Okay, so very few of us can even begin to think about affording our home. And now, to add insult to the whole matter, the latest bit of news is that our rents are going up too, with an expected increase of 5.3% this year (double last year's) according the National Association of Realtors. Not to be dour or anything, but it seems that when one thing goes right (more jobs than ever for recent college grads) something else goes wrong. So while many college grads will have jobs this coming year, very few will be able to afford an apartment to go along with it. Here's where the crunch will be felt most:
- Fort Lauderdale
- New York
- Vegas
- OC
- Los Angeles
Check out the article from NYT titled "The Bank of Mom and Dad." The journalist talks about how many of today's 20- and 30-somethings are getting some form of financial assistance from their parents. The article includes the stat that 34 percent of young adults between 18 and 34 receive cash from their parents. Now, that's no surprise to me considering that I talk about that in my book. In fact, that's the main reason I said that we shouldn't get so down on people living at home. After all, they're not the only ones getting help from their parents. While many young adults go around with their apartments and bills paid in full by their parents, others (who don't have wealthy parents) have to move back home. So why are we judging this group so harshly and letting the other group off the hook completely? It just doesn't make any sense to me. In fact, according to another article from Money magazine, living at home with parents is more fiscally responsible than letting your parents pay all your bills. I couldn't agree more!
Editor's Correction: The post I mention here was not written by Po Bronson, but by his fellow blogger Ashley Merryman -- a lawyer, former Clinton Aid, and journalism police. I apologize for the mistake, but come on, her name is written in tiny little letters. Po and Ashley were very angry with me, calling my mistake "frightening" and "embarrasing." Again, while I apologize for the error, I find it much more embarrassing and equally as frightening that Ashley did not take the time to check into what happened with my promotion with Failure to Launch and Viacom, and that she blogged about it without knowing all the facts. Good journalism would have induced her to do a minimal amount of investigation before jumping to conclusions. So let's not point fingers Ashley, shall we?
I had to share something really funny. While I was googling my name the other day (I do that a lot!), I happened on a blog entry from Po Bronson, author of the books What Should I do with my Life, Why Do I Love These People?, and What Am I Going to Name My Next Book?” (I just made it up, but
Apparently, Mr. Po Broson Ashley Merryman was very upset about the fact that he she likened it to a diabolical conspiracy, pointing out that Simon & Schuster (my publisher) and
Not only do I think Po Ashely is off his rocker, I think his her conspiracy-building skills are being wasted and would be better applied to working with the organization (which I actually support) www.truth911.org.
He She writes about how angry he was that he she was that so many media outlets, including The Today Show and Boston Herald took the bait. He She also pointed out, not once, but twice, that my book was (gasp!) 1 YEAR OLD!!! Yeah Ashley Po, pretty soon it will be a collector’s item.
Po Ashely goes on to write a vitriolic sour grapes rant on his blog. Seems like someone has never been a spokesperson before. Marketing/PR 101: Many authors make bank promoting products. I did not get paid anything to promote Failure to Launch. It was a mutual makeout session: I liked the movie and the movie liked me! What’s wrong with a little afternoon loving?
Read on (Credit: Po Bronson’s Blog)…
“All of which amounts to what I'd consider a spectacular home run for Viacom . . . and a spectacular failure for journalism. Not only did the news outlets take the bait -- and double-up on the time they devoted to the Failure to Launch topic, not only did they highlight a year old book -- but they also reported on a trend which, after a year of researching, I can honestly say I do not think exists.”
First off, I want to say that as smart, as brilliant, and as well-funded that I think the people at Viacom are, I was not lucky enough to have a representative contact me to cross promote my book. If only life were that easy. But for a lowly author like me, it never is.
In fact, I take it as a compliment that Po Ashely considers it a brilliant promotional move, since it was all my idea. Here’s how it went down:
Boomerang Nation / Failure to Launch Cross Promotion:
- Feb 2005: I find out that Paramount is planning to start casting for a film called Failure to Launch for release in 06.
- May 2005: Boomerang Nation comes out!
- Jan 2006: I hear more rumblings that the movie is set to be released.
