Redistributing wealth between the generations

To get back to the OP “redistributing wealth between generations” I think one of the problems is that, while lots of younger people benefit from help from their parents, many don’t.
The many who have no parental help with a deposit for a house, no assistance with university costs, no ferrying to and from hobbies or the “best” schools, no help from an inheritance, will really lose out. This property owning advantage or disadvantage will also be passed on to their children.
So is it inter-generational? Or is it property owners versus the renters?
(I admit we have helped our three children in many ways including house purchase deposits. But I’m not sure it’s “fair”. It’s also helped to inflate property prices.)

I believe if you are lucky enough to be able to have children you should support them as much and for as long as you possibly can, I wouldn't of bothered to have any if I was going to stop the support once they became adults.

As an example of how house prices have inflated, , a dd recently paid just over 100 times what the house had last sold for in 1971. (Yes, we had a good old nose on the Land Reg.) And in fact that was a very reasonable price, compared to similar nearby. A fairly basic 3 bed semi, nothing at all flash.

OK, this is in an expensive area, though still considerably more affordable than London.
It wasn't as if the house was done up, either - it was a probate sale, clean and obviously loved, but very little had evidently been done for several decades.

If salaries have gone up by anything like 100 times, I have to say it's news to me.

I feel as though I'm redistributing my wealth all the time. We've just booked a holiday for the dgcs in the autumn half term and I feel I could live comfortably on that amount for a good while. Still shocked at the price hike for school holidays. So we are doing what Tim Hartford suggests - giving our dosh to the midlife people( both daughters in their forties) we did the ridiculous mortgage thing of absurd interest rates and no they won't take little Wifey's salary into consideration ( cue for coy glance at me suggesting I would go home and breed) and there are still cheap houses around as our own first house is now a snip at £170k and my parents home considered a 'good address 'for £120 k.

Going back to the original question - why - I think that some parents like to keep the apron strings tied and others like to help their children so that they have an easier time of it, or most likely a combination of both. Plus of course some are now in a position to help whereas our parents, some having survived one or even two world wars, had little enough.

I think that just as times have changed, the difficulties faced by each generation have changed. I don’t think things are necessarily easier/harder, but they are different. When I was young, jobs were plentiful, if not particularly well paid, and rented property was easier to come by. We managed to rent and save, which is much harder to do now. Hardly any of my friends had cars, but public transport was better, and we walked - a lot! My children are both renting, they have reasonable jobs, but rents/council tax etc are so high now, saving any meaningful amount isn’t possible. I hope we don’t need long term care, as inheritance is about their only chance of getting on the housing ladder. We do help out where we can, and we’re happy to do it.

As an example of how house prices have inflated

And I've another, Witzend

The house in which we lived as children, in a garrison town in Essex, was sold by my widowed mother in about 1973/74 for £9,000. The people who bought it from her stayed there a long time; they sold it about 3 years ago for over £200,000...

As the Mail article I posted earlier pointed out, if wages had kept pace with house price inflation over the years a wage of, say, £4,500 in 1973/4 would now be £100,000. But it isn't...

No amount of self sacrifices will help many of today's youngsters get on the housing ladder.

I wonder though. If young people stayed at home until they found a life partner didn't do anything much and saved every penny whether they would have enough for a deposit? Not that I am suggesting that they do this, but if they did would they then be able to afford a house? I read recently of a very young couple who had managed to buy recently who had a similar story. Of course this is a different era and things have moved on. When I told my GD daughter recently that we didn't have computers when I was young she exclaimed 'Then I feel sorry for you!'

Oh Welshwife, how very true. Wheeling home Off cuts of carpet on my wheelbarrow to lay over the hardboard which I had nailed down having filled the gaps between the floorboards with newspaper to insulate the freezing house.

Taking the ashes out each morning and laying the fire before cycling to work

It was tough, but now I own our four bedroomed semi-detached where I regularly have the grandchildren to stay.

I wouldn’t change anything

I can remember being so stressed I cried when we heard interest rates were moving up to 11%. There were only endowments or repayment mortgages then no fixed rates so we were at mercy of ERM. My parent's helped us by giving us deposit of 5% when we had first child as we were living in one bedroom flat. We were so grateful. In the past it was hard and without help from my parents I don't know if we would have been able to buy our own home. In turn we helped my daughter out when she wanted to buy a house with her partner (now dh). It is hard for children now to buy property but I think most parents would offer to help their children if they were in such a position to do so. This is redistribution of wealth.

We bought our first house with a 100% mortgage as I worked for the Corporation before baby was born. Hubby had just finished his apprenticeship at 22. His wage was £21 a week and the mortgage was £21 a month! We had a baby to feed and pay all the bills withmwhat was left. No holidays or car or nights out. We managed.

My d has always worked hard and we have never had to help her apart from when she first started work and we paid her travel fair and lent her money for the first month till she got her first monthly wage.
She paid it all back to us too.

I have NEVER been able to afford to buy my own house and rent from a HA as I've done since 1980. My daughter and her husband can't get a high enough mortgage to buy a house, (average house/flat prices range from £225,00 - £395,000 for a 2/3 bed house), so they also rent.
We have both fought hard for everything we have and my daughter and SIL decided quite early on that owning their own house was not even a dream so they concentrate on living the best life they can with 4 children, 1 who is ASD/ADHD and the youngest who has multiple life threatening allergies.

For those people who think that the world owes them a living, live a month in their shoes, on a single wage, and see how they feel afterwards. I'm pretty sure that they'll realise just how good their own lives are!

