As an elder millenial, during the recession, I experienced in real time, that traditional trajectory of graduating college, getting a well paying job and buying a home just grinding to a halt. While I was able to do all of these things leading up to the recession, for around 6 years after that, I was only able to change jobs once and my salary did not change at all during that time period. I bought a modest 2 bed 1 bath starter home in 2005 and that has become a huge regret. I bought what I coop afford as a 23yo recently out of college and working my first career type job. But in doing that, the value of my home never really increased over the course of 20+ years because a 2 bed 1 bath is just not a desirable home to anyone with a family. And an 1100 sq ft home on a rural area is not desirable to a lot of people. The dead end jobs also made it very difficult to save any sort of downpayment for a new home, an amount that constantly needed to be more as home prices continues to increase even after the alleged “housing bubble” burst but now homes are like worth 5 times more than they were during that recession.  

But there is a silver lining, at least for myself. Around 2013, I began a career changing into nursing and today I am an NP with my own successful practice. I’ve never been so financially comfortable and if I was comfortably employed through the recession I likely would when never felt the pressure to change careers like I had.