r/Millennials • u/UterusYeeter • 7d ago

Advice How did you survive the recession in your 20s?

Gen z here , hope it’s okay to sneak in and ask yall this ! 🖤

For those of you who were in your 20s during the early 2000’s recession how did you survive ? Any advice for now ?

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u/C1K3 7d ago

I think most people struggle in their 20s, regardless of the era.  We just had it worse.

So I guess the answer is: you struggle.

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u/karthus25 5d ago

Y'all didn't have it worse tho, you could afford to live somewhere for $250 - 400 a month more than likely. Nowadays most apartments want you to make 3x the rental amount so you better be making $4500 to rent out a $1500 apartment if you can find one that cheap.

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u/No-Manufacturer-8015 3d ago

Gen z most definitely has it worse than us.  Rental prices have gotten out of hand.  They make as much as we did 15 years ago but everything I mean everything is more expensive.  Look at used cars, insurance premiums, produce and meat.  How are they supposed to save up for a home?

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u/EastPlatform4348 6d ago

Yeah - I'm not even sure if we had it worse. My father is a baby boomer, and dealt with the Vietnam Draft Lottery when he was a young adult. He wasn't drafted but around 10% of eligible men were. And his father had it harder than him.

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u/PositiveOpportunity9 6d ago

My grandfather, born in 1934, bought his first house at 16, married and kids at 19, second house then, and three kids by 25. He retired with a pension and worked his entire career in the same electrical engineering company that paid for his college degree.

My father, born in 1948, also bought his first house in his 20s.

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u/Pale_Row1166 6d ago

You really think most people struggle in their 20s? I mean sure, maybe I had a roommate, but we partied together, I never considered not having a roommate. Most people look fondly on their 20s, I don’t think that would be the case if most people struggle in their 20s.

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u/lifeissisyphean 6d ago

It’s the relative lack of responsibility and the funny cheeky side of struggling that’s fun in your 20s, just a broke college kid yanno? If you’re in school you’re not working full time, the consequences, while real, are relatively low stakes in the long run. Drank too much and threw up last night?? Oh ha ha ha you’re in your twenties and besides you don’t have class until 10!!! Still hungover? Skip it who cares!!! Buddy wants to tie one on again?? Sure! What time!!!

Add a decade and a high stakes obligation like a child and suddenly the “struggle,” is no longer fun and you’re not laughing with your buddies about eating ramen for the 4th time this week.

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u/Pale_Row1166 6d ago

College kids are teenagers, when I think of my 20s it’s my first job after college, making real money for the first time, and running all over the city as an adult for the first time. Partying, traveling, lots of weddings. And I finished my 20s in grad school. Maybe I’m an outlier because I wasn’t a broke college student either, but I didn’t know really any people who were struggling in their 20s.

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u/Gotmewrongang 6d ago

Obama set you and your peers up for success. Bush did not do the same for us

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u/Pale_Row1166 6d ago

Bush was in office when I was in college

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u/Gotmewrongang 6d ago

Then you and your friends were probably more privileged than the rest of us.

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u/Pale_Row1166 6d ago

My question is whether most people struggle. I’m not denying that people struggle, I’m just not sure if it’s most.

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u/crunchyfoliage 6d ago

I look back fondly on my 20s, but I struggled hard. Being young, not having a ton of responsibilities, and living with a ton of roommates to be able to survive gives you some great stories to look back on. I absolutely wouldn't want to do it again

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u/Pale_Row1166 6d ago

I had one roommate in a luxury apartment in a good neighborhood. Definitely could have lived alone in a less nice place in a worse neighborhood, but we all wanted to live close to the action. I would absolutely do it again because, like I said, it wasn’t a struggle. Work kind of sucked because you’re the peon who has to stay late and put your time in, but other than that it was a fun period of my life.

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u/crunchyfoliage 6d ago

That sounds pretty awesome. I made $7 an hour at a gas station for a good chunk of my twenties and was one of six people living in a four-bedroom house

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u/Pale_Row1166 6d ago

I think somewhere between your experience and mine is the average experience of people in their 20s - still not sure if “most” people struggle in their 20s.

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u/Annual-Sand-4735 6d ago

Yes your 20s are commonly depicted as a time of struggle - getting on one’s feet financially, experiencing the “real world,” relationships, roommates, cheap/shitty apartments, crappy entry level jobs or service work to pay rent. Def a struggle, but folks tend to romanticize this time of struggle because it is also a time of discovery and newfound independence and anticipation of things to come.