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

Personally I believe that Australia's living standards peaked in the mid 2000's under the Howard era. The only thing more affordable these days is technology, such as computers, mobile phones and televisions. However, I only have one television that I bought back in 2013. How many televisions do you need? Same as with computers. You only need one or two computers. Food is still very affordable.

Electricity, water, fuel, insurance, rent/mortgages, registration and public transport has all at least doubled, if not tripled in price. Meanwhile wages have been flat since 2013.

Australians worse off than during the GFC

 

I saved for ages to buy a VCR. I had a black & white TV. I couldn't afford to buy both a colour TV AND a VCR, so just got the VCR and persevered with the black & white TV.

 

VCRs had been out for many years before we bought our own. Before that, we used to rent a couple of movies on Saturday and take them to MIL's house and watch them together on hers. We still had a 12/14 inch TV at our house. It was very exciting getting my first automatic washing machine when our first child was vomiting everywhere, before lactose intolerance and other food allergies were understood by the medical profession.

 

Yes the habits and mentality of how they deal with money or currency has changed.
Credit cards did not exist back then so we needed to save first to purchase, unless lay by option was utilised, but still you did not receive the goods purchased until paid off.
Now we live in instantaneous world, I want this I will just order on CC or Pay Pal or Afterpay zippay, etc....
No practice of 'delayed gratification' instead 'instantaneous gratification'.
I think most don't realize Credit Card (CC) is banks' money not theirs...yet I still hear some say if I didn't have a CC I would not survive (really!).
Also many new temptations exist and keeping up with Jones is quite prevalent is some circles.
It takes a mindset to change then their habits with actions (hard to do).

 

I was discussing this with my Father in-law recently. When I was a kid the only way people of my parents age could compare with eachother was at BBQs, catch-ups, dinners, etc. You wouldn't know about another family's holiday until they pulled the photo album out. Which took effort of developing films, loading up the album. Most luxuries were not boasted about until they got together for a chat.

Fast forward to now and everything is instantaneous and filtered. Immediately I am swarmed with others my age putting up their "stories" and holiday pics etc. Trust me I'm as guilty as ever. But this does weigh on what people expect to be the norm. I am just trying to stay aware of that being a millennial.

 

fake it till you make it generation, there are business that rent out private boats and private jet for people to take photos so they can post on Instagram that travel in one of these and business is booming

 

All though holiday’s and travel are widely used as way to boast and show off, Instagram etc. there’s still a huge majority that don’t and just travel for the love of experience, meeting people, and seeing the world.

I can’t put a price on travel and don’t see it as a luxury that people should refrain from. Seeing the world while you can is top 3 non negotiables for me, if it costs a bomb or not.

 

im 87.

the more the world consumes, the better for us i say,

These are all opportunities for us to make money just by click on our phones,

i agree, this generation is easy, and it suits me because i am lazy af,

 

Not sure that’s true.

Cars are cheaper. My parents bought a car in 1996 for $140k I remember. That same model 2020 edition would be $110k.

My parents used to have a lot of hospitality businesses. Not that we did italian food, but the average pizza in 2000 would be around $11? Now it may be $14?

I used to fly to Hk for $1000 in 2000. These days non peak seasons go down to $400.

Some things have gone up - mainly house prices and utilities as you said.

I’d **** a lot of lefties off saying this, but life has never been better in this country and if you’re struggling now youre probably would’ve struggled back then. I hope people give more credit to the forefathers of this country, the people who run it and frankly China where all this prosperity has come from, rather than bash the establishment at every chance.

 

By most measures (including the global Purchasing Price Parity index) Australia's living standards peaked at around 2011 under the Rudd/Gillard era, when the AUD was over 1.1 to the USD and over 66p to the British pound. Of course, it depends on personal circumstances (it always does, eg if you were cashed up during the great depression of the 1930s your standard of living was excellent) such as which State you lived and where you worked. However, the high value of the AUD meant everyone enjoyed cheaper imports and more competitively priced locally made products.

 

Thats thatbum

 

No it's definitely this guy who comes from a rich Asian family and humblebrags a lot. Thatbum is from Perth

 

are you 87 or born in 87?

 

So your parents car in 1996 cost 140k. That's interesting because back in 1996 you could buy freestanding houses for 140k in Melbourne. Not everybody needs a luxury car but everybody needs a house. With escalating land prices most people are now downgrading to units/apartments/townhouses. These days a luxury car costs 120k but a house in Melbourne costs you about 800k, albeit you can still find houses for 500k in the outer suburbs.

Multinational companies like Domino's have definitely influenced the pizza trade. As I said in my post food is still affordable though.

People like myself have never even gone overseas. However, it's now (depending on how long you stay) cheaper to have a holiday overseas then go travelling regionally or interstate.

There's a veneer of affluence in the Australian community (especially on PC) so the increasing gap between the living standards of rich and poor Australians is underestimated. The irony is that even if Australia had a recession it would be the poor and working class who felt the impacts the most.

 

Yea absolutely. They spent a lot on a car for back then. In fact $140k was not a luxury car back then - was just an E320. They ended up selling it for $500 around 2 decades later.

There is no real poor in Australia. Some people have it tough, but live in my grandma’s days when people had to cut grass to burn because there was no wood and you’d die from the cold otherwise, or the Japanese army would just chop your head off for fun, that’s poor.

 

born in 87 ahaha

 

if they gotten a m3, would have sold for 500k haha

 

Yea they know nothing about cars.

 

tbh not many people knew used car market would explode

 

In my 30s and wouldn't want to be in my 20s today. Young people have an up hill batttle.

Not saying older people did not face adversity, but I really feel sorry for some of the young people.