For many people, turning 18, the legal age for being considered an adult, means a whole new world of responsibilities, some that have never even been thought of. These responsibilities are misunderstood, unclear, and confusing before actually having to deal with them. The world simply does not prepare us enough for what being a newly independent adult truly means and all the hidden costs of the world. The way the financial system is set up, it also makes things a million times harder for new adults to purchase things like cars, rent apartments, and do many other things that require a previous credit history, which baby adults of the world do not have. Not to mention, you are solely responsible for how you manage your time, and you better manage it wisely.
For example, the world makes it nearly impossible for an 18 year old to buy a car without the help from someone that already has a line of credit. The lack of knowledge about buying car also makes it hard. There’s so many details and financial aspects and agreements that have to be set up just perfectly, and not having help or a previous credit history making hard to achieve the goal of buying your first car alone. Banks are often very reluctant to give any 18 or 19 year old an auto loan, despite how long they’ve been employed or how much money they have saved.
As if trying to be independent isn’t hard enough, now they are making it hard by not helping us be able to transport ourselves. There are always other options, like buying a car from someone online, or those cars you see parked on the street with the “for sale” sign taped to every window. But with these cars come risks. You have no legal way of getting your money back if the car ends up crapping out on you, plus there’s always the risk of when you’re going to meet the person selling their car, that you could be putting yourself at risk. There’s not guarantee of reliability when you aren’t buying from a dealer, but this is sadly the route that many young adults are having to turn to.
Another aspect of adulting that truly sucks despite the financial responsibilities that come with adulthood, is the lack of time one truly has to do what they want. As a full time student working part time, the amount of free time you are given is usually sucked up by homework or studying. This is nothing to compared to how high school juniors feel because in college even when you “don’t have homework” you always have something for school you should be doing. So with all this newly found independence and freedom, you still can’t do what you want without avoiding your other responsibilities.
In high school, you don’t learn how to do things such as taxes so once you’re in the real world, you are almost clueless about how to file. If not doing your taxes wasn’t such a big deal, then not knowing how to file them wouldn’t either. People would just end up learning how to do them eventually. But if you are solely independent, then you must learn how to file your taxes, and chances are you’re not going to learn until it’s actually time to do them.
Being an adult is not all that it cracks up to be. To be honest, it really kind of sucks. Having to be completely responsible for your food, your housing, your clothing, and all the other things your parents used to take care of for you really sucks. Not being able to buy a car reliably alone really sucks. Adulting, really, sucks.
