Britain's Fake Recovery: Middle Class Young Worse Off Than Parents

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

CLAPTON wrote: »

I see what you mean

they had better access polio, untreatible leukaemas, freezing cold houses and lots lots more

And outside toilets, a decade of rationing still to endure, a war ravaged country, national debt 200% higher than today, cripplingly high taxation, and the imminent advent of the cold war and living with the fear of nuclear annihilation....

Yep.

The young of today don't realise how easy they have it.:)

makeyourdaddyproud

CLAPTON wrote: »

I see what you mean

they had better access polio, untreatible leukaemas, freezing cold houses and lots lots more

... TB, national service, post war insecurity, poor access to health schemes, class discrimination etc

makeyourdaddyproud

There is a significant "old money" theme running through some families, where little or no effort needs be spent staying disgustingly rich. The owners of these firms and their descendants will often stay permanently rich.

This contrasts with the "parvenu" rich where a high degree of effort needs to be put into the firm to stay rich, and with significant risks to losing that wealth.

So being disgustingly rich in 1946 affords ALL descendents the same luxury, usually.

chucknorris

CLAPTON wrote: »

I see what you mean

they had better access polio, untreatible leukaemas, freezing cold houses and lots lots more

No access to Bitcoin though!

Prothet_of_Doom

So?

My parents are probably slightly more well off than their parents, if we consider the size of house, number of holidays, and newness of car, and at the same age I am now it was clear that they had a large house, newer car, and more disposable income, than my wife and I,

but it is not clear that my kids (both on the cusp of adulthood) will be less well off than us. They are making choices in education that should lead to well paid jobs, and are both financially savy, so I can't see their long term futures look particularly bleak.

ruggedtoast

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

So?

My parents are probably slightly more well off than their parents, if we consider the size of house, number of holidays, and newness of car, and at the same age I am now it was clear that they had a large house, newer car, and more disposable income, than my wife and I,

but it is not clear that my kids (both on the cusp of adulthood) will be less well off than us. They are making choices in education that should lead to well paid jobs, and are both financially savy, so I can't see their long term futures look particularly bleak.

I'm sure the fact you aren't worried about them is a great weight off their minds.

dealer_wins

Hard work, good ethics and moderation will get any youngster far these days.

As so many young people lack these disciplines, those that do have them will do very well.

kabayiri

It's a challenging time for young people I reckon.

The career path back in the 60s,70s, 80s was still a lot more predictable.

The degree route ; the polytechnic route ; apprenticeships ; the mass employers where perhaps multiple members of your family worked. It all offered a certain level of predictability.

You might expect the recent push for degrees to be the primary route into work again then, yeah?

Except...a recent article I read highlighted so called premier companies (the top manufacturers / banks etc) where they were cherry picking bright young things before degree stage.

It's an appealing concept. Why bother with loading up on student debt? Come work for "us" instead, and we will progress your career.

When the student is now a consumer, they have to weigh up things differently I expect.

Loughton_Monkey

Ten Advantages today's young people have over 'Baby Boomers'

1. Rich parents. For the vast majority of boomers, the concept of inheriting much from their parents was zero. Parents of boomers didn't accumulate as much property wealth.
2. Cheap gadgets. If boomers wanted 'hi tech', the real cost was very prohibitive. Colour televisions £300 in the 70's. Video Recorders £700 in the 80's. Equivalent (better) things are, today, a fraction of the cost.
3. Cheap Holidays. In the 70's, reasonably priced 'package tours' to Spain were just becoming a reality. These days, young people can get to almost any city in Europe for far less than a week's wages.
4. Broad Benefits. The overall safety net is now far wider. Boomers got a bit of unemployment benefit for a while, and child benefit, but not massive amounst of child tax credit or housing benefit.
5. The 'right' not to be homeless. Boomers were forced to stay at home, even if married with child, while they waited 3, 4 or more years for a 'council house'. Fall out with your parents, or have a child, and you have a 'right' to be instantly housed.
6. Wider Educational Opportunities. Boomers needed to be in the top 5% to get to University. An echelon of roughly 25% could go to a local technical college provided they lived at home. Today, 50% of youngsters go to "University".
7. Health and Longevity. Massive improvements and techniques in health treatment, including cancer, mean that young people today continue to expect to live longer than their boomer parents will.
8. Cars. A tiny proportion of boomers had cars in their teens or even early twenties. A few had rich parents who bought them one, and a few bought really old 'bangers' and 'did them up' before they could get on the road. Most boomers had to wait perhaps until late 20's before they could get wheels.
9. Quality of housing. No central heating for boomers. Only lucky boomers had carpets instead of cold lino to get up onto on a frosty morening. Draughty windows and no insulation meant really uncomfortabel winters.
10. Global Career Opportunities. Boomers sometimes struggled to get job opportunities in another town, let alone internationally. Neither the practical ability to travel, nor the communications network to find and be interviewed for jobs existed until much later. Today, the world is your lobster!

