Does the New Generation Deal with Own Finances in the Other Way than the Old One?
Times have massively changed and the new technologies initiate new habits and practices. It often makes young people behave in the other way than their parents and grandparents did. They manage their family budgets, real estate and devices quite differently. For example, payday loans become very popular nowadays, and multiple low-income Americans take them several times a year due to the urgent necessities or just to buy essentials before the planned paycheck receipt.
try to evade consumer debts.
Our mothers and fathers bought their own houses when they were 18 already. Young people still prefer rent, and the various mortgage lending opportunities are not the best way out.
Meanwhile, according to the US Census Bureau, the average price of a new house in the USA is $389,900 (as of December 2017). The average monthly salary is $6,293. 20 years ago, the situation was more beneficial for young families. In 1985, the average annual income (salary) per capita made $13,511, and it was possible to buy a 3-room home for $49,900-$139,00 depending on the state, the house design and the acres available.
Thus, purchasing a new house was quite affordable for young families, and it caused a slight baby boom by the end of the 1980-s. Nowadays, we are to rent houses, spending up to half of the salary to these expenditures. For example, the average monthly rent in the New York City is $1,896-$3,003, depending on the district. It makes multiple Americans apply for payday loans nearly every month, just to pay our current expenses.
Our parents didn’t use mobile phones as phones in general were treated as a luxury. Quite naturally, innovative technologies made smartphones more customary for us. The devices are still a bit expensive, especially, the advanced and fashionable ones, but they are cheap to run nowadays. So, we use them many hours a day not only to make calls, but to surf the net, play online games, watch the movies, listen to the music.
Additionally, thanks to the growth of air travel, we can go abroad for foreign trips several times a year. Last minutes flights and offers of low-costers are very affordable for everybody, nowadays.
As to the debts we make, they are attributed to the credit cards that are widely used now. It makes customers making impulsive purchases every day, spending more money they have got at the moment.
Meanwhile, as payday loans became quite popular in the USA since 1980, multiple families borrow money for recurring expenses such as rent, food, credit card bills clearing. The temptation is getting stronger day by day, but due to the current regulation, the interest rates are restricted in multiple states.
These modern trends often make older people be judgmental about our lifestyle and the way young families manage the budgets, but we are to be in step with the realities and move with the times.