Many 30-year-old New Yorkers feel poorer than their parents. They cannot finance housing and children. Their disappointment is already affecting politics Many Americans now approaching 30 are disillusioned with the way their adult lives are shaping up. At this age, their parents often already had children and a home of their own. However, today's 30-somethings—especially in big, expensive cities like New York—feel like they can't afford to buy a house or start a family. A survey of teenagers conducted by Harvard University since 2000 showed for the first time that among young Americans there are more pessimists, who expect to be poorer than their parents, than optimists, who expect to be richer than them. The New York Times talked to young people in New York about what their adult lives were like — and why they feel the prosperous future they were promised is a lie. Open a website Mirror | telegram.