[JoeAltmaier]

Wow that's cynical. Insurance can deal with most issues. Saving continues to be a buffer against unemployment. Invest in predictable securities and you can do ok, at least not lose. If a generation has that short a view, then they're destined for not-greatness. Because doing worthwhile things takes time, and short-sightedness won't get you there.

[drivingmenuts]

Well, yes, you can buy your insurance and then the company refuses to pay out because ... arcane reasons. Savings goes into a mega-bank that goes bankrupt in a scandal of home mortgages or something like. Securities ... run by sharks who would sell you your own mother given half a chance.

Seriously, if you're not paranoid, you haven't been paying attention for the last decade.

The grim truth is that there is no alternative.

[seanflyon]

> the company refuses to pay

This is a very real problem.

> bank that goes bankrupt

You money is still safe even if the bank goes bankrupt, which it won't.

> Securities ... run by sharks

Doesn't make them any less secure. You do have to do your research before investing and its not the most approachable process, but you can still invest in low risk securities. If you want to cautious you can always buy treasury bonds.

You can pay attention and still not be paranoid.

[angersock]

Those are all true statements, but you're overlooking some key realities.

Savings and insurance won't save you from a lot of complicated costs that come out of healthcare, which you can't bound cleanly. You can end up with a lot of extra costs (due to missing work and so forth) if you are stuck following your insurance provider's network. Preventative care (even normal, regular checkups) is nontrivial to obtain unless you have good insurance and the time and money to use it. The "family doctor" doesn't exist for most millenials--recall that the system was so fucked they passed legislation to let young adults stay on their parents' insurance until their mid-20s.

Investing is nice if you've got the money and assets to spare, and even so consider the general perceived trustworthiness of these investment funds; 2008 wasn't that long ago.

Then there's student loans--if you got a decent education (or even a worthless one that was marketed well), you're looking at tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars in debt, due monthly, no excuses.

So, go add the cost of cars, the cost of student (or house, or car, or whatever) loan maintenance, the cost of insurance, the cost of having a phone and internet (and maybe cable). We've (more really, our parents and the Boomers) constructed a society and civilization with way too much "fuck you got mine" and way too little upwards mobility (or even security!). You should realize that the deck is stacked very heavily against people not born with a spoon in their mouth.

It's not impossible by any stretch--I'm lucky enough to be managing myself, for example--but you have to consistently make a lot of choices that are at best difficult and at worst impossible in modern society.

So, yeah, I'm cynical.