What is the biggest issue twentysomethings face?

Question

I am 27 and I was wondering what issues others around my age are facing. For example, I am trying to establish my career path and plan a wedding without going into serious debt. What is the biggest problem for adults under 30? What causes the most stress? Love? Money? Job? Kids? Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Dear 070707bride,

I think Messier here is very much on the mark. In a word, everything is a big problem. Let me break it up into a few main themes to make it easier.

MATERIAL MATTERS: We are a generation where employment opportunities are much fewer and competition much stronger than in the past. My father managed to rise to a very rewarding position inside a multinational corporation with no university education. This would practically be unthinkable today. Instead we are having to spend much more time and money on education and obtaining qualifications. We are independent much later than our parents, and feel great guilt for that.

Competition has been exacerbated by the massive entrance of women into the job market, for instance: this is a good thing, but the problem now is that the demands of the economy make it very difficult to have a materially satisfying home life with only one income-earner. There is nothing wrong with being a housewife or househusband: but economic as well as cultural constraints (this condition is marginalised and ridiculed nowadays) mean that people who want to do it (for the sake of the children, their own development, etc) no longer can.

The concept of rewarding, life-long careers is also disappearing because small and medium enterprises are vanishing to the profit of huge organisations with little or no personal connection to their employees - the economy is also increasingly fast and virtual, so this means that these same organisations are under pressure to report results at a frantic rate and will not hesitate to effect massive redundancies to meet short-term financial targets.

Finally, the price of real estate is ridiculously high, which means young people can no longer afford their own home and will have to wait for many years to get it. All this has a direct impact on the next theme:

HOME LIFE: Since both partners in a household need to work nowadays, stress levels skyrocket and partners tend to offload it upon each other. There is no longer solace in the home, which leads to a great strain on relationships in general and a breakdown in mental health. One in 10 people is supposed to suffer from mental illness nowadays (twenty years ago it was one in 10,000) and it is no coincidence that the average age for a first depressive episode is the mid- to late 20s.

Because the condition of household manager has been discredited (see above), there is no longer a choice in priorities and everyone is supposed to be both a career enthusiast and a competent house manager at the same time. This is an unprecedented strain in the history of home life.

This is also bad for children, obviously, since there is no choice but to leave them in the hands of nannies or daycare centres, thus leading to a great neglect in upbringing and a constant sense of guilt for the parents. This also means that we have a poor birthrate, because we have to wait much longer than our own parents to enjoy the material means to start a family. Women especially now only have a tiny window of opportunity to have children before it's too late.

IDENTITY: We Generation Xers face a permanent existential crisis. We were born in the midst of a general downfall of practically all existing human institutions. We are the generation that saw the collapse of communism, the demise of Enlightenment values, the breakdown of national identities under the influence of globalisation, the return of religious fanaticism and the triumphant excesses of a devil-may-care consumer society. As a result, the cultural landmarks that previous generations defined themselves by are not there for us. We are at a true crossroads in human values.

Some have accused us of wanting everything now, but we cannot be entirely blamed for that - we are after all the generation that has been most overexposed to drivelling and relentless advertisement campaigns urging us to want and be everything now, this minute. By heeding this propaganda, our elders can at least credit us with keeping the economy going. But this has made us confused and neurotic. It is much harder for us to know what to make of our life than most other generations. We are at a real crisis of meaning.

OUR NOBLE ELDERS: Unfortunately we are the children of one of the most selfish and cynical generations in the history of the world. Born in affluence during the post-war boom and presented with plenty of easy opportunities for rewarding and lifelong employment, baby-boomers then decided it was all horribly bourgeois - so they rebelled and tried to change everything for the better.

Peace, love, equality for all, they shouted during the heady 1960s. This admirable idealism lasted all of ten years before they comfortably settled into a wasteful and conservative middle-class life, inventing Super Mario Bros and missile defence systems, discovering stock-market speculation and investment portfolios, and leaving us with a huge economic, demographic and environmental crisis to deal with.

But baby-boomers are nostalgic and still hold the sacred notion of romantic individualism dear to their hearts. So they make much more money than we can ever hope to, have a few careful children and then insist on retiring at 55. And it still will be us, who are lesser in number and have much less opportunities or money, who will have to support them with our taxes, which will undoubtedly rise because politicians love baby-boomer votes and are anxious to please them.

I certainly am at the hardest phase in my life so far, whereas my parents are puzzled by that - at my age they were doing great, and indeed they look upon that time as the best of their lives. They had good jobs, a good home and young children. I am far better educated and qualified than them, yet I have neither of these things, and at 28 I am still far from obtaining most of them. The contrast, I admit, makes me bitter at times. I sometimes see life as little but a long, hard slog.

I deeply resent the suggestion made by some that we are lazy gadabouts. I spent much more effort on my education and training than my parents ever have, thank you very much, and I have to work harder in an employment climate which will always be much less secure and rewarding than theirs, no matter how much work I put in. On top of that I am also expected to be constantly flexible and dynamic to fit the demands of a capricious job market, fiscally responsible, mindful of the environment, and a pristine home manager. These are challenges that those who accuse us of laziness have never had to face.

