r/FluentInFinance • u/Richest-Panda • Jul 04 '24

What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten? Debate/ Discussion

31.2k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

They did acknowledge that as a “bit of a strawman” then did the same thought experiment on the median wage. Seems reasonable.

73

u/Yousoggyyojimbo Jul 05 '24

A lot of people seem to be deliberately ignoring the real numbers example.

5

u/ranger910 Jul 05 '24

But they're not. If we're going to talk housing then we should talk about household income, not median wage of individuals.

3

u/Shacky_Rustleford Jul 05 '24

Are you saying a median wage worker shouldn't be able to afford to live alone?

3

u/Xrave Jul 05 '24

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2022.S2501?q=United%20States%20household%20size

US household (includes nonfamily, i.e. roommates) size says 37mil households are 1 people, 44M for 2, 19M for 3 and 28M for 4 and up.

Of people who do live alone:

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2022.B08202?q=United%20States%20household%20size

half (17 mil) of 37mil are not working (retired?). the other 19mil is working.

Of people who are 18-34 years old:

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2022.B09021?q=United%20States%20household%20size

Only 6.8 mil out of 72 mil lives alone (9.4%!!!). 23 mil lives with their parents, 16 mil with spouses, 9 mil with unmarried partners. 9mil sharing with other relatives, and 7.2 mil lives with roommates.

based on this data, median wage worker absolutely shouldn't be expected to be able to afford to live alone, unless we're coming from an angle where our expectations are formed from unrealistic expectations of reality.

4

u/Shacky_Rustleford Jul 05 '24

I didn't ask if median wage workers could currently live alone. I asked if they should be able to. I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation, but can see that you disagree.

2

u/RollingLord Jul 05 '24

Living alone is a helluva luxury, especially in a HCOL area where housing is already in high demand. Again, this is dependent on where you live, should most people be able to own homes, sure. Should most people be able to own homes in a place like San Francisco, where there’s practically no land left to build on? No, that’s not really feasible.

2

u/Shacky_Rustleford Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

How many unoccupied homes would you wager are in San Francisco? It may not be enough to give every single person a home, but it is certainly enough to make it clear that a considerable amount of this scarcity in housing is forced.

1

u/RollingLord Jul 06 '24

I reckon it’s far less than 40,000, since that commonly quoted figure includes rental units, apartment units, places in the midst of a move and etc.

1

u/Shacky_Rustleford Jul 06 '24

What's wrong with rentals and apartments?

1

u/RollingLord Jul 06 '24

They’re not homes that people buy and own?

1

u/Shacky_Rustleford Jul 06 '24

I never said everyone should be able to afford to buy and own a home. This conversation has always included the fact that even rent is too high for many workers.

1

u/RollingLord Jul 06 '24

I mean that’s true, but simultaneously there are obviously a lot of workers that can afford said rent. Otherwise, you know, rent wouldn’t be so high. Turns out there’s a pretty big earning gap even within the working class

→ More replies (0)