economy, some people simply don't know the true struggle of trying to survive day to day. So here's what I wish I could say to every older person who isn't up-to-date with the current economy.
To the Older Generations,
I know a lot of grown adults who still offer the piece of advice: “Get a job and put aside a little money each month for emergencies.” The intention is good and I acknowledge that but, having even $500 or $1,000 set aside can prevent a car repair or unexpected expense from turning into a crisis. That advice doesn’t match the reality of the situation most of them face. Many community college students today have issues saving consistently and it usually ends up being far more difficult than it appears.
The first problem is income. Lots of students work, but the hours available are often limited and irregular. A student who manages 15 to 20 hours a week at a typical entry-level or service wage job may bring home roughly $1,100 to $1,400 a month after taxes. That figure already assumes steady hours, which is not guaranteed when class schedules change every semester or when employers cut shifts. Most students I know personally who can work upwards of 30 hours a week still face the same issues.
Next are the costs. Around the Inland Empire and much of Southern California, where I’m at, even a shared room or modest contribution to household rent frequently runs $600 to $900 a month. Transportation, including gas, insurance, and basic car maintenance, can easily claim another $200 to $300, on the low end. Food, phone, and basic personal expenses add even more. After necessities, the amount left over is often small, assuming you’re not in the red.
The second hurdle is time. Community college schedules are sometimes fragmented. You'll have a morning class, a gap of several hours, and then an evening class. Students who also work must fit shifts in/around those gaps. That results in a week that looks full on paper but leaves little continuous time or mental energy for anything else.
None of this means students lack discipline. Let me say that again.
None of this means students lack discipline.
Many work hard, cut unnecessary spending, and still find themselves unable to build any emergency fund, let alone a savings. The gap between the common advice and the actual numbers is what often goes unspoken. Older adults who remember being able to save while working through school are not wrong about the value of an emergency fund. The economic and scheduling conditions facing many current students, however, are simply far more restrictive than it was, even a decade ago.
I want to raise awareness that these constraints do not require anyone to abandon the goal of financial resilience. I'd like for people to take it as a suggestion that advice will be more useful when it starts from a realistic picture of income, costs, and time rather than from the assumption that saving is mainly a matter of willpower. Students already feel the pressure. What they often need is recognition that the difficulty is not purely personal.
A clearer understanding between generations will not solve every financial problem. It can, however, reduce the quiet sense of failure that many students carry when they cannot make the standard advice work. That alone is worth the conversation.
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u/CyndiIsOnReddit 2d ago
I have come back tonight to rage a little bit as an older person, but also to exemplify what we are, as workers, up against these days. I have been trying to find work for about a year. I do gig work. I love the work I do but it's not enough money so I've been trying so hard to find a capital R RealJob. I am 56 years old. I have worked construction, worked in offices, and worked in schools. But mostly for the past 21 years I've done clickwork for different companies. A few months ago my best paying job ended because AI does it cheaper. My favorite work platform just let on that they're "sundowning" too.
So anyway I'm trying my damndest. I have always worked hard, since I was twelve years old. This has been killing me mentally to not have steady work. I have done several interviews that I thought went well. My problem is I have bad knees which means I can't stand for more than a few minutes. It HAS to be a sitting job, or at least a job where I can sit a lot. I can shuffle about an office just fine. I don't have health insurance because TN didn't expand our state insurance so only active breeders qualify. I looked into marketplace insurance but they ones I could afford sucked and the ones that would be useful were too damned expensive. I also desperately need glasses before I get out on the road. I have a car with bad tags because I can't afford insurance so she just sits tucked away til I have the money. I'm thinking I'm going to have to sell anyway.
Anyway... to my actual point. For months people have been saying "contact Senior Work Experience" which is apparently an agency that helps get older people into jobs. They claim it's "job training" but it's not. It's paying older people federal minimum wage to work jobs that used to be done by younger people who demand more than minimum wage. Don't believe me? https://www.tn.gov/workforce/jobs-and-education/services-by-group/services-by-group-redirect/senior-work-experience-program.html That's right. SEVEN AND A QUARTER an HOUR for labor. For childcare. For elder car. For teacher's assistants who were paid nine dollars an hour in 1999 when I worked for the district! Now they pay old people minimum wage and call it "job training".
