intergenerational warfare? I hope not

It is how life goes, we start out in life with vey little and, for many people, gradually acquire more.

We started in life in a rented flat, saved the deposit for our first house, struggled to get a mortgage at a time when mortgages were severely rationed and looked at the comfort and style our parents lived in (and it was not one of enormous affluance) and reckoned that with the way house prices were escalating we were never likely to be able to afford to live in a house like theirs or emulate their lifestyle.

Not so different from today's generation. Admittedly, for the few who went to university, and we were among them, there were no fees and maintenance grants, but we had mortgage interest rates that rarely fell below 8% throughout our mortgage term and at times went to 10%+. I can remember times when nearly half our income went out in housing costs.

Now, of course, with our mortgage paid off, children flown the nest, and reasonable pensions we have a comfortable lifestyle, but part of that is because, as I have worked most of my life and always paid full NI stamp, I have a full state pension and an occupational pension.

For some reason younger people today seem to expect to start where we have finished and conveniently forget the struggles we had to get where we are. They should realise that they have to do what every generation before them had to do, and that is start at te bottom and work up. What that means will be different for evey generation. For my parents and grandparents that meant risking life and limb in two World Wars, for us it was cheaper houses, but sky high interest rates. University and huge loans are not essential, many young people choose different routes into work. They just do what young people have done since time began and work and save they way up. It is jut that the route changes with every generation.

I have two daughters who are four years apart. One has a mortgage and mostly second hand household goods, the second is still in rented and only buys new household goods. They both had the same upbringing but have different perceptions of their must haves.

Pinkrose1's got it spot-on.

Loved JenniferJo's post!

I've read pages 1 and 5 and most posters seem to oppose the OP.

"EastshitDerek" strange sort of pseudonym!

ana - I know you were tongue in cheek - it is a sometimes assumed that us 'oldies' do not have 'must be paid' bills and have all this free to spend 'dosh' - if only
don't mention the £10 Christmas box - or we will be accused of 'wasting' that on frivolous living as well.

I resent the poster's analysis of our generation. We have given quite a lot of financial support to our children, and would give them more if they were more money savvy, but my personal experience of my own children is that they have been irresponsible with money at times.

Of course we are all a product of our time, whilst initially I wasn't very astute with money when I first went to work, I did eventually work out what it was I had to do to keep out of the red, essentially spend lot less and have quite a few quiet nights in. I think many of us were imbued with the notion that sometimes you have to wait for the important things in life such as getting on the property ladder, having children could seriously hinder that possibility. There was less of a "I want it and I want it now mentality" and of course the mobile phone and other such technology were still a generation away when I was in my 20s, hence the comments we get now "but how did you manage" we just did and I have also pointed out that when we went out we actually talked to the person we were with.

I can see the youth of today have suffered from the advent of student fees, the march of technology that have made some jobs obsolete and having to compete in a global world. I don't think the blame for this can all be laid fairly and squarely on us. Sometimes, on occasions, from my own children who are 20 somethings and their contemporaries I detect a jealousy of their perception of us as "the have it all generation", in a sense I can understand why they feel that, I certainly feel luckier than my parents' who had World War II and my grandparents the Great War to contend with.

The point of the WFA is surely that it can be taken away from us when necessary, unlike the rise in pensions. I wonder when they will twig that we get a £10 bonus every December and complain about that too.

I wasn't being serious, mollie - that was just what someone on MN assumed we all did with our WFA!

Our utility bills are high too - the Allowance hardly touches it, but it's better than nothing, I suppose...

ana my total heating/utility bills are in the region of £900 pa - that is heating oil (£300) , electricity(£400), firewood (£125) and water (£180) - and believe me I am very frugal with all of those.
wish I could put a deposit on a cruise but would have to find the 'rest' of the cost and spend 2 weeks in the sun with a lot of old, well-heeled final salary pensioners. prefer a week by the sea in Cornwall any day

You mean you actually put your WFA towards heating costs, mollie?? Not as a deposit on a cruise?

own up - are some of you posting 'sense' on the mumsnet thread?
have been tempted to register and try and set the record straight that because their in-laws and parents are well heeled and of a certain age - this necessarily applies to all pensioners.
I wish they would get rid of WFA too nonnie although I would miss this small help with my heating/utility bills it might stop some of the harping.

WFA again! Doesn't anyone remember that was introduced instead of a rise in pension that year? It is not a gift!

Was referring to the Mumsnet thread there, not nina

Fortunately, there are sensible comments countering that argument. I was heavily in debt by the time my children finished university - they weren't. Took me a few years to clear it, by which time they were all in their mid to late twenties and had their own houses, cars etc.

We were the same Stansgran we bought a two up two down in the 70's then a three bed semi in the 80's where we still live, we could have moved onwards and upwards from here but we had all we wanted. Why take on a larger mortgage just for a better looking, more valuable house. Prior to paying off the small mortgage in 2008 we were paying £157 a month DD finds that very hard to believe.
DD couldn't get by if we didn't do 4 days a week free child care.

I think there should be a Mumsnet/gransnet thread like the DIL/MIL one. They seem not to know what they are talking about. One said you couldn't get a mortgage if you were a woman before the 70s . Not true my maternal GM (who ran away to sea at 16) had a mortgage inn her name. I treasure the letter.this was pre WW I. It was a terraced house in Liverpool. We have helped out financially with holidays and previously been to the Galapagos! We are also providing Four weeks of childcare for working parents to keep the economy going. And all this through very hard work and sensible saving and a mortgage that we could afford not one that we expected to make a killing with when we sold.

It's good that even her technology disagreed with her. Most of the thread consisted of her trying to get it to work.
She also said that's what it's like in the South East. Perhaps the Northerners should tell her it's all working okay up there. They all get on okay and help each other out.

Yes. It was just that last post (warty someone) made me wonder if the tide was about to turn. However, the thread has gone quiet.

They know they need to be as many of us do the childcare

Having just read the thread on Mumsnet the responders make it clear that they do not share the views of the OP and really, they are very nice about us.

hard-hatted GNrs

The responses on the thread are all very reasonable - apart from the last one.

Perhaps we need to keep an eye on their discussion, and if it turns nasty some very brave and well hard-hatted could go on there and tell them what's what.

I, however, am not volunteering to be the stupid outspoken one. Not over there. >>shake<<

It's that Intergenerational Foundation again, I bet! They are peddling dangerous, nasty stuff in the guise of trying to ensure 'fairness between the generations'. In fact they are causing resentment and nastiness.

Quite honestly, I could never have afforded what some of these younger people seem able to indulge in these days when we were struggling young marrieds and parents.

The poster on mumsnet says: Yes I know I have the spelling and grammar of a ten year old, this isn't about writing

Perhaps if she improved her spelling and grammar she could get a better job with more pay.