to think the baby-boomers had it easy

[Ionderog]

Is it me or did our parents' generation have it much easier than us?

In what way?

YANBU.

YANBU - they did have it easier. Souring house prices, only one salary needed to buy a house, retirement at 60 and fabulous final salary pension schemes.

HOWEVER,

it wasn't sustainable. Times have changed. Some things are better, some are worse. I certainly don't think it's worth getting bitter or envious about any of it.

Just move on.

Only in certain respects. I don't think they necessarily did at the time, but now that the 'value' of money has changed and house prices have seen the increase that they have in the last 30 yrs they are reaping benefits.

Just wanted to add

I know i'm generalising here, but as a generation, i find them astonishingly selfish.

I guess that's why the call them "the ME generation"

My mum and dad suffered a lot with unemployment during the 1980s. It was no picnic.

Also women were heavily discriminated against regarding work and education.

In saying that if a Baby Boomer never had a day out of work and a generous pension scheme then they have had it easy. Imagine the luxury of a final salary pension?

I think we are the first generation to 'have it worse' than our parents.

yes in some respects no in others - opportunities for women, equality generally ( I know its not perfect but I would think its generally better to be a women, homosexual , transsexual or someone who isnt white /british origin and I include irish here). Healthcare generally better (despite the nhs I think I'd rather have something like cancer now than I would 30 years ago).

How are they selfish, specifically? I'm not disagreeing, I'm just not sure in what way you are referring to BAFE...

well,

they just bang on and on all the time about the fact that they have pay FULL council tax, bus fares, yada yada yada. And if it wasn't for them, we'd all be speaking German ya know!

And even worse are the ones who sell up, go to spain and piss every penny up on cheap booze, leaving the kids nothing.

They did strike lucky with house prices. That's not going to happen again.

This one has been done before...

Just to dispel a few myths - not everyone considered a "baby boomer" went to University at the cost of the state (in fact only 5% of people used to go to University at all); not all of them have bloody great houses with no mortgage; not all of them have stonking great pensions and/or savings to live off.

I accept that many middle class baby boomers may have had somewhat easier lives than a lot of middle class people do now but, frankly, I can't see the point in dwelling on it.

Definitely not being unreasonble. My dad often remarks on how much easier they had it and both my parents did actually realise at the time, that things had changed in a way that was advantageous to them but this was largely due to university education being open to all and the subsequent fortunes and experiences this brought with it. Something their parents would never have seen.

"And if it wasn't for them, we'd all be speaking German ya know!"

Are you sure about this BAFE? The Baby Boomers are so-called due to the baby boom which occurred post WW2.

Unless you're referring to the World Cup?

YA so NBU.

Even my baby boomer mum agrees.

In a sense they are selfish, perhaps indirectly. As a generation they have enjoyed being able to purchase properties on single salaries and through the rise in values of these properties many now enjoy wealth they probably didn't predict, yet its possibly at the root of many of the economic problems we are now facing - welfare dependency, housing benefit bills, having to subsidise childcare for lower earners who possbily would rather be at home bringing up their children like the previous generation (generally) were but have little choice, etc...

"And even worse are the ones who sell up, go to spain and piss every penny up on cheap booze, leaving the kids nothing" You are so right - how very selfish of them

Hmm, perhaps its all relative. I suspect the point may be that they had it easier than their parents' generation (albeit not in every family) and felt they had done well as a result. In contrast we were led to expect that, providing we worked hard, we could get certain things, by our parents and haven't been able to achieve that due to house prices etc.

Eg, as BelleDame says, only 5% of them went to uni, therefore they got pretty much the top 5% of jobs. We grew up believing that uni was what gave that 5% the success and went to uni along with 50% of our peers, only to find we didn't get the top jobs as there were not enough to go around.

Their parents had had to scrimp and save and so were careful and wanted to pass on their wealth to their kids, so they tended to get whatever their parents could afford to give. The baby boomers did better, in general, than their parents, so expect us to do the same and don't see why they should pass on an inheritance or help with a deposit on a home or whatever.

To be clear, I don't think that they owe us a living - and I don't think we should expect to receive financial help from our parents- I just think that they got more from the previous generation than they are passing on, and that very few of them in the media or my personal experience recognise how much their parents gave them.

SloanyPony baby boomers couldn't have bought a house on a single salary in 1970s if they were single women - not unless their father acted as guarantor...

Bafe - i would not say selfish at all.

The 'me' generation are currently in their mid 40s - mid 50s. The baby boomers are very often juggling work (needing a decent pension) with childcare for their grandchildren as their children need to work and also caring for elderly parents - the most demanding of all. I know my parents in their 60s struggle and have struggled with their own parents senility and demise. Their own parents currently in their 80s had no such thing as most of their parents died early.

I count myself lucky in that both my parents and my ILs have said they do not want to put that burden on us.

I dunno. My dad never had the opportunity to go to university, he had the brains, but no chance of ever going. He had to work in a coal mine, no other jobs. He didn't have the opportunity to travel, holidays were unheard of.

OK, they may have bought the house on one full time salary. But he worked hard for it. Now he's reaping the benefits.

I on the other hand went to university, travelled etc etc. Yeah, now I'm finding it hard, but I didn't start work at 16.

I think we as a generation expect more. We expect a couple of holidays a year, a big telly etc etc. My dad would have never paid someone to do his garden, he would have been out there after work doing it. Unlike us, who paid someone.

I'm not convinced.

My mum was desperate to go to art college and her art teacher at school BEGGED my grandmother to let her go as she was so talented. Grandmother refused and said she had to be a secretary.

My dad, despite a serious work ethic, was made unemployed 12 times in 10 years.

I can name two foreign holidays as a family in my entire childhood. Nearly all birthday and christmas presents were handmade to save money. Anything new for the house was saved up for for years (no credit) then researched painfully for months (didn't want to risk waste of money). Everything was saved for a rainy day.

Dad died young mostly from work stress caused by said work ethic.

Yes, my mother has done fairly well on the house price and thanks to some careful investment and money from when her father died has finally got to travel a bit. More power to her. I hope she spends every single penny and leaves me with nothing, because she deserves the happiness.

I live in a far smaller house and have much more debt. We have a much easier and much more material life though.

Not sure really. My mum was lucky with the soaring house prices. She was able to sell when she had a lot of equity and downsize to where she is now. She is happy where she is and loves her house.

On the downside - the reason that she sold was because my dad died and she had no one to help her with DIY and the bungalow where she lived was too much upkeep for her on her own. She didn't have the money to pay anyone to do the work that needed doing.

She's almost 63 and still working.

You'd have to define our parents?

There are parents on here who are 21 and others who are 50! So we could be discussing parents from the 60's, 70's, 80's or 90's.

Which era are we discussing?

taking my family as an example yanbu.
my side, lower middle class, first in their fmilies to go to uni, free education, travelled the world, married and bought a 4 bed house in a lovely area on one teacher's salary, mum stayed at home and brought us up, we weren't rolling in money by any means but they got by, and now have a house that's worth a bomb and a lovely pension.

DH's side, working class, got a decent council house easily, took up the right to buy, so have now become middle class homeowners with a nice house in a nice area. They also both have great pensions at a young enough ages to enjoy them.