some people learn this early (the author's friend who grew up poor), and some people learn this late (the author), and some people never get a chance to learn this lesson, ever (not mentioned, the resort bums who reach 40 years old full of sports injuries, zero savings with no future and no more ability to ski).
in any case, the author seems self-aware enough to know that there will be comments on the internet like yours. she expresses remorse for having gone through this path on crutches. at least she has a story to share. someone who "retired" early from a corporate finance job with a couple of million in investments (whose life the author was only a few decisions away from), goes out and finally lives his dream never having lost anything is about as uninteresting as a trust fund kid exploring the world.
Great job with the antagonizing, clickbait title though. I'm guessing "My Tone-deaf Autobiography about How Irresponsible I am" was thrown out.
In my country, due to high house prices, adult professionals often buy their first house with money from their parents because they can't otherwise afford it. It's call "The bank of mum and dad". Is that irresponsible? Is it OK only after it's become common but was wrong for the first few people who did it?
If your parents helped you get your house, it’s not only a sign of likely coming from a privileged background (not many households in the US can just give their kids a downpayment on a house…) but it’s also a sign that you couldn’t even do what others have managed on their own. As many people do it without the bank of mom and dad and do it without having come from a background of privilege - it doesn’t look good.
Some will rationalize it and talk about keeping money in the family or what not - but most Americans see it from a mile away as somewhat shameful or regrettable. Keeping money in the family is also somewhat shameful in itself as it is something typically very privileged people do and it is seen as keeping the money out of the rest of us. (Creating royal families and a class of nobility essentially)
I can't speak for the UK but here in Germany people usually don't just "buy a house" in their 20s, because of the debt involved (guess we are very opposed to debt). In my experience that would happen only at least 10 years later, when you have saved up a sizable down payment. Also selling a house again is a really big deal, kinda rare. There's not a lot of switching, like I hear from some US friends.
So yes, this has nothing to do with support from your parents or general income/wealth bracket. If you are standing on your own feet, you move out to a cheap apartment, often for the first time with your partner. Also please remember that we have a lot less campus universities, people usually live in a small apartment in the city they are studying in (same with vocational training) and not on campus.
(Please correct me if you don't think that a sizable portion of people in the US buy a house before they are 30, no matter if they are "filthy rich" or just working a normal job)
And now for a completely made up theory: If you're going into debt for your degree maybe you don't care as much to get into more debt if you move into a house when starting a job, because you're already in debt. But if you got through uni without getting into debt, either you don't want to do that, or (more likely) you wouldn't even get a loan from the bank here, if you never worked before.
I’m not sure how much people put down for a payment in Germany but in US, it’s 3.5% to 20% as the norm. 20% being what was traditionally done but more and more people are finding ways to put down less and it is financially more optimal a lot of times as real estate is appreciating quickly and the market is booming too.
There are also some tax incentives for house ownership that aren’t available to renters. The US is setup for homeowners, not renters.
But I don’t think all of this is the main reason why they try to not rely on the bank of mom and dad… the individualism thing is more to do with that.
In fact it may be the opposite correlation, as those that can partake in outdoorsy activities frequently are probably better off than average.
That was amazingly nice but a house downpayment, I d feel like cheating at life.
I imagine it's a self feeding cycle. Young adults can't purchase homes, so their parents cosign and give a big down payment. Then sellers are able to ask more because wealthy parents are backing the sale, which just makes housing even more unaffordable.
That allows a wildly different lifestyle. He can spend 100% of what he earns, and still
- retire early - buy a large home - send his kids to uni - enjoy quality of life of the top 15%
Not having to buy a home, invest in stocks, reserve money for retirement, savings etc, is a big deal. Meanwhile other friends who have no such parents are more stuck in the rat race and will likely work till an old age retirement, not have a big home, will struggle with kids' education blablabla.
The other thing is that if he fucks up, his parents will help him out. This is one of the reasons I think that he started his own business and continued through years of no-income, whereas others had no such luxury to fail for a few years. e.g. there's plenty of people who, if they had not climbed the corporate ladder the past few years, would permanently be locked out of the housing market. He has no such problem, as if shit really hits the fan there's always a safety net. Your parents might be reserved, but unless they're quite unique, they'll definitely step in if you really fall.
Lastly, don't think it applies to you but I find as kids get older and the 'house' discussion comes up, suddenly rich parents step-in in ways they wouldn't have before (e.g. to fund a fun lifestyle). I've seen this housing-purchase support so often and it can't be overstated how much of a leg up this can be. And even if no support is given, inheritance of rich parents typically covers the mortgage and then some mid-life.
Don't mean to make it too personal and dump a lot of 'you're actually privileged' on you, I don't know you so I really can't say, every family is different. But on a more general note, having rich parents is definitely useful even if there's not been much financial help so far.