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If you’re a single person getting by on just one income right now, one finance expert wants to know how you’re doing it. It’s a fair question. The news keeps telling us that the economy is moving in a better direction, but people have yet to see the signs of that. Prices are still astronomically high and lots of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

The expert, known as @dlab35 on TikTok, said he “[works] with CEOs, executives, and business owners, not to mention their thousands of employees. I educate them on finance.” While he had previously believed you could get by on almost any amount of money as long as you stuck to a strict budget, this economy has him rethinking things.

In his opinion, people are going to have to go to some pretty great lengths to get through these hard times.

“If you don’t have a significant other, how are you surviving nowadays?” he asked bluntly. “What I’m telling you factually is that it has never been harder in the United States to be a single person on one income and keep your head above water.”

He went so far as to say that people should take some drastic measures and make big life changes just to get by right now. “It is the time right now where Americans should start living like other countries, where you shouldn’t have moved out of your parents’ house,” he continued. “You should find a platonic relationship where you can just spend everyday together. You can pool all of your finances, all of your resources, only pay one set of bills — that’s probably your only chance.”

“But I just wanna say I feel bad, I feel empathy, and if you are struggling on one income, it is the time now where you need to lessen your expenses, increase your income, both, or have a roommate,” he stated. “That’s the society we’re living in right now.”

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Other young singles confirmed the finance expert’s worries in the comments.

“My parents help me. I’m both grateful and ashamed,” one person admitted. Another said, “I’ve never made so much money in my life and I’m struggling more than I ever have. Heartbreaking.”

Their sentiments, sadly, weren’t uncommon. As one user shared, “I work two jobs and have no social life. I’m exhausted all of the time.” A parent noted, “My 28-year-old son, who has two degrees, just moved home. He couldn’t afford to live alone. It’s insane.”

The economy really is having an impact on everyone, but young people especially. The cost of living and stagnant salaries have everyone caught in an overworked, underpaid cycle, resulting in a general malaise in life. In fact, a survey by Indeed found that millennial and Gen Z workers reported the highest rates of burnout, at 59% and 58% respectively.

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It looks like we very well could be headed into a financial crisis, and no one is doing anything to stop it.

Investopedia reported that 67% of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck, according to a Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report from PNC Bank. Additionally, CBS News reported that a Harris Poll for Bloomberg found that 45% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 are living with family.

The financial expert seemed to cheekily place some thinly veiled blame on one person in particular for the state of the economy. He captioned his video “MAGA Depression,” and concluded it with the comment, “But prices are gonna go down on day one, right?”

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His reference to President Trump’s promise to bring down prices as soon as he took office isn’t just a joke. CBS News reporter Aimee Picchi stated, “Mr. Trump campaigned on a pledge to end the ‘inflation nightmare,’ vowing that … he would bring down prices ‘very quickly’ in a second term.” However, many economists warned that the President’s tariff policies could send the country into a recession, and 63% of Americans polled by CBS said they believed what he was doing would drive grocery prices up.

It feels like the American people are living in a nightmare. The economy is falling apart, and no one is doing anything to help. It’s no wonder that a financial expert would wonder how someone could survive on a single income. The cost of living continues to rise, and it seems like even a dual-income household could easily be struggling.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.