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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think these baby boomers are missing the point?

999 replies

Hundredacrewoods · 28/01/2018 08:55

I grew up in an area where house prices have quadrupled since 2000. I consider this an intergenerational equity issue. Whenever the topic of house prices and 'millennials' comes up with my parents' generation, all I hear is how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed to get on the property ladder. AIBU to think that they're missing the point? No one is denying that they worked hard and sacrificed. The point is that if they worked just as hard today, and made the same sacrifices, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough.

OP posts:
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14
Desrepaie · 01/02/2018 13:23

Exactly. Poor people of previous generations went out, many reports say alot more and most millennials are likely to stay home more. Dancing, cinema and the pub wasn't seen as a luxury.

Eltonjohnssyrup · 01/02/2018 13:43

Yes, but when people went to the cinema once a week, they usually didn't have a TV and it was cheap. Even in the 80s going to the cinema was much, much cheaper than it is now.

And going to the cinema wasn't necessarily something the really poor did. I have read lots of accounts of people in the 40s to 60s to whom going to the cinema for the first time was a big deal, as it wasn't something they could normally afford.

Dances were often free or very cheap community based ones.

And pubs - you couldn't drink much at home apart from spirits and it wasn't affordable. Going to the pub was a bit of a necessity if you ever wanted to have alcohol.

gillybeanz · 01/02/2018 13:44

Desrepaie

I'm not sure how old you are, but to us Dancing, cinema and pub were luxuries we couldn't afford when saving for our first home.
There weren't costas on every street corner, and you had few fewer choices of tv channel.
Certainly no Sky subscriptions, mobile contracts, netflix, and any other regular payment people justify these days.
I'm sorry to disagree but anything over roof over head, food in stomach, and warmth has always been seen as luxuries to the frugal type.
Some people re prepared to be frugal to get on the property ladder, whereas others aren't.
Being a one car household also helps to save money.

Oliversmumsarmy · 01/02/2018 14:00

Teacher your post is exactly what this whole thread is about. You are a B.B. who is talking about how people could afford it if only they stopped buying Coffee

But teacher didn't say just stop buying Coffee. It is about cutting your expenses down, living with parents or moving into a tiny studio or shared accommodation to save on rent, not spending on anything, getting an extra income and saving every penny
I think dp and myself lived in a parallel universe.
Yes there were 100% mortgages but we didn't earn enough with the multiples. Which doesn't sound much difference to today.
Hardest year of our life to save the difference.

Dd is 18 and is saving for her first place. She works 4 jobs as well as running her own business. She is hoping to buy her first property next year for cash.

53rdWay · 01/02/2018 14:46

Hardest year of our life to save the difference

But there are people now who cannot save that in a year, even if they manage to save every single penny they earn other than the absolute basics. The sums just don’t add up.

Likewise, ‘move back in with your parents’ is advice that just isn’t possible for a lot of people. Not all parents are willing or able to fully financially support their grown, full-time-working children.

I was still renting at the height of the property boom and it just was not possible to save house-deposit money in my situation (and I worked three jobs as well as studying, hardly ever went out, and lived in shared places and tiny flats so grotty they were borderline dangerous).

53rdWay · 01/02/2018 14:57

Many people are prepared to live off beans and scrimp and save if it’ll pay off in a year. Or two, or three. But people get a lot more reluctant when it’s “live like this for twelve years and then you might get a house at the end of it - but then again, might not!”

Notthesoap · 01/02/2018 15:01

And pubs - you couldn't drink much at home apart from spirits and it wasn't affordable. Going to the pub was a bit of a necessity if you ever wanted to have alcohol.

^^

Practically everyone I knew growing up (very working class area) spent their spare time and money down the pub, not to mention all the fags they smoked. A lot went in practically every day, a lot of working men probably saw more of the pub than they did their own homes (and wives and kids) outside of work. They still had mortgages on three bed homes and final salary pensions etc. So this coffee and Netflix nonsense is complete bollocks. You can't be expected to sacrifice every aspect of what is deemed 'enjoyable' in life in the hope you'll end up in a one-bed flat. You may as well curl up and die.

A further point:
Since when was alcohol deemed a necessity to anyone? (I'm not trying to slate anyone struggling with addiction or anything but the thought of viewing alcohol as a necessity is alien to me).

Notthesoap · 01/02/2018 15:02

Exactly @53rdWay

Notthesoap · 01/02/2018 15:08

Netflix is far cheaper than the cinema and having a tv license. The cinema is a rip off and the tv license pays for the likes of Johnathon Ross and Graham Norton and their overpaid salaries. Meanwhile the mere mortals have to forego a coffee from the high street. Such a level playing field.

corythatwas · 01/02/2018 15:16

"And pubs - you couldn't drink much at home apart from spirits and it wasn't affordable. Going to the pub was a bit of a necessity if you ever wanted to have alcohol."

errr... what's this mysterious period when you couldn't buy a bottle of beer, or a bottle of wine for that matter? Aluminium beer cans were around in the 70s- and they were cheap!

anyway, if we grudge the present generation a cup of coffee, why not take the same line with our parents' alcohol: they didn't have to have that either, did they?

