Do baby boomers feel guilty about shafting younger generations?

ukcarper

bo_drinker wrote: »

Exactly what I was shouting at the radio when Jeremy Vine was prattling on about it yesterday. Never heard so much bo11ox in all my life.
If it was the other way round and the boomers went cap in hand to the binge drinking yoof what would happen.:rotfl:

As you say it’s ridiculous I like a lot of baby boomer have paid into a mortgage for the last 30 years so I have more equity in my house than a 30 year old just starting off guess what I didn’t have much equity 30 years ago.

bo_drinker

ukcarper wrote: »

As you say it’s ridiculous I like a lot of baby boomer have paid into a mortgage for the last 30 years so I have more equity in my house than a 30 year old just starting off guess what I didn’t have much equity 30 years ago.

This is exactly what the kids are forgetting. Everyone had to start somewhere. They want re distribution now, the "I want it now" generation. Would be handy, they wouldn't need to work so hard for it I suppose..... Now there's a surprise.

Also there are a lot out there who are asset rich and cash poor.

Cleaver

Malcolm. wrote: »

Yawn.

You own your own home. There are many young people today, far more than those in the baby boomer generation, that don't and won't. Of course there's more total wealth around nowdays, it's the distribution of it which is being questioned.

Try having some empathy for those that aren't quite as fortunate as you.

How have you moved from me having admiration for my Dad and his generation to me not empathy for young people today? Quite a leap you've made there.

House prices, especially for first time buyers, are high. And out of a lot of people's reach. I don't think that's very 'fair' (if that's the right word) and I have a lot of empathy, maybe even sympathy, for my friends who can't afford to buy because they live in an area of the counrty where a home is out of their reach, even though they are on what you would describe as a 'good' wage. To be honest, most of my friends who live in London don't seem to give a monkeys that they can't afford to buy. Most of them seem to be in jobs they love, with loads of fantastic friends, a very busy social life and seem to do lots of travelling. Their lives seem rich and they seem happy. If buying a house was such a massive priority for them, most of them could transfer their job to a number of places in the UK and buy a house. Nothing is keeping them in London really, no family. That is their choice and they would tell you that their quality of life is ace.

I also don't get what you wanted, or want, the boomers to do about it. They bought houses to live in and paid in to pensions. Because of a massive range of factors, these things have gone up in value. And it really is a massive range of factors, it wasn't as if boomers sat round and made a decision to currently become rich.

And let's have a look at Gen Y. When Mummy and Daddy offer to pay for Uni, did they turn it down because the money being used for that was got through high house prices? When the dear little one had a gap year travelling to Peru, Australia, India and South America and the parents helped out, did they actually decide not to go because they felt uncomfortable where some of that money came from?

My main point was around quality of life, which is what the article was about. And I'll say again, quality of life is not just about pensions and house value. I grant you that some of it is, but only a small amount. Quality of life is good friends, great books, a loving family, listening to great music, breakfast in bed on a Saturday morning, a job that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning. Basically, who gets up in the morning and says "I have a massive pension and huge house. My life is great". No one.

And lastly, you say that I'm fortunate. Which is true to some extent. But as with most people my age I've got what I've got through a mixture of good fortune and luck, but also with a hard work ethic. And you're thinking I'm fortunate because I own a house, but without sound flippant, owning a house doesn't really give you any day to day pleasure. As I said above, quality of life is about so much more.

Radiantsoul

Life is pretty easy for anyone lucky enough to have been born in England in the last 60-70 years.

seven-day-weekend

We just bought our house to live in, we didn't 'plan' for it to rise in value. We bought it in 1976 and still have it.

What do you expect me to do about it?

Anyway, my son (born in 1980) will get a good inheritance, which is more than my husband or myself ever got. Many of the younger generation will inherit from us Baby Boomers.

(Born in January 1950, I'm a very new State Pensioner).

Graham_Devon

I think the younger generation have it quite good actually.

Afterall, we can buy a washing machine for £200. Would have cost 4x that in equivalent wages in 1970.

This is the usual type of argument. Technology blah blah, didn't have it in my day, you do.

However, of course, in 1970 the person was lucky to HAVE a washing machine. Because of course the previous generation probably didn't have one at all. And the previous generation before that probably didn't have a laundrette.

Swings and roundabouts, smoke and mirrors.

What we need is a proper calculation, but no one (I mean press here) is interested in that?!

Difference between the two generations however, appears to me to be sat right in front of us day in day out. One generation would work hard....and I don't neccesarily mean labour type work, I mean on relationships too....things would have to do. You'd have to struggle together. Not always the best solution, granted.

Of course now, thats not the done thing, poeople are divoriced before they reach their first anniversary. And then, you have to start from the bottom again.

Certainly, my generation is not helping themselves. But it DOES seem to take much much longer to reach the same stage in life as our parents, even without divorcing 3 times in 5 years.

bo_drinker

Kohoutek wrote: »

It's not just pensions and wealth. I remembering being taught at school we had 250 years of coal left, but actually at the rate it's being used it's potentially less than 50.

There's stacks of coal left in this country, the mines need opening back up, it's a fact.

Cleaver

bo_drinker wrote: »

This is exactly what the kids are forgetting. Everyone had to start somewhere.

In my Dad's case he started off in a dingy council house in one of the most deprived areas of Northern England. He then worked all hours whilst studying hard to put himself through education and also help his parents. His parents loved him, but had no idea about education so my Dad had to be completely self-motivated. My Dad then got a job, worked really, really hard to build himself a career and contuned to make sensible, considered financial decisions to ensure that his family were looked after a cared for. He bought a house and paid in to a pension with the same risks that people do now and had no idea that house prices would go up as much as they did. He never really asked for that much in return. He isn't in to designer clothes, or flashy holidays, or big cars or really anything else. He likes cricket on the radio and he has a koi pond.

Jeez, now that I think about it, Malcom is right. What a selfish generation. I'm going to tell him next time I see him. Give him a piece of my mind.

Cleaver

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

We just bought our house to live in, we didn't 'plan' for it to rise in value. We bought it in 1976 and still have it.

What do you expect me to do about it?

I think you're expected to sell it, downsize and give a chunk of the money to a 22 year old who can then have 6 months 'finding themselves' in Indonesia. Or something along those lines.

I'll give you the address of my cousin so you can send him a cheque. He seems to spend his days doing not a lot, so would probably enjoy a stint in the sunshine.

no_fat_chicks

Malcolm. wrote: »

Do baby boomers feel guilty about shafting younger generations?

The two most common answers are:

a) no, i'm rich so !!!!!!!! to them
b) what are you talking about we were so poor we lived in a ditch and ate dirt and cowpat and walked ten miles in the snow to school every day without any shoes and my dad worked down the mines for 80 years and died 3 times but people were tougher back then so he deserves what he has now