Boomers - The Luckiest Generation?

I was born just post war in London and all I can say is, we did it tough. We deserve and earned everything we have. How many of today’s generation went hungry, had no phones, washing machines or floor coverings? Classes of 45 kids and severe punishment for just about anything, including thrashings and belittling. Nah- they don’t know they’re born, do they ?

I saw that post, she is one bitter individual, she begrudges boomers the bus pass and she is ageist in my opinion.
Some people in the age group stated benefit from the pass, they do not drive and the pass gives them freedom to get out, shop or attend hospital appointments.

I was born in 1943, and I am another who had it so good being belted at school. I was in a class of 43, and my first salary was £2 a week. A decent pair of leather shoes cost a fiver.

My first salary after 3 years of qualifying was under £30 a month, and the rent was £6 per month. Luckily I could walk to work.

In 1979, we bought our first three-bedroom house in London. The mortgage was £250 a month, but I was earning £110 a month. I cannot remember what my H was earning, but times were difficult.

Nothing was given to us, we worked for everything and saved hard. We didn't have two or three holidays a year, a car each, multiple hen and stag do's lasting days. We didn't spend a fortune on take out coffee or take aways or eating out. Our children only got toys at Christmas and Birthdays and if they were really good as a treat, they didn't eat at Macdonalds etc, they ate good home cooked food at home, no ready meals, crisps biscuits etc, we couldn't afford them. We had no expectations of an inheritance our retirement is funded by savings. I could go on forever about how money is wasted now. Our generation coined the phrase "negative equity", many having to sell their home at a loss and losing everything. Remember 14% or even 16% interest mortgages? I do we had one. No free childcare for us either, that's why more women didn't work, often nursery cost more than a women could earn. We also didn't have "Boomer" parents or grandparents who could help us out with house deposits or our first car, my parents could have flown easier than give us the money for that. All of the younger ones remember that when you start moaning how well off us boomers are. Don't tell me we had it easy. Maybe if the younger generations took a leaf out of our generation's books they could look forward to a comfortable future. Not one penny has ever been given to us, we have worked then saved for everything.

Sad isn't it that some younger people think like this.
I actually wish all of us had bus passes and that it would reduce the number of polluting cars clogging up the roads.

We Boomers didn't have foreign holidays or big weddings. Our expectations were lower and I think we were really grateful for what we had.
Our parents had survived the war (in my case 2 wars) and we were told how lucky we were to have a washing machine.

My generation has a lot of community minded people who look out for eachother and for the sick and lonely without expecting payment.

I hope not everyone of that MN's age is as resentful as her. I'm mid 70s now. My pension isn't getting bigger but all my outgoings are.

I was born in 1953. My parents had a mortgage but little money for anything else. We grew our own veg and our grandparents had an orchard so we always had fruit. Our annual holiday was one week in Hayling Island. If we were hungry we were offered bread and butter. Thirsty - there’s water in the tap. Others have mentioned being caned at school and big classes. When I started my first job in 1970, men were paid more for the exact same job. ‘Young people today’ could stop buying coffee to take to work, cut down on eating out and maybe learn to cook, celebrate weddings a little more modestly. And learn to love second hand furniture.

I was born 1945 we lived in a wonderful prefab I d love to see the mumsnetters say that was luxurious (It was to us)
I first owned a house when I was nearly 40 and only because I was left half in my Nans will
I didn’t get an opportunity to go to Uni or collage we didn’t have a house phone or a washing machine or a Tv No car either, We didn’t go on holidays my first real holiday was when I was18 we had a big garden and dad grew all our vegies Mum cooked after she finished work at 6 pm my Nan had already fed me at her house after school
I wasn’t poor I was just average
Sorry todays generation don’t know they are born

I am 67, my parents were working class and we lived in a small mill town in Lancashire. In the late seventies/early eighties the mill like most manufacturing industry in our country closed and like many parts of the country we suffered mass unemployment. Dole queues that wound their way out of the dole office right down the street. We had four kids and no income, we got clothes at jumble sales and stood with countless others behind shops at closing time to get any food handouts. We couldn’t afford a car and were renting our house. Many days I didn’t eat so the kids could. Those were desperate times. Eventually we piled into a car and came down South where jobs were more plentiful. My OH and I trained as teachers whilst working two jobs. We didn’t go on holiday for ten years, didn’t buy new clothes for almost as long.
Now we have our own home and a car and can go on holiday but the journey to this point is not one many young people today would ever want to take in order to have these things.
And back in the early eighties we were not alone, 3 million others shared our fate and countless others were just managing.
We consider ourselves lucky, today there are countless older people who cannot afford to heat and eat. They are boomers as we are, but just as there are poor and wealthy younger people there are poor and wealthy older people. We are not all the same.

