Is it really that hard?

bigfreddiel

I get really fed up hearing about how hard it is for youngsters these days. We'll not only youngsters, anyone really.

When I started work my pay as a graduate was £2800/year.

My house cost me £5,000 two bed tiny terrace interest rate 6%

Forty years later my salary is £28,000 - 10 fold increase

House prices £250,000 - 5 fold increase and interest rate 0.5%

There's no difference. And there are loads of jobs if you actually want to work!

The problem is youngsters today want the big house, new car, 4k TV, all new furniture, latest mobile phone, Netflix, children, and they want it now.

In my day you saved up for it, and life was tough, second hand furniture, old car, no telephone even, no children till you could afford them an interest rates maxed out at 15%+

So don't bang on telling me how tough it is now, because it just isn't true.

Just my observation on things

fj

Nikkster

bigfreddiel wrote: »

I get really fed up hearing about how hard it is for youngsters these days. We'll not only youngsters, anyone really.
My house cost me £5,000 two bed tiny terrace interest rate 6%

...

House prices £250,000 - 5 fold increase and interest rate 0.5%

At the risk of showing I can't do mental arithmetic... isn't that a 50 fold increase?

chewmylegoff

In order to get a really good graduate job in 2001 all I needed to do is have good academics and be able to count and spell and I had a raft of job offers.

I would not want to try that again in 2015. I do some graduate recruitment now and the competition is far more intense and I wouldn't stand a chance of getting through the assessment centre where I work. I doubt I would even make it that far. We have 100 applicants per place after the ones who don't meet the minimum criteria have been removed.

So regardless of whether financially it is possible to buy a house I would say that it is harder for the current generation of graduates to actually get a decent graduate role.

michaels

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Is it really that hard?

Nikkster wrote: »

At the risk of showing I can't do mental arithmetic... isn't that a 50 fold increase?

Evidently it is....

Rolandtheroadie

4k tv? You'll get a 50 inche for £300 these days.

They've never had it so good.

padington

I was talking to a friends dad who ended up with seven big houses in Chiswick and his best job was a porter at a railway station. He bought them with his tips. He was simply an ocd saver and worked very long hours and was very thrifty (never drank alcohol, saved every spare penny). After the war, the houses were damaged and rent controls meant you couldn't get much rent so no one wanted to buy them. Owning them was seen as a liability.

Problem now is, too much money is being made so they have become collectable and ensuring there limited supply has become too profitable.

People did have it a lot easier back in the day, an ocd saver that worked driving the trains wouldn't even be able to buy one large house in Chiswick these days, let alone seven.

ruggedtoast

bigfreddiel wrote: »

I get really fed up hearing about how hard it is for youngsters these days. We'll not only youngsters, anyone really.

When I started work my pay as a graduate was £2800/year.

My house cost me £5,000 two bed tiny terrace interest rate 6%

Forty years later my salary is £28,000 - 10 fold increase

House prices £250,000 - 5 fold increase and interest rate 0.5%

There's no difference. And there are loads of jobs if you actually want to work!

The problem is youngsters today want the big house, new car, 4k TV, all new furniture, latest mobile phone, Netflix, children, and they want it now.

In my day you saved up for it, and life was tough, second hand furniture, old car, no telephone even, no children till you could afford them an interest rates maxed out at 15%+

So don't bang on telling me how tough it is now, because it just isn't true.

Just my observation on things

fj

And in your day they taught reading, writing and, that's it.

PasturesNew

How much would a graduate starter at your place get today? And how does that compare to your house price? And how long would it take them to save up the same %age of deposit that you saved up when you paid less than 2x your salary for it?

Moby

bigfreddiel wrote: »

I get really fed up hearing about how hard it is for youngsters these days. We'll not only youngsters, anyone really.

When I started work my pay as a graduate was £2800/year.

My house cost me £5,000 two bed tiny terrace interest rate 6%

Forty years later my salary is £28,000 - 10 fold increase

House prices £250,000 - 5 fold increase and interest rate 0.5%

There's no difference. And there are loads of jobs if you actually want to work!

The problem is youngsters today want the big house, new car, 4k TV, all new furniture, latest mobile phone, Netflix, children, and they want it now.

In my day you saved up for it, and life was tough, second hand furniture, old car, no telephone even, no children till you could afford them an interest rates maxed out at 15%+

So don't bang on telling me how tough it is now, because it just isn't true.

Just my observation on things

fj

It's called capitalism. Greed and avarice are the engine oil of our world. You can't switch it on and off like a tap and it's naive to think that 'kids these days' will see the bigger picture of deferred gratification. Why should they. We didn't hence the crash! That's why I don't listen to the pseudo Thatcherite moralising of Tories about this....after all they believe in capitalism and 'trickle down':rotfl: more than anyone.
Another thing research shows that we are far more likely to compare ourselves with people around us rather than with say people in China....kids especially....so if Jonny next door has an Ipad I want one too. You can't promote 'aspiration' and 'getting on' without at the same time encouraging the shadier side of capitalism. If you do you are naive at best and a hypocrite at worst. Thatcher talked about personal thrift and presided over a huge expansion of the city at the same time. The Government sets the tone and the advertisers and marketing companies job is to tell you that you deserve that new house or face cream 'because you are worth it'!

Landofwood

So basically OP just proved himself wrong with his epic fail on the maths.

Nikkster

Landofwood wrote: »

So basically OP just proved himself wrong with his epic fail on the maths.

Not necessarily, as I think they were trying to make the point that interest rates are so much lower at the moment too (not sure how many ftb get a mortgage at 0.5%, but still).