Boomers - The Luckiest Generation?

there - instead of their.

I was born in 1941 and lived in buildings. I have memories of the air raid communal shelters built within the buildings.If you have ever read Alan Johnson’s book which described his grandmother’s flat in Sutton Buildings well that was us. I shared a bedroom with my younger brother, our bath was under the long kitchen table, we didn’t have electricity until I was about 8. Before that we had gas mantles which broke easily. Gas stove which heated saucepan after saucepan of hot water for the once a week bath. Toilet paper was often cut up newspaper. Washing was by hand and wooden dolly board to scrub things etc etc. I married at almost 19 and my dh was 20. We had a semi basement flat which we thought we were so lucky to rent. It had one cold tap. An outside toilet. If you wanted a bath you had to go out of our front door and up to the front door of the rest of the house. We never did so we washed ourselves down and I had a bowl to crouch down into to wash my nether regions. We were fortunate to have one of the first launderettes nearby. .We rented in two other places for the next five years as we saved up for a deposit for our first small house. We lived their for eight years and then moved into the house we still live in. It was a 1940s house with the original little cupboards one of which folded down for ironing. Money had been tight from the beginning and life had stresses just as people have today but they were different stresses. Holidays were always in the U.K. No one had special 40th, 50th or 60th birthdays. I wouldn’t like to return to those early times and am thankful for the conveniences of modern life such as the iPad I am using now, online grocery shopping, the 45 inch screen tv and yes the bus pass (paid for by our council tax). I saw that post on Mumsnet and responded fully!!!

I am not a baby boomer, I am a war baby.

Whether we are a lucky generation or not. We have done very little ourselves to put us in that position.

To begin with every generation starts off poor and cash strapped in their 20s and gradually, as a whole, not every individual, builds up their capital through savings, buying assets like houses and etc. over the years until they retire.

When DH and I got married, we looked at the nice 4 bedroomed house my parents lived in and said we will never be able to afford a house like that - but we did - and all from our own earnings. No gifts of money from parents or grandparents.

I think the same will happen in this generation, especially as many of them may well have their house purchases subsidised by their parents and when all these big expensive houses come back on the market - some one is going to buy them.

We are selling quite an expensive house at the moment and the majoirty of those viewing it and in a position to pay for it are under 40. We have three people under 40 trying to sell their existing property so that they buy ours at the moment.

In the last 10 years two neighbouring houses, bigger and better than ours, valued at over £1 million have been bought by families where the adults are under 40.

Our whole area is awash with new build houses, most of them 4 bedroomed detached houses. Average price around £500k-600k. They are being bought by young people. They are not being bought by baby boomers.

I think in all our concenrs, quite rightly about those struggling to get on the housing ladder we are failing to notice the large numbers of current mid-aged young people who are doing very well and live in expensive (mortgaged) houses.

Absolutely spot on, thank you for posting this

I was born in 1942 …..my dad was still in the army in Italy but my older brother, me and mum lived in our semi detached house outside London which my dad must have bought before I was born and before he was called up for service. He was 10 years older than my mum.

Looking back now I had a pretty privileged childhood …..can’t honestly remember feeling unloved or experiencing too many hardships except having to go down to the air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden when the air raid warning sounded off! Bombs did fall all around us but not close enough to wreck our house!

After the war and when dad returned home childhood summers were spent playing outside with neighbours kids or hanging out all around the tennis club that my mum and dad played at.

Dad also had a car…..a Ford Prefect …….and we went on summer holidays to Warners holiday camps around Devon and Cornwall and later to Majorca and Ibiza when I was about 14 or 15.

I lived in the same semi detached house until I left to get married at 21, and just a few months before we had found and bought our first house - a new build 2 bed bungalow that cost us $4,500. We funded the deposit ourselves out of our savings and got a mortgage.

I guess, looking back I am one of the lucky ones …..and after a lifetime of living responsibly, both of us always holding down
full time jobs (except when raising our children), always saving, appreciating and enjoying cooking and gardening and the value of friendships, family, and a lifelong marriage I can say now that I’m in my 80’s I know I’m one of the fortunate ones - and I am quite guilt free about the life I lead and the benefits I have.

I certainly don’t feel unlucky.
I was born before the war and everyone we knew were going through the same thing as we were .
I was lucky enough to pass the 11 plus in 1948 and went to Grammar school which was certainly one of the best things that happened to me.
My H and I certainly worked hard and saved hard for what we wanted but it seemed that all our peers did the same.
I will say that we benefited greatly from house price inflation so that again was lucky.
I, now widowed , am in the house we bought in 1976, so that has increased in value but it is my AC who will benefit from that unless I suddenly lose my mind, sell it and blow the lot!!

