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.

They’re also leading a lifestyle which is proven to make people healthier for longer

You are only hearing about those who are comfortable in retirement. Many people are not.

That's how MNers work, select the 'acts' that match your agenda and ignore, even sneer at, anything else.

80s teen here. My dad had a managerial role and my mother a menial role in the SE. My parents could only afford a small semi and were broke. We never ate out, had 1 car, rarely went on holiday, I had hardly any clothes( unlike teenagers today) and we didn’t have a video player let alone a grands work of phone per person which most seem to think is normal now a days. My parents struggled.

I answered this further back.

People in their 60's now paid all their working lives for the retired generation above them.
Why so much hatred of older people now getting a state pension of well below the minimum working wage?
Could this be following on from the discovery of a certain ex PM's comments about the dispensibility of old people during covid?
They will be bringing back Logan's run next (for those of you old enough to remember it!)

The people in your example were NOT "ordinary working people"!

"Back then they didn't get equal pay so it was hard to live independently"

Women still don't get equal pay.
I believe it has equalised for younger women in the sense that only those who are mothers earn less, but for my age (late Gen X) we all earn less whether mothers or not. It's still very expensive to live independently actually.

Charge rents that are affordable , cover costs not make profits for landlords
Ensure that anyone who wants can have such good secure tenancy homes

Can we also make it easy for landlords to evict those who choose not to pay rent, knowing that the current system is stacked in their favour?

OP you do realise there is enough wealth and automation around that everyone in this country should be able to retire at 60 and have long happy retirements. It is only because a few hoard wealth and fund our politicians that the rest of us, instead of getting the pitchforks out, are arguing to drag working and middle class pensioners into our sorry pit of despair.

Don't get mad at pensioners who are getting the retirement they were promised, or even cheap housing get mad at the politicians that have robbed that from the next generations to feather their own (and their friends) nests...

this - you said it all

I get so f**d off with these kind of posts - woe is me.
Honestly, get a grip! Stop wishing bad on people. I honestly cannot understand why it's even voiced!
Arghhhh!

You have the brass neck to post that when you and your mates have been slagging off people my age and older, and stating that there should be no health or social care for them once they reach the age of 70?

Wow.

I doubt your figures or the blame you put on 600 people in the HoC and HoL and their cronies of every political stripe?

You do realise how many billions and billions your 'plan' would cost?

I’ve not read the whole thread but am agreeing with what seems to be the majority. I’m a 60s child, so a late boomer probably. We bought a house in our late 20s, both university graduates with no loans, but a lot of saving for our deposit on both sides. We waited quite a few years to have children, and bought into our current business soon before first child born. So we had a big mortgage and quite a bit business loan. And then mortgage rates went up to 15%. So our business loan was 17% as it was above base rate. So when I started maternity leave (6 weeks 90% pay then SMP) our loans were more than our income. So I crafted every hour I could for a local shop to sell for pin money, we reduced all outgoings as much as possible and I went back to work (part time) when baby was 6 weeks old. After a Caesarian. Needs must.

We coped, but god it was hard, and for many many years we lived by the skin of our teeth. No holidays, few treats, working all hours in our business. Now both in our 60s, won’t get state pension till we are 67 (despite being told I’d get it at 60 for many years). We did pay into a private pension, but not loads as we didn’t have the spare cash. We are “ lucky” in that our business has done quite well so has a value. One of my parents was in dementia care home for 6 years which used up virtually all of her assets, so no inheritance there. We did inherit some from in laws. We have passed what we can to our children to help them buy homes, and will continue to do that. So yes we are more comfortable than we ever have been, and will stop working hopefully in the next 2 years. But we have not had it easy.

@Fizbosshoes yes, it was cold and miserable, and I'm glad that (most) people don't live without heating now

Just fed up of people suggesting that older people had it easy when they were young

"The people in your example were NOT "ordinary working people"!"

That's true, but my parents and grandparents were and they all owned their own homes whereas I'm still renting in middle age as is one of my siblings. None of my parents' siblings or cousins were unable to buy by that age.

I think young people get annoyed as they see the social contract is broken. You study hard at school, you go to uni, get a good job but that no longer gets you anywhere near a house. Whereas it got their parents a house. I don’t belong to the younger generation but I can see why they might see it as unfair. It’s not just owning a house that’s important. It’s the stability it gives you to want to have kids. It’s easily the main reason why our population is shrinking, and why things will be even tougher for the current young when they come to retire, with fewer workers paying in NI and tax to fund their pension.

we need to build lots more housing quick.

Totally agree and some of the comments about people aged 60 plus are rude and patronising.
Some of this age group are struggling with ill health so have not had the opportunity to pay extra into occupational pensions etc.
What's forgotten here that everyone gets old eventually and it's not a bowl of cherries if you've had years of ill health and you're broke through no fault of your own.

That's terrible!!

I am actually shocked by the callousness of some posters. Just horrible.

My older brother was the first person in our entire family history to get a mortgage. NONE of my parents, their siblings, etc dud.
.That is "ordinary working people".

When, how & by whom were those things changed?

And what do you mean by 'scope of the NHS'?

Lol, of course not.

Any attempt to point out that those generations used a period of unprecedented peace, prosperity and growth to feather their own nests at the expense of everyone else to come is met with extreme denial and whataboutery.

I can afford to tolerate the nonsense being talked here. We have saved and planned for retirement. We were self-employed for 30 years, and having been competent at it, we have stuffed money into pension vehicles at every opportunity. Now we are of retirement age, we shall start taking money out of the pot and paying tax on it as income, so we shall continue to fund the NHS and UC etc. We shall still be paying five-figure income tax as pensioners. I think that's reasonably fair.

I retired at 67, because I couldn't afford to retire earlier. While I'm reasonably ok financially now, I won't be going on loads of holidays. I also won't be inheriting anything substantial, as we've encouraged my Mum to downsize to a 1 bedroom flat, so she can cope financially. I know very few 'boomers' who are as rich as you suggest!! Most of us, just get by.

Absolutely agree with @Facebookflight No generation has had it easy. However, young people are likely to feel cheesed off. They have to pay for university education if they go - they have massive loans. Even if they save for years, they can’t get a deposit for a house. Rent is disgustingly expensive. And they can see that in the future, they probably never gonna be able to retire.