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!

@KeenGreen I worry about my dc. On the one hand they will be ok but they don't exist in a vacuum. A more unequal, poorer society isn't a safer, happier one. And selfishly I worry what happens to the NHS in 20 yrs ago when I may need it more. Financially we are stuffed and that was the case last week. But now we need to find billions to increase defence spend, it will be interesting to see what they cut.

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.

WTF 😆

You do understand we already have more over 65s than under 15s. In the 60s we had 5 workers to 1 pensioner and now it's 3:1 but not far off 2:1. The financial implications of that are huge!!!

Exactly this
But LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway is an alright Jack and we should just all go out for meals and Chill.😆

#sobitter 🙄

Interestingly, I came across these photographs this week, taken for Shelter in the late 60s to early seventies.

https://flashbak.com/basic-shelter-slum-life-and-squalor-in-british-cities-1968-72-53934/

Clearly these are extreme, but I have to say I lived in some of these houses as a student in eighties Leeds and they weren't always much better. I remember being shocked the first time I visited a student house. I never knew anything like these photos, but I certainly grew up in a house with one fireplace, no central heating and ice flowers on the inside of the windows. It was common and perfectly normal back then. It is often forgotten that the war cast a long shadow.

Later when I was starting out in work, I bought one and then another in another city, fully renovating them while I lived in the middle of the chaos, to work myself up the ladder. 😄

I skimmed the ceiling in the kitchen a few years ago after watching a few YouTube videos. It's ok but it would get better with practice I'm sure.

I am sorry to disappoint but we are passing it on already as late boomers.

Why should we pay more tax than the rest now the population because of when we were born? We will continue to pay significant amounts when we retire.

A means tested state pension makes some sense for the future but it's a difficult sell to people like DH and I who have between us 78 years of NI contributions. The state pension is £221.20 pw (full). Both DH and I will continue to pay more than our state pensions in tax each month.

Means test if needs be, but I would expect some sort of tax relief in return. Also, our DC were privately educated and we mostly use private healthcare, no tax relief on that either.

Oh but golly how we've supposed to have milked it. I think not.

Not all older people are a burden on the state and younger generations and I find that statement frankly offensive.

There is 3 weeks a year, where my DH is not at school but son is.

My son is in a state primary and started in September in reception so he’s first year of school. We can’t afford private fees even with my DH discount which is about 30%

One extra week in October half term, this year my DH did lots of housework and odd jobs and sorting bits around the house all the stuff then was main childcare for October half term.

He also has an extra 2 weeks early July and for the last 2 years this was our chance to have a little family holiday. 2 years running we went to Butlins for the week, which only cost £200 because it was school time.

This year he will have 2 whole weeks my son is at school, and I won’t have my son in wraparound in that time to save some money as he can do pick ups etc.

Some of my annual leave I’ve booked for this time so we can hopefully get some decorating done.

Edited to add:

Same Trip to Butlins in holiday time is around £800 I usually also take my son camping but I go with friends as DH isn’t a fan and last couple of years opted not to go. So our Butlins trips have been our chance to have a trip together.

So you agree, the pension should be means tested. And you are passing it on, just to your own children. Contributing to an unfairer society.

It's already taxed, so a degree of effective means testing.

Someone has to.

There is 3 weeks a year, where my DH is not at school but son is.

And you and your DH both work in education, you as an academic?

I'm calling this out as goady claptrap. That's a rookie grammatical error for a post doctoral academic.

No, they think it should be means tested, but only once they have had their entitlement to it, then it should be means tested for younger generations…..🙃

I'm 58 DH 56 and at your age he had two jobs. Not boomer generation. I think Gen X. At no point did we feel he could get away with earning 1200 a month. Neither did we feel pissed off with the generation before us!

Yes. Better that than to pass it onto to degree educated individuals who don't graft. It's been taxed once, highly, in any event.

Please read carefully, I said a means test state pension at some stage in the future. It will have to be managed carefully or people will find ways to avoid paying NI.

You actually just said the same thing upthread @BeGoldHedgehog
If you still get a pension you will give it to your children !

I’ve already been paying in for 22 years.

My deductions right now between tax and NI are around £800 a month,

I have another 30 years of work ahead of me. I alone would have paid in for 52 years by that point.

Whilst it is impossible to predict the future, I suspect there will be no state pension for anyone that has any workplace pension.

So the idea that paying in means I have earnt it won’t be the rhetoric for my generation.

So yeah the idea of ‘earning’ the state pension won’t be a thing for my generation, in my opinion.

I said a means test state pension at some stage in the future.

It may happen sooner rather than later to increase defence spending.

No, they think it should be means tested, but only once they have had their entitlement to it, then it should be means tested for younger generations…..

Of course! 😆

I would be passing on state pension ( Not hoarded wealth). Meaning I would be essentially giving their taxes back to them. I would be happier to have better wealth distribution. And yes this means less inheritance for myself and children in return for a fairer and more equal society

I bet it’s difficult especially if you’re not good at DIY but it is possible. Dh has plastered our entire house now apart from one bedroom and the bathroom….while working full time. He spent evenings on and off for a year plastering from 6pm to 10pm. He taught himself to plaster having never done it before.

Apologies for a grammatical error!

I am typing from my phone, and didn’t realise my grammar needed to be up to the level of my thesis for a mumsnet post!

I humbly apologise 🙄

I don't understand how giving your state pension to your children benefits anyone but your children
Hoarded wealth-aha!

I would like to stick up for your DH, OP. Lots of people making really nasty comments IMO. You have young children, so it makes total sense that one of you is around more for the kids. People should know that more and more, TAs are expected to have degrees so that they can fully support the children in class. Also, there is more to life and to work that pulling in a big salary. How about giving something back to society for a change? How about intrinsic job satisfaction?

I agree with your post that Boomers and Gen Xs had it so much easier than millenials, who in turn have had it easier than Gen Zs. Boomers may have been cautious with their money, spent less so put less back into the economy and now they are retired they are just going on cruises, which also does not put anything back into our economy - it's all being spent abroad. Younger generations, who know they don't stand a chance at buying their own homes untl they inherit, spend money on things they enjoy because no matter how much they save, it won't ever be enough. And don't get me started on the debt that young graduates are starting their working lives owing. I was born in 63, so technically a Boomer, but I hate the Boomer attitudes.

I'm your age, and I have a slightly different take on this.
Boomers had it easy, sure, BUT SO DID WE.
We went to university prior to massive hikes in terms of fees, which were tiny, means tested and loans were interest free.
There were SO many jobs out there post graduation - and the graduate schemes (which all but disappeared within 10 years of me graduating) were extremely generous in terms of starting salary.
House prices were high but credit was cheap and it was super easy to get on the housing ladder with a 10% deposit, which, again, with massive starting salaries, was easy to save for living at home.
I work with graduates now (20 years later) whose starting salaries are less than mine and with none of the sign-on bonuses etc.