This millennial reckons baby boomers have had it 'too easy"

Absolutely! She had a decent amount of savings.

 

She bought as prices started moving. Yes, things are more expensive post boom, as always, but prices are now pulling back in many areas in Sydney.

 

@Marg4000 @Angel @Francesco thanks for the replies, I’ve actually got a lot out of this chat and yes Angel by all means am not dissing, I’m just challenging the information so I can form the correct strategy going forward. Francesco I’m reserved to thinking it’s going to be leaner times purely because by planning for the worst, I feel it’s safer & anything more is a bonus. A little clarity so you know I’m not just a whinging millennial, worked full time since 15 saving, farm work 60-70hr weeks, paint shop at 17 & bought a 3 bed house at 18, then worked 2 jobs (full time plus night club security on weekends, Built a 300sqm house last year, used equity & bought another 4 bed in Brisbane which I’m renovating all weekend and still working 2 jobs. I feel like my lifestyle is similar to what my grandparents had in the 60s haha. I never get a break & im working my ass off.

I have friends my age that complain every day, and yet do not do anything because it’s too hard or too much work, for those I have no sympathy. Starting in 20s & Delaying gratification until 40s is the only way i see people retiring young & having choices later in life with this generation. Recognised this when I was 15 & at 27 now is Precisely what I’m doing. It’s so difficult at times, but I now have 1.5m asset base and am looking forward to being able to quadruple it if the CG gods are good to me in the coming 2 decades

 

The 343 posts in this thread so far seem to indicate, and I realise that all generalisations are stupid, that when interest rates are high, asset prices are low.

And when interest rates head lower, asset prices head higher.

If only one could predict when the reverse would occur.

 

Yeah prices are plateauing in some areas. But unless they drop 20% they're still going to be unaffordable .... Someone on 80k isn't going to see 1.1m too much different to 1m

 

Another ex pollie comments on the "intergenerational theft" that is going on.
This time its John Hewson passing comment .

Younger Australians locked of housing market is 'intergenerational theft'

 

SIgned up to this forum as this thread was making my blood boil. Really just came here to see what property prices were up to. Can't believe the level of self delusion.

I am generation X - just - 51
Sister is a boomer,
Parents war survivors,
Kids millenials.

I have no doubt the millenials have by far the toughest housing situation. They also have the toughest job situation since the great depression. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just blind to the economic waters that have carried this country along so easily for so many years. This is the first time since the depression that most people in Australia who have a good middle class job like a teacher cannot afford to buy a house in a capital city on a single income and pay it off in a reasonable time frame. It has not been like this before in living memory. (well not unless you are over 90). It is as simple as that.

The whole economic project of the last 20 years has been to invest the country's efforts and industry into concentrating wealth into the hands of property owning baby boomers and to a lesser extent my generation - what started as the frugal conservatism and social justice of those who survived the war and depression evolved into greed and entitlement in the hands of their children, and I pity you millenials who are going to have to use all your political strength to prise the country's wealth out of our hands, as we now live so long that waiting for us to die won't even work.

Unfortunately the problem you will run into is that you will fight amongst yourselves - those with property owning parents will drink the entitlement coolaid and believe that they have got there through hard work rather than luck and middle class welfare, and will turn against those who are not born with these advantages and consider them lazy leaners. This infighting will prevent you from taking action against the true enemy ie my generation and the boomers who have not only robbed you of your wealth but ****** the environment to boot.

I suspect that you will be much kinder to your children and the planet than we were, if that is any consolation.

 

There is something like 70% of the 5.5M baby boomers (that is, nearly 4M) who are expecting/needing to receive the Aged Pension (in full or part) in retirement.

If all of these BBs had it SO easy and are SO wealthy, I pity Australia (and the world for that matter) as, according to some, all later Gens have had it SO much tougher .

 

Much harder now than it was in 2014 when the talk about the sky falling in started.

 

This is true, but it is how the market works. Prices will pull back, but not to their previous highs, and in another maybe 10-12 years (give or take.....I don't have a crystal ball, so can't say with certainty the exact time) prices will move up again (they may double, or they might not, but they will move). Halfway through the cycle, you will be able to pick up something at a good price, while market sentiment is low, so long as you have the serviceability to do so. Then later when everyone that missed out on the good prices will say that you are lucky and how it's not fair etc....and so it continues.

 

If i look at the bright side of this, it gives us a few years to accumulate, add value, structure the portfolio, and reduce debt. For when the sentiment picks up again and prices do move, it will be far more substantial on a larger asset base. Double edged sword I guess as if the market im in (brassy) starts doing double digit growth before accumulated enough you are buying in a heated market anyway

 

The golden rule is......DON'T!

Basically, if there's been significant growth in an area you are interested in, then it's usually better to wait, or buy elsewhere. The trick is to identify what 'significant growth' is, in any given market. If we take Sydney, for example, if you read the threads from 2016 onwards, anyone other than newbies were warning people that the market is very heated, and to proceed with caution.

Another thing to note, is that all the major cities usually move at different times. With this in mind, some experienced investors will move from market to market. Some buying low, selling after some growth & moving onto the next area.

As an aside, there are many experienced Sydney investors currently buying, or have bought into Brissy.

 

Off with their heads.....if they want the Pension...let them eat cake I say!

On a more serious note...the gubbermint needs to start setting an amount by city of how much they can hold in terms of their house before it gets counted as part of an asset. To many people sitting on $2m plus assets.....in my opinion anything over $1.5m in a place like Sydney needs to be counted towards the assessable assets.

 

Absolutely. Getting a welfare payment in the form of the pension if you live in multi-million dollar house is a national embarrassment. The $64 billion on the pension is projected to reach at least $73 billion over 2018-19. For context, the federal health budget is about $75 billion and welfare for the unemployed is about $10 billion.

Any millennial who is stuck up on the notion that 'it was easier in the past' needs to have a look at themselves. There have always been and always will be swathes of people who have given up on life and blame the world for their circumstances. Don't be one of them.

 

It's not just millennials.

We know someone who is around 40yrs old. They live in a 2 bedroom unit with their mother & their teenage son. This person has complained about the price of property ever since they were in their 20's, but has never done anything to improve their lot, and never moved out of home because it's too expensive. Mother has a pension and she works around 35hrs per week. She's now spending an inheritance to renovate Mother's unit because one day it will be hers.

 

There are many ways to make money...and not always from your job.

I am now setting up passive streams but also working on active streams when I retire....the active one is just to keep myself busy.

 

No definitely not just millennials, I was thinking that as I wrote that earlier post. I also know people who complain and yet haven't done anything to help themselves. They are about 40 and are looking for their first place now. They complain that it is unfair despite making good money for about 15 years and having plenty of opportunities. Part of the problem is that some people are just not that shrewd with their lives and forget that they are in the drivers seat of their lives. You have to really want it and do what it takes to make things happen. Otherwise you are just drifting towards the pension.

 

Never a truer word spoken. The problem lies in those that aren't willing to do what it takes, then downplay those that have done it. I'm told I'm lucky all the time, and I guess I am. I'm lucky that I'm one of those willing to do whatever I can to get to where I want to be, and not just sit back & complain that life isn't fair. It isn't, but the sooner you stand up and look at what life has dealt you, and be realistic about your own circumstances, the sooner you can set the wheels in motion to make improvements.

 

So we are also personally responsible for destroying the environment. That's interesting, I recall voting for Hawke to save the Franklin and I recall spending any holidays camping at the beach somewhere to avoid all the crowds, traffic, consumerism and pollution in touristy places like the Gold Coast. First time I ever went to Sydney was only about ten years ago.

Aren't the residents of Byron Bay your typical Boomers? Not too interested in Consumerism, care for their neighbours, passionate about the environment. As for pollution, we got rid of back yard incinerators and now you complain about waste going into landfill. Much of the plastic you consume these days used to be glass and it was returned to the factories to be reused. We didnt cook on wood-fired stoves. We didnt fill our houses and flats with coal-fires to keep warm either. If you dont like electricity, you can try the first half of the last century. When I was a child, there was a permanent brown cloud over the city of Brisbane that isn't there now. We cleaned it up for you.

Boomers didnt vote for Menzies, we were still children at the time. We voted Labor - Whitlam, Hawke and Keating. Something about The Recession We Had to Have (I don't understand that one) and other good stuff like Medibank, keeping kids in school post age 14, supporting Vietnamese refugees. I love Asian food.