To think the standard of living for retired people had to change

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I'm a millennial. I will retire in my seventies. Many in my age group will be still paying their mortgage off well into their sixties. Many will never be able to buy. This is not a moan about that.

My mums generation were able to buy cheaper houses in the eighties. Some have also inherited well (houses which their parents owned and didn't have to sell to pay for care, which had risen in price to above a million). They had better pension plans. Some were able to go to university for free and their degrees actually meant something in the workplace: They often paid off their mortgages in their forties. I see a lot of my parents relatives have retired early and have very enviable lives.

Two uncles have retired in their early sixties. They are both in good help. They spend their days on many holidays, eating out multiple times per week, going to garden centres, renovating their beautiful houses, helping children financially and with childcare. They will have presumably worked out their finances and could afford to continue to live like this for the rest of their lives! Possibly thirty more years!

I think they are possibly going to be unique in their quality of life. We will never have that and I don't see my children's generation having things any earlier.

In essence the generation before me were mostly fortunate, unless personal situations changed their financial situation or they lost their homes during the nineties interest rises. Retirements and pensions were never designed to support people for three decades and that things had to change hence raising the retirement age and making people pay more towards their care.

Why, aren't they going to leave their millions to you?

How many of us do you think get that level on inheritance.

Do grow up!

Can they see into the future then?

How do they know what pension age is going to look like for the current bunch of gimme gimme whingers?!

I agree with you. I remember too being told I needed a (male) Guarantor if I wanted a loan by one particular Bank - although things were beginning to change and another bank was quite happy to lend me what I needed. Think that was late 70's or early 80's.

As you say @disappearingfish - things are so different now - some much better and some much worse

I’m also a millennial.

I own four properties and became a millionaire in my thirties, solely through my own work (no inheritance etc).
I’ll be retired by the time I’m 50.

If you’re going to generalize about an older generation, maybe generalize about ours and ask yourself why you don’t have as much as I do?

But that's such a generalisation too. When I had my first (rented) flat it was furnished by bits and bobs of second hand furniture.

I'm lucky enough to have my own home now but I sleep on the (second hand) sofa as it only has 2 bedrooms which my DC have. I have a dining table but only 2 chairs as I need to save up for more. I don't have a credit card.

Anyone that expects to inherit anything is extremely naive. I fully expect my parents million-ish pounds to be entirely consumed by care home fees.

Well said. I too used to love spending time with old people and listening to their stories. They had a lot to say and a lot for me to learn from. I find it sad that some young people resent older people; what has gone wrong for there to be so much disrespect for our elderly?

Thatcher closed/merged more grammar schools than anyone else, before or since. One of many inconvenient truths if you are a Thatcher apologist.
Sad for you but no amount of wriggling changes the actual facts.

Erm. I left home for Uni at 18 and didn't have any money from parents apart from grant top up or live at home again. Interest rates were astronomical in 1990 we sold with negative equity. I worked 150 hours per week as a jnr Dr. I retire at 67
HTH

Confused. Don’t you have an NHS pension?

That’s a non-sequitur. Why do we need to get rid of them all? Why not just ask them to pay NI like everyone else?

Didn't buy anything new, rented a tv, video machine. Didn't eat out .. didn't buy coffee or anything really until you had money to buy it. When did people start being so greedy and envious?

Let's see how you feel if and when you get to this age. So much rubbish spouted on this subject- not everyone has/had it so good, any more than the usual garbage about young people spending all their money on coffees and Netflix rather than buying a house. Do you really want people with poor health or in manual jobs- firefighters, paramedics, roofers to name a few, working into their 70's?
Much better querying why we have some of the poorest pensioners living in squalid conditions on the lowest state pensions in Europe.

I've never had much to do with any old people. My grandparents were entirely uninvolved. My parents are now the same. Perhaps this detachment is part of the issue.

I'll have an nhs pension at 67 ?? Not v confusing

But you can choose to retire earlier and take a lower amount? Still must be pretty hefty compared with the DC pension schemes on offer to todays youth.

A resentful opening post.

You have the hand you are dealt, as did generations before you.

So get on with it and stop moaning.

An insightful post. I think that time is either forgotten or not realised by some.
I was in a similar position to you although I did escape from it by biding my time to escape negative equity and then downsize to reduce the considerable mortgage repayments - still considerable when reduced from 16% to 11% interest.
After downsizing, and subsequent falls in interest rates, I was then able to concentrate on and building up a pension.

You've raised a good point. I often think when different groups mix we learn more and become more tolerant and empathic towards one another. I was fortunate I think to see my grandparents (though not close) and elderly neighbours too, many who were war veterans. I think they helped to shape me.

The IFS is a stooge organisation, largely funded by HM Treasury to make statements that the government would like to but can't.

We'll work for the nhs then and you can get an nhs pension I guess!! What's the problem?

You'll inherit the property from your Mum. You won't be working until your seventies. You'll get pay rises and promotions through moving jobs. You might be on a dual income.

My parents bought a cheap property in the eighties. There was no frills though, no central heating upstairs and single glazed windows. No car, Wi-Fi, meals out or subscriptions.

It's easy to gloss over the past and look to the future with pessimism but there are choices.

And that’s going to be a political party’s policy is it, for your children to vote for?
Really?
😂

The wealthiest generation is actually the group just around pension age

They are wealthiest because they have saved for their retirement

The wealth goes down as pensioners get older

You want to take off people who have saved ?

You want to change the playing field - with the state pension I'll be fine , without it I'll be claiming benefits . anyone thinks a life on benefits is easier for a pensioner than a younger person ?

You’ve been really aggressive @mayorofcasterbridge ‘zero ability’ ‘vile children’ ‘day off school’ ‘hateful’ etc in your replies.

Take a deep breath and consider if some critical thinking - or at least a pause for reflection on what’s been said - might be worthy of consideration from you.

That this generation of retirees is richer than any elderly generation before is actually a FACT. And the working population cannot sustain this. Also a fact. These are demographic and economic realities that need facing.