- Feb 2006: I contact Paramount and ask to see an early screening of the film.
- Feb 2006: I love the film, and based on all the research and interviews I’ve conducted, conclude that is has many similarities to the real life boomeranging trend. I realize that I would not be pimping myself out or compromising my book if I was to support the film.
- Feb 2006: I call
Paramount and propose several ways of working together. One of the cheapest being to issue a press release to talk about how I will discuss the film in the media. - Feb and March 2006: Woo hoo! I end up going on The Today Show,
CNBC, Geraldo at Large to discuss the boomeranging trend. See the clips on my press page. Who doesn’t love being on TV??? - March 2006: Many authors contact me to congratulate me on the success of the book/movie cross promotion. Everybody wins. My book gets promoted, the film goes to #1, and boomerangers are even more aware that they’re not alone, freaks, or weird for living at home.
- Oh yeah, I also got to meet Matthew Mccohnaughey at the film premiere, who looked at me funny when I asked him to sign my book. Of course, I took it for what it was: that he was madly in love with me.
And as far as Boomeranging not being a trend, well, I guess Po Ashely has done his her research. It seems that bad media guys and inept journalists are all jumping on the trend bandwagon and creating something out of nothing.
Here’s what I have to say. Granted, young adults have been living at home for decades, but the problem is that there has been virtually no attention paid to this group. That’s why I wrote this book -- to help boomerangers come out of the basement and feel better about their choice to reside with the parents. So is boomeranging a new phenomenon? Not really. But the acceptance and attention allotted to this group have increased, making it look as if it’s a whole new trend.
And are there 18.6 million people living at home? Yes!
And are 60 percent of all college students in 2005 moving home to live with parents? Yes, again!
Also, I do predict that the numbers will only increase due to many factors like a return to historic immigration levels, increasing health care costs, the continued segmentation between the haves and have nots, rising costs of education, and predatory lending by credit card companies just to name a few. Also, since Generation Y is a much larger demographic, this “trend” is only going to become apparent as there will be many more 20- to 34-year-olds in 2010 than in 2000. And because of all the media attention, they won’t experience the same stigma that their older brothers and sisters did.
Anyway, whether it’s an old or new phenomenon, thanks to movies such as Failure to Launch, articles in major media, and my book :), more light is shed on the topic and that can only be a good thing!
Po Ashley finishes his her sour-grapes rants:
“And all of which I guess explains why Failure to Launch is #1 at the box office, and why I'm not working in the Viacom PR department, why Ms. Furman is on Today and I'm not. Tomorrow -- the real changes in young adult lives."
Sounds like someone wants to be on TV. (Correction: I should have known it wasn't Po who wrote this. After all, he's been on Oprah.)
http://www.pobronson.com/blog/2006/03/failure-to-launch-or-failure-to_12.html
In Boomerang Nation, on the last page, I asked all us former and current boomerangers to come together on several key political issues. If you'd read that far, you probably know that one of the main issues today is health insurance coverage. Young people continue to be one of the fastest growing segments of the population without health insurance, with about 32% of people ages 19 to 29 in American going completely without insurance. Fortunately, New Jersey has expanded coverage to young adults, allowing parents to insure their kids until the age of 30, provided they reside in the state and don't have children of their own. In fact, six states (Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas and Utah) have also extended health coverage up to ages of 24, 25, and 25, and many other states including New York, Connecticut, and Kentucky have started to debate the merits of similar laws. Let's hope this continues to be a trend. Go ahead and contact your state legislature and ask them to consider passing a similar bill. Check me out on CNBC the week of March 20 to hear me talking about this topic.
