AIBU to think the older generation is deluded to think this is greed and recklessness?

[Datinggal]

Early thirties and have a 6k credit card debt (interest free) after buying a car, as do two of my other colleagues my age.

Recently a few colleagues over a lunch said to me and the two others my age that they were ‘astonished’ at how easily younger people get into debt and that it was never their mentality. They said we have good jobs and it is just greed of our generation, wanting things now, that we should save before we spend.

AIBU to feel cross about this? I had to save 25% deposit for my house and have student loans of 240 a month to pay back. If that wasn’t the case then of course I would have had the money to buy a car outright! And yes I need a car for work.

I know it’s a case of getting over it and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I sometimes get the feeling the older generation just does not get it?! AIBU?

I don’t understand the angst if it’s affordable. There is much more potential for the shit to go down with a mortgage. Just one person losing their job these days out of a couple of FT working people both paying it could mean the mortgage becomes unaffordable. Potential for arrears and losing the house. Decent jobs are hard to come by now so the stress of having a mortgage and possibility of losing your job SHOULD in theory put people off taking the leap. Bht they do.

What happens if someone suddenly can’t afford a car loan repayment? They sell the car, start getting the bus. No real biggie.

The other thing is that car loans and other personal loans are unsecured. Whereas a mortgage is secured on your home and non payment of council tax is a criminal offence. If you lose you job then losing your home and being sent to prison is far worse than getting a CCJ for not paying your car loan...

I agree about it being cultural. My mum remembers being sent to the pawn shop to get money for meat For a Sunday roast because her mum was too ashamed to do it. If you couldn’t afford basics like feeding your family a decent meal once a week then yes, you were very poor and having to go the pawn shop was a very public way of announcing that. My mum was none the wiser.

M
Times have moved on. most families can afford to feed their families as food has got much cheaper. If they can’t then the food bank is the equivalent of the pawn shop, I suppose for some people. Some people would hate to admit they needed to use one. But as the food is given to you there is no lending involved. So no connotations associated now with lending. In fact, the prevalence of (awful) pay day loans on tv is surely enough evidence in itself that lending is not “hidden away” anymore.

The current pensioners may not have had student loan repayments to make, but that's because most didn't go to Uni. However, they paid a lot more tax, i.e. income tax was averaging around 30-35% in the 80s so they had money taken off them in the form of tax rather than SL repayments.

As for cars, no, never had a loan to buy a car. I went through my 20's and 30's buying cars every few years that cost £1k-£2k. When I was in my 40's I had savings (from not paying more for better cars I didn't need), so bought new from savings.

The only debt I've ever had was my mortgage, which I paid off as soon as I could, as opposed to lots of people who just re-mortgage every few years to buy a bigger house or "release equity" to spend.

Debt/borrowing is a mug's game. You nearly always end up paying more than you need to because usually you don't need to spend as much in the first place, i.e. save and buy cheaper or save and not spend the money at all. The easy credit mentality makes it too easy to buy what you simply don't need.

Borrow in haste, repent at leisure!

In re generational inequality, I have factored into my personal finances that I may downsize to a smaller house in order to gift the DC house deposits, when the time comes.
I think all parents of adult children who are able to do this should consider it. My parents and ILs have lived in houses that are far bigger than they need for years. Luckily xDH and I were able to manage without their help, as we were lucky to buy before prices went insane.

49 and never felt able to afford a car. The repayments and then, Insurance, petrol, tax, nct (mot) repairs/service.

I did manage to get a foot on property ladder. So it is not that older people dont get it. Slightly different trends in each generation. My generation dont see a car like oxygen. Younger people at work seem to drive newish cars and then bemoan the fact they will never get on property ladder like 'older people' (looking at me).
But for years i got 2 trains to work. And home again. 5 days a week! Lot of public transport! Lot of 20 somethings see that as just completely undoable. But with a work travel card it is obviously much cheaper.

Was this one of those completely unlikely conversations that only seems to take place when journos are looking for a story on Mumsnet?

I’m 53 and I got a car loan to pay for my first car age 20, but it was a pile of shit and not a decent one so I dont think it’s reckless but I do think there is more of a culture now that if you can get the credit you can have the goods.

My hands were burnt age 28 when it took me literally about three years to clear a 2k credit card. I’ve not done it since, if I can’t pay for it I don’t have it.

To be paying £240 a month on student loans you need to be earning £50000......

I do wonder whether credit was usually more expensive, back in my parents’ time than it is now - so people were right to be more wary of it.

I had a friend who bought a brand new car on credit in the 90s as he worked out it was cheaper then paying his railfare to commute from London to Surrey.
So it doesn't always work out more economical to go for the hair shirt option.

Credit was expensive. Also until 1869, a lot of people in Britain were imprisoned because of debts they could not pay. That created a real fear of debt, and had an influence on the cultural attitude to debt for a long time.

www.historyrevealed.com/eras/victorians/in-a-nutshell-debtors-prisons/

I don’t think it’s resentful, I think they are probably surprised at how eagerly people get into debt. I’m only in my 40s and never had a credit card, I save for what I want. There’s a huge difference between want and need, nobody ‘needs’ a £6000 car to get to work. Putting that on a credit card would make me ill 🙄

I explained up thread how when I was young being in debt was seen as a personal failing, with the exception of mortgage debt. Attitudes to debt have changed a lot.
This is a generation gap thing.

It might be a generation gap thing, but it's also a deeply irrational thing, if you do the sums.

I am not arguing what is helpful, I am trying to explain why some in the older generation judge debt so much.
Do what you need to do, but we are all a product of our upbringing.

@Bookworm4

Yes they do in some industries... e.g. farm/equine vet. Car needs to be reliable, big enough to contain everything needed to treat the animals appropriately including scanner, x-ray machine, fluids, casting materials. My DH's kit fills the boot of a Mondeo Estate with space on the back seats for extra bulky bits. Oh and space for a vet student occasionally in the front passenger seat. Others have had Passats, Superbs, or Qashqui/ Outlander type vehicles. Getting one of these for under 6k would be impossible given that it has to be reliable and some have max age written into contracts...

Leasing is prohibitive on likely mileage (35-50k work miles usual) and level of wear and tear.

That's the industry I know - am sure there are others. Our 2nd car is 15 years old, cost about 3k and is "just" big enough for DH to work out of if his is off the road / in for service meaning we can get the tiny courtesy car rather than paying to upgrade/hire 4 times a year or more.

I think that despite the internet there is less understanding of how life can differ in different areas and job sectors as we have moved to 24h shopping and away from 9-5 other than a few industries...

I was brought up to save but I have found that if for example I need a bed. I can save up for a year and buy my bed but the price has gone up, or I can get interest free credit and fix the price and have the benefit of the bed for the year I am paying for it. you used to get discounts paying in cash having saved up, but very often there are none now.

I'm a product of my upbringing, my DF came from a dirt poor WC background but he valued logic and reason over dogma.