Are Parents Really To Blame

What a selfish bunch of whingers! Why should parents fund their adult children's lifestyle? Not all baby boomers are well of financially. My ex worked but always in low paid jobs so we were never able to even think of buying a house. We didn't even have a car. I will admit that there were more council houses around so we had that to fall back on but before we got our first council flat we paid a huge amount of our income in rent for a pokey, damp private let.

This lot whinge because they can't have what mam and dad provided for them when they were growing up. Well I doubt mam and dad got their things overnight.

Also we baby boomers lived with the perpetual threat of nuclear annihilation, IRA terrorism, Maggie Thatcher and, probably worst of all, getting up on a Sunday morning with a banging hangover and sitting in a room with a psychedelic colour scheme.

For the most part it's about money, which is where their focus appears to be. One girl in her 20's says she expected a baby and a 4 bedroomed house by now. Question - does a baby need a 4 bedroomed house?
And lastly, which presents a sense of unrealness about their argument, unlike us, they don't expect to have to sacrifice and struggle.

The article hasn't been very kind to them really.

I dont think I have ever commented on this subject before, partly because others seemed to know a lot more than me, and partly because I didnt really know where I stood about it.

But this article is quite good so here goes.

First woman. I think she has some good points. Especially if she knows some or who are virtually turfed out of their parents' houses [but we are not hearing the other side of things].
And that jobs are scarcer and less secure. And we all know the situation with house prices.
£400 a month is virtually nothing to live on.
She did leave out thanking her parents fro letting her live at home though.

There are no thanks or gratitude, rarely anyway and she could share a home with another young person. There are plenty of house shares and rooms to rent. Which is what a lot do. This allows them to save some money at least.
In December 2016, there were 721 approx job vacancies in the UK.

So, maybe the ones complaining need to think outside the box.

Actually she has lots of good points.
But not sure that she can go around blaming people.
I will read the article in more detail later.

Where I do think people are unrealistic is this. And this applies to some people of every generation.
They have this weird idea that the world stays the same. It does not!
Did it ever in history? I dont know.

But for the life of me, I fail to understand why one generation thinks their life is going to mirror that of their parents. That is wont, is almost a give. Not the other way around.

And who is to blame for that? No one.
Life is made up of 7 billion people or however many there are. Things change.

The way I read it, life hasn't met expectation and the soft target for blame are the parents. Anger and resentment are at the forefront.

Although I don`t blame the parents, I do have much sympathy for this generation. My children (early 30s) were told that if they worked hard at school they could go to university and if they worked hard at university they would get a well paid job. I feel that they kept their part of the bargain but, in reality, they left university at the start of the recession when well paid jobs - or indeed any jobs - were very few and far between. On top of which they had aquired substantial student debt. It`s no wonder that some of them are very fed up

nina, the article says she has £400 a month. How could she rent anything? Even a shoebox to live in.

eddiecat quite.
In effect, the game changed.

I only glanced at this article but I've seen so many like it. Infuriating, filling column inches with a load of nonsense and setting the generations against each other when we should be working together to deal with the many ills around us now.

Maybe they're paragons but my three daughters got part time jobs as soon as they were able, worked through university, got excellent degrees and all immediately got good jobs. All three saved up and paid for their own gap year activities and actually saved money from their student loans by being thrifty and all have enough money in the bank to put down as a deposit on a house if wanted. As it happens they are travelling or completing further study. They have similar friends and I'll bet others on this forum have similar children.

It can be done and giving space to these whingeing moaners is a waste of our and their time. Every generation faces challenges, I grew up in poverty, I always worked when mine were small even when my wages did no more than cover the childcare or holiday scheme fees. Now they expect it all paid for. Times have always been tough, only the lucky few sail through, people now have too many expectations.

Ankers, just off to work, a room in a shared house is around £50 a week. One thing our youth has not had, and this is not the parents fault but banks, is that as soon as they hit 18, letters arrived through the post offering them loans, credit cards and any amount of money.
I remember hiding these same letters from my own children so they couldn't get into debt. This was back in the 1990's but it was the start of teaching our AC that money grew on trees.

2nd woman Rebecca. Unrealistic expectations. But her dad is a lawyer. I do think it is harder for children of wealthy parents in some ways. Naturally I think,their expectations of life will be somewhat higher.
But to her credit, she has come down to earth now with her expectations.
The change in house prices in London compared to wages is staggering.

You cant blame people though for having taken advantage of things financial that have come their way.
The likes of Rebecca would do exactly the same, given a chance.

Ankers, just off to work, a room in a shared house is around £50 a week

Ah. It is now clear you and I live nowhere near each other!

I'm in the Cotswolds Ankers. Beautiful place.

BTW, my kids reckoned you could live on £10 a week for food, they are good cooks; they didn't buy clothes other than from charity shops or they organised swap parties with their friends and they realised early on how expensive drinks were so they used to buy one drink in a pub and take a bottle of water with them, they also cycled everywhere. They weren't into going shopping, they enjoyed life in ways that didn't cost a fortune.

I did give each of them a tiny nest egg because I saved up the child benefit in a savings account from day 1, not always easy, but my goodness they were thrilled and treasured the money when I gave it to them at 18. Maybe I set a good example because they didn't spend it, they added to it. I am proud of them and I've told them so.

I think this story has legs because there's a touch of truth in it, but there's also a lot of 'poor little victim me' as well.

There are quite a few is us with decent pensions, houses paid for and managing quite nicely in retirement. Some of us are 'giving back' by helping with childminding and, in many cases, funding e.g. Shoes for GC, swimming, music etc lessons, short term loans.

Then there are others who prefer to take their pension, and run for the hills, using it for pure pleasure shouting 'I've done my bit'

On the other hand it is genuinely harder for 'young' people theses days. Jobs are harder to come by and house prices are out of the reach of many, childcare is extortionate. But against that many do have a sense of entitlement to holidays, eating out, expensive gadgets and clothes, everything new....that my generation could only aspire to.

This is of course a sweeping generalisation, but I'm sure you get the drift.

Hey Nina I'm just north of Stratford. Must meet up for a coffee and natter midway perhaps.

Be delighted Anya. xxxx

So you might be nina, but where I live we always find ourselves on the list of least able to afford property compared to income. Near the top.
There are no properties at all or anywhere close, for the £50

Anya, I was in Leamington Spa at the weekend so you wouldn't be far away.

I live on the edge of the Cotswolds and rooms in shared houses are £50 a week and small terraces can be had for £200,000, sometimes less. No one HAS to live in London!

Ankers, that's a ball park figure not gospel.

Azie09, I concur, you're right.

What the youth really need is fiscal training. If they had a clue about what's an asset and what's a liability, it would help them.