Stolen from r/AskWomenOver30: For those who began adult life during the Great Recession, how has that experience shaped your choices?

Outside of your age range here BUT I was working minimum wage at that time. I was flat sharing with another guy, both of us working minimum wage and both working every extra shift we could find. Life was “ok” but not fantastic. I’d managed to get progressively more hours starting from a 15hr contract a couple of years ago by basically being the go to gimp meaning I did at least have enough money to cover the basics. But I’d been left with a load of debt from poor life choices AND literally not having to buy actually necessities if something went wrong previously (I remember wearing work shoes with a hole in the sole until I couldn’t get away with it anymore then it went on a credit card). Basically it just felt wearing and that I’d never have anything like the standard of living as my parents/what I grew up with. I was incredibly lucky to get a break in a company about a year later that not only employed me but trained me in a very specific field of IT (high end Unix server support) and have since moved employers for yet more pay. But I still have friends who are “stuck” because of the recession. Still on minimum wage or close to, aging, not able to afford to raise a family, can’t buy a house, minimum pension contributions and constantly rising cost of living. I despair for them and younger people when they get old. The ones without any inheritance are going to suffer so badly.