Baby Boomers making out like bandits as usual

Oldernotwiser

suki1001 wrote: »

Anyway, I wonder who is actually paying for these iphones in this demographic. I'm pretty certain it's the parents for birthdays and christmas. how many 16yr old could actually afford an expensive phone out of their own pockets?

And how many people of that age would previously have expected a present of equivalent cost?

Jimmy_31

Pimperne1 wrote: »

That's not what I see on Grand Design.

I will go to the bank then and tell them somebody on grand designs ( stonemason i presume) managed to get a 100k out of you so i want the same.

Grand designs:rotfl:

ukcarper

suki1001 wrote: »

The thing is by all accounts when mods and rockers were around they all had scooters. The latest gadget. I'd imagine we'd be looking at the same demographic as those squandering mobile phone types today, but I bet they was more expensive than an iphone! My Dad was a rocker so he had a motorbike. Then there was the money forked out for the clothing and the fancy knives for fighting!! Maybe I've watched too much Quadrophenia!!

That did happen in happened to me except the knives of course but that was when I was 16 and the difference was although the scooter was on credit everything was bought with cash if I didn’t have the cash I didn’t get it and long before I was 20 I had grown out of it.

lessonlearned

I have to smile - all this talk of mobile phones is just so funny.

Since when does a 16 year old need an I-phone.

We need a roof over heads, food in our bellies. We need to pay our council tax or we go to prison, we need to pay our fuel bills or we get left out in the cold when they cut off supplies.

Nowadays most people need a car because public transport is too expensive and unreliable - when it's even there in the first place:rotfl:.

If you need to have people able to contact you then a pay as you go is perfectly adequate - they are contacting you after all.

If you need to make an emergency telephone call to say a breakdown service or to let someone know you are running late (only good manners;) then a pay as you go is up to job.

Anything else is an extra - you don't need to use it as a sat-nav, or access your emails, or surf the net. They are just nice little add ons.

I-phones, Blackberrys, I-pods etc are all wonderful but they are toys - ok grown up toys but still toys.

£50 a month on a phone is just a symptom of not having enough money to do other things, like saving up for a house. It's not usually the root cause.

Someone who is prepared to blow £50 a month on a phone probably fritters money in other areas - bottled water, bought lunches instead of making their own, convenience foods, expensive nights out, designer label clothing, expensive foreign holidays - the list is endless.

None of these things are bad - they're nice, they're are fun, but they are not necessities. As Martyn puts it - wants not needs.

I am now in a position where I could spend money on any of the above if I wanted to. I enjoy a little splurge as much as the next person - especially the posh holidays.........I just try to choose wisely - a lifetime habit I suppose.

But it has taken years to get to this happy stage.

When I saved for my house deposit I spent nothing - literally - all my wages (except what I paid to mum & dad for my keep), went into the bank. My then fianc! saved more than half his wages.

We rarely went anywhere that wasn't free, we drove an old banger, bought no clothes, books, records, toys, or holidays - nothing.

For some (not all) it seems to be - in the words of Queen "I want it all, I want it all, I want it now"

Well sorry - but unless you have rich indulgent parents who are prepared to spoil you rotten - then the answers is no.

You'll just have to learn to be patient - just like the "greedy, selfish Baby Boomers" had to learn before you.

Jimmy_31

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You've misunderstood what I said, I'm afraid, which doesn't help a rational discussion.

When I was younger there was much less to spend money on and if you saw someone with a luxury item on a film, for example, you didn't expect that you'd be able to own the same thing. "Clubs" were nightclubs where actors and pop singers were photographed, not places that you went to yourself.

Can you honestly say that most people in their twenties these days see cars and mobile phones as luxury items and a couple of pints down the pub as a good night out, because you must know very different people than those I know in that age group.

I would be completely knackered without a van and a mobile phone, i dont want to own a van or a mobile phone but i have to or i wouldnt be able to work.

Graham_Devon

Going4TheDream wrote: »

But is a £50+a month all singing and all dancing contract with the latest super smart phone for personal use a necessity?? I saw the queue out side the 02 shop when the new iphone went on sale...... lots of youngsters eagerly waiting for their new tech toy!

No, of course not.

But then the majority are not paying that. I don't even know why I need to state that.

I'm going to leave this thread now, as I feel I'm only carrying on the argument. I've already stated, every generation will have spenders who chase the latest fashion. But it's not fair to wipe off a whole generation because there is a £50 tariff which some may have though the majority don't.

ukcarper

Graham_Devon wrote: »

No, of course not.

But then the majority are not paying that. I don't even know why I need to state that.

I'm going to leave this thread now, as I feel I'm only carrying on the argument. I've already stated, every generation will have spenders who chase the latest fashion. But it's not fair to wipe off a whole generation because there is a £50 tariff which some may have.

I agree but then again not every babyboomer is living the life of Riley in their half a million-pound house.

Graham_Devon

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You definitely have!

Apart from anything else, you're leaving out the fact that most people of that age didn't drive or run cars. How many people in their late teens early twenties nowadays see running a car as a luxury?

Did you not have anything that made life a bit more pleasant that your parents life?

Like an indoor loo? Did you have a go at yourself for having such a thing? Should you feel guilty that you may have had an indoor loo when generations before you didnt?

Or do you really believe that every single advancement all of a sudden landed in OUR laps...and you saw no advancements at all?

Jimmy_31

Really2 wrote: »

Sorry but a mobile is a luxury item, you are not disadvantaged by not having a mobile phone.
You can lead a fully normal operable life without one.

It is a discretionary spend like sky etc.

Broadband is an essential now, but sorry a mobile is not, people just think they can't make do without one.

I would look like a bit of a t*t holding a laptop to my ear when its my turn to work the emergency call out shifts.

beckythemadcow

Really2 wrote: »

Real disposable income has risen, so would indicate we have more spare cash than previous generations after costs?
It dipped last year, but with graphs like above it is hard to conclude things are harder now.

Surely you have remembered that the rich are now richer and that means that the "average" disposable income is hugely skewed by the top 1-2% massive disposable incomes.