We lived with my parents to save for deposit. Both worked full time , paid my mum £15 week for ‘keep’ and lived mostly in our bedroom watching a 12 inch black/white tv. We had one holiday in three years ( Scotland) and never went out for a meal in all that time. Aftet three and half years we had money fir a deposit but couldn’t afford to buy in my home town ( where we were living) so went up to husbands home town of Bedford , where we were able to afford.We had no cooker, no fridge, no table or chairs, no sofa . We had a bed and a one bar electric fire. (no central heating). We cooked on a primes stove that was lent to us.... or turned the fire in it’s side and heating pan on it. We finially got a cooker after six weeks.... the fridge took three months, the table and chairs a year! No guests then!! We had trays on laps!! The washing machine came after two children( and it was real nappies then). The young now!!! They’ve got NO idea.

We have given our son the deposit for a small house as a gift, which he has bought and is managing a mortgage. We decided to do this because we saw no point in him waiting for an inheritance when we are dead, while the money doesn't even grow due to pathetic interest rates.

He needed the money now, and we were were happy to release money and help him start a new chapter in his life. It has given us great pleasure to see how happy he is, and he was (still is) so grateful for what he sees as a 'miracle'.

Yes, we worked hard to be where we are now, and don't resent him sharing in what will be his anyway, albeit sooner than he might have expected. He works very hard himself - saving for a deposit while paying high rent in flat was never going to work.

The difficulties faced by this generation are just different from the difficulties faced by previous generations. I suspect if you had the information, you'd realise that each generation feels slightly superior to the next and the younger generations feel more hard done by.
Previous generations have been lucky to have had the extended family to rely on, maybe not financially but certainly with help in childcare, etc. Similarly, many young wives were not expected or even allowed to work whereas these days, if you want any sort of a life, you really do need both parents to work. I do think they are lucky to have 9 months of paid maternity leave and up to a year off. I had to go back after 12 weeks and it nearly killed me, more emotionally than physically but breast feeding soon tailed off!
Every generation has it's own challenges but somehow they muddle through.

Some of our children have grown up in middle class homes without money worries. They have enjoyed holidays abroad and some electonic gadgets. I think this makes it harder for them to adjust to possibly humbler jobs than their parents and living more simply. In a sense this is not their fault at all. Four of our children are good with money and are sensible financially and one isn't!!

I cannot believe how rancid people are being on here. Clearly there are some GPs who are being taken for a ride by their children who expect childcare on tap, help with deposits, free lodging while they save - and show no gratitude while living the life of Riley. However, this applies to precious few of the DCs I know. I would either be happy to give my DCs what they asked for within my remit, or just say no. And eg, one of my DCs earns £1500 after tax, NI and student loan deductions and mandatory pension contributions. Yes, it's London, but that's where his promotion took him. He pays £750 for one bedroom in a flat in the suburbs (all inc) £50 for travel and around £50 on food (makes his own lunch and takes in his own coffee). Yes, he has a mobile phone - £28pcm - but his work needs him to have one and know all about social media as part of his job. Buys train tickets to see us and friends ahead of time - poss £80pcm. Ancillary expenses (clothes, chemist) including presents - he's at peak wedding - poss £70pcm. So he clears just under £6000 a year. It would take him 13 years to save enough for the average London first time buyers deposit - and longer if he took one holiday or a meal out in all that time.

He hasn't asked, but if I can help him I will like a shot.

First time buyers should be offered 100% mortgages like we had when we moved into our first house in 1972. Then there would be no need to rob mum and dads bank.

SuperGran, My children were reared together, equal love, parenting and teaching and yet one is now hopeless with money and the other amazing. Where did I go wrong, please?

driverann, many people got caught out with 100% mortgages when they wanted/had to move but found the value of their properties had fallen. There are several schemes available to young people to buy a house, some of which require smaller deposits or effectively give you a 100% mortgage.

Neither set of parents could afford to help us, we had long engagement, bought small terrace with sitting tenant, all we could afford, . all our furniture was either given or bought from second hand shop (makes me laugh when tv progs go on about recycling)
O.K if you can help do so but neither of our children expected help anymore than we expect help when it comes to paying for being looked after in our dotage, although have heard it being discussed by them so don't think we need to worry.
I will add we do child care so they can work without worry but we really enjoy having the grand children, anyway.
supergran54 my thoughts exactly.

From the article in the OP:
" But trying to figure out which generation, if any, is more deserving is not straightforward. Should we look at a snapshot, or a life cycle?"
Rather than doing that, I would prefer that the 'rich' should be more heavily taxed. There are still plenty of them, from my recent observations.
But I don't think that's going to happen with the current Tory grip on the economy.

Icanhandthemback. Clearly a lot of schemes are not helping the first time buyers otherwise there would not be so many youngests in rented accommodation or living with the parents. What I think has always been unfair is when one buys a car / boat / caravan or most things on HP it is agreed a regular monthly payment. However with a mortgage the companies can carry out all the checks they want as to be able to afford the repayments. Then a short time after taken on the mortgage the interest rate can rise and the companies don’t give a dam if the buyers can afford the increase. I think the monthly payments should remain the same for the duration of the mortgage.

Point one. The govt, who was voted in by many, decided to land many 21 year olds with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt - not a surprise then that debt has little meaning.
Point two. Foreign holidays are so much cheaper now than they were in our day. I think Ryanair just offered me Spain for £10.
Point three. I am so grateful I didn't have small children and a zero hours contract, no sick pay.