Correction - the car we piled into was my dad’s old car, he’d died years before and it had been sitting in my mum’s garage. In case any pedants spot the flaw. 🙄

My reaction is to tell them that there is a simple way of reducing house prices and that is to increase the interest rate on mortgages to 10%, which is what many of us paid. In addition mortgages should only be granted on one income, not 2 as at present

However houses would be no more affordable than they are now, because what decides the price of houses is what proportion of your income lenders think it is safe for you to pay out on mortgage each month and the higher the interest rate, the higher the proportion of each months money is going out in interest the less capital is being repaid, so prices will fall.

As i said, all this will bring house prices right down, pleasing house hunters. Those just above them - the generation who still have mortgages and bought in the last 25 years may be less happy when they suddenly find themselves in negative equity, paying out on mortgage that exceeds the vaalue of their house.

Also why do we not hear cries for all those under retirement age with 'over bedroomed' houses to move? There are well over a million such households, and while some may have bought their house anticipating having children, many haven't.

Our large 4 bedroomed house is for sale at the moment and most of those viewing, do not have children. They are mainly empty nesters, or couples with one child who clearly do not plan more.

Our 50 year old daughter will, today, exchange contracts on a 5 bedroomed house. She is single and has never been anything else. She started in a 2 bedroomed flat, moved to a 3 bedroomed house and is now moving up to 5 bedrooms. To be fair, it is a 3 storey house and the 2 bedrooms at living room level will ebcome an office, for working from home and a craft room.

I think the generation complaining about our 'under occupied' houses should look to their own first - and perhaps some of them might like to come along and buy our house!

Born in 1948 I shared a bedroom with 3 sisters and younger brother, no tv or car we shared a toilet with 2 other families renting in the house, baths were a tin bath in the living room. I started work as I was barely 15. I don’t think those who think we had it easy have no clue how tough our early lives were my ow GC have no clue. I’m now comfortable in my own little house and by golly I’ve earned it.

I was born in 1947 in the upstairs flat of a divided house with no heating but a coal fire and shared bath facilities. I had no opportunity at school to take GCE’s and did them later. Out to work in my teens and an early marriage, DH and I worked to get a home. The first furniture was two deckchairs in the living room and plenty of secondhand.
Yes a different life to today

My own children, 50 and 48, sometimes seem resentful that DH and I are retired and fairly comfortable.

They seem to forget that when we were their age, we too were working hard and life wasn’t much fun, not much time for ourselves, just work, jobs to do at home, an endless routine really.

They both spend money in ways we never would have. One Christmas DD and her DH bought expensive bikes for their 3 children then grumbled they hardly ever used them. Why? Because they didn’t really want or need them, it was just something to get them as they couldn’t think of anything else! Very different to how we were with ours.

There have always been differences in the way people earn and spend their money, and some of our generation had a very hard few years after buying their first home. I think in some ways it was easier for us, speaking personally, when we were young. I always worked, and wanted to, and didn’t get married until I was 28, so was reasonably well paid when we got our first mortgage in 1985. My salary was taken into account (1 think it was 3 times his salary and 1 times mine from memory), but we bought within our means, so didn’t really struggle, even when mortgage rates were high. Nursery fees were proportionately cheaper than they are now, and my children are not close in age, so the first was out of nursery when the second started. What it comes down to more than anything I think is the choices different people make, then and now.

However, the cost of paying for housing as a proportion of salary has completely changed now, so people who are buying have to commit a higher proportion of their income to their mortgage (or if not, rent). Nursery fees are crippling for young families, who both have to work to pay the mortgage.

The other big benefit for many boomers has been the workplace pensions we receive, which are considerably better than our children can expect.

I was born in the 60s, my husband is still working full time and I am self employed (part time). We drive 2 quite old cars, live in a modest house, I cook daily meals from scratch having an occasional take away. Rarely eat out now. Have worked since I left school at 16 (had part time jobs weekends/evenings before then), have never claimed unemployment benefits

A few years ago I worked with younger people and couldn't believe the amount of money they spent considering they were only earning minimum wage. Every morning they would arrive with coffee and breakfast bought from local shop, lunch would also be bought from same shop (even though they could purchase cooked meal from kitchen for £1), crazy money was spent on false nails, eye lashes, tans, lips, make up, hair extensions (not just for special occasions but regularly), they all had much newer cars than mine, the amount of money they spent on drink/meals out/hen parties/weddings/holidays etc was quite unbelievable. When it came to weddings £30,000 wasn't unusual.
Yet they then told me they couldn't afford to save a deposit for a house so would have to rent until parents/grandparents died.
Those with children spent crazy amounts on designer clothing. Hundreds of pounds on toys for birthdays and Christmas

My point being I think as boomers we studied hard, worked hard, were/are a lot more sensible (most of the time) with our money.
We deserve to be rewarded with a free bus/train pass surely

One big difference that I see now is that many young people want everything 'new and shiny'. They want the big flashy house, the big flashy car, designer this, designer that - and are often in debt up to their eyeballs trying to pay for it all. It's like they are trying to outdo one another - and it's all for show. We 'boomers' usually had to make do with what we could afford, having been taught to save up for things rather than get them 'on tick'. We furnished our first homes with secondhand goods or hand-me-downs, bought much older cars etc and then worked our way up when we could afford to. I think we appreciated the value of the things we had a lot more then.

