To wonder why the older generation can't admit that things are harder for millennials?

[ExtraPineappleExtraHam]

So we just had our meeting with a mortgage advisor. They will lend my dp £45,000 (not even enough for a bedsit in this town) and so I'm not even bothering to do mine as I earn less. We work very hard (44 hours and 27 hours) we just have low paid jobs and pay childcare for two under 5's!
I talked to my stepdad who compared it to when he had to borrow £36,000 to buy his first house in the early eighties. That was 3 times his salary and his wife stayed at home. He paid it off in six years. It's not the same. He was given a mortgage which was enough to buy a nice house in an area close to family and where he worked. He didn't have to have a bank manager saying 'well if you move to Wales or up north?' He didn't have to rent forever and have nothing to pass down to his children. It's not the same!

Both of my sons have it much easier than I did. My eldest son is 29, left school at 16 with virtually no qualifications, and he and his wife have just bought a house for £450,000, in the southeast. My middle son is currently at uni, though to be fair I have no idea if he will be able to get on the housing ladder. In the meantime he has a pretty nice lifestyle, much easier than mine when I was his age. He does have student loans, though they don't seem to bother him. We will have to see.
Some people had it easy, some people had it hard. We were very poor when we were children, the usual scenario of ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in the morning, Mum having to skip meals so we kids could eat, the kind of lifestyle that was commonplace in Britain in the 60's. They did manage to buy their own home though it wasn't big enough for our family.

sally google it. I don’t want to derail OPs thread it was just an example.

Im in my early 40s. I do sometimes find it hard to be sympathetic to the millenials as i went without the holidays, had 2 sets of clothes, chose to live in an area that isnt deemed desirable etc etc to enable me to get on that property ladder. The millenials i know still sneer at the idea of leaving london, not having city breaks, cocktail evenings etc etc and then ask for handouts or sympathy. They are shocked at the concept that life exists and indeed thrives outside of london. Whats so wrong with looking after the pennies & working towards goals rather than thinking you are entitled to a 'sex in the city' glam lifestyle?

I find this all very tiring, it's the same ground being gone over again and again. Yawn.

Buying a house is way harder now.
You do know that there are other aspects to life than buying a house? So yes for some older people life was way harder. Harder than you can imagine.

My mother couldn’t even get a mortgage without a man to guarantee it! So life is a lot better in many ways- the standard of living is way higher for millennials than it was in the 60s and 70s, but housing is more expensive- it’s swings and roundabouts though.

He didn't have to rent forever and have nothing to pass down to his children. It's not the same!

The majority of people owning won't, in the near future, have anything to pass down to their children, because they will have to sell their assets to pay for their care. Whereas people renting will have to have their care paid by the government... so the 'older generation' will have worked hard to buy their own homes for nothing.

I believe.

Oh yes, it's my fault for 'choosing' a low paid job. Who the fuck chooses a low paid job?
I have a 2:1 degree in English Literature that qualifies me for admin work or teaching. I work in an office full of people with degrees, all on low pay. What am I supposed to do, there's no room for progression and I can't work full time as we would be worse off due to childcare costs. I am going up to four days when my eldest turns three and gets her free hours.
I'm not saying everything was harder but fir the actual example I am giving would it kill my parents to say 'yes you have it harder?'

Because I’m not at all sure it is “harder” (if you look at a wider range of criteria than purely home ownership in isolation) actually. And even the home ownership is doable for many if they prioritise it.

FWIW DH and I are both millenials (we’re in our very early 30s). DH was able to buy shared ownership with a mortgage of 3x his pretty low wage age 22, because he had worked pt from 16 and ft from 18 and saved like crazy for a deposit. I worked pt in uni holidays then ft once I graduated and then also saved. I do have a good job - but frankly that’s what I worked hard for with DH’s support. We bought our current home on a mortgage of 3x my salary (plus what we’d saved as deposit/got back from selling DH’s house which was just his original deposit plus what we’d paid off the mortgage as it had not increased in value). DH is a SAHD so only one income here but no childcare costs. So although due to inflation all the numbers involved are much larger the set up really isn’t so different to your stepdad’s example...

