Generational wealth differences

[KeenGreen]

My first AIBU so let’s see what I’m in for!

First to make clear none of the problems now are the fault of previous generations. It is not a blame game!!

So AIBU to be frustrated with the rhetoric that todays generations of young families have it no harder than previous generations in terms of wealth and they just need to be more frugal to have the same standard of living??

I am sick of hearing the idea that older generations. So called boomers (for the record I don’t like this term) didn’t have it easier than younger generations.

I am 38 I have worked since I was 16, lived independently since 17. Put myself through university all the way through to PhD. My husband is 39 works in a school as support staff (LSA) and takes up circa £1200 a month. He has a degree.
I work in a university and earn just under £50K before tax so our household income is probably about £65K not the lowest by any stretch but enough for us to struggle to balance costs. We claim child benefit but otherwise no extra help.
Husband only works term time of course, but that means he’s around for our child during holidays.

We have one DC age 5, and can’t afford any more.
Our closest family lives over 2 hours away, so we have no family support with childcare or help if there is a sick day or anything.

We have a mortgaged small semi detached 1930s house with 3 bedrooms, It needs a lot of work but we haven’t been able to do much because of time and money. Current mortgage fix ends in 2026 and I expect our mortgage repayments to go up by about 50% extra £300 a month.

We pay off student loans and my pension contributions are also high.
I took only 6 months maternity leave because I couldn’t afford to go to half pay for long and not into no pay at all.

My husband had virtually nothing in his workplace pension because of low earnings.
Mine is keep being devalued because of sector changes and it’s definitely not the best pension in education. (Teachers pensions are better).
I can’t even imagine what it will be like to try and live off my workplace pension alone and I would have to go all the way up to retirement age which I can’t imagine myself doing in a stressful job.

Retirement age for us is currently 68, that means we have 30 more years.
But with the way things are going I have no hope that there will be a state pension at all for us, or the age will be pushed even higher, so will probably be dead! Despite the fact I will have been paying in with tax national insurance for 50 plus years by that point.

I just feel frustrated about this idea that I hear people say that our generation just needs to work harder, or get better paid jobs etc because it’s not that easy. We both work hard in the education sector. Enjoy our jobs for the most part and find them fulfilling albeit stressful at times!

Like I said not about blaming previous generations for the picture we are in, but I don’t like the rhetoric of ‘well interest rates went up to 15% in my day’ etc when house prices were so much lower in proportion to wages and the cost of living right now and inflation over the last 10 years shows wages haven’t increased in line with this.

ps I know we are not the most hard done by! But still feel the pinch and we certain don’t live an extravagant lifestyle!

'She had the opportunity to go to university which none of my parents’ or my generation (X) could do.'

Nobody I knew at school went to University. There may well have been a few people from our year group did eventually, but it wasn't even discussed as an option amongst my peers, and wouldn't have crossed my mind to think about it. We left school at the end of 5th year (y11 now).

Well no one said the 75% of non working mothers were all boomers and I don't suppose they were.

Actually John Major did it after 1992. Blair became PM in 1997.

We were informed of tis change years and years ago

What year, exactly?

@mum2jakie the statistic I posted didn't say most mothers worked in the early 00s. I don't know if they did or not but that's isn't what I posted.

Exactly. Both my late parents worked full time. Even my grandmother worked part time having been born in 1905.

Think it would be nice if older generations could just simply accept that most recent generations have had it much harder, but they rarely seem able to do so. It’s always the same arguments put forward like “but, but the interest rates on my £50k mortgage were much higher!!!” or “If younger generations didn’t spend that extra few hundred a month on frivolous spending, they could afford that £400k house!”
Essentially the social contract is broken for current and future generations. The idea that if you get a half decent job you can afford the things previous generations could on 1 salary is history, yet younger people are expected to commit to and play the same ‘game’ when it’s so stacked against them.

Plenty of couples both worked fulltime in the past,

What does plenty mean?

I agree !

No one is saying you have to but people do.

Yes and this makes me angry for my childrens futures!
So LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway 😉you were half right

Maybe a dictionary would help.

There is so much extrapolation of anecdotal experiences on these threads & then when statistics are posted they are meant with obfuscation& deflection. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Maybe a dictionary would help.

Well I certainly understand what plenty means...

Yes yes yes, back in the day, people bought houses for much less, and many people had a proper employment contract, with decent regular hours. None of this zero hours contract shit, (or 4-8 hour contracts.) But mortgage interest rates were MUCH higher then. Me and DH paid £500 to £600 a month on a £55,000 mortgage in the late 1990s/early 2000s! And things like TVs, stereos, cars, cookers, and washing machines etc etc, were WAY more expensive than they are now.

So yeah, whilst some younger people (born post mid 1990s) have a tough time trying to purchase a home, and some jobs don't offer decent hours, it's a load of nonsense that young people have it harder than the generations before. As some others have said, why does it have to be a competition?! Every generation has its struggles. Most people in every generation have struggled at some point or other.

