Where have all the 20 something’s gone?

economic

Cakeguts wrote: »

My brand new 2 bed 1980s semi in Oldham had gas central heating and an alarm included in the price. It had a sink in the kitchen and a couple of cupboards. It didn't have a cooker, fridge freezer, washing machine, microwave, dishwasher. I had a baby belling cooker which is a small free standing elecric cooker with two rings on it. I had a second hand washing machine and a new fridgefreezer. I did not have a microwave, or dishwasher or clothes dryer or double glazing. I could not afford to eat out. I had two jobs to have enough money and I did all the cooking and washing in that kitchen. The carpets were second hand except for the one in the living room, the telly was black and white, the furniture was all second hand except for my bed. My mother made the curtains.

Oh and the interest rate on the mortgage was 11%.

The house was in a cheap area next to a large council estate. That was the best I could do.

I fully expect some entitled young person to tell me that it is harder now but who doesn't want to make any sacrifices to their lifestyle like I did.

I'm 34 and i lived with my parents until i bought my first place when i was 30. I made sacrifices (even though i didn't need to) so that i could buy with the added bonus that i am now financially independent. I went on holidays 3 times a year (2 European, 1 outside Europe), i ate out every now and again, went out every now and again, bought some gadgets etc. But i was always mindful of budget and always seeked the best deals. Never bothered with expensive restaurants or 5* hotels or the latest iPhone. I got the best deals i could and enough that i was satisfied with. And i am a millenial!

I dont really care if others cant buy or can buy. But if they complain about it and it forces change on politics so that i will be taxed more say, then i damn well care. Life is about sacrifice.

Red-Squirrel_2

Cakeguts wrote: »

Now this business about having less than your parents. How can you possibly know that? You would have to look 30 years into the future to find out. What your generation are trying to do is to have the lifestyle straight away that has taken your parents 30 years of working to achieve. You don't start off at the top you start at the bottom like they did. When they were your age they didn't have what they have now.

It is completely unrealistic to think you can live the lifestyle of someone who has worked for 30 years to get it.

I don't think that's the case at all.

Baby boomers were generally quite well established by the time they were in their thirties, steady jobs with security and decent pensions, families, houses with gardens etc.

It certainly didn't take my parents anything like till they were 50 or 60 to be comfortable and settled and have a decent disposable income, and they started from very working class roots, neither went to uni etc.

People in their twenties now are putting off things like starting a family precisely because they don't have the secure job or home. They celebrate when they are able to get a one or two bed flat or a little terraced at 30-35!

Jaywood89

Economic

If you or I used our individual cirmumstances to judge all others our age I think we would be doing them an injustice.

What would you of done if living with your parents had not been an options, just out of curiosity?

economic

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I don't think that's the case at all.

Baby boomers were generally quite well established by the time they were in their thirties, steady jobs with security and decent pensions, families, houses with gardens etc.

It certainly didn't take my parents anything like till they were 50 or 60 to be comfortable and settled and have a decent disposable income, and they started from very working class roots, neither went to uni etc.

People in their twenties now are putting off things like starting a family precisely because they don't have the secure job or home. They celebrate when they are able to get a one or two bed flat or a little terraced at 30-35!

I was born when my parents still did not own and were living with the grandparents. You dont have to own to raise a family. You can rent. Also life expectancy has increased and healthcare has improved so what difference does it make ti start a family 5-10 years later?

Also if anything is to blame for the delays in people having kids blame the education system and "feminism" movements.

economic

Jaywood89 wrote: »

Economic

If you or I used our individual cirmumstances to judge all others our age I think we would be doing them an injustice.

What would you of done if living with your parents had not been an options, just out of curiosity?

I would still have been able to buy despite having less saved up due to having to pay rent. In fact it would probably force me to buy sooner as i probably could have and i would have bought at cheaper prices.

Jaywood89

Economic

Ok, fair enough

But not sure we can apply this across the board.

Cakeguts

Jaywood89 wrote: »

Cakeguts

Thanks for the reply. I can see your reasoning but overall I do disagree,

Especially with the education part, my mother had her job because she was extremely intelligent as a person and worked extremely hard, evidenced by her final salary and job role (financial director). She left school and worked as an office assistant for 5 years, then became the office manager before becoming a book keeper which led to her accounting degree. Her entry job was at £6000 a year I!!!8217;d i remember and of that my nan took £2000 in rent.

