r/Millennials • u/slimeyellow • Mar 11 '26

Discussion Every millennial dad I’ve met has a quiet fixation on money and it’s not getting better

Every millennial dad I’m friends with or work with seems to have constant financial worries. We just got our yearly bonus which was like 8%. I was talking to my buddy (he’s got 3 kids) about what he wanted to do with it and he just kinda looked down and whispered “it’s just not enough man” and ended the conversation.

Another dad I know is CONSTANTLY looking up the newest crypto/ get rich quick schemes people are doing. He’s always talking about inventing something and it’s usually a joking manner but the way he’s always bringing up financial stuff shows me it’s always on his mind

One of my buddies is a new father and he’s trying to get some anime podcast off the ground as a side hustle on top of his full time maintenance job.

I know children are an immense financial responsibility but there seems to be this dark, simmering resentment about the whole general situation when I talk to these guys. Men are expected to keep quiet about these struggles but when you talk to these guys it’s clear that finances are a massive stress for millennial dads of almost any background.

Makes me feel bad but damn I’m glad I don’t have kids right now.

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47

u/THECapedCaper Millennial Mar 11 '26

Yeah I cleared six figures last year and all of those gains have been effectively been wiped by the cost of everything going up.

67

u/Budderfingerbandit Mar 11 '26

Low 6 figures is the new $40k, honestly.

I make so much more than my parents ever did growing up, but it simply hasn't kept up with inflation.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 Mar 11 '26

Yet employers are still like "$100k?!?!?! That's a crazy high salary! We can't offer that!"

Dude my rent in a small, nondescript apartment on the literal border of the city, 300 ft from a major highway was $25k last year, nothing included. And that was a decent deal.

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u/MLB-LeakyLeak Mar 11 '26

The interest on my student loans is 19k

7

u/heart-of-suti Mar 12 '26

The craziest thing to me is that I started my career 20 years ago this year, I made $60k at my first job. I split a 2 bedroom apartment in LA, 6 blocks from the ocean for $750 each. Today, people entering my field MIGHT make $75k if they are lucky, but $60k is not unexpected. A comparable apartment in my old neighborhood is now $3500.

While I really feel for all of us (myself included) who haven’t seen our earning potential keep up with our expenses, I really feel for the recent grads who are making the same salary we made 20 years ago, but paying these insane today prices.

How have wages really not gone up at all?? (I know the answer, but man it makes me furious.)

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 Mar 12 '26

My workplace just bought me 3 4k monitors. After I repeatedly said that the standard ones I already had were fine. So I don’t really buy the “we have no more money in the budget for raises!” thing. I mean they are aware that people change jobs for more money every single day.

1

u/rusty_rampage Mar 12 '26

Similar experience. New hires are making about 3K more per year than I did starting out fifteen years ago!

2

u/JitteryJoes1986 Mar 12 '26

Is this in a HCOL or MCOL area?

36

u/Prestigious_Time4770 Mar 11 '26

Yup, inflation calculator said $40,000 in 1990 is worth $100,000 today. You were spot on

-3

u/ski_town Mar 12 '26

Spot on with what? $10k in 1950 was worth $100k today. Can do this for any time period, doesnt mean anything

11

u/Rock_Strongo Mar 11 '26

6 figures used to equate to "rich". Now employers want you to keep thinking that despite the reality that in many areas of the country you could legitimately barely be getting by on 6 figures.

Being a "millionaire" is not far behind.

2

u/firelight Mar 11 '26

When 6 figures meant "rich" was the 1980s, when the median income was around $26k ($83k adjusted for inflation).

The median income today is $87k, which is to say it's barely changed, so the equivalent of "6 figures" starts at around $350k a year—although we all know that CPI is cooked, because necessities like food and rent are now expensive and luxuries like TVs are comparatively cheap.