MayBee70

When I look back in what my house looked like when my children were little, I think todays young parents would be in shock. If I remember right I had a couple of threadbare carpets because we couldn’t affixed new ones. Ran old cars which my husband welded to keep them on the road. A meal out was a once a year treat paid for by a family friend who had no children and wanted our kids to know what it was like to eat out. Wouldn’t dream of buying a coffee when out and about; far too extravagant.Didn’t have a holiday abroad till the kids were in their teens and then it was Eurocamp. Continued to live as frugally as possible so we could get the kids through university debt free. I do feel sorry about people having to leave university in so much debt, though. I was shocked when an American friend told me how much debt he was in because of going to university.

We went abroad once when our children were very young - taking our old tent and lots of food in a trailer which DH had made himself, with wheels donated by someone he knew and a tarpaulin over the top!
We went to Britanny on the ferry, (probably not much more expensive than going down the road to Cornwall apart from the cost of the ferry) but the weather was so much better.
It was a wonderful holiday.

I was a boomer, born in 1947. Eldest of three in a two up two down with a toilet in the yard and tin bath every Saturday night in the kitchen. Everyone helped each other out and we played in the street after school until bedtime. Married with two children at 24, rented for a year then bought our first house on my husbands wage alone. And here is the difference. Then your house, if new build came with nothing. No fitted kitchen, no central heating, no double glazing, carpet, wood flooring. Garden was as builders left it and no fences. We saved for the things as we went along. Fast forward to now. Dishwashers, washing machines, manicured gardens, fitted wardrobes. I could go on. If young people accepted houses as we did they would be cheaper, available to all but things that we thought of as luxuries are now classed as essentials.

It’s the cost of housing - whether rent or mortgage - that’s the killer now, at least anywhere around here. The monthly rent for a certainly-nothing-special 2 bed flat will typically be more than the monthly mortgage payment for the same property, and the cost of rent means it’s that much harder for people on average salaries to save enough for a deposit.

Add on the cost of childcare, and it’s no wonder younger people struggle.

Granny Somerset, where abouts are you? I’m also in Somerset - born 1940

When I look back in what my house looked like when my children were little, I think todays young parents would be in shock. If I remember right I had a couple of threadbare carpets because we couldn’t affixed new ones. Ran old cars which my husband welded to keep them on the road. A meal out was a once a year treat paid for by a family friend who had no children and wanted our kids to know what it was like to eat out. Wouldn’t dream of buying a coffee when out and about; far too extravagant.Didn’t have a holiday abroad till the kids were in their teens and then it was Eurocamp. Continued to live as frugally as possible so we could get the kids through university debt free. I do feel sorry about people having to leave university in so much debt, though. I was shocked when an American friend told me how much debt he was in because of going to university.

Different times, different expectations. It certainly seems harder to get a house these days and not many could survive on one wage whereas we could mostly take time out to see our children off to school before going back to work. We didn’t bother with the gadgets they have these days and certainly didn’t have expensive floor coverings and tvs and washing machines but then there aren’t that many laundromats around now,either .

Yes, sadly, many people are still having a hard time, just In different ways.

I was born in 1948. I grew up in a tenement flat, consisting of, literally, two rooms. One was the ‘ kitchen ‘, which had a sink, and a two ring gas cooker with a very small oven. This room was also the living room, dining room and my parents’ bedroom. The other room had my father’s piano, a wardrobe
( just one for all our clothes ), and my bed and few toys. The toilet was outside, and shared with the neighbours. There was also the washing house outside, shared with the other five families. You had to take your turn, light the fire, fill the boiler with water and wait until the water was hot enough. Then the clothes etc had to be transferred to a sink to be rinsed in cold water, then wrung out in a mangle. Almost a day’s work. If only younger people could go back in time and spend a day in my mother’s life. We got a council house, eventually ( with a bathroom!) in 1964, when I was sixteen. At that time, out of the 24 families livening in the block of four tenements, only one owned a car. I was an only child, but some people brought up a few children in these circumstances. My grandparents brought up nine in their two rooms.

My friend lives in a road near me. Just an ordinary little road with terraces houses, 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, sitting room, kitchen. She says one such house is up for rent at £3,000 per month! Admittedly London is more expensive, but still.

This, plus extortionate nursery fees and high energy bills, is, I think, the major reason why so many younger people are suffering. At least the council houses of old were built properly and had plenty of space. Nowadays it seems much of the council and, more often, housing association homes are poorly built, badly maintained and poorly insulated, resulting in damp and mold. There also seem to be a lot of landlords who are constantly increasing the rent while at the same time refusing to rectify serious problems. Some of the conditions shown on the TV are truly appalling. I also think some of the houses being built for sale are similarly badly constructed.

I don't think there is much in the way of affordable housing at all, now, Margiknot.
I'm horrified by some of the private rents being charged for quite ordinary houses in this area, which is not in the SE.

