To think the babyboomers have had it a lot easier than the next generation?

[DarlingDuck]

In terms of house prices, uni fees, pensions and retirement.

I'm 30 and don't know any people my age who own their own homes unless they were substantially subsidised by their parents. All my friends have uni fees to pay off and a lot of them struggled/are struggling to find work even with a degree.

Am a bit jealous of my parents generation... Had a major pang when I heard the over 65's own 85% of the UK's property, AIBU?

I agree that not all houses in london cost 1m. And there is always work here in london, if you dont mind working hard.

I just had our builder/decorator/i will do anything man here today. He showeed me photos of the house they bought (3bed terraced, needs some work). They are both in their 20s, no inheritance, no help (they are from Poland). They have saved 100k in 6 years and are planning to pay off the remaining 90k in the next 5 years!

I know another young couple (man is teacher, woman works for Local authority) who live in a tiny room at their parents and save most of their wages in order to buy.

When you are young and childless it is very much doable. But not if you go and rent a riverside appartment and eat out 4 times a week.

Exactly. Some people do live beyond their means. I tend to wear clothes until they have holes in. I couldn't find a pair of tights without a hold in tonight which was a bit frustrating and I don't often eat out. I suppose it's just a question of priorities (and I accept that if two people earn the minimum wage £13k or so, then even with some housing benefit top up etc they will find it very hard to buy even the cheaper outer London flats of £100k - £170k or whatever they cost. Those who think they have a God given right to live in Chelsea but don't earn much just need to lower their expectations and think about places like Luton until they can afford better.

And yet, as you don't seem to have taken on board, dh was able to buy a 2-bed flat in zone 2 (in a grotty area, I'll admit!) on one average income aged 22 in 1983. It is now worth about £240,000. The area is still grotty.

That is the same as us re zone 5 (3 bed semi similar dates). But the point is that my salary then and my husband's then (each on £7500) I think the salaries now in those careers (he's a teacher) have kept up with house price inflation in that sector and in those zones (that is professional careers) and some things are easier - interests rates very low, 90% loans amazingly seem to be easier now than then or the same) and some worse.

So are we saying professional salaries have kept up pace with starter flats in London but not other jobs? We may also be saying that zone 2 has become more popular and prices rose higher than zone 5 although I'm not sure,. £250k is exactly the same price of the 3 bed semi now that we started in in zone 5. There are flats in zone 1 at under £200k by the way but it depends where you are prepared to start and if you want 2 bed, 1 bed studio etc.

no not at all

but for some they are reaping the rewards from having a more difficult time where for many working class money was really short, things we take for granted now were luxuries and for women they were still held back simply because they were women, still happens but not on the same scale.

Absolutely. I was told not to tell anyone I could type (I taught myself to touch type at 15 and wrote a 50 000 word book) because in the late 70s you might end up being the typist (now of course it's one of my most useful skills and never met anyone who types faster than I do).

It is a difficult issue because it's not fair on children to be told well in my day we had no carpets etc as they can only operate from their own experience but it's good if they can get experience of the lives of those who are less fortunate than they are in the UK and abroad. We are lucky to have clean water but probably most of us don't even appreciate that when we turn on the tap. There will always be booms and busts and people who take advantage. the 60% inflation over 3 years ni the 70s wiped many many people out and lots of property businesses went bust. Many never recovered. However those with a loan in a high inflationary period found it was reduced because of inflation.

it's the same now. People trying to live on interest on savings are finding it very hard. People like I am who hvae big loans without savings (in my case not really my fault as it was due to the divorce payout I had to make) benefit. It rewards the profilgate and penalises those who had saved at present which is very unfair but economics and the real world aren't fair and interest rates over several decades do go up and down.