Adrian Volenik
4 min read
A 36-year-old Reddit user resonated deeply with fellow millennials after posting openly about their financial situation. They say they live paycheck to paycheck, have over $100,000 in debt, no savings and, perhaps most surprisingly, don't feel panicked about it. “I should be freaking out, but I just don't have the energy anymore,” they wrote.
They explained that the bulk of their debt came from a private university degree in archaeology and classics that cost $200,000. Although they’ve managed to pay a significant portion down, they still owe about $40,000. Add to that a $30,000 auto loan and a personal loan taken out to help cover bills when student loan payments were $1,000 a month pre-COVID. “I couldn't afford to pay them and my other bills. So I got a personal loan.”
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“Maybe it's the state of the world and not knowing what's going to happen in the next few months, let alone years,” he wrote. “Or maybe I've just grown numb to my situation.”
The poster, who now works as a traveling contractor in a scientific field, said their current approach is simple: “I will either figure it out and make it work or I won't. But I can't bring myself to fret anymore.”
“A few years ago I would have freaked out and sent myself into a panic attack,” the person wrote. “And now it's here and I honestly don't care.”
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In the replies, many reflected those feelings of burnout, resignation and financial paralysis. One commenter put it plainly: “I'm 39, just got laid off from my job of 13 years and I'm about to lose my apartment due to rent increase. I feel ya OP.”
Multiple people shared stories of six-figure debts, stagnant wages, medical emergencies, and housing instability. A recurring theme was the feeling that no matter how hard they work, they’re falling behind.
“It seems like every time we’ve finally ‘leveled up’ in jobs, raises, etc., there’s been a huge jump in costs along with it,” wrote one person. “We can never get our heads above the water.”
