My first year boomer parents literally only live on social security and still have a mortgage. Most of my friends' parents, all boomers, live modestly. I guess this whole thread is mostly just children of wealthy parents pissed they can't buy a house in Bethesda or Chevy Chase like their parents. That is my perception as an outsider with no social desires. Fairfax is just fine for me. |
Umm, when the people in their nineties are requiring things like yardwork from people in their sixties, I don't think that the issue is that the people in their sixties are envious and coveting. The issue is that the old old, or extremely elderly don't seem to be able to comprehend that "the kids" are now in their sixties -- so now, they can't just zip on down to Florida from DC to help you with your new refrigerator. My sister is in her sixties, and her husband is ten years older than her, making him in his seventies, and our elderly parents can't seem to understand why he can't just move their furniture, etc. Our parents have literally been playing the 'respect their elders' card for over thirty years. When do we get to be the elders? |
Gen X can afford it. You're just bitter because we mind our business and don't take sides in your Gen Y vs Boomer pissing contest. |
Late boomer here. Not for us. They keep moving the goalposts so that we have to wait longer than our older counterparts for everything. Haven't qualified for a discount yet. We have to wait until 67 to retire, if it doesn't get moved again. We 60's born boomers should have been part of Gen X. |
I think you don't understand how this works yourself. cheap financing absolutely gives you leg up in being able to purchase a home even if the home is more expensive. It's how the whole thing started with the housing boom of subprime zero downpayment and zero interest loans, and subsequent predictable bust of 2008 when these loans repriced and ppl who could afford monthlies before had to default. Ppl think in terms of Monthly costs, not in terms of the overall costs or even DP costs, because DP is only 20% and in some cases 10%. If property is 50% more expensive that's 50% or 20% that you need to pay more to own it and then your monthlies are affordable due to low rates. We are younger GenX and bought our first property in early 2000s, and then again in mid 2000s at the height of the market, and then our suburban home in premium suburbs in 2012 when rates were 4-5%. Because interest rate environment was so buyer friendly we were able to invest in RE, not because we had paid cash for our home upgrades. We didn't have cash to pay. One of them was a rental, so it paid for itself. So could millenials, they were absolutely able to and many did take advantage of the low interest rate environment of the recent decade. If they didn't, then it's on them, nobody's fault. Progressive dem GenZ are more interested in commie and trans propaganda because they just don't want to work altogether or have kids due to Climate change and hormones/meds they take. Urban GenZ is a lost generation and also not super interested in suburban lifestyle or mcMansions. Next generation will be born to MAGA GenZ (pivoting in the opposite direction of nuclear family, "trad wives" , "manly men") and migrants kids. ![]() |
GenX boundaries are weird and don't reflect similar experiences. Those of us born into 70s especially 2nd half of 70s have similar problems to millenials. We started with low salaries high college costs and already expensive RE. And we won't retire probably ever if health costs keep skyrocketing and medicare options getting thinner and delayed into older age. Not to mention not all of us are confident we even will get Social Security we paid into our entire decades of professional lives. whatever appreciation we got in our assets we started buying with lower interest rates when prices shot up will be eaten up with inflation. Maybe the only delineation is between Boomers eligible for pensions and those not eligible. The fact that we switched as society from ensuring retirement for people working multiple decades to having people fend for themselves and invest (second job not many do well or even able to do) was a big turning point. Also entry of many more women into the workplace drove wages down not keeping up with inflation, employers definitely benefited. Costs of childcare and penalties for having kids (abysmal maternity policies and poor workplace support for mothers) had set a lot of families back making those who wanted to generate and keep their savings work mad hours and sacrifice their physical/mental health and family life. |
Generation against generation contest is moot, it's really a class issue more than anything else. There are broke Boomers and those who never accumulated any wealth at all, but we don't like to talk about them. There are also wealthy millenials and Gen Y who started businesses older people would never consider (content creation, convenience services, tech startups), and invested into assets older people weren't accustomed to deal with (Crypto, actively trading, etc). Not to mention how many cashed out in the RE market flipping and speculating with low debt costs. Those who got left behind in EVERY generation and feel insecure about whatever wealth they got or didn't get now are turning against each other. The only people who can complain are those born into bad circumstances and having to swim against the tide or first gen Immigrants who got nothing to start with but scramble for lowest wage jobs. Everyone else barring health issues had a change in every one of these generations. |
Meant to say "had a chance" , not had a change. Every generation had a chance to grow wealth and still does. It's not cost free and generational wealth also matters to skew the scales. |
Saving for retirement is a gift to your children. That you are working to make sure they don’t have to care for you |
$25,000 in 1990 is worth $58,471.88 today. Not exactly low. I started work in the mid-2000s for 25K and felt lucky, also graduating into a recession. Signing bonus?? If 20K gave you a 10-20% downpayment, that means the house was 100-200K. Hooray....median house prices in DC have tripled over that time. Also, what a damn windfall! Some of us would have had to take that $20K to pay off the student loans we had to take to go to second tier colleges. My parents didn't have money to send me for tires. Salaries have NO WHERE NEAR caught up, and 60% mortgage is still typica.. And many of us ALSO have worked 70-80 hours/week yet are raising our children to know how much we are easing their journey. Also: older families have continuously (except the run up and blip arounf the financial crisis) gotten richer and richer and younger families have NOT seen the same growth. Which means, a family headed by a 25-35 year old in 1989 (so you) had a median wealth of $27K versus a family headed by a 65-75 year old had a median wealth of 179K. Yet today -- a family headed by a 25-35 year old in 2019 had a median wealth of $24K versus a family headed by a 65-75 year old had a median wealth of 269K. That inequality is growing. Cite: https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2020/december/has-wealth-inequality-changed-over-time-key-statistics Graph: https://imgur.com/a/LJhMJZo
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You don't get to be the respected elders. This whole dynamic is a set up for family problems as you're seeing, and it no longer fits the modern shift away from 18 year olds going straight from their parents' nests to marriage. Set firm boundaries with your parents and don't do this to your own kids. My MIL quietly seethed while she played this game with her in-laws, then was so excited for her turn to dominate me. I wouldn't have it. Now she's bitter that she took crap for years and didn't get her turn to kick down. |
Does someone here have a good AI detector? Could you run this through that? |
Only AI could hit the nail on the head without bias like that. |
Agreed all the boomer hate is just jealousy. |
I agree! When do we get to be 'old'? DH and I are early 60s now. Still have MIL and my Father that require help and support (financial and emotional). |