Can’t believe how much money my parents have amassed

[Tallular819]

My parents started out with nothing, not a penny from their families. My mum was a dinner lady, Dad was a secondary school teacher.

They paid off their mortgage in their 40s. As children we had a holiday abroad every year and multiple uk holidays throughout the year.

They had a lease car which would be replaced every 3 years with a new one.

They paid for mine and my sisters weddings and house deposits.

They’ve travelled all over the world in their retirement and I’ve just found out they have £200k in savings.

WTF?! DH and I have comparable careers, we run 1 old banger of a car, we have 1 uk holiday per year, we’ve stopped at 1 child, we’re on target to pay off our mortgage when we reach retirement, we have a grand total of £4k in savings. We don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t buy expensive clothes.

Its just hit me how vastly different our financial situations are. I didn’t appreciate just how different the cost of living is today compared to 40 years ago.

Although, we'll probably be working until 70 or beyond, so perhaps we'll have some time to save after all.

There is that - though you also have to hang on to the higher waged jobs and not get sacked in mid to late 50s and then find you can only get p/t or lower paid work.

So good health, in demand skills/employer willing to pay you higher wages up to 70 - should be fine.

My parents and IL are leaving some inheritance money to the GC on grounds they'll likely need it - but depends on what they need post retirment how much if anything if left and most is tied up in their houses. TBF our grandparents were born into real harsh poverty and their great grandchildren - my kids generation- have all had much better starts in life than that.

The same old boomer shit.

No one can live without an internet connection now. All jobs are found and applied for online, hours and communication within work is by some private app. All HR functions are done remotely, you can’t download a payslip without a machine. In many areas you can’t access banking functions without a machine. And as for ‘make do and mend’ and ‘cook from scratch’ these are expensive hobbies now!

What gets my goat is that the advice and aim had been to get children off screens for decades, we’re called poor parents if kids are on screens. But schools force screens on kids for ever increasing amounts of homework to keep up with the ever increasing demands for more skills and to let teachers off the hook.

Id actually argue that tech is indeed a large part of the problem of why life is unaffordable now. But what you boomers don’t get is that it is unavoidable and enforced. This is not a democracy any more. You gave that away.

I'm probably not your typical boomer despite my age, because I had to be tech-savvy from the early 1980s, and I still enjoy technology for its own sake -- not least because it enabled me to freelance/WFH in a remote part of the country from 1990 onwards. FTTP is the greatest step forward.

The poster wasn't commenting about inheritance she was commenting that her parents were able to make a comfortable life for themselves by doing what they were taught, get a job, buy a house, car, have a couple of kids, and her parents were able to make it work and make it work well....
She is saying her and her husband are working like her parents did yet life is so much more expensive now that she is not able to live like her parents because that kind of life has become out of reach, due to things like high housing prices, high prices on everything, they are not able to live comfortably like her parents did.
My single mother has it better than my husband and I ever will and she did it on as a single person... its practically impossible now

Definitely no expensive telly - I hate the way they dominate a room.
Really nice meals out would be our main treat.
I did have a mobile - the first person in my circle to do so, only a cheap one.

I'm on the fence here.
My mum was shafted by her husband and left to bring 3 kids up never managed to get on her feet. We went without carpets , a TV, heating. But we never went hungry and we were always very clean. I remember us getting very left behind in the 80s as materialism really took a hold
But I remember her having massive electric bills and coal cost a fortune. Kids clothes were very expensive then we hardly had any. You had playing out clothes with patches.

There is more to spend your money on now so we don't get chance to put it away. Childhoods are more demanding - summer hols only cost my mum in extra food and we were out the house longer than kids clubs hours.

I had my first child at 17 in 1989. My best years when things were affordable and there was hopes was 2000 to 2010.
A lot of my problems are my own doing. Shit husbands kids too young but I've paid for my own mistakes.

Cost of living has hitched up massively. But partly because things were too cheap for too long. My mum is better off now as pensioner than she has ever been or she was when Rishee Sunak was handing money out to everyone.
I agreed with stopping the universal winter fuel payment. I don't agree with it coming back.

But look at cars for an example in our region so many drive Range Rovers, Tesla's, BMWs etc. many are affording them and would argue need them. There are a lot of people going about today with a hell of a lot of money.
In 1989 my husband's wage was £90 a week our rent was £27 for a flat that we shared a bathroom with Fat Harry from upstairs and had to go on to the communal landing to access the bedroom. It wasn't self contained!

I would rather live now than then. Even though I often feel there's not much hope for the future.