That's even leaving out facts like £1,000 salary in 1975 would require £6,880 today to buy the same goods. Inflated by Average Earnings, that salary worth £10,500 today. That's 52% more spending power!

What we have here is a further indication of what we know from elsewhere (lower basic skills for today's younger generations compared to the older, despite all the educational 'opportunities'). Young people today are looking at the 'Boomer' generation - who by definition are a generation or two older - and look at booners' salaries and house equity, and compare them to that of today's 30 year old!

Get real! Today's 30 year old will retire far, far richer than we did. If they don't, it's entirely their own fault.

ruggedtoast

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Ten Advantages today's young people have over 'Baby Boomers'

1. Rich parents. For the vast majority of boomers, the concept of inheriting much from their parents was zero. Parents of boomers didn't accumulate as much property wealth.
2. Cheap gadgets. If boomers wanted 'hi tech', the real cost was very prohibitive. Colour televisions £300 in the 70's. Video Recorders £700 in the 80's. Equivalent (better) things are, today, a fraction of the cost.
3. Cheap Holidays. In the 70's, reasonably priced 'package tours' to Spain were just becoming a reality. These days, young people can get to almost any city in Europe for far less than a week's wages.
4. Broad Benefits. The overall safety net is now far wider. Boomers got a bit of unemployment benefit for a while, and child benefit, but not massive amounst of child tax credit or housing benefit.
5. The 'right' not to be homeless. Boomers were forced to stay at home, even if married with child, while they waited 3, 4 or more years for a 'council house'. Fall out with your parents, or have a child, and you have a 'right' to be instantly housed.
6. Wider Educational Opportunities. Boomers needed to be in the top 5% to get to University. An echelon of roughly 25% could go to a local technical college provided they lived at home. Today, 50% of youngsters go to "University".
7. Health and Longevity. Massive improvements and techniques in health treatment, including cancer, mean that young people today continue to expect to live longer than their boomer parents will.
8. Cars. A tiny proportion of boomers had cars in their teens or even early twenties. A few had rich parents who bought them one, and a few bought really old 'bangers' and 'did them up' before they could get on the road. Most boomers had to wait perhaps until late 20's before they could get wheels.
9. Quality of housing. No central heating for boomers. Only lucky boomers had carpets instead of cold lino to get up onto on a frosty morening. Draughty windows and no insulation meant really uncomfortabel winters.
10. Global Career Opportunities. Boomers sometimes struggled to get job opportunities in another town, let alone internationally. Neither the practical ability to travel, nor the communications network to find and be interviewed for jobs existed until much later. Today, the world is your lobster!

That's even leaving out facts like £1,000 salary in 1975 would require £6,880 today to buy the same goods. Inflated by Average Earnings, that salary worth £10,500 today. That's 52% more spending power!

What we have here is a further indication of what we know from elsewhere (lower basic skills for today's younger generations compared to the older, despite all the educational 'opportunities'). Young people today are looking at the 'Boomer' generation - who by definition are a generation or two older - and look at booners' salaries and house equity, and compare them to that of today's 30 year old!

Get real! Today's 30 year old will retire far, far richer than we did. If they don't, it's entirely their own fault.

I actually don't disagree with you about much of your list. It would be foolish to suggest that modern life for most people isn't more outwardly more comfortable for most people than in the past.

But today's boomers live in the present too.

The point that article is making is that young people will not retire richer than their parents are now, but worse off. Many of them will rent forever so will never collect any housing equity, and in fact most school leavers now, finding that a degree is now a pre-requisite for a job filing, will incur student loan debt of around £40k to £50k before they even start out in careers which are being characterised by unstable short term and zero hours contracts.