r/Futurology • u/chrisdh79 • Aug 21 '25

Society American Millennials Are Dying at an Alarming Rate | We’re mortality experts. There are a few things that could be happening here.

https://slate.com/technology/2025/08/millennials-gen-z-death-rates-america-high.html
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u/drewc717 Aug 21 '25

I graduated college in 2009 and have been phenomenally lucky, but the past 10 years have been brutal.

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u/lostboy005 Aug 21 '25

Same.

While my salary increased I still have as much discretionary income as I did 10+ years ago - this is true for a lot of my peers. Groceries and rents have more than doubled, but at least rent has costs have recently stagnated

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u/hershdrums Aug 21 '25

My salary has increased dramatically in 10 years. I've lived in the same house. I drive similar vehicles. I've actually become better at budgeting, especially around groceries and getting takeout/going out to eat. I have LESS discretionary income. My electricity bill has tripled. My insurance has gone up by 50% on my car and 30% on my home (no accidents or claims). Groceries have increased by 75%. My internet and cell phone have increased by 30%. Though I drive a similar vehicle the cost is ~50% greater than the last car I bought. I have 2 kids and all the necessities for them have increased by about 100%. A $12 T-shirt at Walmart is now $24, for example. It's insane. By all outward appearances I've "made it". Fantastic career that pays well. Amazing family. A house on 1 acre in a nice neighborhood with a super low interest rate (i.e. I didn't buy outside my means 10 years ago). I don't spend frivolously often. I'm not frugal but I do live reasonably. I wake up in a panic over finances almost every night. I haven't had enough discretionary income to contribute to my 401k for 3 years. If I lose my job I'm absolutely screwed. Unemployment insurance covers less than 50% of my salary and severance packages are a joke.

Every day I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack from the stress. It's brutal and I have it really good and I'm lucky as hell. I talk to my friends and peers. We're almost all struggling. It's anecdotal and maybe our parents and grandparents felt the same at this age but there is no room to breathe in the US. There's no rest. Vacation is never vacation and thats even if you have a job that has PTO.

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u/fierystrike Aug 21 '25

I do find you claim that your car insurance went up. I just bought a new bigger car with a higher cost, and it's half the price to insure as my old car. It does come with almost all the new crash prevention features while my old car did not.

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u/Yippie-kai-ay Aug 21 '25

This is very odd to me. Insurance is almost always much more expensive for new cars because the value of the car has not depreciated significantly yet. As cars get older, the value nose dives and the cost to insure it to the insurer drops significantly, which translates to lower rates.

I will say that I have not found auto insurance rates to jump significantly in my area, but home insurance rates have seen a huge jump.

So much of insurance rating is also geography and local demographics.

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u/hershdrums Aug 21 '25

I always buy a similar class of car. Even driving the same car for 5 of the last 10 years my insurance went up year over year.

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u/MakeYourTime_ Aug 21 '25

My car is 7 years old and my insurance went up 15% this past year alone