When Kevin O’Leary said he gets upset seeing young adults earning $70,000 a year, spending $28 on lunch instead of investing, the internet quickly reacted. Millennials and Gen Z filled social media, calling him “out of touch,” “condescending,” and “clueless about the modern economy.” Many argued that buying a home is impossible, wages haven’t kept up with inflation, and since they feel they’ll “never afford a house anyway,” they might as well enjoy the $5 coffee and $28 lunch. The backlash was fast and emotional.
But here’s the hard truth: Kevin O’Leary is right. The math adds up, and numbers don’t care about feelings.
The real problem isn’t that young adults can’t afford a home. It’s that many were never shown how to work toward one. They hear “you can’t” so often that they stop asking if it’s true. Many give up before even looking at the numbers. But if you set aside the emotion and look at the facts, owning a home is more possible than most online conversations make it seem.
Let’s look at a realistic example. A young adult in their early 20s graduates from college and gets a job paying $70,000 a year. This isn’t a fantasy salary—it’s common in many fields. Still, many young adults in this situation already believe the American Dream is gone. They think the system is rigged, the economy is hopeless, and the future is lost. So they spend more now, assuming the future is out of reach. But that’s not being realistic—it’s giving up.
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