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

I was told there are always "A deal of the century every week".

It is just that I didn't look or bother - that is why I have missed it. That is True.
Did someone call me? Gen Y.

 

Nah, there is at least one every day.

No problem, there is at least another one around the corner tomorrow.

 

I had a good, long chuckle over that statement, utter cow manure .

As they say in the movies, “You’re dreaming!!!!”

 

I agree that anyone who works hard can improve their lot in life. Without a doubt, all it takes to get a good income is 10 years of working a job that has upward mobility and looking for opportunities. I believe you can do that in 95% of jobs. In that time you can get an education, get skills, anyone can move up in the world. If you don't also buy property the above will get you basically nowhere. Your wage gains were eaten up in rental payments and cost of living increases, but you can control your career progression, for the most part.

That is entirely different to the global investment environment and policies of central banks and law makers influencing tax policy at a society wide macro level.

If you didn't get in before 2015, you basically got screwed and home ownership has become little more than a rigged unregulated casino since that time.

And I'll say again that is different to some boomer who got a cheap house with parental handouts when they were young and continued to borrow into their 50s and 60s getting rich off capital gains. That isn't hard work. That is just good luck.

 

I know a very polite Vietnamese guy just hit 30.
Finished his Civil Engineering degree, while doing his electrician apprenticeship - Fully qualified now - Workaholic and save every cents as if it is his last.
He have bought a modest house $300k villa home - nothing flash.
Very frugal in his way of spending. I had to work especially hard to get him to loosen his wallet and learn to enjoy life a little.

I don't hear him complaining and always willing to learn to get ahead - which I am more than willing to past on my limited knowledge of what I know as I am still learning along the way.

Are you applying yourself?

 

I feel like I heard that story before, but it was a 20 year old in the 2000's, and not a 30 year old in 2020.

Every now and then I have a chuckle at how game shows really highlight the dramatic inflation in asset prices. When it launched, "Who wants to be a millionaire" offered a huge amount of money for the time (Sydney median house price was $237k). Relative to wages, it's still a lot of money however, now it's more like "Who wants a deposit on a house in Sydney?" (Syd median house price $1.143m).

 

@Jezzah's post illustrates why the Millenials are struggling with housing. Prices have risen dramatically (up from around $180K in the mid nineties to $1.2 million in recent years), whilst wages have roughly doubled in that time. So property is roughly three times as expensive as it was back in the day.

I know, people had to pay 18% mortgages in the late eighties, whereas they're around 3% these days. So the current crop of buyers is ahead, right?

On an interest only basis they are: Borrowing $100K at 18% costs $1500 per month, and $300K at 3% is half that.

But on a repayment basis, it's not such a big gap. A $100K repayment mortgage at 18% is $1510 per month. $300K at 3% is $1275. Plus the buyer in the eighties had high inflation to erode the debt in real terms, followed by falling interest rates through the nineties. In 2020, there's more of a risk of deflation, and interest rates can't fall a whole lot more.

The difficulty that the younger generation has with buying housing is down to economics, not some moral failing on their behalf. If you spend a bit of time Googling, you can find quotes going back at least as far as Socrates (470 to 400 BCE) saying much the same as some of the posters have in this thread.

 

Oh, yeah.........it's So-Crates From more recent archives. Didn't go back to 470 to 400 BC

 

All we are is dust in the wind, dude.

 

SO, ignoring all other factors, median house price 1980's $180K x doubling of wages x 6 fold decrease in interest = 2.16M so prices are now 45% less !?

 

Poor research skills

 

Discovering Robert Kiyosaki was a real lightbulb moment for me ... perhaps he needs to be "rediscovered" by the Millennial gen ... all those who say "can't be done", go and get yourself a copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad and read it - several times

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=229285355052448

 

Haha, I drove my kids crazy!

No, you don't NEED that, you WANT that. I will supply everything you need, but you will have to work for the things that you want. Except birthdays & Christmas when I'd buy some of the things they wanted, they were expected to earn their own money & learn the value of it.

 

When people talk about millennials having a consumerist lifestyle, I like to think of Marie Kondo, a millennial that inspired so many people (young and old) to get rid of so much crap they bought and instead find happiness through minimalism.

 

Some of us oldies have always been minimalist ... ... never could stand clutter.

If you don't love it, use it or has historical significance ... then don't need it

 

Right next to the jousting sticks LOL

 

A millennial!? I thought Kondo was 50yo or more

 

She is Japanese woman, it is kinda insult to even say she is 50.
No she isn't - she is the same age as my brother - Born 1984.
Definitely a millennial.