Freedom, indebtedness, gratitude
Apr. 18th, 2014 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterWhile I was in Seattle, my father made me an offer I couldn't refuse: he offered to buy out the rest of my student loan debt owed to Sallie Mae. Given the choice between making interest payments to the government and making interest payments to my father, which would you choose? I still owe a considerable chunk of money to my parents anyway, and last year, I paid $324 in interest to Sallie Mae.
Over dinner on Tuesday,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
annikusrex and I talked about what it's like to be a Millenial, as she has been reflecting on the topic in association with her wedding; many things come to a head when a person gets married, and it's one of those times where a number of financial things surface, in particular. Student loan debt is a sizeable element in the lives of many Millenials. People my age and younger generally don't have the sorts of financial resources at our disposal as previous generations. We've invested in education because we were told it was the right thing to do. Now we aren't buying houses or cars, often simply because we lack the money. It's a hard reality to face at times. In many ways, we are no longer asking for these things or prioritizing them because they've never felt like possible, tangible goals of any sort. The hardest part of the equation is that it often makes us feel powerless, especially in the face of governments that are heavily influenced by the money of lobbyists.
Meanwhile, the Wedding-Industrial Complex has been built to cater to the children of wealthy, retiring baby boomers who all-too-often use their children's life events as opportunities to display their wealth. It's *somewhat* easier to swallow that notion when the people getting married are freshly out of college, as one can understand if new graduates have little or no financial resources and parents want to ensure their children are taken care of. The situation can be more complex when the children are older. On the one hand, older children are assumed to have more financial independence. On the other hand, how does one address the unrealistic expectations that have been built up for weddings, if one isn't interested in feeding the beast of consumerism?
I'm constantly grateful for a major gift my parents (and especially father) have given me: as a family, we can have conversations about financial decisions and priorities, and the conversations and decisions don't involve any emotional blackmail or weird maneuvering. The conversations don't always go how everyone would like them to (see: me wanting contacts in high school, family deciding they weren't affordable), but they're as straightforward as they can possibly be.
It's hard to have these conversations honestly, as a society. There can be a lot at stake, especially for businesses and organizations trying to sneak into consumers' pocketbooks. Here's hoping that my generation can continue to push back and keep the focus on the human experience.
Over dinner on Tuesday,
annikusrex and I talked about what it's like to be a Millenial, as she has been reflecting on the topic in association with her wedding; many things come to a head when a person gets married, and it's one of those times where a number of financial things surface, in particular. Student loan debt is a sizeable element in the lives of many Millenials. People my age and younger generally don't have the sorts of financial resources at our disposal as previous generations. We've invested in education because we were told it was the right thing to do. Now we aren't buying houses or cars, often simply because we lack the money. It's a hard reality to face at times. In many ways, we are no longer asking for these things or prioritizing them because they've never felt like possible, tangible goals of any sort. The hardest part of the equation is that it often makes us feel powerless, especially in the face of governments that are heavily influenced by the money of lobbyists.Meanwhile, the Wedding-Industrial Complex has been built to cater to the children of wealthy, retiring baby boomers who all-too-often use their children's life events as opportunities to display their wealth. It's *somewhat* easier to swallow that notion when the people getting married are freshly out of college, as one can understand if new graduates have little or no financial resources and parents want to ensure their children are taken care of. The situation can be more complex when the children are older. On the one hand, older children are assumed to have more financial independence. On the other hand, how does one address the unrealistic expectations that have been built up for weddings, if one isn't interested in feeding the beast of consumerism?
I'm constantly grateful for a major gift my parents (and especially father) have given me: as a family, we can have conversations about financial decisions and priorities, and the conversations and decisions don't involve any emotional blackmail or weird maneuvering. The conversations don't always go how everyone would like them to (see: me wanting contacts in high school, family deciding they weren't affordable), but they're as straightforward as they can possibly be.
It's hard to have these conversations honestly, as a society. There can be a lot at stake, especially for businesses and organizations trying to sneak into consumers' pocketbooks. Here's hoping that my generation can continue to push back and keep the focus on the human experience.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-04-18 07:25 pm (UTC)We figure we didn't get exactly the wedding we wanted- we wish we had stuck to our guns and made people leave us alone. But we did get the marriage we wanted, so what can you do?
no subject
Date: 2014-04-18 07:32 pm (UTC)This is almost EXACTLY what