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!

Precisely. Picking one or two good things from a society suits, but overall all societies have their own challenges and drawbacks.

But in many ways OP I can't see what the problem is.
You own a house, your DH chooses to work in a job that is low pay and term time for his own mental health.

He does not wish to work in a more stressful position. You accept that this brings harmony to your household.

You need to be careful with money. So do many, many other people. So did my parents (of the different generation) who both worked full time to financially run their household.

Neither of us work part time.

I work around 50 hours a week most weeks for my salary. As a lecturer a PhD is essential.
Most LSAs have undergraduate degrees.
Education is a vocation.

My husband’s official hours are 8.30-4 plus an extra hour a week for after school club.
However he is there by 8 to help set up (yes that’s his choice but anyone in education knows the system runs off the good will of those in it!)
He works 5 days a week but term time so it is pro rata over 12 months, which is why he’s monthly salary comes out less.

@KeenGreen so many are denigrating your choices but I bet plenty of them don't earn 50k or ever have!

So do you still have to pay for wraparound childcare as DH can’t do school drop off or pick ups?

OP - I think there is a huge generational difference so I sympathise. Most of the most important jobs in society are low paid. I think that things will change over the next few years and make life easier (as they have to ). I think that teachers and TAs will need a big payrise as well as office jobs are so much more flexible now with home working etc...

I'm a boomer OP, we saved 25% of our wages for 3 years in order to get the deposit we needed to buy a small semi-detached bungalow. I'd be interested to know if you and your DH were to save 25% of your salaries, for the same length of time, as to whether that would give you enough for a deposit, in an area like Northamptonshire, which is where we purchased? As a matter of interest, I've just looked it up, and for a bungalow like we had, at today's prices, you're looking at £225k. I don't know what percentage deposit you need these days, but would love it if you were to work it out and let us know.

I know we are fortunate in many ways. Lucky we bought when we did, I worry about the next generation after us too.

We are lucky but I also feel we work hard for what we have and try to prioritise the right things.

But my point when I originally posted that I find the attitude I see frequently is that my generation has it easy, and the previous generations had it so much worse hard to swallow. E.g. someone commenting on the article I was looking at that said oh well interest rates were 15% in my day.

So it would invalidate the fact I’m stressing about interest rates if they are still high next year when my fixed rate ends, because it’s all my fault and I need to get over it. Without the nuanced points that house prices compared to wages are at a whole other level and so on.

Using the house price thing as an example but everything is squeezed by cost of living increases, and some (not all, some) of the older generation swan about as if they are hardest ever done by.
Granted there are challenges for each generation, so a little understanding of that would be nice.

Agree it’s both.

Yes I agree.
But then I don't think the boomers actually like their kids, so I think I'ts unlikely

We don't use the NHS, our DC were privately educated, we had no subsidised childcare, we had no nursery fees, we had no tax credits, etc. I appreciate we benefit from some societal structures but as we have put in more than we will ever take out, I do not believe we have ever received a benefit or service of any kind for which we have not contributed in full.

The benefit to you is that you live in a society where people are educated and provided with healthcare, which enables you to live prosperously.

But that flies completely in the face of the amount of help Boomers and Gen X are giving their adult children and is a complete generalisation.
Parents who hate their children are toxic full stop.
Is that why you are so angry?
@BeGoldHedgehog

Oh that would make you so happy lol . No not my circumstances. But I have seen friends experience it from their parents.

And their parents have helped them, but rubbed their nose in it and it all came with strings.
I want people to be able to get on due their own efforts and not handouts from boomers. Who wouldn't want this??

There is no way we could have saved 25% of our wages for 3 years and that would have been enough, to buy our first home we purchased in 2013. We saved everything we could for about 5 years. We were lucky our rent was £500 at the time. There would be no chance of us getting on the property ladder now if we were paying current rent levels.

We bought a tiny house on a shared ownership deal, we owned 50% and had to rent 50% our share cost us 64K combined our payments were still less than our rent had been. We overpaid the mortgage and I got a promotion through work and I think it was 3 years we staircased and bought the other 50% .
After my son was born the house felt very crowded, and we sold at the end of 2020 our first home value had increased and we had overpaid and built up equity.
We moved into our current home in 2021 purchased for £235K and currently owe about £177K house priced have increased and our home is probably worth about 280K now.

So yeah I recognise we are privileged in this position and I can’t even imagine how bad it will be for my son when he tries to buy a home.

I cannot understand how your salaries are so low to be honest. University degree earning 1200 a month at the age of 39?

If he works term time only and about 35 hours per week that works out at about 0.833 of full-time hours. He does, therefore, work part-time compared to the general population, because annually he renders fewer hours than a full-time member of staff and his pay is pro-rated for it.

He works his hours over 40 weeks.
If you are on an academic contract presumably you work yours over 43.4 weeks but your academic contract stipulates there are no fixed hours.

No I'm trying to understand why you think Boomers hate their children
It's not something I've ever experienced but it's a constant theme on here

I think all generations have had things hard but in different ways.

We had a time of 15% mortgage interest rates plus you had to have saved with mortgage provider for x years before they would even consider you. The lender would give max of 3x one salary and 1x the second as it was assumed one of a couple would give up work to raise children.
Also there were very few day nurseries - there were playgroups but limited hours from the age of three so even if you got maternity leave there was no way you could go back to work.
Mums were stuck in their own town as buses and trains not accessible prams were bulky and dad would take the car to work. Phone calls were pay per minute and silly money.
Can't say if it was better then or now (can't do much about it anyway)

Have you heard of wage stagnation?

You’re doing fine, what are you getting from comparing your life to previous generations.

Do you know, a 22 year old earns over 40k a year working in the police control room? Yes, they have to do shift work, but the benefits are excellent. They are crying out for more control room staff in most police forces. It is one interview (several parts over a few hours) then you go for approval and you start. You et training, and then you are up and running.

That is good but it's not reflective of most jobs in uk.

Maybe not - but ANYONE (who is going to pass the approval process which is most people) can get one of these jobs. THey are recruiting all the time. So do something (even short term) to boost their salary for a few years and get some money behind them.