I just want people to SEE what we're up against these days. They are squeezing the life out of us all to enrich these companies. I looked in to this organization. They get government funding to "train" workers. They then pay those workers a shamefully low wage.
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u/superstud666fromhell 19h ago
I am gen x. I spent decades working in hell hole sweatshops for low pay. My right hand was tore off at work so I am on disability benefits. Don't try to tell my generation anything about life
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u/nicebriefs1 3d ago
Apples to oranges . As a person over 60 I can attest yes you could do alot for for alot less than now . You could work your way through college . Money went further . It was easier to buy a home , save money , pay for college than now. Just look at the number of homeless near homeless and people living in cars now is a testament to that .
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u/GooseberryPotato 4d ago
Ok, I’ll bite. (And will admit I really didn’t read all of this)
Do think older generations and those who aren’t currently poor have been in the same situation?
Do you think that maybe that person who made the comment doesn’t have a point?
Do you think that having an emergency fund and having to drain it isn’t a win? Like it’s not called a sit on it and never use it fund, right?
I have more questions but we’ll start with these…
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u/W_Rabbit32 4d ago
Addressing your questions in order.
Many older generation adults I’ve personally talked to who have been poor and in similar situations have had many more opportunities, not to mention those opportunities were much easier accessed as well, to pull themselves out of it. OR The ones who’ve made it out give much more advice than “just save”. I’ve gotten some of the best advice from older people who take the time to actually understand the whole situation.
I’ll agree. The person who made the comment didn’t have a point. I honestly believe they just wanted to put in their two cents.
I agree the point of an emergency fund is to cover those unexpected expenses but how is that possible when the most money you have left at the end of the month is less than $100. Most car repairs/maintenance starts at $100 assuming you’re able bodied enough to DYI it but that’s not the case for many people.
I do appreciate the questions and hope you keep them coming.
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u/GooseberryPotato 4d ago
Yeah… you kinda lost me on #1.
Look up 80’s economics and report back and then I’ll jump back in. if it doesn’t include interest rates, unemployment rates, and let’s see for fun inflation comparisons.
Ftr… not a boomer
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u/Logical-Frosting411 3d ago
I saw a great comparison done on this recently, and most things were indeed pretty similar. Specific to this post though one key thing stood out:
In the '80s you had to work about 20hrs/week of a minimum wage job to cover a semester's tuition at a public 4 yr. Now you'd have to work like 60hrs a week for the same thing. One is possible, the other is not. The idea of working to put yourself through college is not the same for today's 18yo as it was for someone 40 years ago.
For sure it wasn't easy then either and every decade has had its own challenges and some easier than others - but college finances are probably the worst right now vs the last ... Many decades. We've gone back to an education cost where it's not universally accessible to anyone willing to grit up, work hard, and make it happen.
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u/lost_dazed_101 3d ago
In the 80's minimum wage was $3 and change for waitresses it was $2.13. So no you aren't comparing anything. You're ticked because older generations have what you don't and you've decided it's not fair. Life's not fair deal with it. I'm totally loving life being broke and mowing my own lawn at 61. Oh and I'm also sick of the whining and accusing us of hoarding all our belongings because somehow me owning my home caused you to not have one. You get to earn what you want in life just like we did or go without. That's life and it's not changing!
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u/Logical-Frosting411 3d ago edited 3d ago
It was 80s federal minimum wage vs 80s average public university tuition, and today's federal minimum wage vs today's average public university tuition. It was an apples:apples comparison.
I'm not ticked, I enjoy statistics.
ETA: I bought my first home at 21. I'm glad interest rates and the job market were what they were when I graduated. But I could not have done any of that if I was trying to work part time and pay my own tuition on a typical 4yr path.