ViceVersa

One big difference that I see now is that many young people want everything 'new and shiny'. They want the big flashy house, the big flashy car, designer this, designer that - and are often in debt up to their eyeballs trying to pay for it all. It's like they are trying to outdo one another - and it's all for show. We 'boomers' usually had to make do with what we could afford, having been taught to save up for things rather than get them 'on tick'. We furnished our first homes with secondhand goods or hand-me-downs, bought much older cars etc and then worked our way up when we could afford to. I think we appreciated the value of the things we had a lot more then.

Totally agree

I dislike setting generation against generation. Each age has it's benefits and it's downside. Certainly, born at the end of the 50s, I enjoyed the freedom of playing in largely car free roads, a grant for uni and other benefits, but huge hikes in mortgage rates in the late 80s and early 90s made life a challenge. At one point our interest rate hit 17%. We also had the fear of nuclear war at our backs for a long time. Unemployment in the 80s was a worry too.
Nowadays families may have material wealth that we didn't have, but they have worries that we didn't have. And children can't play outside with such freedom as well did. Social media is pervasive and can add to worries too. There are more opportunities for my grandsons than my children had, to occupy their free time but these have to be paid for and organised.
I would rather live in a world where we can respect each generation instead of misunderstanding them.

Same as Tanith, born in 1948, shared a bedroom with 4 younger siblings. Outside toilet, tin bath, back yard. Terraced house liverpool 5

Life was very tough for all of us and our neighbours all pulled together. We had regular donations of outgrown clothing etc. Second hand shoes etc Our parents were loveing and so hard working, they had aspirations for the 7 children and we all became professionals ie medic, engineers, teachers. Our studying was done in the library, which was warm

That person on MN is obviously very jealous and without any empathy. She won`t have struggled as we did, we all married and we stayed together all through the years. Second hand furniture, no carpets and nothing on credit. She will never see it, she does not want to know, the bitter person that she is is all about self, herself.

The standard of living has increased for everyone during my lifetime. Born in 1948, my parents were working class but were buying a tiny semi, despite all the privations of 50/60s ie all earnings went on basic living expenses, we considered that we were pretty OK, now we would be considered as "poor".
The huge change has been the cost of housing. OH and I did the maths and we could not now have bought the properties we bought on the salaries we earned. Over the years our home has consistently earned more than we have and we both have good inflation linked pensions. That's why we're seen as lucky and we were.

I was born on a council estate in the late fifties. Almost everyone I knew lived in a council house- there was no one-upmanship, most people had jobs and most mums worked part-time if at all.
I do consider myself lucky, but not in a financial sense. As a teenager and young adult I knew what freedom was- we went everywhere on public transport with an occasional shared taxi after a cheap night out. We weren't fearful walking the streets. We accepted lifts. We walked everywhere most of the time.
My first job paid well, I had lots of spare cash. When I did my nurse training I lived in a nurses home for low rent and again was on a good salary.
It all finished when Thatcher got elected in 1979- the year I married.
I can't remember any time after that when I didn't struggle to pay a mortage and raise a family.
Now I live in a deprived area, own a very modest home with an equally modest pension after a lifetime of hard work.
Yet, I don't envy my children or grandchildren- they don't enjoy that freedom I experienced growing up.

I was born in 1946 and consider that I have received many more benefits than my grandchildren ever will. I have twin grandchildren considering university. One has decided he can’t afford it and the other one will incur a heavy debt. My DH and I not only received a grant but we did not have to pay fees either.
Our first house cost £9,000 which we could afford on DH’s teacher’s salary.
I received my free bus pass and free prescriptions at the age of 60 plus my state salary. Will these be there for my grandchildren?
As a child I grew up without social media and prevalent knife crime and was free to roam the countryside without fear of danger.
Speaking for myself (which is all I can do) I do feel very lucky to have been a baby boomer.

We lived in a prefab too. We also lived through the Cuban missile crisis which could have easily turned into a global nuclear conflict.

Thank you for your responses so far. I agree with so much. @Grandmabatty, I think we would all concur that we should not pit one generation against another, but I think it is important that we learn from previous generations so that we can appreciate what we have and are able to do now. My parents were born in the second world war, so I have always been aware of the post war period, both the good and the bad. One thing that is very common for people born around the time l was and who mostly had parents of a similar age, is that our parents were very keen that we should have a much more varied diet than they themselves had had with the best quality food and they could afford, so there was a lot of fresh fruit, especially oranges, and vegetables, plenty of full fat milk and butter