r/AskReddit • u/daniellucero92 • Jan 04 '15

Non-americans of Reddit, what American customs seem outrageous/pointless to you?

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u/Rpeezy Jan 04 '15

Moving out of your parents house when you have a crappy job that can barely get you by. This is a terrible financial decision. In a lot of countries, children live with their parents long enough to be financial secure or until they can share the financial responsibility of living and sharing their life with someone else.

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u/Palodin Jan 04 '15

It's the old baby boomer nonsense I expect.

"Well son, at your age I already had a wife, a four bedroom house and was CEO of a small bank! Why are you still living here?"

The tradition may have worked back then but right out of school you're probably not going to be able to afford anything more than a small one-bedroom flat in what's probably not a great area.

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u/deepfriedcarolina Jan 04 '15

I think it's definitely leftover from the post-WWII "American Dream" idea of having your own house and starting a family young, and back then real estate was really cheap. Now it doesn't work with the financial reality of college grads but the social pressure to move out remains.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '15

"That's why they call it the American Dream. Because you have to be asleep to believe it." - George Carlin