Hope this helped,

Answer 2

Whew. I'm sorry to say that I honestly think yours is the most burdened generation in all time.
Pension funds are being drained by baby boomers, so the security isn't there like it was for us. The economy and the ongoing wars are wreaking havoc with the economies. So the jobs aren't secure. The 20 somethings are no longer the main focus target market, since they have less money than the boomers, so the advertising companies work harder to convince us that we need something that we don't need at all. That if we don't have it, we are somehow less cool than our friends who do have it. Twenty somethings must wear brand names, Calvin Klein, Louis Vutton, they must order Steak and Lobster not soup and sandwich, they must tip 20% not 10 or 15. They must drive sexy cars, not fuel efficient ones, They must have cell phones. And one each not one per family. They must have text messaging, and Internet and email on those cells. And maybe mapping and MP3's . The point is, you are marketed to death, more than any other generation. The government isn't helping either. Taxes are higher than ever. Everyone's hand is in your pocket. Your generation is more self indulgent too, unfortunately.
And there has never been a worse time for that, as there are more and more distractions out there. Newer fancy drinks, newer and more improved drugs, better cigarette ads, more sports teams, more door to door beggars, more street bums, more junkies who want to rob you for their next crack rock......
OK... enough... I don't want to depress you. I think your only chance my dear is to become Mr and Mr's 50's America. Get a modest home, both work, plan every penny you earn, save 10% religiously for your own pension plan and never touch it, for any reason. don't party, don't be self indulgent. Live a clean simple life, love each other, have a baby when you can afford one. Visit financial planners regularly, sell high, buy low. Gradually and I mean gradually build up your savings and investments, develop some wealth. Do the things that are important to you both, but not all at once. Rent first, then buy. Buy what you can afford. Cash, no credit cards. Credit is for your house only. Nothing else. If you don't have the cash, you cant afford it.
And, if you are lucky, and you can recover from the stumbling blocks that life and god will throw at you along the way. You just might make it. Not as good as your parents did, but maybe close, if they made more mistakes than you have along the way.
Best of luck honey. I wish you both well.

Answer 3

I am now 32 but my late 20s wasn't that long ago. It's still all the above. The only advice I can offer is do whatever it is that makes you happy. Don't let the pressure of family, friends or whatever you think "they" think you should be doing get in the way of doing whatever it is you really love. Then those other things are just the general woes of everyday life and they won't be such a big issue because you'll be happy.

On the wedding front go simple and do what means a lot to you. My first wedding was the whole nine yards traditional event. It went by in a flash and I spent so much time putting in time with the barely known extended family members that I didn't even get to enjoy it. My second wedding was in a park with just our closest friends and family members. Then we all went to have a nice dinner together. It meant so much more and was a lot more enjoyable.

Answer 4

Stress for 20 somethings is from their jobs. There is more pressure nowadays to suceed and make big money. It is getting harder and harder to make ends meet.

The biggest issue for 20 somethings is in BUYING A HOME.
Most will never be able to buy their own home. The prices are way to high compared to the salary made. The woman will have to choose to stay at home and watch the kids or work too. Then the kids may be stressed hardly seeing their parents.

Young Adults need help from our government, like low cost loans.

Answer 5

I think the toughest thing for people under 30 is purchasing their first home with today's real estate prices.

Remember that you don't have to have a huge wedding. That is a choice that you make. My wife and I got married in my grandparent's home, and we didn't spend a dime. Many people said it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever seen.

As far as your career path is concerned, it usually takes a few years. Not very many people come straight out of school and hit the big time.

Good luck!

Answer 6

All of it. Now being a thirty-something, I look back and see that, at your age you think you have to do all these things right away, before you get old. You don't realize that you have soooo much time. I think you finally get it when you get to your mid 30's and you pretty much still look and feel the same as you did in your 20's. I'd say, don't stress your self out, and don't rush marriage and children, work on your career and having a lot of "me" fun. Trust me, once that little test reads positive, you won't be able to do all that stuff for a loooooooong time.

Answer 7

Make life easy on yourself start an I R A now.I'm 49 and have a good one but only because I realized early that social security won't be very good when I'm ready to retire.It might be gone by time your ready.Everything you mentioned are a big stress and will be.Nothing you can do or plan to make it easy.

Answer 8

Most twentysomethings believe in instant entitlement, instant rewards for doing nothing and immediately think the world owes them a living, owes them a sense of self-esteem. The world does not care about anybody's self-esteem. You actually have to put in EFFORT to build confidence and most young people think it is society's job to make them happy, which is delusional.

So in answer to your question, the biggest issue for young people is the idea of WORKING HARD. Most don't want to put in the time to develop as a human being to grow and learn and think it's Daddy's job to make them happy.

Answer 9

At the moment, money is a major concern. The future is a concern, too, but I realize that most things boil down to money.

Answer 10

I would say what the biggest problem is is if you are financially stable and secure or not?