Millennials complain they can’t afford Seattle life they chose

Meet Seattle residents Kathryn Jacoby and Jeff Whitehill, a young couple featured in The Seattle Times this week.

The two just bought a house that they can’t afford and are now struggling with their mortgage payments, credit card debt, and student loans. We’re supposed to feel bad for these two, but I find myself running out of sympathy for millennials who put themselves in financially tenuous positions.

Related: In defense of the millennial generation

The couple isn’t necessarily complaining; at least, that’s saved until the end of the story. But the Times paints their story as a realistic view of the unfair lives for millennials:

Jacoby and Whitehill are among the members of Seattle’s millennial generation who are wrestling with such big-ticket items as costly housing and student loans before they have reached their peak earning years.

Quoting a financial planner, the Times reports that “Young couples like them are between a rock and a hard place.”

We’re supposed to sympathize with their struggle. We shouldn’t. With respect, young couples are mostly between a rock and hard place because they put themselves there.

Millennials and choices

This couple lacks an emergency fund; Whitehill, at 32, owes about $60,000 in student loan debt; and Jacoby makes just a modest income at $45,000 a year (modest in this context, at least). The reports also indicates credit card debt and that, based on their current retirement savings, they will not be able to sustain themselves after they leave the workforce.

Yet, they decided to purchase a $550,000 house. They can’t afford this house. Not only is it 72-years-old, which will likely need to undergo maintenance, they had to take out a personal $30,000 loan from family members to cover a portion of the costs. Why is this a position that deserves our sympathy? It’s only a “reality” because millennials are making really bad decisions.

If you can’t afford a house, don’t buy one. If you can’t afford high rent on Capitol Hill, don’t live there. If you plan on getting onto a career path with limited income potential, don’t go to an expensive college. These are common sense and reasonable positions we should impart to all millennials, but don’t. But we’re pretending otherwise.

Actually, it’s worse. We’re not taking any responsibility whatsoever. Per the Times:

[Jacoby] urged young adults to push back against the high cost of housing and college by telling public officials to address the problems.
“It’s totally unfair that young people are in the positions they are in,” she said.

You put yourself in this position. There are much cheaper homes that you chose not to buy, different career paths you chose to ignore. Your position is not “totally unfair”; it’s a position of your own doing.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz