OK Boomer; Normal friction or wealth and social inequality symptom

You quote me & then say this. Firstly assuming that
1) I am a Boomer, and
2) That I feel victimised or attacked.

OK, you got me...I'm a boomer, but only just. The stats are out on that as in some documentation I am, & in others I am not. I am right on the edge of the younger side & my husband is Gen X.

Buddy, I can tell by your dialogue that is it YOU who feels victimised, because you didn't get born into the 'gravy train' that is obviously what all boomers were lucky enough to be born into.

But it is not like that. Yep, some boomers were lucky. But some were also unlucky. Some worked hard, really, really hard & set themselves up for life. Others sat on the government purse their whole lives contemplating their collective navels. The truth of the matter is that no matter what generation you are born into, with hard work, the right knowledge and dedication, you can usually rise above the tide.

This topic has been done to death. Use the search tool, if you want to read the many replies to previous posters over the years.

 

like like like ^^^

 

I remember after having the first child having a conversation about how easy it was to look after babies & how I couldn't understand people complaining about, well, about everything really.

Then @Lil Skater arrived on the scene! OMG! First baby a breeze, slept all night, well behaved. Perfect little human. I was so unprepared for the little terrorist that @Lil Skater was. Up six (yes, 6) times a night, every night for the first two years. Stubborn, loud & threw the worst temper tantrums I've ever known. Reality check....babies are hard work.

 

Just wanted to share.... my new niece. Read the sign on the left!

 

Your lucky sibling! My son didn't accomplish that milestone until after his first birthday and only after the age of 18 months or so did so at least a couple of times per week.

 

Its interesting following this; now that we are about to do a new build, we have been trawling the various Display home villages for various ideas for colours, finishes, etc - in all of the "growth corridor" areas such as Narre Warren, Keysborough and so on. Its great fun, actually.
The overwhelming majority of people wandering around are under the age of 30, and then a few up to aged 40.
I suspect many are first home buyers.
Almost none of these Display homes are small - start at about 25 squares and go up, and up and up.
Our house will be 29 squares, and will ultimately cost $344k. It is not our first home. It is adequate, more modest, but we are on a budget and are over the large home which has to be cleaned and filled with stuff. Dont need it anymore.
So, my point is that many of the home seekers are starting well up the ladder in terms of how big and how expensive their first homes are going to be - many years ago the fist home for most people was a run-down 13 square doer-upper house with not much in the way of bells and whistles.
This current trend must surely put pressure to increase the cost of housing, because many seem to be angling to get into a bigger and newer house all the time...not all; but a lot of people.

 

Oh, we did cause the problem

 

Totally disagree with the article and what it is saying.....waste of time IMHO. No point to argue at all, IMO, we are just the product of our thinking and philosophy and some (such as those who wrote the article) may just like to portray their philosophy (really how they think - no need to agree or disagree, I am sure we can all read an article and have ALL different and unique opinions, that's what makes us human and unique!
Life is about a change, it is constantly changing, and it will do so in the future, so will we as human beings.
Fairer "playing field", equality, one generation benefiting from other, the truth, white privilege, etc... This has always existed in the past as it exists now and will exist in the future, it just portrays how you feel at this point in time, how you see this from your perspective from your philosophy, your thinking, from reading this article or others, that's all, others will feel differently. Hence how conflict starts, humans with different values feeling very strongly about theirs, protect them, hence will voice them against each other...
You see each person's thinking, philosophy, attitude, perception, their ideas, the processed experiences, what they read, what they do, whom they spend time with, basically what they input into their brain via varies 'sources' will determine how their life will turn out.
You see it is not what happens via any beneficial or non-beneficial circumstance to any person 'boomer, other, even those not born yet - and I am sure new names will be placed upon those too for future generations down...', BUT rather how you deal with it!
It is easy to blame, the time, the government, the laws rules and regulations, taxes, colleges, schools, negative relatives, the weather, being raised in obscurity, blaming the company and their policies, having lousy job, etc....(I can go on here forever, can you see this?), THESE ARE ALL CIRCUMSTANCES which happened, they are out of your control, out of our control, this is not your personal philosophy (that makes you and I different from all!).
My mentor JR said, in winter a goose can only fly south even if it doesn’t look good, tough luck, but humans can go north or west, other ways, so we can plan, we can process what is available. We can learn, solve, deal, think, and strengthen our philosophy! You don’t need better company you need a better sail! You cannot blame circumstances as that is all you have, that’s all there is, and if you blame that you only have to work with, it is mistake colossal! So you don’t change the sun, sunshine, seasons, day and night, you need to take it as it comes so you have to start with your philosophy, you mind, your thinking! So refine your sail, you don’t have to wait tomorrow, next week, next year, or when you are 90, you can choose to change right now!

So what is my point, the point is forget the circumstances, or systematic advantages, or what ever you wish to call it, what happened, instead CONCENTRATE ON HOW TO MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER (with the current circumstances you are presented you live now and those that will happen in the future!).

Personally I refuse to look at circumstances that occurred and somehow justify my life now or in the future. I stick to JR philosophy:
The Major Key to Your Better Future is You!
If interested read the full article about it:
The Major Key To Your Better Future Is You
As there are many, many other versions, yet idea is the same, make your life better no matter what circumstances you are presented with!
I like the JR words below:
Remember here is the difference…the difference is personal, inside, not outside, inside.
You see the real difference is inside you. In fact, the difference IS you.
Someone once said, “The magic is not in the products.
The magic is not in the literature.
The magic is not in the film.
There isn’t a magic meeting, but the magic that makes things better is inside you, and personal growth makes this magic work for you.
The magic is in believing.
The magic is in daring.
The magic is in trying.
The real magic is in persevering.
The magic is in accepting.
It’s in working.
The magic is in thinking.
There is magic in a handshake.
There is magic in a smile.
There is magic in excitement and determination.
There is real magic in compassion and caring and sharing.
There is unusual magic in strong feeling and you see, all that comes from inside, not outside.

