To think these baby boomers are missing the point?

[Hundredacrewoods]

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.

Yes, most parties I went to or had as a kid were in Macdonalds or the local social club Well you weren't a boomer then, I never went to a birthday party that wasn''t in a house.

Well anyone having more than 2 kids now won’t get child benefit & it’s means tested.

It is means tested now do that people earning over 50k start to lose it on a sliding scale but those earning uvdercrgat can claim it for however many children they have.
The 2 child limit applies only to tax credits, not child benefit.

My mum is a boomer (born 1955) - she left school at 15 and she earned £18 per week if she did overtime. She married at 17 and had her first baby at 18. She rented a flat with an outside shared toilet as it was all she could afford. She couldn’t afford to buy. She has no private pension and didn’t go to uni. She’s really lucky and bought her council house 10 years ago with a 78% discount.
She still understands the plight of young people and house prices but let’s not forget that lots of Boomers had it hard too.

The bb's didn't get child benefit, it didn't start until the 80's. So aren't you all lucky?

Actually we did get child benefit. It started in the late 40s but not for the first child, that changed in 1977 when the first child became eligible.

My point is that I’m sure we should all be able to agree across the generations that the divide between wages/house prices is (on average across the country) much much worse today

Many bbs don't agree with it, they refuse to accept that.* what can you do?!*

No boomers don't refuse to believe houses are more expensive but what people ignore is that in the 1970s we paid 33% income tax, food was more expensive in real terms, we paid high interest rates on mortgages, we didn't get tax credits, we didn't get child benefit but we did get family allowance but not for the first child and at a reduced rate for the second child. Nurseries were hard to find in the 70s making it hard for women to work, the numbers decreased rapidly after WW2 as women were expected to stop working, child minders weren't as well regulated as now so being a working mother was difficult and contrary to popular belief plenty of women worked. Maternity leave legislation wasn't introduced until 1975 (I remember as one of my children was born in 1975) and it didn't benefit many women due to strict conditions.

So yes prices are higher but you pay less tax, pay lower interest rates, women are better protected from discrimination and whilst equal pay might not be 100% it is a damn sight better than it was in the 70s. We didn't get free hours in nurseries, it was a miracle if you could find a nursery.

So shall we acknowledge that boomers didn't have it easy, you look at us now, you ignore us then.

We are sick of being blamed and as for us voting for all this plenty of us have voted Labour all our lives and didn't seek to get anything for nothing.

So if your parents don't understand that is them not all boomers. If your mother didn't work and your father could afford a mortgage on one wage that is them and not all boomers. If your parents spent all their time in the pub that is them and not all boomers, from a lifelong tee totaller and non smoker and if you struggle most boomers remember what that felt like.

No granny, I think you've misunderstood. I'm a millennial as stated up thread. I'm referring to the adults who arranged such parties. Who were boomers. Who didn't go without certain things that boomers tend to view as 'luxuries' these days. It was in response to Pancakes post that boomers have frugal rose-tinted spectacles on. Point being most of the boomers I know bar the odd one or two, arent as frugal as they make out to be. They arranged birthday partied for their kids in Maccy D's. Or the local social club which is incidentally where most of them squandered their money, evenings and weekends. All whilst own their own homes.

Actually we did get child benefit. It started in the late 40s but not for the first child, that changed in 1977 when the first child became eligible. It used to be called family allowance.

Notthesoap well my kids had parties at home, I've never been to a local social club, never drunk alcohol. I can see that if your parents spent all their time drinking in clubs you would have a rather particular view of boomers.

I am tee total but I couldn't have afforded alcohol in the 1970s even if I'd wanted it.

It was only people with graduate jobs who had a hope of achieving that back then, just like it is now, and people in the SE had no hope of getting a home for several years

So what you are saying is unless you have a degree you have no chance of owning a home.

Is owning a home another thing you need a degree for.

I shall have to tell dd not to bother as she only has a handful of GCSEs and left college at 17.

You're right it was family allowance. We got child tax relief as well.

Was family allowance/child benefit means tested back in the day? I’m sure my parents got it.

Oliversmums army ... nope, there is hope. But if you're 22 years old, then those who left school at 16 are at a disadvantage. Of course, if they've worked their way up so that they're at the same level as graduate entrants, they have the same chance to get a mortgage/deposit. If they took an entry level job and have stayed there then they're unlikely to be able to afford to buy.

At least, that's how it was when I was in my 20s.

I'm not saying that it's good or right, but that was the financial situation back then, and still is now. No matter how much various governments promote the idea of home ownership, the truth is that not everyone earns enough to make that possible.

