Mumsnet and baby boomers

What I meant to add was: their parents could afford to top up the grant with extras. Mine were already giving me their portion, dictated by the grant, so no extras! x

Their gripes seem to be money based. Surely a good childhood, upbringing and being in a family should be worth far more than money, whichever generation you were born into? As long as the children of the BB's have been loved and brought up decently, what is their problem? Having values and morals should be worth more, which we inherit, hopefully.

The language too on MN is terrible. It is not just this thread, it is all over the threads and I, for one, have not seen this sort of language used by us GN's. Maybe instead of complaining about what they don't have, they need to buy a bar of soap and wash out their potty mouths!

Agreed rubylady I pop over the other side occasionally and the language is ripe. An awful lot of yummy mummies that curse like dockers.

rosequartz It is the resentment I find hard to understand. Also some just dismiss the high interest rates and inflation of previous times...'.Well it was only for a short period of time'. It was a hell of a long time if you lost your home and/or your business. Many of us had to start again.

Was I resentful of those with plenty in the bank benefiting with interest rates we can only dream of? Yes I confess to being a bit cheesed off at times. I wasn't jealous of anyone's holidays or meals out etc, but I was very angry when my wealthy FIL never offered to help out. He knew we were struggling to buy food and keep an old banger of a car on the road. He was always rattling on about is investments.

J52 Anyone who went to university in the days of grants had a massive head start on their peers who left school at 15 or 16. No one can possibly say that group of people where anything but fortunate. I worked in a bank and undergraduate account were prized. Overdrafts were readily available because of future earnings and status. Eighteen year olds working in factories would have been sent away with a flea in their hear if they had dared to ask a bank manager for an overdraft.

for the sake of balance
I went to university - fees paid and means tested grant (which I had to supplement by wirking during vacations! - Butlins or shops) but it was not so much that I was fortunate but I got sufficient grades to do so when only about 5% of school leavers went on to university (1966 - 1970)
the only 'boomers' who are rolling in it
are those with final salary pensions (unfunded) both private and public sector) who received large lump sums
those who inherited property and assets from their parents
those who are part of a couple (the above multiplied by 2 and with 2 personal allowances so less tax to pay)
these are the ones who could afford £40K in pensioner bonds.
I managed to invest a bit of rainy day money (£500!) in one bond - much more typical.

I have to be honest and say that my neighbours are mostly about 10 years older than me and when I was still working [doing several jobs and quite long hours sometimes] I did feel resentful seeing them all happily retired. Thankfully I was able to get my state pension at 62 but, if I'd had to carry on working for several more years I would have felt venomous towards retirees everywhere [mainly because the powers that be keep moving the goalposts]. My ex and I made sure that our children left university without any debt; they banked their student loans to use as a deposit for a house when they left uni [as the interest rate, at the time was very low] but I do wonder if they're oblivious to the fact that many of their friends are still paying back tuition fees and loans because their parents didn't support them through uni . However, on the whole, yes, I do agree with absents post. Politicians and the press seem to be making us babyboomers the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong economically these days .

Yes you are correct mollie I shouldn't have compared BB students with their peers.
What I should have written is BB students were more fortunate than anyone who had to take student loans or pay tuition fees. That is what some on MN are complaining about. I can't help agreeing with them on that.

My eldest DC graduated in 2002 and 2003. The eldest has just finished paying the loan. DD is still paying back and will be for some time. She didn't earn enough to begin with so the interest started to rack up and now she has a sizeable amount to pay back. Provided she stays working she will pay it off. If she decides to take time off for a family the interest will creep up again. Dread to think how younger students will manage.

The annoying thing is that the rate of interest started off realy low and then wasn't it sold off and the interest rate shot up [and we hadn't realised at the time]. It doesn't really help much if they don't have to pay it back straight away if the interest is still being added on.

Marmadroit, going to University and studying for 4 years was hardly a walk in the park. My peers had 4 years earnings behind them, while I survived on £90 a year, anything that my parents gave me (not much)and a variety of poorly paid holiday jobs. My DH's course was 8 years long. Neither of us had or were ever offered overdrafts. Our first home was 2 rooms in a house of multi occupation

x

That was your choice J52.

What I am trying to say....maybe not very well, is you and DH did not have to pay tuition fees/loans like young people do now.