I have a great deal of sympathy for people struggling, but expectations and standards are so different now.
I agree, LovesBach

I agree Allira!
Getting rid of affordable council housing ( selling off but not replacing it) was a really bad move. There is a great shortage of affordable rental housing.

Allira

Indigo8

I recently read that one in six children lives below the poverty line, which I find shocking. I am sure this was not the case when I grew up in the 1950s and 60s.

Mind you, I don't think there was a poverty line as such then and if there had been it would have been a great deal lower.

Lizzie44 My FIL worked in the financial sector and he advised me to pay the lower married women's stamp as we were so hard up. Though it sort of made sense at the time, thank goodness I didn't take his advice and managed to clock up 40 years of full stamp.

I'm sure if today's criteria for poverty were applied to the 1950s then a lot more than 1 in 6 children would be in that category.

Without a doubt, Allira. My family had no extra money whatsoever, and lived hand to mouth every week. My Mother lost her purse once, and it was a disaster - family chipped in with some food for the rest of the week. I have a great deal of sympathy for people struggling, but expectations and standards are so different now.

Indigo8

I recently read that one in six children lives below the poverty line, which I find shocking. I am sure this was not the case when I grew up in the 1950s and 60s.

Mind you, I don't think there was a poverty line as such then and if there had been it would have been a great deal lower.

Lizzie44 My FIL worked in the financial sector and he advised me to pay the lower married women's stamp as we were so hard up. Though it sort of made sense at the time, thank goodness I didn't take his advice and managed to clock up 40 years of full stamp.

I'm sure if today's criteria for poverty were applied to the 1950s then a lot more than 1 in 6 children would be in that category.

I recently read that one in six children lives below the poverty line, which I find shocking. I am sure this was not the case when I grew up in the 1950s and 60s.

Mind you, I don't think there was a poverty line as such then and if there had been it would have been a great deal lower.

Lizzie44 My FIL worked in the financial sector and he advised me to pay the lower married women's stamp as we were so hard up. Though it sort of made sense at the time, thank goodness I didn't take his advice and managed to clock up 40 years of full stamp.

We were a typical just post war family, although my mother did get a part time job to pay for a holiday every year. Just a week in the beginning, but later my father got a whole two weeks. Things got better later. I spent 4 years at art school with no fees and a grant that paid for everything I needed. Can you imagine it now? 4 years doing something for fun, because it probably wouldn't actually get me a job, and all free? When I got married (Dress £8 from Bus Stop, ring £8.50, my hen night was my friend coming round for a cup of tea and my parents paid for a nice lunch for 50 after the wedding) we saved for a year for the deposit on a house , and when I had a baby we were able to cope without me working for the next 10 years.

Move on to the 90s. My daughter went to university just as loans were starting so escaped the worst of the debt, but her husband studied as a mature student and, because he is American, she was responsible for repaying his loan. They rented a house and after 10 years were able to buy their own flat. They had two children once they had the flat, she had to go back to work while I looked after them. After another 12 years they were finally able to buy a house. Both have well paid jobs but are only ever getting by. I think we had a much easier time.

That was 1962. When I was 12, we had a bath once a week, so each morning I would put 6” of cold (iced in winter) in the bath and was in and out in less than a minute - those were the days.

Having read more of the responses on this subject, I have to point out that, as a child, I also lived in a cold house with no central heating. My Mum and Dad had a paraffin heater, and some sort of contraption in the kitchen to heat water. We had very little money too because only my Dad worked and he did not have a particularly well paid office job. However, most people lived like that - many of my friends lived in council houses. But we all had proper food to eat - school dinners were reasonably priced, nourishing and substantial, and my parents could afford to buy decent food and fizzy drinks from the Corona lorry. We were more or less all in the same boat. We didn't see our grandparents going on fabulous cruises or buying luxury goods. Though sometimes a little better off, they had a similar lifestyle to our own.

I am amazed that so many Gransnetters are so dismissive of the issues facing young people today. Many have enormous university loans to pay back (and, before you criticise that, many employers expect applicants to have a degree these days). And the main issue is housing costs and the insecurity of rented housing.

Please, those who are very comfortable now (not those who are struggling) don't be so self-absorbed and self-congratulatory and have a little empathy.

My son and his partner are fortunate in having their own home, but that is because they received help from both sets of parents. Not everyone has that help.

What some people don't seem to understand is that it's the difference in people's quality of life that is the issue. If most people are struggling, then we all struggle together but if some of us have wonderful lives and the rest struggle, then people feel angry and let down. That's the real issue, the disparity in people's lives.

My first job. (16) paid £4.50 a week, 50p (ten shillings) on tax and N.I., £2.00 train fare a week, and £2.00 house-keeping to my mother. So leaving home for 7.30am train and return at 6.30 pm at night, meant that I didn’t have a penny left over after 55 hours, work/travel. I had to work in the evenings to buy lunch. soap, toothpaste etc.
your granddaughter should count herself lucky.