And actually OP your post makes me bloody angry. My friend who are 17 was committed to an asylum because she was a lesbian, would not agree that she had it easier than millenials now days. Or my friend I had years ago who had cerberal palsy and was sent to a special school and taught little, in spite of being bright. Etc etc

If you think that the only thing that matters is buying a house, you are living in a privileged little bubble. Some of us in the older generation had things happen to us that would not happen these days.

Seriously- just shut up whining!

Amen to that 👍

Why have two children before getting on the housing ladder?

Tattycat not everyone needs end of life care. Some people manage to remain reasonably healthy and independent, then die of a short illness.

Because millennials always use the cost of housing as an example as how they have it worse - there are many other factors to having a hard life than just housing. Yes housing is more expensive, but food is cheaper, eating out is cheaper, clothes are cheaper, furniture is cheaper, holidays are cheaper and whilst there is still some way to go, women have it better now then they ever have

^ This.

When I had my DCs, there was no paternity leave (my DH had HALF a day off). No childcare costs help. No P&C parking spaces. We never had takeaways, ever, never ate out, ever, we saved everything to buy a house and waited to have DCs as we couldn't afford them. Furnishing the house was my DPs casts offs, we never bought new, couldn't afford it. We did everything we could to buy and gave up all luxuries. We are now reaping the benefits of that. So what.

And I'm not that old but my DCs are adults now. Two of them have good well paid careers because they had far far more opportunities than me and DH did so they've managed to buy.

Stop this 'older generation' divisiveness.

When I got married only the man's salary was taken into account for a mortgage. We had a small wedding and no honeymoon (and certainly no expensive hen or stag do) so that we could buy a house. We had no car and saved for 5 years before we had children. We were lucky in that the lady selling her house was going into a smaller property and left us lots of her old bedroom furniture. So we made do just buying a bed. We had no central heating.

But if you had chosen say, chemistry as a degree you probably wouldn't be doing admin. And i say that as an English graduate working in education. I made a poor and ill researched choice in hindsight

So this thread will go -

• house prices
• university fees
• how some type of jobs earn far less than they used to
• how sahm is much harder to achieve
• price of childcare

It is ALWAYS about those things. Yes for some Millenials a certain standard of living is way harder to achieve. If you are lesbian, gay, disabled, black, then give thanks you were born a Millenial, because your life is way easier than it was for older generations.

Just wait 25 years, OP. The next generation will be blaming you for their problems

If I amend my post to 'millennials have it harder when it comes to housing but everything else in their lives is perfect' would half of you kindly shut the fuck up?

Or single mother, or divorced. Single mothers used to be treated like absolute shit and most people would not socialise with them. Or a woman who is being abused by her partner. Women being beaten black and blue found police were uninterested and most people saw it as only a domestic.

Like my friends sister who at 16 was living with a violent man. Police could not give a fuck. Nobody cared.

Agree with your last para crunchy. Two of my childhood acquaintances got pregnant when teens, one was forced to give her baby up for adoption, I can remember the stigma attached to the other for keeping her baby.

I think the millennials problem is 'I see, I want, I buy.' As opposed to saving every spare penny for something you really want over years. No you don't need the newest iPhone or TV or gadget everytime it comes out. Not if what you really want is a house.
I started a paper run and babysitting at 12 and the money I earnt I saved for university. At the end of uni I lived as cheap as I could so I could buy a house. When I married at 30 my husband brought the other half of my house and we were mortgage free. Not because it was easier then but because I knew what I wanted. I choose to work hard and spend little so that I could own my own home

Why start a thread in AIBU if you want half the posters to shut the fuck up. We have opinions and we're allowed to air them. We don't agree with you, that's all.

BTW my DD has the same degree as you and is in a well paid job.

Yes, millennials have it harder when it comes to buying a house. Millennials have it easier in many other ways. Your last post OP, indicates that you would just like everyone to agree with you, rather than offer a different viewpoint.