Social IssuesJAN 2, 2024

Struggling Mom Is Tired Of Out-Of-Touch Rich Neighbors' Advice On Her Finances, Calls Them Out

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Nowadays, when over half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, providing for a family is an extremely challenging task. Paying for housing, food, clothing and childcare adds up quickly, and parents are fed-up with constantly having to cut back.

Mother and TikToker Paige Turner is especially tired of older generations telling her to live within her means, as she's raising kids in a very different world than they grew up in. Below, you’ll find a video that Paige recently shared online detailing her frustrations, as well as a conversation between her and Bored Panda and some of the replies viewers have left.

This mom has been open with her family's struggle to afford child care

Image credits: sheisapaigeturner

And because of that, she's been inundated with unsolicited financial advice from wealthy Boomers

"If one more Boomer tells me to live within my means when I tell them that I struggle to pay for child care because of how insanely expensive it is, and they tell me just to cut back on things that are not necessities, I might lose my mind.

Because I'm sitting here, right? I'm sitting here, and I'm looking at all my neighbors, they're all boomers because they just haven't sold their houses yet."

Image credits: sheisapaigeturner

"The one right here that I'm staring at, in their driveway, three cars. There's two of them. So three cars, one of which is an old vintage, beautiful car. And an airplane. An airplane in their driveway.

So I don't know. Like, I've never asked for an airplane. I'm just asking for affordable daycare."

Image credits: sheisapaigeturner

"And if I look at the house next to them, there's four cars in their driveway, and a big boat. A big boat. Yeah.

And so, I'm being told to limit my expectations, to live within my means, to stop trying to have so much materialistic stuff and just focus on what's important like my kids and my home, which is what I'm trying to do.

Literally, like, we don't really do vacations, we don't do much as we have to pay for daycare. Yet I'm the problem, not the people with airplanes in their driveway."

Image credits: Alexandra May (not the actual photo)

You can see Paige's full video right here

"[Boomers] simplify their advice and lack the knowledge of what it truly costs to be a millennial in this economy"

We reached out to Paige to find out more about her situation, and lucky for us, she was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. As far as what inspired her to share this video, Paige says she has personally heard advice from Boomers about finances that simply do not apply to the current state of the market. "This ranges from housing to childcare," she noted. "They simplify their advice and lack the knowledge of what it truly costs to be a millennial in this economy. They also do not tend to understand the state of the job market and the realistic compensation for most millennials."

The mom went on to note that Boomers tend to be out of touch with the state of wages and the economy because they don't have to stay up to date. "I did not realize it until I was in the thick of trying to buy a home or find a daycare," Paige says. "Unless you are actively looking into these things, it might be hard to understand the true cost."

While Paige believes that her neighbors would acknowledge that they're privileged, she says the would probably credit their financial success to hard work. "The video was not so much about my neighbors (they are great) but more about the large gap in understanding between our generations," she clarified.

And as far as explaining to Boomers how challenging it actually is to cut back, Paige says showing them a budget outlining the costs most millennials have would be helpful, as well as matching that up against the numbers they might have seen at the same age.

Child care is a massive financial burden for parents in the US

Image credits: Lina Kivaka (not the actual photo)

If you’ve always dreamed of being a mother or father, starting a family might be the most exciting thing you could possibly imagine. But along with the joy of having a little one running around showing you how fascinating our world truly is comes the financial aspect of having kids. According to Parents.com, raising a child in the United States now costs an average of $20,813 per year.

And one of the biggest financial burdens of having kids, at least during the first few years of their lives, is paying for child care. Axios reports that child care costs in the US have risen 32% since 2019, which has pushed many parents out of the workforce, as they’ve had to opt to stay home with their little ones rather than focus on their careers.

A study from Care.com found that over half of parents in the US spend more than 20% of their household income on child care, and nearly three quarters report that over 10% of their income goes straight to child care. This is extremely concerning for parents, as 43% say it’s much harder to find quality child care today than it was a year ago.

Many have already had to cut back or abandon their careers to ensure their kids are taken care of

Image credits: Tatiana Syrikova (not the actual photo)

Paying for expensive care puts a massive burden on parents and forces many to make sacrifices for their families. 31% say they’ve had to take on a second job, and 26% say they’ve had to reduce hours at work to ensure their kids are taken care of. A quarter of parents have changed jobs altogether, and 21% have left the workforce entirely to avoid paying for child care.

While parents were once most concerned about funding their children’s higher education, it now seems that simply getting them through their youngest years is a similar financial burden. The First Five Years Fund reports that 58% of families say they plan to spend $10,000 on child care this year, which is actually slightly more than the average cost of in-state college tuition.

Because of the exorbitant cost of childcare, 45% of parents say they’ve had to cut back on their food budgets, and 41% say they’ve had to spend less on clothing as well. And apparently, the pandemic only exacerbated this issue, as 15,856 child care providers in the US have closed their doors since 2020. Prior to that, 30% of Americans were already living in “child care deserts,” with only one spot available for every three kids who need care.

Millennials are raising children in a much different and more expensive world than their parents did

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo)

It can be difficult for older generations to understand just how much times have changed since they were raising their kids, but according to USA Today, it appears that millennials are worse off than their parents in a variety of ways. Back in the day, 17% of boomers moved into prestigious careers after graduating college, such as law or medicine, but only 7% of millennials did the same.

By age 35, 62% of boomers owned homes, while only 49% of millennials could say the same. Approximately 14% of millennials also had negative net worth, while only 8.7% of baby boomers were in debt. Today, boomers own over half of all of the wealth in the United States, and millennials own only 5.7%. The Great Recession, the pandemic, inflation and many other factors have made life challenging for millennials. That’s not to say that everything was easy for older generations, but it’s definitely important for them to understand how the world has changed before giving advice like “just cut back” to struggling parents.

We would love to hear your thoughts on Paige’s video in the comments below, pandas. Then, if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda article discussing a similar topic, look no further than right here!