Image source: @VisualChina
Text | Laika Think Tank, author | Yinghua, editor | G3007
Since 2023, topics about this generation of young people such as "why young people are in a hurry to repay mortgages" and "why don't young people want to get married now" have rushed to the hot search, and this generation of young people has taken a different path from their parents, breaking their hearts for their parents, banks and the country. So there is such a paragraph on the Internet:
Lowering interest rates encourages conditional families to buy homes, but leads to early repayments;
Delayed retirement is to alleviate the shortage of social security funds, and as a result, many young people do not pay social insurance;
The release of three children is to encourage fertility, but last year the population showed negative growth;
High housing prices encourage young people to struggle, but they choose to lie flat.
The data shows that Chinese has fallen for four consecutive years, and the marriage rate has hit a 10-year low. Even, the average age of first marriage in Anhui and other places is more than 30 years old. Yes, this generation of young people is indeed creating a "spectacle" of the era: they are frantically paying off their mortgages while delaying marriage and childbearing.
What does house and marriage mean for young people? We chatted with several young people.
01 Why do old women want men when they are rich
There is a "crazy money saving group" on Douban, which gathers more than 600,000 young people who want to save money, some of them to save for a down payment to buy a house, and some to repay the mortgage as soon as possible... They believe in "losing your heart and saving money, and living calmly".
Wu Lei (pseudonym) is such an older single young woman who "loses her heart and saves money" to pay off her mortgage.
In the eyes of Wu Lei's classmates, she is a successful person, but also a failure.
She caught up with the good times of China's Internet development, in 87 she worked as an accountant for 10 years in a large Internet factory in Houchang Village, Beijing, and now she is a middle manager, with a "passable" salary, she bought a house in Shijingshan, Beijing very early.
But even in such a male hormone-fueled Internet company, the 35-year-old is still not married, her classmates' children can play soy sauce, but she only has a cat as a companion. "It seems that too successful is not a good thing, it is difficult to find a man to marry." Once, Wu Lei's hometown classmate said this in front of her.
"Why does the old lady want a man when she is rich?" Wu Lei said. In order to save money to pay off the mortgage early, Wu Lei simply lived as a life actuary.
Wu Lei has the habit of keeping accounts every day, and she has calculated her monthly consumption expenses, only more than a thousand. From her account books, it can be seen that she lived a "minimalist life", saving all unnecessary expenses.
Every day, Wu Lei would go to the cafeteria to eat free breakfast, because she was full, so she hardly ate lunch, and went home after work to cook for herself. Once had dinner with subordinates, they went to a Hong Kong-style tea restaurant, 8 people ordered more than a thousand dishes, and then everyone AA, 150 yuan per person. Wu Lei said it was the most expensive meal she had eaten in nearly half a year. Later, she packed the rest and went home.
The profession of accounting also provides strong professional support for Wu Lei in "spending money carefully and repaying loans". Last year's Double 11, Wu Lei discovered a bug in Taobao merchants. After her accurate calculation, she found that the final price given by the merchant's discounts and platform subsidies cost her a few cents more. She sent the calculation process and results to the customer service, who was confused. After she told her colleague about this, the colleague joked that Wu Lei was the chosen son of the accountant, and others wanted to take an extra penny from her.
At one time, Wu Lei's parents were proud of such a capable daughter, but now they can't raise their heads in front of relatives because of their daughter's marriage. They have been persuading Wu Lei to find someone in Beijing to marry, even if the other party is a second marriage, "at least someone will take care of you when you are old and sick." Wu Lei argues every time, are you afraid that you won't find someone to take care of when you have money? "Money is more important than men, money can be their own, and men may change their hearts at any time." Her hair is divorced, which is a typical textbook for her.
Ms. Wu said she had saved enough money to pay off her mortgage and still had a surplus. What she enjoys most is that the numbers on her bank cards keep getting bigger, which gives her a sense of security like never before.
02 Love without a house is not worthy of marriage
There is such a question on Zhihu: How much do young people pay now to be worthy of marriage?
Some netizens calculated in detail that if you want to buy a house of 1 million and a car of 60,000, the total of various expenses such as housing loans, car loans and daily living costs will cost 13,500 yuan a month.
"Many young people come to Beijing with the dream of creating a better life, and then find that in the face of reality, dreams are worthless." This is Xiao Fang's painful realization after a big fight with his girlfriend.
Late that night, Xiao Fang's girlfriend had a big fight with him because he got married and bought a house. The two of them have been in love for more than 7 years and have been together since they were in high school. After graduation, the two places were separated for a while, and later Xiaofang asked his girlfriend to come to Beijing to work, after all, Beijing makes more money than other places.