DH and I (Gen X/late 50s,) barely had a pot to piss in for 17-18-ish years when we were paying a mortgage, and all the bills, and raising 2 children (early 1990s to early 2010s.) We had fuck-all help from family (for several reasons - incl geographical distance and them being infirm/older, by the time we had children,) and tax credits didn't exist until our DC were virtually teens, and there was NO FREE CHILDCARE. Oh and yeah, HUGE interest rates on the mortgage!!!

And as for the more 'fortunate' babyboomers, (that some posters clearly have so much hatred and bitterness towards,) let me ask you this...... If someone said to you tomorrow that you can have free Uni education/have your student debt written off, and a decent 3 bedroom house for £27,000, and a new 25 reg car for £4,000, and a final salary pension, and then retire at 57, would you say 'oh no thanks, all this might affect future generations and result in them not having the same opportunities?! '

LOL, of course you wouldn't! You'd grab it all with both hands. Don't even try to pretend you wouldn't! Yes, some babyboomers had it good, but it's not their bloody fault!

As I said, people need to stop blaming other people for the way their life has turned out. Start taking steps to improve your own life, instead of being jealous of what other people have, and seething with bitterness and anger.

I'm off for a lovely pub meal with DH and my 2 lovely adult DC now. Off to relax and chill. A few people on here could do with doing the same.

CHILLING OUT😎

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ploppydoppy · Today 15:09
Plenty of couples both worked fulltime in the past,
What does plenty mean?
I'll help you.....
plenty" can be considered a vague word because it doesn't specify an exact quantity, simply indicating "enough" or "more than enough," which can be interpreted differently depending on the context; while it conveys abundance, it lacks precise detail about the actual amount.

Well that goes both ways doesn't it. Many boomers have benefitted from inflation, particularly house price inflation, it doesn't mean they all had it easy back then just like young people starting out now don't know how things will be in 40 or 50 years time.

People make different choices, the OP and her husband are happy for him to be working in a job he loves for low pay, other people make different choices. I left school at 15, my kids all went to university and did post grad so none of them started fulltime jobs until they were 23 or 24, that immediately makes a massive difference in what they have at a particular time.

But mortgage interest rates were MUCH higher then. Me and DH paid £500 to £600 a month on a £55,000 mortgage in the late 1990s/early 2000s

Do you think recent increases in interest rates haven't resulted in hundreds of pounds extra being spent on mortgages? Do you not take advantage of MIRAS?

@TheignT I've never claimed they had it easy. Easier does not mean it wasn't hard 😆

My grandmother and mother worked.

Grandma was born in 1912. She ran the family farm and the family business. My grandad did something else - she did it alone and with no support from 1940 to 1946. She continued until she was 70 when Alzheimers began to take hold.

My mother was born in 1936. She trained as a ballerina, danced professionally and modelled until she was about 36 despite having me, then taught Dance for about 7 years until Step's business was so big she worked for him pretty much 40 hpw, running his payroll, invoicing and helping with suppliers. She did that until she was 74 and he sold the business.

MIL, also born in 1936, was a primary school teacher from about 1957 to 1962, had eight years off, returning p/t when her youngest started school and was full-time after three years, becoming a Deputy Head from 1978 until 1996 when she retired.

Loving the boileaux about women not previously working. Women have always worked. Well, the grafters have.

My grandmother and mother also cared for their parents. Shoes I am expecting to step into shortly. My gran and mother had help from their mothers with childcare. I did not. They however had one child when they were 23. I had two, starting at 35.

I will not be providing childcare but will pay for one day of nursery for each grandchild if required. I am not expecting my children to remain in the UK.

Well it was a strange thing to ask then wasn't it.

@BeGoldHedgehog I mean plenty to me would suggest a large, fairly substantial amount but that's not what the data shows so I guess I can't read the dictionary!

Thank you,

Yes this is exactly my point. Some of the older generation just don’t recognise the challenges are different.

This thread has got somewhat de-railed and pulled into different directions.

But ultimately the point is some of the older generations seem to want to say that it’s all our own fault (because how dare we pay £4.99 a month for Netflix as our only form of entertainment - no sky tv etc) without looking at the wider societal circumstances that have changed.

It’s also not just about me! But plenty of others are in similar situations. Yet most people are choosing to pick apart every aspect of our lives.

I’ve explained in another comment why DH doesn’t work in another role,

No No No!!
We need a shift in thinking to turn this country around, we have an aging population who are a massive burden. They need to acknowledge this and pass some of their wealth on.
The wealthier boomers need to be taxed more and the state pension should be means tested. The anger is that the attitude of some boomers is "it's mine, I earnt it". But they did not pay in enough to cover what they are taking out. They are doing so at the expense of younger generations.

Oh please, not that worn-out old claim that we need an endlessly increasing population to look after old people. When does it stop? Preferably before we’ve built over every green space and every acre of arable land?

New arrivals from poor counties don’t usually earn enough to pay much tax. They will also have children, who need healthcare and education etc, and then grow old themselves. Just like the rest of us.

Luckily, old people are no great burden on a country’s economy. Their main cost is in healthcare. They commit very little of the crime and barely impinge on the education budget. Most now pay for any social care they need in later age.