Eltonjohnssyrup · 01/02/2018 15:18

They were really shit though, take home beers pre mid 80s.

Notthesoap · 01/02/2018 15:21

But they aren't a necessity @Eltonjohnssyrup and neither is going to the pub but yet the older generation still managed all that and more and got a house to boot.

makeourfuture · 01/02/2018 15:24

anyway, if we grudge the present generation a cup of coffee, why not take the same line with our parents' alcohol

Studies show older people are still hitting it pretty hard - to the detriment of their health.

BeyondThePage · 01/02/2018 15:25

we BBs mortgaged to the hilt didn't go to the pub - we home brewed...

and yes, ate beans or noodles and did not have a life other than eat, sleep, work, repeat - except for Sunday - where we slept, ate and drank home-brew - happy days...

Notthesoap · 01/02/2018 15:30

@BeyondThePage that's currently a lot of millennials now. Maybe not the home brew. Eat, sleep, work, repeat. Except they have exorbitant rents to pay.

Desrepaie · 01/02/2018 15:50

I do wonder if people can remember the past accurately. My poor grandparents from the north east were saying how sorry they feel for young people, in their youth they were always out and about not stuck at home on a smartphone (that costs £15 a month and is a necessity being a phone camera and computer all-in-one).

No boomers I know spent their 20-30s at their parents home eating gruel just to afford a deposit. Even the poor ones moved out after school and jobs were good, pensions great and houses affordable.

grannytomine · 01/02/2018 15:56

Not many of us moved out at 15 when we left school. Eating out was rare, I was in my 30s before we got a car, I was married for about 5 years before we could afford a phone. I think I had been married about 10 years when we got central heating. Actually I remember it well, if we had known how it was going to be in 40 years we'd have been laughing but it didn't seem funny at the time.

Rents were cheap if you got a council house, we rented a flat that was half my husband's wages and he was in a management role.

grannytomine · 01/02/2018 15:59

But there are people now who cannot save that in a year, even if they manage to save every single penny they earn other than the absolute basics. But there were people then who couldn't save that in a year. It isn't the same for everyone who was born between early 40s and 1960.

Helmetbymidnight · 01/02/2018 16:07

I think we just have to ignore the facts (as usual) and go with the feelings. Baby boomers were clearly far more hardworking and sensible than youngsters and that's how they got their properties. It has nothing to do with the economy.

grannytomine · 01/02/2018 16:10

Yes that is right Helmetbymidnight and us baby boomers just have to accept that we never saved, never worked and it was all handed to us on a plate. We just imagine what life was like and people who weren't there kindly tell us the truth.

Desrepaie · 01/02/2018 16:13

No one's saying they didn't save at all. But saved far far less.

The time and sacrifices it takes a millennial to save up a deposit a BB could have bought a house or two outright.

It's sad that boomers rather than feel empathy begrudge youngsters taking advantage of modern technology while at the time want to insist they had it just as bad if no woorse, despite all the contradictory stats.

53rdWay · 01/02/2018 16:18

But there were people then who couldn't save that in a year.

Yes, of course there were.

However. Houses are now more expensive than they were, relative to wages. That means that more people are priced out of owning one, more people find it very hard to buy.

Saying this is not the same as saying no baby boomers worked hard, it really really isn’t.

grannytomine · 01/02/2018 16:19

The time and sacrifices it takes a millennial to save up a deposit a BB could have bought a house or two outright. Really, can you prove that? Is that just some boomers or every single one. Have you checked what everyone was earning, what their expenses were? Are you talking early boomers or late boomers or do you think they are all the same?

Like I said we are grateful to the people who weren't there who can tell us how we lived. 1984 has arrived at last, newspeak?

Notthesoap · 01/02/2018 16:20

I've no doubt times we're hard for many BB's @grannytomine what with redundancies occurring frequently, strike action and companies being sold to foreigner investors and either a) outsourcing their manufacturing abroad or b) putting the prices of their services up. Not to mention VAT hikes, mortgage rate increases etc.

But house prices have shot up dramatically. My parents bought their house in the mid 70s for around £3k. Yes wages were lower then. But the same house would be worth approx £120k currently. Wages haven't increased by the same exponential. And the cost of living everywhere generally has gone up. Fuel, food, rail fares, utilities to name but a few. And will continue to do so. But wages are lucky if they increase by 1% a year. Even inflation is rating into savings. You can't deny the facts.

grannytomine · 01/02/2018 16:21

However. Houses are now more expensive than they were, relative to wages. Depends where you are, some parts of the country are cheaper than others. Depends when you are talking about. Depends if you just look at the price of the house or the cost of the mortgage, 16% mortgage made a big difference.

It isn't about empathy, lots of boomers have kids and know perfectly well how hard it is. I don't see much empathy going the other way but then it is in the past so doesn't count.