Anyway that!!!8217;s off topic, my parents bought a house 2 doors down from my nan and 3 doors down from her sister so we!!!8217;re able to stay in their home town, that town is now not very nice and I wouldn!!!8217;t want to live there so I suppose they were lucky that the area they wanted to buy in just happened to be where they came from.

Like I said before I see your point about living within your means. Yes it is a choice and a lot of young people make the wrong one, but the world isn!!!8217;t exactly geared to teaching our youngsters how to budget and hold realistic expectations. It!!!8217;s definitely got me scratching my head though. More so as something I need to consider with my own children. They have so many luxuries today that there isn!!!8217;t nothing to strive or work for.

OK now my parents where alive during world war 2. There was government rationing. So they got a very good lesson in you can't have everything you want because it is rationed. It didn't do them any harm. They still managed to build a 4 bed detached home on a 1/4 acre garden. They had this very expensive house in an expensive area but they never ever bought a new car. Holidays when I was a child were camping holidays. We did not stay in hotels. We did not fly anywhere. The house was the most important thing to own.

Our generation were brought up to know that you couldn't have everything you wanted and you had to work hard for what you have. Then something changed and there was a lot of people saying this. "I am going to give my children everything that my parents didn't give me." So basically anything they asked for they got. This has led to a lot of very entitled young people with terrible tooth decay because they are given fizzy drinks instead of water. What the parents didn't think about is that their children didn't know what they didn't get as a child so they have nothing to compare the "I am going to give my child everything that my parents didn't give me" with. They were not there when their grandparents were saying to their parents "no." So they don't feel grateful for having everything they want they just feel entitled to it.

So many of the latest generation have not learned the important lesson that you can't have everything you want because their parents have trained them to think that they can. What they have learned from their parents is that all you have to do is ask and it will be yours and if you don't get it straight away you keep asking until you do. Unfortunately the rest of society doesn't see why it has to give these people what they want when they want it and that is when they complain that they can't have a lifestyle where they buy whatever they want and be able to save for a house while working in an area where they can't afford to buy. They feel entitled to have the rest of us provide them with a house at the price they want to pay in the place they want to buy it without any input from themselves.

There are young people who have not been given everything that they wanted by their parents and have been taught the value of money and that you have to work for what you want not just expect everyone else to give it to you. However you don't hear from them you only tend to hear from the entitled ones.

For me to buy a house in Sandbanks at a price that I can afford a seller would have to take much much less money than they could get from someone else. Now why should I expect a complete stranger to do that when I can go to a much cheaper area and buy a house that I can afford without anyone having to lose money by selling cheaper to me so that I can enjoy my lifestyle at their expense? All the people who are complaining about not being able to afford a house in the area that they have chosen to live in are trying to get other people to do this for them. The real world doesn't work like that. No one owes anyone else anything.

Cakeguts

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I don't think that's the case at all.

Baby boomers were generally quite well established by the time they were in their thirties, steady jobs with security and decent pensions, families, houses with gardens etc.

It certainly didn't take my parents anything like till they were 50 or 60 to be comfortable and settled and have a decent disposable income, and they started from very working class roots, neither went to uni etc.

People in their twenties now are putting off things like starting a family precisely because they don't have the secure job or home. They celebrate when they are able to get a one or two bed flat or a little terraced at 30-35!

I am sure they do but I am also sure that they will have already bought a car either on finance or with some sort of loan. The priorities have changed. If you walk down a road of terraced houses in the northwest the sort that are now looked on as first time buyers houses you won't be able to move for parked cars. If people truly believe that the house is the most important thing for a family those roads would be totally free of parked cars.

economic

Jaywood89 wrote: »

Economic

Ok, fair enough

But not sure we can apply this across the board.

Whos saying to apply this across the board?

the point is not everyone will be able to buy and theres nothing wrong with that. Those that can buy can buy for reasons that i have explained: bank of mum and dad, saving and earning a lot, cutting down on expenses, not complaining.

People who cant afford should suck it up.

Red-Squirrel_2

economic wrote: »

I was born when my parents still did not own and were living with the grandparents. You dont have to own to raise a family. You can rent. Also life expectancy has increased and healthcare has improved so what difference does it make ti start a family 5-10 years later?

Also if anything is to blame for the delays in people having kids blame the education system and "feminism" movements.

For women, that can be the difference between having children and not having them, especially if those 10 years are the ones between 30 and 40, or 35 and 45.