This is a thread about Mumsnet and Babyboomers. The posters over there are saying that one of the massive advantages BB had over them was free higher education. FWIW I agree with them on this issue.

I'd like to take a peek but I never go 'to the other side' and wouldn't know where to start... its seems a much larger site..

Yes Tegan and the trouble is school leavers are told, 'it's not a real debt' and 'you won't have to pay it back until you are on a reasonable salary'.

I'm not sure when interest starts accruing. Certainly on graduation. Compound interest on 9k for at least three years tuition fees and loan will soon mount up.

It won't be the sort of debt to give them a bad credit, or have the bailiffs knocking, but it will grow and be a real drain on finances.

Not every student has parents who can simply pay off any debt. Some can pay but won't.

Cameron Jnr, Clegg Jnr, etc. will not have a problem I'm guessing.

I agree tuition fees are a huge barrier to University today. I have heard arguments saying that they are written off after 30 years, but that has yet to be seen!
Another difficulty for graduates, is that their student debts are taken into account when applying for a mortgage. Despite what is reported in the news, some graduates do not always earn huge salaries or even find it easy to get jobs.

Life in general has never been easy for any generation. Unless you are wealthy. x

And some, for various reasons [sometimes economic] have to drop out of uni before graduating but still have the debt to pay off. Years ago we had an American lad staying with us who had just graduated and I was horrified to hear of the amount he had to pay back; still can't quite believe that it is now the same here, albeit don't agree with some of the daft degrees that young people do that should really be more 'learn on the job' careers. Still think, if you want to do well in life financially, train to be a bricklayer or a plumber.

tanith it is a much larger site and I think there may be more than one Boomer thread. One of them is about half way down the list in AIBU.

Some are not as 'nice' as over here. Nothing stopping you having a 'lurk'.

Spot on absent, you have just described my life.

Oh I forgot. Income tax basic rate at 33%.

I got quite angry when reading a similar thread on MN and have vowed never to return.

We seem to get blamed for all the financial troubles and everyone comments on how easy we had it. All we did was go with things as they were at the times and, yes, I remember the high interest rates of the late 70s and not being able to get a mortgage for as much as we needed.

I had to read the MN post that started this and as I did I realised that I was one of the lucky ones.Free education,full employment and the best music and fashion in the 60's....retiring at 60 with state pension and teaching pension plus lump sum, house paid for and lucky enough to be healthy enough to keep a horse too and I have holidays. Yes ,I was LUCKY to be born in 1951.
It is so different now, to the extent that my only son lives in Poland with his family as they can have a better standard of living there .I visit often and have to agree that it was the best decision for them but I do wish they could have seen a future in England.

mollie without sounding boastful I know I could have got good enough grades to go to a good university, but not many people did however clever they were in the early 1960s. The Civil Service, Local Government, secretarial courses and teacher training college (which was for two years in my day) was mainly what was on offer.

If you had a burning ambition and fairly well-off parents then you may have gone to university but without a clear idea of your ultimate career it was usually an indulgence not available to those of us from fairly ordinary backgrounds.

Things did change - and for the better - in the years after I left school.

My DC and DCIL seem such lovely people and have always seem grateful for anything we do for them - I don't think the aggressive MN lot can be typical of most of today's 30 and 40 year olds!

Have just re-read my post and noticed the typos! so much for boasting!

Just put a post on Cucumber anyone? about coming out.

Just watched Tofu about people coming out to their loved ones.

My question was:- Did gay etc. Boomers really have it better in the 50/60/70's when it was still taboo to be gay compared to today's society which is far more open and accepting?

The first job I had after leaving university had 200 applicants for 2 jobs. I was one of the people they wanted but I hadn't yet had my degree result. They offered me the job: if I attained a first or upper second my salary would be £1530 a year and if didn't, it would be £1350 a year. That doesn't happen now – you practically have to have a PhD to do something that previously A levels or sometimes even O levels qualified you to do. It's absurd but of course our young people really don't understand – which is where I was going in the first place.

rosequartz - my parents were certainly not very well -off - why I had to take low paid holiday jobs while at university and I did receive the full grant (if that tells you how 'poor' my family was)
in fact my father wanted both myself and my sister to go get a job as 'it was a waste of time educating women' but my mother dug her heels in and won the day.
I was not being 'boastful' about getting to university just explaining that only about 5% or so were able to based on A level results
it is not economically possible to fund the fees and grants for 50% of young people