Lived Economies

“I thought, ‘Oh, the down payment and closing costs and those kinds of things are going to be the most expensive part of buying a house, and it ain't,” says Ashley Ayala.

“At a certain point, we were like, ‘Well, if I were to buy the house, you'd live with me. If you were to buy the house, I would live with you. What if we just buy the house together?’” said Ashley Ayala, a new homeowner in Texas.

The rising costs of healthcare, childcare, and groceries are putting more pressure on families.

“How can you know what your financial situation is going to look like in a month?” said one expert.

“I actually did have to drop down my hours,” said Julie Yang, a nurse and a mother of six. “Now I'm feeling kind of anxious about it.”

“I want a house so badly,” said Ashley Ayala of Texas. “But for work, I travel three weeks out of the month... It is very hard for me to justify the largest purchase of my life when I am only home one week a month.”

Their spending has been strong through the pandemic and inflation. But it doesn’t mean they’re not worried about the economy.

Prices have gone up nearly 30% in the last decade. And big families are feeling the strain.

Inflation has made life more expensive. But young adults don't exactly know what things used to cost.

"Who knows what's going to happen next?" said one soon-to-be retiree. "It's not like we're 30 and we can recoup."