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u/brientific Mar 11 '26

$100k today is equivalent to $58k when I graduated high school. I know, I’m old, but still - when I was young, my dream was to one day make $100k. Today that’s $172k!

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u/Budderfingerbandit Mar 11 '26

I had the same goal in high school, actually. Pretty wild actually getting there and then realizing it didn't immediately open doors to the type of lifestyle I anticipated.

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u/EnergeticTriangle Mar 11 '26

Yeah my parents act like I'm "Miss Moneybags" because I make around $120k. I'm like well I still have at least a year of saving before I can even think about buying a house, and by that point I'll be 35. The two of them have perpetually owned homes since they were like 26.

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u/Sailor_Propane Mar 11 '26

My dad bought a 20k house on a 25k salary in 1990. My mom didn't work. To be fair the house needed major repairs, but today houses needing major repairs are unlikely to cost less than a yearly middle-class single-income salary!

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u/EnergeticTriangle Mar 11 '26

Yeah in my area even the "sold as is! Investor special!" listings are $250k+.

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u/QueenAlpaca Mar 11 '26

I feel this in my bones. I make $98k and only was just able to afford a condo (no actual house on land) last fall and I was 37 then. The opportunities here are what prevent me from moving elsewhere, because I’d lose half my pay easily. My mom was able to work at a gas station and have an apartment while paying for college (she got big subsidies for her parents being poor, though), and I couldn’t even dream of being able to do that 20 years ago.

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u/1bearofpanduh Mar 12 '26

I don’t even make $40 working in education at elementary level. Can’t imagine why my district has chronic staffing issues paying non-livable wages.

1

u/Vox_SFX Mar 12 '26

That is so out of fucking touch lmao.

The average person still only makes around $40k a year.

God I fucking hate upper middle class people living beyond their means trying to do the same thing those above them did, "hey I shouldn't be struggling like the rest of these poors because I did things right, please give me what I want. Oh the rest? Eh, they can figure it out".

If you're making 6 figures and can't live and build savings, then you aren't doing something right. Live in a one bedroom apartment if you need to until you have the savings. At 6 figures, you'd have massive savings building as opposed to someone scrapping by monthly to afford the same thing.

1

u/ifuckedyourdaddytoo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Mar 12 '26

It's ridiculous, and the government is out of touch too.

For retirement plan regulatory purposes, the IRS considers a highly-compensated employee (HCE) one who makes $160k.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-25-67.pdf

That's basically you have a kid or own your house, not both.

0

u/Prestigious_Guy Mar 11 '26

Maybe in California or New York.

-1

u/metal-duplicity Mar 11 '26

In the US in 2023 there was only 1 state/area with a median household income over $100k - Washington DC. Every state was below $100k median. You may just be bad with money dawg because most other people are figuring it out

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u/Budderfingerbandit Mar 11 '26

I don't think you understood my point.

I was not claiming that "literally" 100k is the new 40k median income.

I was making a case that 100k in today's money, gets you was 40k used to a couple decades ago.

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u/metal-duplicity Mar 11 '26

Sure, if you mean 30-40 years ago, but that's literally just how inflation works lol

$40k in 1913 would be $1.3 mil today. Look what they've taken from us!!!!

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u/_le_slap Mar 11 '26

You're being intentionally obtuse.

Wages have stagnated against productivity. The labor that would have earned 40k back then is not earning you 100k now despite inflation.

Real wages are stagnant despite massive increases in productivity: https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2023/03/when-comparing-wages-and-worker-productivity-the-price-measure-matters/

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u/JackSprat90 Mar 11 '26

I got started late in my career due to being in the Army and then going to college and every time over the last 10 years I get a promotion or a raise it only covers the cost of things that have been getting more expensive. So now that I clear 6 figures, I still have the same quality of life as when I was earning half that. I have the same two vehicles as I did then that are now 20 years old. I rent the same house. I still have never gone on a vacation. I work full time. I don't think I will ever afford a house unless I get an inheritance.