I would love to see housing be cheaper and/or wages higher, and/or rents lower. But that's not how the economy is in the UK, and it wasn't like that decades ago, either.

Somehow we've got this idea that there was a golden age when everyone could buy a house, even if they were an agricultural laborer on a tiny wage. That just wasn't true. We've forgotten the history of people who struggled and STILL couldn't afford their own home because we accept the dream of everyone being a home owner.

We need to be more realistic about life for the working poor in the past and present, and then try to address the reality, not the ideal.

So shall we acknowledge that boomers didn't have it easy, you look at us now, you ignore us then.

Who on earth said they had it easy? We're just sick of being told that young people are lazy/drink too many coffees.

We are sick of being blamed and as for us voting for all this plenty of us have voted Labour all our lives and didn't seek to get anything for nothing.

I thought I recognised you (and the other BB's on this thread) as a brexitteer, Granny.

Not my parents Granny, but most of the kids I grew up with in my (close-knit) neighbourhood; their parents spent loads of time down the local enjoying fags and booze. The local was round the corner from my home growing up so everybody knew each other and the majority of the boomers (born in the 50's) spent their time boozing. My old man spent all his time working incidentally and my mum hardly ever went out as she was busy with us kids.

I think it’s also worth remembering that I doubt anyone begrudges any help the ‘working poor’ of any generation receives. This thread surely focuses on the average bbs - the teachers, middle management, nurses etc, those who are educated and in employment. They key issue is even those with excellent employment will struggle more today and in the future than previous generations - all while paying contributions for benefits that cannot be sustained and that will probably won’t enjoy later in life.

Dd is hoping to buy for cash next year.

Left school last year with a handful of gcse's

She works 4 jobs as well as running her own business.

There is more than one way to earn than being a management trainee or working for a large company

How dare you say all boomers on this thread - or anywhere - are Brexiteers. I voted stay, just like I voted to join back in the 70s. That really is the crux of the problem, isn't it? Each generation making sweeping untrue and unfair generalisations about the other.

I know that not all younger people spend all their money on frivolous rubbish and certainly don't begrudge anyone the odd coffee. I'd be the first to say that kids have it bloody hard these days and I'm glad not to be young now so please don't tar us all with the same brush.

Also a BB and remainer.

I certainly didn't say 'all'. I think you're fab. You've consistently spoken against the idea that millennials have it easy - and it is appreciated. But there are plenty of baby booming brexitteers on this thread.

I love the way Oliversmumsarmy think her anecdotes cancel out all evidence/facts about the economy. It's like if I said - there is no obesity in this country because I know slim people. Or the problem NHS is not over-stretched because I got an appointment last week. It's very amusing.

and the other BB's on this thread

I should have said 'other' not 'the other' - My mistake.

I think people did live differently. My parents did not have a car, there was a house phone with a 'party line' which meant we shared it with a neighbour, we were allowed not to use the phone unless it was important, they had one tv in the house, never bought takeaway food, birthday parties were for 6 children and at home, no party bags, grandma's scones, sandwiches and a modest cake, holidays were at a British seaside resort and they stayed in a 'guest house'. They went out once a week to the pub at the most. Nothing like computers, ipads, mobiles. Clothes and house furniture were saved up for - they paid cash for everything. They saved money every month without fail.Food was cooked from fresh- no frozen stuff, no supermarkets in the 60s when they were first married. They went to the library for books. No DVDs, Sky TV. No child benefit for first child. They never drank in the house, put jumpers on if they were cold.
It was much more frugal. I think now people expect to have more as a basic right - mobiles, tablets, Sky packages, holidays, cars, expensive children's parties.
If we lived as frugally we could all save more but no one wants to live like that anymore. DH and I have a mobile each, an ipad each, a lap-top, a macbook, we buy DVDs, books, have a car each and a camper van. We buy takeaways, eat out at least once a week, often have a drink at night at home, don't stint ourselves at the supermarket, have 3 TVs, usually go away for a month in the summer- often to France- turn the heating up if we are a bit cold, each have baths and bath the children every day, buy clothes when we like etc. I bet we 'waste' £1000 a month easily on things we don't need but just want.

I love the way Oliversmumsarmy think her anecdotes cancel out all evidence/facts about the economy.

And that we are going to believe a 16 year old can earn enough in a year to buy a house as a cash buyer Is her business a major cocaine importing emporium?

Lula the point is that was your parents mine were nothing like that at all !

Yes, most parties I went to or had as a kid were in Macdonalds or the local social club Well you weren't a boomer then, I never went to a birthday party that wasn''t in a house

Lol @ grannietomine....the children of BBs weren't throwing their own childhood parties were they? Their BB parents did