Boomers at my work boasting of property wealth

ruggedtoast

Two boomers at my work were boasting about their property wealth this lunchtime, loudly so the whole office could hear. One and a half million quid plus between them. Both on lower positions than me as they near retirement.

All the other boomers were nodding and smiling in satisfaction. Meanwhile the Gen X'ers and Millennials had their heads down, seething or just mulling over despair.

It would take every graduate in the room almost 4 years of pooling 100% of their net salary together to buy one of these blokes houses. And by then the price would have gone up again and it wouldn't be enough.

No amount of hard work will enable anyone else to catch up to the enormous handout the boomer generation have had from property. Mainly at the expense of the young who must scrape every penny to make rent.

Pete9501

You're right and life isn't fair. The bloke that delivers your parcel tomorrow morning probably thinks the same looking at you with your own home whilst he rents a bedsit.

PasturesNew

Forget the generation stuff, that's a red herring. You have the advantage of age ....and cunning. Simply run off with the wife of the one with the most equity, she'll divorce him, marry you. Job done, instant equity.

All because you're younger. Unless you're an 4rse, then no woman will want you however young and handsome you are.

wotsthat

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Two boomers at my work were boasting about their property wealth this lunchtime, loudly so the whole office could hear. One and a half million quid plus between them. Both on lower positions than me as they near retirement.

It's not all bad. The boomers are heading towards the steep slopes of the mortality curve - the grim reaper forced 89,000 of them to distribute their wealth in 2013.

Maybe your colleagues will meet him soon and their offspring need never be poor and humble again.

purch

PasturesNew wrote: »

All because you're younger. Unless you're an 4rse,

Have you seen his posting history :eek:

Those who can DO, those who can't WHINGE

Herzlos

Fast forward 30 years until you're nearly retiring, and see how many graduates can afford your house.

PasturesNew

wotsthat wrote: »

...the grim reaper forced 89,000 of them to distribute their wealth in 2013.

Maybe your colleagues will meet him soon and their offspring need never be poor and humble again.

Not always so .... I thought I had "a little something in the future".... it's all gone on care home fees for the remaining interested party. £40-50k or more per year to keep them in tea and biscuits. Parents.... a lot more expensive than kids.

Generali

Herzlos wrote: »

Fast forward 30 years until you're nearly retiring, and see how many graduates can afford your house.

Yup. It's compound interest.

Those who don't understand it pay it.

onlyroz

PasturesNew wrote: »

Not always so .... I thought I had "a little something in the future".... it's all gone on care home fees for the remaining interested party. £40-50k or more per year to keep them in tea and biscuits. Parents.... a lot more expensive than kids.

Yup, my boomer in-laws bought their council house under right-to-buy, and have recently given all the proceeds back to the state paying for MIL's care-home fees. The way to get rich is to open a nursing home, it seems...

SailorSam

While you're living in it, the value of your house is irrelevant. You're only going to get your hands on the cash when you sell it. Then you're going to have to go out and buy another property to live in.

the_flying_pig

Herzlos wrote: »

Fast forward 30 years until you're nearly retiring, and see how many graduates can afford your house.

the real, valid, concern is that today's [say] thirty year olds (e.g. born in 1985) have far less property wealth than yesterday's (e.g. born in 1965)'s thirty year olds.


there aren't all that many good reasons to think that this cohort will be able to narrow the gap in the years to come or that future cohorts will do any better.


this matters & is a relatively new phenomenon. 1995's thirty year olds didn't particularly have any less property wealth than say 1975's thirty year olds. they had similar amounts or maybe more.


let's not muddy the waters by comparing people at completely different stages of life & insinuating that the differences we're observing are only transitory.