So, the difference is inside you.

The real difference is you.

You are the major key to your better future.

 

Especially facts like this:

“According to the June ABS household lending data, first home buyers accounted for just under 29% of all owner-occupier borrowing commitments.​

This is actually the highest it’s been in over six years – likely a result of the recent widespread falls in property prices which have helped put homes within reach for many aspiring homeowners.”
​

Yep, let’s fix those systemic problems, get rid of all the boomers, ...

Or this one:

Proportion of home owners and renters by age of household reference person:

• 25 to 34: 37% home owners, 61% renters
• 35 to 44: 62% home owners, 37% renters
• 45 to 54: 72% home owners, 27% renters

Then it stabilises around 80% for boomers:​

• 55 to 64: 78% home owners, 21% renters
• 65 to 74: 83% home owners, 15% renters
• 75 and over: 84% home owners, 14% renters

Housing Statistics in Australia: Home Ownership & Rent | Savings.com.au

I assume most people take ABS data as facts .

I know, this data is OLD. Over 12 months old, in fact .

 

I think this is a really important point. The expectations of the younger gens today is so high. Quality of life due to modern conveniences is out of this world.

I look at photos of the house my parents had when I was a child and it was a dump. My mother's family built their own house but not because they wanted to... they had to otherwise they'd have had no house. There's a reason why people looked older back then. Life isn't fair. It never has been. Boomers were lucky with land and housing. They weren't so lucky with other things. They lost a lot more parents to war for example.

It's not just about how much a house costs. There are so many other things to take into consideration. Yes, it's absolutely tougher for young people to get into a good market, but there are also houses for sale for 300k in Logan. You can get a two bedder apartment on the gold coast in a convenient location for under 300k. For a young couple that's probably 3 times their yearly combined incomes. For couples in more professional fields, that's 6 years of saving and you're fully paid off!

 

Jim would be very proud of you. I thought I was a hardcore JR fan. But you are next level commitment

 

No cookies | NT News

 

Happily, I deal with a number of them in my work, and the vast majority of them are great.
As a group? Don't know.

 

Yes I am his Huge fan, but he did make my life so much better so why wouldn't I be?
You see I try to instill his philosophy into our kids' thinking or our own, we should practice what we preach. If one understands that circumstances are out of our control, things will change whether we like it or not, life is unfair (so get used to it - but deal with it via taking responsibility not looking at excuses or generations, instead we should learn from those!), why have a class or financial or race, etc.. any warfare?
It seems the agenda nowadays via communication sources is to instill such division, why?
Can we look at any article or aspect independently....or....what was written or told to us? Are we really independent thinkers, do we own up to taking responsibility, are we unbiased?
Very hard to do indeed!
All I tried to illustrate is that sometimes we are not as independent thinkers as we think and personally I really dislike the 'blame'' game in any circumstances.
Why justify or prove when one will not listen (different vales, life experiences, ages, etc...).
Remember JR said he nearly killed himself trying to justify and explain and change ALL (cannot be done - he nearly killed himself). One must first evaluate their own thoughts....some will get it some won't and such is life.
To the younger audiences I like the 10 Life Lessons presented by Bill Gates:
Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Bonus Rule:
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you will end up working for one.

I especially like rule 1 and 7 to apply to this thread's article!

 

Completely agree with your sentiments and philosphical oulook. You definetly can't force it down anyone's throat. Folks will eigher have their AHA moment or they wont. Most wont. Some will. tis life. Love it or hate it, it is what you make of it.

 

I've constantly heard that the first is a sweet trap that luls the parents into a false sense of security, then BAM, second child comes along.

 

Heard that from soooooooooooo many parents. I aint risking it with a #2. Besides, 1 is perfect for us.

 

We said that (1 child) had 3. When I said we should go again reading her eyes told me if you try and use that thing again you’ll lose it. We have a son 12 & 2 daughters 11 & 9, three different personalities ,three pretty good kids overall. Definitely would’ve regretted not having 2 more.

 

My experience was the opposite, the first was total nightmare the second one was an angel!
After the first I thought, well at least cannot be worse and I know what to expect and how wrong I was, what a nice surprise!

 

Normal friction. Sure , there are systematic advantages that the boomers have had over the past few decades and good for them. If the other gens don't like it and want change, then they should vote against policies that introduced such advantages or make change, otherwise put up with it.

On the other side, GenX and Millennials do have some big challenges when it comes to housing and job growth and so on but that has always been the case with every other generation. Different times have different challenges.

I completely agree with @The Gambler above, younger generations have some delusional expectations when it comes to their first property, their first car and most are completely at a loss when it comes to necessities vs nice to haves. Spending thousands of dollars on ready meals, latest phones, latest streaming service, latest smart watch ...

I am a Millennial and most Millennial i know has no idea about money management, even the most educated and the ones who do simply don't want to make an effort. They waste so much money on unnecessary crap and live week to week just to own a stupidly expensive car or because they can't be bothered cooking at home or because they need to watch the latest streaming shows and so on.