Also the cost of white goods omg what a luxury a new automatic washer was!

I notice you concentrated only on the internet connection part of that post - and I agree with you on that - and completely disregarded all the other apparent "essentials" of modern life!

Just had a look at stats online, since I bought my house in 1999 the UK population has increased by 10 million and the amount of households classed as occupied by a single person has risen by 2 million.That’s the cost of living crisis right there, just too many of us. In the last 100 years the population of the UK has increased from 39 million to close to 70 million.

It’s a very simple supply and demand issue which will only get far worse for 2 reasons. Firstly humans have become too good at surviving, secondly the world is just too easy to travel around now and people understandably want to leave their underdeveloped poor countries.

The human races demise will be because of advances as much as that seems like a contradiction.
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My parents lived frugal lives, they had a lovely home, modest but paid for, foreign holidays, and savings. My mum always shopped carefully loved yellow labels in M&S and only bought charity shop clothes. When she died her estate passed to my dad who had dementia. 3 years later and 88K in care fees his home is now sold and his care home runs at £4K+ every month. I'm not expecting anything to be left to pass on to his grandchildren.
We claim everything he is entitled to on his behalf but he is going have to fund his care until he has 23k left as per current rules when the local authority may contribute.
Sadly I couldn't care for him myself because despite being 62 I have to work full time for another 5 years to get my state pension plus ironically I still have a mortgage. But at least he's safe and well looked after.

It’s absolutely jaw dropping to see people try to pass off their comfort as “make do and mend”, “save”, “work hard”
its just utter nonsense.
No regular worker today such as a postman or teacher or train driver could buy a house on a single salary while his wife had the luxury to stay at home. The OP didn’t seem to be criticising her parents to me, she seemed incredulous. The boomer generation got everything- massive house rises which made (some of them ) fortunes, job security, triple lock final salary pensions and inheritance.
They were able to afford to get on the property ladder and start a family, easily.

No amount of cell phones or avocado toast or cappucinos is going to change that.

Nail on the head. The internet is essential today. Today’s young workers can’t afford homes because prices have risen out of all proportion to wages. It’s not that they’re spending £20 on a mobile phone contract!

Again, nail on the head on all points.

Not sure which ‘generation’ you’re from but the hatred for past generations and your bitter sense of entitlement must make for a miserable life. You are wrong in so many ways. Cheer up. Times change.

You’re just younger! We had nothing except our monthly income when we were in our 40s. Very much hand to mouth.
Things changed after mortgage was paid off, university expenses ended and our own parents died.
Now in our 70s we’re very comfortable as will you be in a few years I’m sure.
I wouldn’t change a thing. Those years struggling were actually very good years. Money isn’t everything.
Patience!!

Baby boomers !

My parents are the same - whilst I will never be in their position , I am so grateful for what they have given us (deposit etc ) and I in turn can give my kids .

Actually, I think this is a terrible direction for society and sums up all that wrong with the country now (its not just a problem in the UK either). No criticism of you or your parents btw. Young people should be able to start with nothing, like the OPs parents, and achieve a good life on nothing more than their own hard work. And I'm not just talking about fancy, high power jobs, a good live should be available working an ordinary, backbone of society, job. We should not be grateful for handouts from parents to get a start in life, we should be outraged and angry than such handouts are almost essential and if you haven't got that, life is going to be so much harder, regardless of how hard you work.

My ex in-laws quote the 15% interest rates and hardship as justification for their wealth - they imply that the current generation should suffer in the same way

Perverse !

I wholeheartedly agree and do not / nor have done expected their generosity . I ensure my own children hold the same attitude - they have had small amounts saved for them by my parents but not known about it (to ensure they’ve got jobs at age 16) and known the value of money .

Additionally to what you say , the divide between those whose parents can and can’t help them eg deposits etc will be stark !!!!

There's plenty of evidence that younger people won't end up as comfortable as you. Things have changed.

A very accurate and wise assessment.

It's not though.

My Dad is like this my Mum worked part-time he bought his house for 24k it's now worth 500k.
My mum passed away 26yrs ago so mortgage was paid off early.
He has over 200k in savings in fact he said he can't spend his money.
He said to me "I don't understand how you two have no money at the end of the month."

My husband is a firefighter on £37000 a year an Army pension of 12k which is taxed at 20% and I earn 26k in NHS job.
If my husband does any overtime it's taxed at higher rate.
My council tax went up more per month than my wages.
In theory we should br ok for money but our mortgage went up over £400 a month food is through the roof 😬
I can't imagine having 200k in our retirement.