I had a chance to go to the NYC premiere of Failure to Launch at Clearview Chelsea West and it was really great. I did the red-carpet thing and met all the cast members, including Matthew, Zooey, Brad, Justin, Terry, and Kathy. I didn't mention their last names, cause by now we're on first name basis. Not really. But they did sign my book. I felt a little silly asking them to do it, but once they realized that i was a writer and not some crazy stalker/paparazzi, they were more than gracious. And yes, Matthew is even better looking in person. But my favorites were Zooey, Brad (alias, kitchen confidential), and Justin. They were really nice and asked about my book. Zooey brought her mom to the premiere and also revealed that they had been living together until she was 26, which means she only moved out last year. See! All these female celebs living at home. It's really amazing. Next, it was on to the new hot spot, restaurant/lounge Buddakhan, where the after-party was held. The decor was beautiful and even Salma Hayek showed up, no doubt to promote her new movie. She really does look great. In between bites of really delicious lamb, chicken dumplings and tempura shrimp, I had a chance to spot all the cast members enjoying themselves. It was a really fun night. But that's when I had to say goodbye. Rumor has it that Matthew M, Lance Armstrong, and George Clooney were all at Bungalow 8 later that night. Unfortunatley, and as much as I hated to say no, I was unable to join them for that last leg of the tour.
Two new books Strapped by Tamara Draut and Generation Debt by Anya Kamenetz (fyi: two ladies who do not return my emails :) ) have recently come out discussing how tough young people have it today, so tough that many of them have to (gasp!) move back home to live with their parents. Both books cite economic and social factors like the high cost of health care, skyrocketing education costs, exorbitant housing prices, and poor credit management as some of the main factors that are making it much tougher on this generation. I have to agree with them to some extent. While many boomers assume that this generation is the whiniest on record, there is something to say about how education is exceeding inflation and the housing prices just being totally ridiculous. It's simply much harder for us to match the middle class lifestyles that our parents enjoyed. Of course, this doesn't mean we should all give up trying and start racking up credit debt. But we should try to figure out how to be more sensible and realize that delayed adolescene and arrested development have a lot to do with our sense of economic optimisim -- or, lack thereof.
Okay, I officially have a Failure to Launch obsession. Courtesy of the nice people at Paramount, I was able to see the ultimate date/family/comedy flick last night and I give it 4 and 1/2 out of 5 stars. The premise of the film (the parents hire a woman to fall in love with their son to get him out of the house) worked really well. There was enough character development to make the whole story line extremely plausible. Also, the director Tom Dey really knows his stuff. Nothing fell flat and the film was extremely funny! And the writers seemed to be really aware of the whole Boomeranging trend. It looked like they had their facts down and presented both sides of the equation without every stereotyping. Good job!
There's just not enough to say about Matthew. He is hysterical in the film, and has a charm that we've rarely seen in other films, almost a vulnerability. I think that's because many of us have a hard time believing that someone as hot, funny, and cool as him would have any problems, but in this film, you really believe it -- if only for a second. Sarah Jessica was okay. Her face just doesn't convey warm gooey feelings really well. But Zooey Deshanel almost stole the whole film. Her dry delivery and story line was reason enough to see it. Anyway, I think the audience really enjoyed themselves. Although I heard one woman in her 50s say to her husband, "This wasn't on the level of Wedding Crashers." It's amazing. Now everyone expects every film to be a gross out, guy comedy, but the reason I loved this one is because it reminded me of all those '80s high concept romantic comedies that actually had a soul, see Protocol, Working Girl, Splash, etc.
Want to win 6 months rent so you can move out on your own? Get in line. You can enter the contest at www.myspace.com/failuretolaunch. You'll get to live on your own, and you'll win a trip to New York City for a screening of the film and a chance to meet the stars.
The movie Failure to Launch, starring the dreamy Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker, will open on March 10, 2006. For those of you who haven't been tuning in, the movie is about a 30-something guy who still lives with his parents. In a desperate effort to get him out of the house, the parents arrange for him to meet a new love interest (Parker). I think it's going to be really funny. At least Hollywood is acknowledging that boomerangers exist -- if only they all looked like M.M. Check out the website www.failuretolaunchmovie.com
Here are a few stats for graduates moving home (courtesy MonsterTrak)
- 2005: 60 percent college graduates planned to move back in with their parents after graduation
- 2004: 57 percent
- 2003: 61 percent
- 2001: 63 percent
Parents sending off their kids to school shouldn't go changing the locks just yet. According to the latest stats from MonsterTrak, 60 percent of 2005 grads plan to move back home after graduation. Obviously the numbers may be even higher, since big hopes of moving out on our own may be curtailed by an inability to secure a job or a change of career plans. But all in all, it looks like the boomerang trend is not waning anytime soon. Just thought you'd want an update.