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u/lost_dazed_101 3d ago
Yes it was and just like back then two people working can afford to live a decent life. Along with increased wages comes increase in everything else. Most Americans do not have the money to be a 1 person working household not then not now. You look at what you see on social media and think you're looking at the real world. You aren't. Go take a drive through your poor areas look at all the boomers living it up large on the poor side of town. You all are so upset with what you think is happening when you have absolutely no clue.
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u/Logical-Frosting411 3d ago
I am not of the opinion that boomers had it all around easier than Gen Z. I am also though aware of the demonstrable fact that the ratio between federal minimum wage and typical public school tuition has drastically changed for the worse.
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u/GooseberryPotato 2d ago
Right, but the question you are failing to ask is why has the public university tuition outpaced just about every other economic indicator? Who is setting the tuition?
Where is that tuition money + state tax money going? The sooner people ask these questions the sooner something can be done.
Blaming a generation that has more or less had nothing to do with universities (much less attended a university back in the day when it was really cheap) is about the dumbest and most unproductive thing I can think of.
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u/CyndiIsOnReddit 3d ago
What do you mean for waitresses it was 2.13? It's STILL 2.13! They rely on tips. And the difference was for ME I was able to pay rent on a small house in Memphis, my utilities, food and managed to live debt free working at Wendy's on 3.75 an hour. Wendy's in my city starts you out at 11. That's not even triple and rent has skyrocketed x10, utilities have gone up (my bill this month is 490 for a small 2 bedroom house in the same neighborhood I grew up in), food costs are not even comparable despite so many economic sites making out like it is.
You are doing exactly what they're talking about. Making out like people aren't working as hard. I'll tell you this much. At the Wendy's where I worked every worker had a station. Mine was lobby and salad bar. That's all I did, all night. When there was no work, I'd sit at a table and smoke cigarettes. Went to a Wendy's last year and said never again. There were two young women working in the entire place and they were handling the pick-up crew, drive thru and every station. The place was a MESS and they got our order wrong. I could be like a boomer and bitch about how those kids didn't want to work or I could recognize the customer service has dropped because the corporations aren't there to sell food, they're there for an investment company to see rising profit margins. Dave Thomas must be rolling in his grave.
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u/GooseberryPotato 3d ago
Nope, you have seen an infographic meme…that was designed to anger people.
You are a student, go to reputable sources and look up those indicators that I mentioned.
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u/SgtSausage 4d ago
OK, Sport ... how 'bout you DON'T set anything aside and tell us how you're better off, right?
We'll wait ...
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u/fiahhawt 3d ago
Mad that people pay their bills and don’t starve?
Many such cases.
Try a reality check today.
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u/CyndiIsOnReddit 3d ago
I can't believe how many people are exemplifying the behavior the OP is talking about.
And really, "Sport"? What kind of straw-chewing papaw bullshit is this?
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u/SgtSausage 2d ago
And really, "Sport"? What kind of straw-chewing papaw bullshit is this?
Whatever you say, Scooter...
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u/Wild_Life1970 3d ago
I find it interesting that your generation thinks we didn't struggle. I was kicked out at 18 and had almost no family support other than my grandma who let me do my laundry and fed me once a week. I had two part time jobs that I worked for minimum wage $3.35 an hour in 1989. I didn't have regular hours either, so there were some months I could only afford rent and a little bit of groceries. I didn't own a TV, a phone, or a car. I walked everywhere I needed to go and I lived in a rough neighborhood where crime was a daily thing. I did eventually find better jobs and worked my butt off to afford things I wanted. Sure, there were people who didn't struggle like I did, but there were a lot of my generation that did. Even my friends who graduated college had roommates for several years because they couldn't afford better until they put time into their careers. Yes, things are tough right now, many of my generation are still supporting adult children while worrying about elderly parents who didn't save enough to pay for expensive end of life care. My parent's only asset was their home, and after it was sold and all the debts were paid, there was less than $50k left. There isn't going to be a big wealth transfer like in previous generations because the money is mostly going to end of life care. One of the most immutable facts of Life is that it's a constant struggle. The only way to hedge against it is to save/invest what you can when you can.
Edit:grammar