December 28th 2017 The Times They Are A-Changin'
For those of you who don't listen to Bob Dylan, this post was inspired by his song of the same title. No it really wasn't rather it was inspired by a thought I had while using the bathroom at my job without any lights. Sounds like a weird place to have a idea for a blog posts, but our brains are very mysterious. This post is a bit different because I will be comparing myself to my parents and their parents.
One of the main reasons I started to compare myself to my parents is because I constantly use my own father as a measuring stick. Growing up my father always told me that he worked hard because he wanted to give his family the things he never had growing up. This has helped me develop a similar mindset to want to outshine him. Before I get into discussing my father's back story let me talk about my grand parents. My grandmother came to NYC back in the early seventies with my mother and her four siblings from the Dominican Republic. Whereas my grandfather and grandmother came to NYC from Puerto Rico in the late fifties. My mother's mother worked in a factory and was able to purchase real estate and provide for her family. My father's mother was a homemaker and had to take care of her seven kids and many grandchildren. My father's father worked in a furniture factory. Unfortunately my father's parents were not able to purchase a home and remained living in an apartment for almost fifty years. That's the spark notes on my grand parent's and their back story.
My father started working in his teens years at the same factory as his father and within two years he was able to become a supervisor at the factory. From there he left the nest at age eighteen and began working at a local auto parts. After working his way up to manager he was offered the opportunity to purchase the business from the owner. Let's just say he didn't accept the deal and my mother's brother ended up purchasing the business. From there he began driving tractor trailers around the country. After doing that for a couple of years he started driving local until his retirement early this year. My mother went into secretary school right after finishing high-school and worked for one company for over twenty years. While working at the company she purchased a grocery store with one of her brothers. Because his parents were not able to purchase a home, my father made it his goal to purchase a home. Fortunately by the age of twenty seven my father and mother bought their first property.
Like I always say I'm an average Joe just like most of you out there. My parents have shaped how I live my life, I started working at a young age just like my father. I started working in the same auto parts my father worked in years before. I made it my goal in life to make more money than my father did just how he did with his own father. I accomplished this before reaching the age of twenty five but it didn't make me happy. The times were too different, society has changed so much that my achievements were meaningless. If you look at an inflation calculator a dollar in 1989 would be worth two dollars today in 2017. I learned today in that bathroom that I should stop comparing myself to my parents for one reason, the times they are a-changin'.
Prices for real estate in NYC are at an all time high and the property that my parents were able to buy for about a hundred thousand dollars is now valued at close to a million dollars. If you listen to any recent study about the younger generation "millenniums" are late to leave the nest. One of the reasons is the cost of living has increased astronomically I've seen the cost of rent in the projects for a two bedroom with utilities included go for over twelve hundred a month. A two bedroom apartment in a private house in the Bronx without utilities go for thirteen hundred a month. In retrospect my grand parent's rent was one hundred and seventy five dollars for a three bedroom apartment that they had for almost fifty years. How can I compare rent prices form the seventies to 2017, my friend has a three bedroom in Manhattan and only pays about eight hundred a month plus utilities. This friend has had this apartment since the early 2000s. With the cost of living going up, you would think wages would increase as well.... Nope. According to the last census the median household income in Brooklyn NY is about $45k. Looking back to 1990 the median income was $32k. So when it comes to purchasing real estate inside the city we can no longer compare ourselves to the older generation.
Even when it comes to purchasing electronics its the same. A Super Nintendo at launch was $200 which would equate to $359 today. Sounds reasonable but some of the games my parents bought me were $70 back then which would cost $125. That is double the price of a modern game. Have you ever seen the prices of computers back in the 90s. Computers used to cost thousands of dollars back then and I was blessed enough to have access to one growing up. I'm not trying to bash our generation by pointing out all of the great things our parents did for us. Our generation is even better because of the advancement in technology and the evolution of the internet. Within seconds we can get in contact with anyone in the world. We can trade stock instantly without the need to call a broker or mail in an order. Our lives are getting easier every single day with all of the new services coming out.
My main point in doing a post like this, is to give you guys a peak at my humble beginnings and also to touch on one topic; Stop living in the past, it's time to live in the now. I am not my parents or my grandparents, so why am I comparing myself to them? That's just some food for thought. If you enjoyed this post thanks, if not oh well. Either way feel free to leave me a comment down below. If you want more content, you can subscribe to the Books By Josh Show on ITunes, Google Play Music and Stitcher. If you want more content then that you can check us out on YouTube. To get notified whenever we post make sure you follow us on Twitter or Facebook. If you wish to support the site, the best way is to tell your friends about us. If you want to show more love feel free to subscribe or support us. If that still isn't enough, feel free to become a patreon or buy a signed copy of my book from our store page. All of the links to everything can be found at the bottom of this post and like always...... I'll catch you guys in the next one, see-ya.