Baby Boomers - Where's My Audi Then?

[Peteaud]

No they just seemed to get all the luck.

They sold their house at the height of the housing prices and rented for a year, during that time the buble burst and house prices tumbled, they then bought cash (a huge house) because the owner needed the money. Both have massive final salery pensions.

 

[martint235]

And as for the current generation...don't get me started. In our household there are wardrobes full of designer clothing, month long holidays to Thailand, weekends in European capitals, new iPhones every year, top of the range Apple laptops (and other devices) every year, multiple cars (all newer than mine), meals out every weekend, nights at the pub every weekend, concerts and festivals attended. I don't begrudge them any of it - I really don't. I say live life to the full whilst you can. At that age I was saving (for several years) to get the deposit together that would set me off on a lifetime of having no money. But just don't tell me that I'm the lucky one and they're the jilted ones.

I did the annual holidays plus weekends away, meals out every other night etc (never owned a car though). What eventually happens is someone turns up wanting their money back and there is no one left who is willing to lend it to you.

I earn what I would call a "decent" wage (what my 85 year old dad would call "excessive") and will be clear of non-mortgage debt in about 7 years. Strangely I'm much happier without the credit card/overdraft and if you want to reduce your junk mail, I can heartily recommend trashing your credit rating.

 

[MarkF]

I am 50, I started work (which included cleaning toilets) with nothing, walked/cycled 5 miles there and back to save on bus fares. I now have more, it's not been a linear improvement but I have always been content and optimistic, late '50's early '60's was a great time to be born IMO, I haven't stopped being grateful for things since our telly went coloured.

My kids however, have had e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g and my eldest is hurtling towards disappointment. I don't have enough work on, never do in Dec/Jan, so I have to do a leaflet drop today, to pick up whatever I can after the holidays, it's horribly boring but I have do do it. My son, soon to be 20 who has been entirely funded by me all his life, will not help me leaflet drop, in case his friends see him, instead, he will be in bed all day waiting for X Factor to discover him.

 

[delb0y]

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't swap places with today's younger generation. I think things are tough and getting tougher - and for those lucky enough to be in work I believe the experience is likely to be a whole lot less fun than it has been for me (or used to be anyway). My job, in the last ten years, has become ever more stressful - and from what I read and hear that type of pressure is the new norm. I believe there's a mass more social pressure and expectation, too. Plus the world is getting smaller so competition for anything and everything comes from a much wider base now. So it ain't going to be easy. It's just to contantly be told I'm rolling in it irks a little, when the only thing I'm rolling in is definietly not money.

 

[asterix]

It's fairly obvious that the older generation, are generally going to look better off to the young since they are likely to have had a full working life during which they have amassed wealth (if they are reasonably careful) and bought a house.

Britain has been on the slide since c. 1870, the peak year of the Empire after which the envy of other nations tended to be focussed our way. Two devastating world wars hastened the process and you can't blame 'boomers for those. Rather it is significant that we have had nearly 70 years of relative peace and seen off the threat from Russia without (much) blood shed by inhabitants of these islands.

 

[User482]

It's fairly obvious that the older generation, are generally going to look better off to the young since they are likely to have had a full working life during which they have amassed wealth (if they are reasonably careful) and bought a house.

That's true, but it's not the whole story. They had greater social mobility, better job opportunities, free university education, much cheaper house prices and much better company pensions.

 

[Dan B]

I don't suppose there's any danger of anyone introducing actual statistics into this flood of personal anecdote, is there? Asking for a friend

 

[ASC1951]

No, I reckon I must have taken the wrong train way back, because I keep seeing articles like this and it's starting to feel like I'm the only boomer who isn't living some golden life...

Wealth is relative and the perception of it even more so. My parents both had good jobs - mother an NHS physio, dad the Town Clerk of a (very small) town - but our household in the 50s and 60s would be seen as poor today. One holiday away every year, in the UK; one BW telly; one modest car every four or five years; central heating only from the late 60s etc.
A baby boomer on today's wages but with only our parents' material aspirations will be well off.

 

[JoeyB]

All this hate for Audis.... its the nicest car I've ever owned!

(But I still prefer my 25 year old BMW called Errol)

 

[ASC1951]

...(But I still prefer my 25 year old BMW called Errol)

No, of course it's not a penis extension...

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I'd always had Volvo drivers pegged as considerate, charming, handsome and witty.

 

[snorri]

I think we need a definition of the word 'babyboomers' for a start.
I had been led to believe it was the group born immediately following WW2 in 1946-7 when there really was a boom in births following the return of troops to the UK.

 

[theclaud]

I'd always had Volvo drivers pegged as considerate, charming, handsome and witty.

Nope. Nobbers, mostly.

 

[tyred]

Here's mine

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Surely if you were born late 50's early 60's you're not a genuine baby boomer but rather a part of Generation Jones or even, at a pinch, Generation X. I'd suggest someone born in the UK in 58-64 has little in common with someone born in the USA in '46.