I know it's not Mother's Day or anything, but it was my Mom's b-day last week.
As much as we complain about our parents holding us back, sometimes it's us that are holding them back. The more I think about it, the more I realize how we boomerangers don't realize that our parents don't want to grow up just as much as we do or were just as scared to move on as we were. And even if our relationship is great with them, even if we were best of friends, it's that much harder to extricate ourselves and give each other space. For as long as I can remember, my mother has been a phenomenal singer. Of course, after a few frustrating years of trying to make it in Russia, she gave it up, married and had two children. All my life I have heard her sing Edith Piaf songs with strength, power, and an incredible French accent. She was and is brilliant. But did I ever encourage her to sing or do anything with it again? NO. I thought it was enough that she support my dreams, which would in turn, support us back. But in the end, it never works that way. My mother has started singing again and I will be going with her to two open mikes at Birdland and Don't Tell Mama (how fitting) Piano Bar in NYC. So please give a big warm welcome to her. She deserves it!
ABC Family has greenlighted a new reality series "Kicked Out" where in each episode, one family will try to kick their unmotivated, jobless 20-something boomeranger out of the house to fend for themselves. These kids are painted as the worst of the worst -- slackers, lazy, whiiny. And then they're given 1,500 in cash, an apartment, and a job interview. Oh, boo hoo! How can they possibly survive on so little? The premise is completely off and the show just confirms all the easy boomerang generation stereoypes. Verdict: Watch at your own peril.
Think no one would willingly choose to live with their parents? Think again. It should make you feel better to know that both Brittany Muprhy and Jennifer Love Hewitt are happilly cohabitating with dear old Mom. And by the sound of their very active love lives, it doesn't seem to be cramping their style any.
Brittany Murphy. "I would never have this career without my mom. I would have ended up fleeing
Jennifer Love Hewitt, Interview Mag, "No. I really like my situation. A big thing for me is safety and I wouldn't sleep at night if I lived on my own. I would feel so unsafe. And there's a big part of me that sometimes thinks, What I do is the craziest thing in the world, and part of my living at home is to remind myself that the entertainment industry is completely different from real life. When I come home and my mom tells me to clean my room and take out the trash, it brings reality into my day."
There's a great new book out that I just had to mention. The Quarterlifer's Companion: How To Get On The Right Career Path, Control Your Finances, And Find The Support Network You Need To Thrive. As Boomerangers, most of us have been through and are still going through the painfully annoying years that constitute the quarter life crisis. Now, you have an old and new companion from author extraordinaire Abby Wilner, the co-author of the groundbreaking Quarterlife Crisis, and her cowriter and webmaster Catherine Stocker. I read this book and I have to say it's a great addition to the subject. While the first book provided case scanarious and introduced you to the topic of our lean and hungry 20s, this one takes it a step further with practical advice, helpful exercises, and a good dose of research compiled from actual surveys of hundreds of quarterlifers like yourself. I just wish I had it when I was in my 20s.
Whatever that means...Everyone should tune in to watch MTV's True Life "I'm Moving Home to Live with My Parents" on 6/16. 10:30 ET. I'm sure it's going to be a bloodbath with kids breaking curfew, parents weeping, and everyone talking about how the whole thing just sucks. Hopefully, they'll put a few brave boomerangers who actually have the guts to go on television and admit to liking their parents. But somehow, I doubt it.
On a side note: I am officially leaving on vacation for Italy for two weeks and will not be updating my blog (as if I update it that much anyway). So rest assured, you will get your monthly update as soon as I get back. The one thing I worry about is that now that I'm leaving, an actual television show will want to feature me and the book. For those of you who hadn't heard me complain about it: I was almost booked on 3 shows. That's right, Good Morning America, 20/20, and Fox and Friends were all clamoring for me. Well, not really clamoring. It wasn't anyone's fault, though (maybe the pope for taking up all that coverage). Off to the Vatican. Ciao!!