After more than 7 years of love, the parents of both sides are particularly anxious. Xiao Fang's girlfriend said: "My parents have urged marriage several times, saying that I am now the oldest girl in the village, and when I go home for the New Year this year, my parents see me playing for fun, and I feel worried about how my daughter has not grown up, and I still play games to buy dolls."
"How do you get married without a house?" Xiaofang's girlfriend believes that two people need to have at least a house when they get married together, "I can spend money and downgrade to buy a house in a small place, but we must save up for a down payment to buy a house, so that I can feel at ease when I get married."
Compared with their classmates in their hometown, the two of them can earn more than 20,000 yuan a month in Beijing, and they can save money together and have 100,000 yuan a year. Originally, they planned to get married next year, but there was still some gap between Dalian's 400,000 down payment and their current savings.
So when it came to solving the down payment problem, the two of them quarreled over whether to let their parents pay some money. Xiaofang believes that the down payment can be saved by himself, and the marriage can be postponed, and the girlfriend hopes that her parents can contribute some money, and it is not too late to honor her parents when she has money in the future.
The fireworks of life start from owning a house, and the confidence in life starts from getting the keys. Xiaofang's girlfriend said bluntly, "The future I want must have a house to live in, not much age." I can't bear the pressure to buy a house when I get married, I have pressure now, and it will be even more stressful when my children are born. I don't want to face so much pressure in life, I just want to live freely and be happy."
03 Making money is the last word
When talking about the significance of a young man spending almost his whole life to pay off a high mortgage, a netizen wrote: "Once you buy a house, you will be able to become an ordinary person and touch the threshold of becoming an ordinary person. You will get a pass to marry your wife, and you can finally marry your wife."
This sentence also seems to have become a true portrayal of Gao Bing (pseudonym).
Gao Bing was born in rural Henan and has a technical secondary school degree. He didn't like to read when he was a child, and he was the "big brother" role of the school when he was a student. Once, he and his "buddies" fought with someone else, discounted the bones in the other person's face, and had to undergo plastic surgery. For this, Gao Bing's parents lost tens of thousands of yuan. That year, Gao Bing's parents were so angry that they hardly spoke to Gao Bing.
After graduating from technical school, Gao Bing went to work in the factory and met a girl who made him fall in love at first sight. The two fell in love and lived together, but his girlfriend's mother did not agree after knowing it, feeling that Gao Bing's family was too poor, so she arranged for his girlfriend to go on a blind date with others. In order to prove that he can give the other party a sense of security, Gao Bing's parents bought him an off-plan house in the local area, almost spending all the old books in the family. But later, they broke up as others wished.
In that breakup, Gao Bing deeply understood "what is the taste of poor people's love". He said hatefully: "After that, I learned a truth, making money is the last word, and people without money are nothing!"
It was also from that time that Gao Bing's life had only one goal: to make money. He worked as a waiter, worked as a side cook, and then he came to Beijing to work, and wherever he gave more money, he would go to work.
Now, he works as a store manager in a supermarket chain with a salary of 18,000. Because he often had to do menial work, unload goods, wipe tables, etc., the hands of 96 years old looked like the hands of a construction site man in his forties and fifties. He said that because his hands were worn too badly, he was afraid that his parents would be sad when he went home for the New Year, so he soaked his hands every day a few days in advance to make his hands look tender.
In addition to the hard injury of the hand, returning home for the New Year this year is regarded as "returning home". With Fa Xiao, the original gathering of people who worked together, Gao Bing made the most money among them, Gao Bing could feel the admiring eyes cast by his friends, with a trace of jealousy, "I don't think your kid studied well back then, I didn't expect to mix so well today."
And the hometown introduced Gao Bing on blind dates, the matchmaker said when introducing Gao Bing, this baby is very motivated, don't worry about repaying the house loan, and the salary is very high as a store manager in Beijing, "Now there are such good men, you have to hurry up."
At that moment, he experienced the self-esteem and pride of "being able to hold his head up". He missed the love and girl when he was young, but some affection could only remain in his heart, he knew that he was no longer the teenager, and she had already become someone else's wife.
Conclusion
The house, it is not only used to live, but also carries the dreams of young people, the expectations of life, but also the dream and social status symbol. But no matter what, in this world, buying a house and getting married is a choice, and being single is also a choice. We are all adults and have our own choices.
We have fantasized about the ideal love, and we are also working the ideal life. What we are chasing in life may not wait for us in the focus. When wading through mountains and rivers to experience life, I hope that the young heart can not be bound by the present world, walk forward bravely, and experience the beauty that belongs to this moment.
Young people are always full of unique stories, and this generation of young people is frequently refreshing the traditional definition of young people.