Parents hoarding money

Somebody said they would like to be helped financially so that they could go down to four days a week and have a day to catch up with laundry, etc.

Other people have said they'd like their parents to pay for their children's music lessons and clubs.

I can't be arsed to read the entire thread again to find the exact posts.

There's a massive difference between "some of the boomers are doing just that" and saying that as a cohort they're unusually selfish and loaded and gloating. Of course some of the boomers are doing that. Some of every generation are dicks, including the current middle working generations who are struggling compared to the boomers.

There'll come a point when we're older and have opinions on whatever is going on with gen Z and their children, who are quite likely to be even worse off. I'm pretty sure some of us will also be dicks.

It's not that we'll catch up with the boomers, it's more that there's likely to be a point where we'll still be worse off than that particular generation who're older than us, but we'll be very likely more financially stable than the people younger than us, so in that sense (at least until there's a real turn around and some generations are better off than their parents again) the pattern is likely to repeat itself. And there'll be plenty of things later generations can accuse us of - flying everywhere when we know so much about climate change for a start - so we're not really in a position to throw stones.

I think you will find every generation thinks they are suffering the most.
I was certainly not celebrating my good fortune when i was back at work when my baby was three months old, paying full nursery fees and grappling with spiralling interest rates.
You are saying with such conviction what's going to happen in the future - you have no way of knowing what's going to happen.
I am not a boomer by the way, but absolutely despise the spite and nastiness towards people who just happened to be born when they did.

Some of the boomers are doing just that! That's the point of this thread. The whole point is that people in their 20s and 30s now will not 'come good' and get great pensions as you say, because the financial climate is completely different and absolutely stacked against them. They pay the most ever for childcare, both parents (if there are two) have to work, have student loans that will never be paid off, wages have been eroded in real terms, cost of living has spiralled, housing costs are astronomical. It's way more than simply 'every generation faces challenges'. If you can't accept that, you're denying reality.

You are right. Every generation is faced with a different set of circumstances and they deal with these as best they can. But in general the years of bringing up family are the most challenging in every way and in every generation.
I am grandparent age and this was certainly true for us. We worked all the hours that god sent and lived on an overdraft, not to have luxuries like meals (or even a coffee!) out, but to keep our children fed and happy.
The deaths of our parents brought small legacies that helped us to be more comfortable after the children left home.
I do think that my children have had similar struggles at a similar stage, but they have things in their lives that seem normal to them and were outside our grasp ... meals out, holidays abroad etc are more the norm now.
I am lucky to have nil housing cost now as I downsized and thus paid off the mortgage. My pensions are small for a number of reasons including a sick husband whose ability to work was curtailed and who needed my support.
Widowed now, I do all I can to help them. I have saved them £1000s of in child care, willingly given and enjoyed.
I do have some savings .... not a large amount. Should I be giving those to my children, or should I be saving them to pay for any future care I might need, thus taking a burden from them?
Being born at a certain time in history does not make me an ogre!

The issue brought up upthread about voting for self interest is interesting. Is the aim of democracy the greatest good of the greatest number? .... in that case it makes sense to vote for self interest ... it is the point of democracy under that definition. Or is the point of democracy to vote with your conscience? Discuss ....

I agree the poster you comment on seems to think a whole generation ahs created this situation because they are "evil"- it, as usual, is far more complicated than that. Government after government has refused to bite the bullet and tax wealth, which means we have more millionaires and billionaires than ever before-which in turn obviously means the rest of us are getting poorer fast as the super rich group buys more and more assets with their wealth pushing asset prices (property in particular) through the roof.
Politicians are usually very wealthy (and set to get far wealthier once they get in power) so they have consistently refused to tax wealth-all the burden is on income, the government has sold most of it's assets, so it is as poor as the rest of us, but the individuals within it are wealthy- blame them and tax them-it's the only way , otherwise we are crashing towards a new feudal system with the vast majority in extreme poverty.

Yes i agree. The way some posters on MN talk about older people on MN is truly awful.
Some seem to honestly believe that Boomers are rubbing their hands in glee, watching younger families 'suffer'.
I have said before, but it never seems to be taken into account that the years of raising children are the toughest in every generation financially and the younger people being so awful about older folk now may well find themselves in a much better position once they come out of the other side, got a pension lump sum and/or inheritance along the way.
But they don't want to hear it. All they want to do is begrudge good fortune, think they are somehow entitled to share what isn't theirs, carry on spending on stuff like new cars, meals out, activities and holidays that Boomers would not have done, and moan that they can't afford to pay into a pension.

