Comments on: The New Adulthood http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2010/06/01/the-new-adulthood/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:13:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: anonymous http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2010/06/01/the-new-adulthood/comment-page-1/#comment-25869 anonymous Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:36:57 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=566#comment-25869 Adulthood is the day you decide that all your posters need to be in frames. Adulthood is the day you decide that all your posters need to be in frames.

]]> By: David http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2010/06/01/the-new-adulthood/comment-page-1/#comment-25855 David Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:05:49 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=566#comment-25855 And here's how this essay would have sounded if written by a New York Times reporter, 5 weeks later: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/business/economy/07generation.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all And here’s how this essay would have sounded if written by a New York Times reporter, 5 weeks later:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/business/economy/07generation.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

]]> By: David http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2010/06/01/the-new-adulthood/comment-page-1/#comment-25797 David Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:45:05 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=566#comment-25797 Here's how this essay would have sounded if written by a <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/3485/1/3485.pdf" rel="nofollow">professor of sociology</a>: "The life course is part of our taken-for-granted stock of knowledge, even though the temporal boundaries of its phases have shifted under pressure from changing conditions." Here’s how this essay would have sounded if written by a professor of sociology:

“The life course is part of our taken-for-granted stock of knowledge, even though the temporal boundaries of its phases have shifted under pressure from changing conditions.”

]]> By: David http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2010/06/01/the-new-adulthood/comment-page-1/#comment-25796 David Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:05:45 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=566#comment-25796 As a little corollary on rising costs of living, imagine you, as a young adult, net $2000 a month. Your personal budget breaks down like this: Rent: 30% of net income Food and entertainment: 20% Student loans (principle): 10% Interest on loans and other debt: 10% Transportation: 10% TV / phone / Internet: 10% Clothing and sundries: 10% Now imagine cost of living increases 10% across the board, with no corresponding increase in wages. The bottom 5 categories are essentially non-negotiable. The only place to cut spending is through food and rent. By cutting your rent to 25% of your total budget, and your food to 15% of your total budget, you can make up an extra 10%. At 30% of $2000, you would start out paying $600 a month in rent. 25% of $2000 is $500. Remember, though, housing costs have also risen 10%, meaning the same apartment that used to cost $600 is now $660. Your $500 will only get you 500/660, or about 75%, as much apartment as it used to. With food, it's even worse. 20% of $2000 is $400 a month. Cutting that to 15% of $2000 leaves you with only $300. And the groceries that used to cost $400 are now $440, so you can only afford 300/440 or roughly 68% as much food as you used to. That's barely two thirds. Each time your cost of living inches up -- even if it's only 10% -- your discretionary income is squeezed. Of course, the net result is that more goes onto the credit card, so the amount of debt you carry grows, squeezing you even further. Meanwhile, the money you're setting aside for retirement, your wedding, your vacation -- all of that is diverted to covering your cost of living. Of course, you don't get vacation days anyway, and who can afford to date in the first place? As a little corollary on rising costs of living, imagine you, as a young adult, net $2000 a month. Your personal budget breaks down like this:

Rent: 30% of net income
Food and entertainment: 20%
Student loans (principle): 10%
Interest on loans and other debt: 10%
Transportation: 10%
TV / phone / Internet: 10%
Clothing and sundries: 10%

Now imagine cost of living increases 10% across the board, with no corresponding increase in wages. The bottom 5 categories are essentially non-negotiable. The only place to cut spending is through food and rent. By cutting your rent to 25% of your total budget, and your food to 15% of your total budget, you can make up an extra 10%.

At 30% of $2000, you would start out paying $600 a month in rent. 25% of $2000 is $500. Remember, though, housing costs have also risen 10%, meaning the same apartment that used to cost $600 is now $660. Your $500 will only get you 500/660, or about 75%, as much apartment as it used to.

With food, it’s even worse. 20% of $2000 is $400 a month. Cutting that to 15% of $2000 leaves you with only $300. And the groceries that used to cost $400 are now $440, so you can only afford 300/440 or roughly 68% as much food as you used to. That’s barely two thirds.

Each time your cost of living inches up — even if it’s only 10% — your discretionary income is squeezed. Of course, the net result is that more goes onto the credit card, so the amount of debt you carry grows, squeezing you even further.

Meanwhile, the money you’re setting aside for retirement, your wedding, your vacation — all of that is diverted to covering your cost of living. Of course, you don’t get vacation days anyway, and who can afford to date in the first place?

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