Should I apologise ?

Yes Ariadne our first house was a mouse infested two up one down, no hot water, no bathroom and toilet at the bottom of the garden, furnished from top to bottom with second hand goods. This was 1970! Luckily we managed to move on after about 18 months.

My first paypacket was £7 per week! I can remember the celebrations when OH got £1,000 pa. not easy to afford a mortgage.

Many apologies (my turn!) ginny! I misread Watford Gap for Watford (the more usual point of reference, remember "Ox carts North of Watford"?) I should have read more carefully!

Here in the South East putting down a third of the price as a deposit would mean saving approximately £100,000 and that would probably only buy a two bedroom house.

joelsnan "young, pregnant and poor when first married"? Snap!

We had to put a third of the price down as deposit on our £3.5k house in the early 70s, prove we could pay the mortgage by paying what it would cost us into the building society each month for 2 years as savings towards the deposit, accept a 13.1/2% APR repayment mortgage, and live on a tiny budget. No nights out, caravan holidays, plenty of DIY and no wine or takeaways. If that's us baby boomers having it easy, I apologise!

I really don't know why anyone thinks it was easy for us to buy our own homes?It was an age when most working people rented, either from the Council or private landlord.When we got married, we both worked full time and did so for 7 years before we could think of starting a family, saving so that we could afford the deposit for a small house.No single people ever managed to buy their own house, you needed the joint income.This seems to be now an urban myth that you could just walk into a mortgage, and it was hard then to get any kind of a loan from a bank.Our generation has not had things easy in any shape or form.

Soutra I hardly dare walk out of the door. By the way Watford Gap is north of MK. No pension other than a state pension , of which I have lost £30,000 due to being one of those lucky women born in the early 50's.

Good grief woman, have you no shame? I suppose you are literate and numerate too?
I see no hope for you as a Southern expat too ( the MK postcode is north of Watford) and maybe you even have a London pension

I read an article recently where the writer detailed all the ways we baby boomers are lucky compared with the young of today (full employment, easy house purchase and then soaring profits, good pensions etc.)

He/she ended by recommending that we spread some of our wealth around instead of 'squatting on it'.

I loved that phrase. Conjured up an image of a bloated toad perched on piles of money.

Goodness me no.
We have much to celebrate, being baby boomers and (where appropriate) being British.
I never received anything but love from my parents, they could never support me financially they didn't have the money.
My mam insisted that I go in the mills at 15 to contribute to the family finances. Fortunately my dad let me stay on at school so that I could leave home and become a cadet nurse at 16.
I was young pregnant and very poor when first married. But never went to the 'Social'. Found any work I could and eventually through damn hard work and self funded learning worked through to retirement (no employer pension though). It too makes me mad because of this building negativity towards seniors.
They too will get old.

I would like to admit these rich baby boomers - I have never met one and certainly am not one!

A couple of years ago there was a student on local radio who was advocating that us baby boomers should use the vast amount of money we had stashed away () to pay student fees. He didn't mean the fees for grandchildren or relatives but all students, he also suggested we should sell our huge homes to help pay these fees. When someone asked if that meant the students would support the pensioners once they had graduated he didn't have a reply.

I am getting fed up of being accused of being a drain on the country, I didn't have children so worked right up to my retirement (41 years) paying full stamp. We bought our house when interest rates were around 15% and now any savings we have are not earning enough interest to keep up with inflation!

I think you sound fine, ginny, but there will be some 'out there' who think you owe them something... silly, isn't it!

No ginny. I was a stay at home mum but a family member once suggested I look for a job and stop living off DH. I was supported by DH who told them in no uncertain terms that I had a job and had been doing it admirably for 45 years.
I must also be thick because I am a northerner [