This 'cohort' is just people who happened to be born at a particular time.
If they're so awful, what do you think made them that way? Their parents? The time they happened to grow up in? Or do you think that somehow fate put all the nasty people in the same generation, and no nice people at all?

The problem isn't observing that statistically more people in one generation or other do something or other, including voting certain infuriating ways, the problem is talking about it as if that isn't just the result of the normal changing tides of influence and history and experiences and so on, but rather is down to Bad People vs Good People, and you've worked out who all the Bad People are, and it's them.

So can you please cite a couple of these reputable sources?

I also note that a number of PP here with adult DC are exhibiting a very different attitude. Then there are numerous PP of unknown age pointing out the tremendous cost of care. I will note that council funded provision in my area is not of a hugely desirable standard.

@Reallywhatonearth
Eh? I think exactly the opposite of this

You should recommend that he read the parable of the rich farmer...

So basically you want him to give it to you? Surely you’ll inherit at some point?

There are numerous social attitude surveys that are conducted by reputable research organisations on a wide scale that makes them statistically valid, which are stratified by age cohort. We also have the historical, factual evidence of how they have voted for policies that benefit them despite it being perfectly clear that these would make life inordinately harder and poorer for subsequent generations. You are right that there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence (as set out by many posters in this thread and, ironically, also evident in some of the posts from self-righteous people of that generation exhibiting precisely the attitudes being described) so people’s personal experience often (unsurprisingly) correlates to the findings of the statistically validated social research about that cohort, statistically stratified opinion polls and historically evidenced facts about previous behaviour/ voting/ decisions.

Yet economic data disagrees with you. Workforce participation of working-aged people is at its highest level since it started being recorded properly in the 1970s, despite people studying longer on average. The number of hours worked on average is also higher. The “lazy snowflakes” trope about young people simply doesn’t stack up against the evidence, I’m afraid.

Nice way to try to avoid engaging with the economic issues.

What do you mean?

What change?

the entire point is that this behaviour from a majority of that cohort has impoverished the whole of society. It is impacting everyone already.

You seem to believe that the oldies are all loaded. Well I am sorry to burst your bubble but that’s not the case. Some maybe asset rich to a degree purely because of house prices but may have to live a frugal lifestyle and have not updated the house in a while. Or maybe you have not noticed the increase in the numbers of older people renting.

Edit: what are the sources for the ‘facts’ or rather the sweeping statements you made about boomers in the post I quoted, @WhatFamily ?

I completely agree that facts matter.

What are the sources for the facts behind your statements here?

This is my daughter’s experience. She is twenty and says many of her peers are snowflakes.

I agree that it is a nuanced picture regardless of age.

it’s annoying that he rubs your nose in it, but perhaps ask yourself, would you be happy to care for him if and when he becomes frail? If not, it makes sense for him to have a financial cushion.

Compassion?
Reading your posts - are you actually serious??

I would save your breath. They don't want to hear anything that doesn't fit into their narrative that no generstion has ever had it tougher than them

@WhatFamily I do partly agree and I very much feel far too many directives are very much to appease the over 60s who vote more ( and I’m 63) however I will also say the idea that all young people are hard working productive people working all hours isn’t exactly the case either - it’s a more nuanced picture - I run a business myself and a good many younger people I’ve employed expected it all on their terms and to put it bluntly were often somewhat flakey - my son is 27 and a hard working lad in IT hardware and client services, he says exactly the same about many 22 to 30 year old his company employs, sick at the drop of a hat, can’t take any criticism , can’t cope with client sites or working within an office. Yep life’s harder for younger people but there are plenty who don’t help themselves by being unreliable or going off travelling at the drop of a hat when companies have invested time and effort in training - it’s not everyone by a long stretch but lots of it goes on - so yep I do think many older people are somewhat I’m all right Jack but there are plenty of younger people not putting in the consistency or legwork to maybe put themselves in a bit better position , flexibility is a biggie for lots of them, wanting to work from home without much of a track record, not start before 10 etc -