Why Baby Boomers are richer than Gen X...

Generali

....despite the fact that they have earned less.

Compound Interest.

Simples!

somethingcorporate

Haha, what a great exmaple!

"A bank account, for example, may have its interest compounded every year: in this case, an account with ¤1000 initial principal and 20% interest per year would have a balance of ¤1200 at the end of the first year, ¤1440 at the end of the second year, and so on."

20% interest!!! where are they? Zimbabwe?

THE_DEZERVING_BOOMERZ

Generali wrote: »

....despite the fact that they have earned less.

Compound Interest.

Simples!

That's very true. Of course you only get the interest if you actually save, something us boomers were very good at.

To be fair, the yoof of today do have credit cards to tempt them, we didn't. First UK credit card didn't appear until 1966 and it was a decade or two so after that before they became so widely used.

So now the yoofs pay 20/30% more for everything than if they saved up instead. Don't think many of them realise that fact.

BobQ

THE_DEZERVING_BOOMERZ wrote: »

That's very true. Of course you only get the interest if you actually save, something us boomers were very good at.

To be fair, the yoof of today do have credit cards to tempt them, we didn't. First UK credit card didn't appear until 1966 and it was a decade or two so after that before they became so widely used.

So now the yoofs pay 20/30% more for everything than if they saved up instead. Don't think many of them realise that fact.

While the "yoof" are certainly guilty of this, and suffer an even worse fate with payday loans, older generations do some stupid things too when borrowing money. Also when boomers were young they may not have used credit cards but they still had provi-checks. (Doorstep agents who advanced cash in return for a regular payments they collected at high interest but where the actual interest was not clearly explained)

Sapphire

BobQ wrote: »

While the "yoof" are certainly guilty of this, and suffer an even worse fate with payday loans, older generations do some stupid things too when borrowing money. Also when boomers were young they may not have used credit cards but they still had provi-checks. (Doorstep agents who advanced cash in return for a regular payments they collected at high interest but where the actual interest was not clearly explained)

What proportion of the population used these doorstep agents, do you think, and how many of them were 'yoof'? (I don't know anyone of my parents' generation who did.) I'm sure that the use of credit cards is more prolific today.

ukcarper

Sapphire wrote: »

What proportion of the population used these doorstep agents, do you think, and how many of them were 'yoof'? (I don't know anyone of my parents' generation who did.) I'm sure that the use of credit cards is more prolific today.

I don't no anyone who used them but the tallyman was fairly common but used more by older people.

Graham_Devon

That's right, the boomers just innocently saved all their lives and never even the whiff of credit had them horified...not like the younger generation who gorge themselves silly on the stuff.

ukcarper

Graham_Devon wrote: »

That's right, the boomers just innocently saved all their lives and never even the whiff of credit had them horified...not like the younger generation who gorge themselves silly on the stuff.

The main thing is we didn't have the temptation of credit cards you couldn't end up with unsecured debts of a years salary at 21.

I have the advantage over you of living though the 60s and 70s and people were a lot more credit adverse than they are now.

ILW

Graham_Devon wrote: »

That's right, the boomers just innocently saved all their lives and never even the whiff of credit had them horified...not like the younger generation who gorge themselves silly on the stuff.

Finally you get it.

Graham_Devon

ILW wrote: »

Finally you get it.

How could I not get it? It's simplicity itself.

Boomers were all careful, saving for a rainy day, never taking on any extra debt. It's why they are in the position they are in now, with lavish savings and expensive homes. The 20-35 somethings of today however are all lazy, consumption crazed, iphone owning good for nothings who just see "me me me" and "blame blame blame". They too could afford a house if they stopped spening £100 each weekend on vodka, and could probably afford a second home if they swapped their iphone for an alcatel.

ukcarper

Graham_Devon wrote: »

How could I not get it? It's simplicity itself.

Boomers were all careful, saving for a rainy day, never taking on any extra debt. It's why they are in the position they are in now, with lavish savings and expensive homes. The 20-35 somethings of today however are all lazy, consumption crazed, iphone owning good for nothings who just see "me me me" and "blame blame blame". They too could afford a house if they stopped spening £100 each weekend on vodka, and could probably afford a second home if they swapped their iphone for an alcatel.

I’m not sure why you keep going off on these rants nobody is saying that.