The Trouble With Gen Y

Generali

danothy wrote: »

I'm always amazed at the iPhone angle in terms of affording a house. The cost of a top end piece of technology isn't comparable to the cost of a house. And even if you are obsessed with buying stuff that is costing the equivalent of a typical mortgage payment then it doesn't seem likely to me that you're going to be doing that every month for years on end. New iPhones don't come out that often for a start.

How do you think Baby Boomers were living when they were 20? You can bet they weren't sitting indoors alone and bored every night and all weekend. They'd have had such fripperies as a TV or a washing machine. And you can bet their parents berated them for it.

My parents bought their dining room set on HP in about 1969. You can bet that set some tongues wagging.

BillJones

danothy wrote: »

I'm always amazed at the iPhone angle in terms of affording a house. The cost of a top end piece of technology isn't comparable to the cost of a house.

A top-end iPhone is about £700, plus easily another £300 per year in charges for many people. Many people will replace it every two years, meaning that over your 25 year mortgage you could happily spend £12,000 on running the latest phone.

danothy

BillJones wrote: »

A top-end iPhone is about £700, plus easily another £300 per year in charges for many people. Many people will replace it every two years, meaning that over your 25 year mortgage you could happily spend £12,000 on running the latest phone.

So about £500 a year, compared to ~£X00,000 plus interest on the mortgage over the same time, and that's if you're obsessed and remain obsessed with having the latest iPhone for 25 years. I'm still not sold on the idea that disposing income on an iPhone is inherently comparable to a purchase an order of magnitude higher, or that all but a minority are compulsive tech purchasers for that matter.

[Deleted User]

BillJones wrote: »

A top-end iPhone is about £700, plus easily another £300 per year in charges for many people. Many people will replace it every two years, meaning that over your 25 year mortgage you could happily spend £12,000 on running the latest phone.

Major miscalculation

A £500 iphone would typically still sell for £200 2 years after purchase. If you're buying the phone all at once, you don't need to spend £30 a month, since you can happily get a £10 monthly sim-only contract. Even if you don't sell your phone, they're usually passed on to other family members; saving them purchase costs (i.e. Baby boomers get free phone from their kids)

You're looking at a £270 per year cost of ownership from that - so over 25 years, £6,750 - or 74p a day

Lets compare that to a £14 a month 'landline' cost.. which would be £4200 over the course of 25 years

Everything is expensive when you extrapolate a monthly cost over 25 years

ukcarper

Generali wrote: »

How do you think Baby Boomers were living when they were 20? You can bet they weren't sitting indoors alone and bored every night and all weekend. They'd have had such fripperies as a TV or a washing machine. And you can bet their parents berated them for it.

My parents bought their dining room set on HP in about 1969. You can bet that set some tongues wagging.

When I bought my first house no TV, no washing machine, no carpets second hand fridge only new furniture I had was bed and dinning table which were wedding presents.

ukcarper

danothy wrote: »

I'm always amazed at the iPhone angle in terms of affording a house. The cost of a top end piece of technology isn't comparable to the cost of a house. And even if you are obsessed with buying stuff that is costing the equivalent of a typical mortgage payment then it doesn't seem likely to me that you're going to be doing that every month for years on end. New iPhones don't come out that often for a start.

It's not the cost per say but the cost when you are saving back in the 60s before I meet my wife I used to spend money on luxury items, records clothes etc. But when I meet my wife and we started to save I stopped, we spend most evenings in one of our parents house just going out for a quite drink with a couple of friends at the weekend.

BillJones

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Major miscalculation

Yes, I missed out the iPad, iMac and iPad mini...

I was also using myself as an example, so the old phone is, without fail, given to a family member for free.

Generali

ukcarper wrote: »

When I bought my first house no TV, no washing machine, no carpets second hand fridge only new furniture I had was bed and dinning table which were wedding presents.

The plural of anecdote isn't data.

[Deleted User]

BillJones wrote: »

Yes, I missed out the iPad, iMac and iPad mini...

I was also using myself as an example, so the old phone is, without fail, given to a family member for free.

Hmm, my 3 year old Ipad 2 doesn't look ready for a refresh yet.

Are you sure you're not projecting? I can't say I know many youngsters who upgrade Apple hardware to such a rigorous degree. A new phone every 2 years; yes, but not every piece of gadgetry they own.

Anyhoo.. if there's anyone to blame for Gen Y's inability to save money - i'd blame the boomers who failed to teach them properly

ukcarper

Generali wrote: »

The plural of anecdote isn't data.

Yes but it was fairly typical and you must remember earnings have increased a lot more than inflation over that period food etc was a much larger proportion of someone's income. I think people do expect more now and that doesn't just apply to gen X and Y.


WE get plenty of the my dad was earning next to nothing and bought a 3 bed semi stuff perhaps a bit of first hand anecdotal might be more accurate.