The median Boomer has a housing cost of $612. That includes taxes and insurance.

[Anonymous]

Give it up whiny baby. Nobody cares.

[Anonymous]

I wish Jeff would put in a "lock because everyone is sick of boring boomer bashing threads" button.

OP - how about you stop spending so much money? I am in my mid-30s and started saving and investing pretty early on, I have always adhered to a budget, I look for a good deal, and I don't spend money on frivolous things like Starbucks everyday and $100 Athleta leggings. We also didn't expect to live in a new build mansion in North Arlington right off the bat. We're in what many would call a "starter home". It's small, we'll probably need to add on or buy a new place in 10 years, but that's okay, we're making do with what we can afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop your whining and get a therapist to help you deal with your very transparent issues with your parents.

NP. My parents aren’t Boomers but I legitimately don’t see how people don’t understand why Millrennials/Gen Z/Gen Alpha feel enraged that no matter how hard they work they will never have the ability to build wealth the way previous generations did.

Who do you think is going to inherit the houses and 401k balances of boomers?

Real answer: private equity and asset management firms that own housing vulture funds, nursing homes, hospital networks, and physician practices.

Yeah, people who discount this don't understand how it works. And the PP who mentioned that many Boomers amassed small fortunes with no or little skill is right, which is one reason Boomers are so susceptible to this-- many have no clue how to protect their money from being gobbled up by elder and end-of-life care.

Also, don't laugh, but scammers are a genuine concern. They are getting more aggressive and clever, there are more of them, and they know Boomers are sitting on piles of cash. I know of two Boomer men who recently got scammed out of thousands this way. It could have been a lot more.

And to be fair, what is the special skill that the younger generations have? They can make a mean pivot table and slide deck? Most people aren't sitting at the top in a leadership position, they are sitting somewhere in the middle bored and daydreaming.

Also some of the jobs boomers have had successfully - nurses, teachers, etc, we still need desperately today. Are you knocking those positions? Are you being condescending to people who work low wage jobs?

The irony is that you just proved our point: there are Boomers who have amassed small fortunes by having a career as a teacher, nurse, firefighter, low wages jobs, etc. They were able to buy property near job centers, had low cost for education (teacher or nurse), maybe a pension, decent 401K match.

Not at all possible today for similar jobs held by Millennials or Gen Z to amass significant assets as Boomers who held the same professions. This is the story!

My spouse and I are Millennials doing very well. Much better off than my own Boomer parents, and probably on par with spouse’s Boomer parents.

But - we moved from our hometown early, prioritized savings and paying off debt young, and have been willing to take career opportunities that have necessitated several moves since then.

I am so sick of the constant whining of my generation and those younger. It’s still very possible to have a nice life. You just have to work for it and BE PATIENT.

“Pick me Boomers, pick me!”

[Anonymous]

I'm a Boomer and I feel the inequity. I would feel quilt moving to a larger home in retirement, a more expensive home - larger than what we managed when there were 4 of us (<2,000 sf in the DMV). But we chose well 30 years ago. When we bought I considered handicapped access, one floor living. We can remain. But I still feel some unease. We have and will pay-it-forward to ease the house buying landscape for our adult children. The biggest impediment to moving, for us, is the housing stock in our current area and actually that of our children too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop your whining and get a therapist to help you deal with your very transparent issues with your parents.

NP. My parents aren’t Boomers but I legitimately don’t see how people don’t understand why Millrennials/Gen Z/Gen Alpha feel enraged that no matter how hard they work they will never have the ability to build wealth the way previous generations did.

Who do you think is going to inherit the houses and 401k balances of boomers?

Real answer: private equity and asset management firms that own housing vulture funds, nursing homes, hospital networks, and physician practices.

Yeah, people who discount this don't understand how it works. And the PP who mentioned that many Boomers amassed small fortunes with no or little skill is right, which is one reason Boomers are so susceptible to this-- many have no clue how to protect their money from being gobbled up by elder and end-of-life care.

Also, don't laugh, but scammers are a genuine concern. They are getting more aggressive and clever, there are more of them, and they know Boomers are sitting on piles of cash. I know of two Boomer men who recently got scammed out of thousands this way. It could have been a lot more.

And to be fair, what is the special skill that the younger generations have? They can make a mean pivot table and slide deck? Most people aren't sitting at the top in a leadership position, they are sitting somewhere in the middle bored and daydreaming.

Also some of the jobs boomers have had successfully - nurses, teachers, etc, we still need desperately today. Are you knocking those positions? Are you being condescending to people who work low wage jobs?

The irony is that you just proved our point: there are Boomers who have amassed small fortunes by having a career as a teacher, nurse, firefighter, low wages jobs, etc. They were able to buy property near job centers, had low cost for education (teacher or nurse), maybe a pension, decent 401K match.

Not at all possible today for similar jobs held by Millennials or Gen Z to amass significant assets as Boomers who held the same professions. This is the story!

My spouse and I are Millennials doing very well. Much better off than my own Boomer parents, and probably on par with spouse’s Boomer parents.

But - we moved from our hometown early, prioritized savings and paying off debt young, and have been willing to take career opportunities that have necessitated several moves since then.

I am so sick of the constant whining of my generation and those younger. It’s still very possible to have a nice life. You just have to work for it and BE PATIENT.

I agree with this approach and it's what we are doing. You know who complains the most about the fact that we don't live in a big house and drive multiple luxury cars and take expensive vacations every year? My Boomer dad. If I listened to him, I'd be bankrupt, because he is MUCH more focused on us displaying outward signs of success than actually making smart financial choices.

Millenials didn't invent entitlement, impatience, poor money skills, lack of financial literacy. If people actually think Millenials whine more than other generations (I don't, I think everyone is the same), then ask yourself who raised these people. The apple never falls far from the tree.

[Anonymous]

None of your facts are true. None. You have confused generations yet again. Boomers aren't all living in large houses, ours is around 1900 sq ft, we still have a small mortgage on it, lovely neighborhood, and in our late sixties, should 100% be still living in it. Where else should we go, and why?
This continued whining is so stupid and, frankly, reductive in trying to blame Boomers for a problem they do not own.
Buy a smaller house, maybe a TH or even a condo, don't remodel it, live within your means. We all did that. We didn't buy our present home until we were in our late 40s. You aren't kicking us out,sorry.




means, save money- we all did that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop your whining and get a therapist to help you deal with your very transparent issues with your parents.

NP. My parents aren’t Boomers but I legitimately don’t see how people don’t understand why Millrennials/Gen Z/Gen Alpha feel enraged that no matter how hard they work they will never have the ability to build wealth the way previous generations did.

The thing is, the only people complaining are people who choose to live in wealthy areas. I look at the people I grew up with that stayed in a smaller city and they have beautiful homes in beautiful areas, they're renovating something or other once a year, they're taking great vacations, they have nice cars. All of this because they chose to live somewhere where a small house doesn't cost $1 Million. No, they're not making DC money (instead of a $300K combined income, they have a $125K combined income), but their money buys them much more where they live.


*Queue PP saying "but then you have to live in XXX and I don't want to live there" <-- well then, you deal with the consequences es of your choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wow you people are nuts. Boomers actually bought real 3/2 simple starter homes and coped with 18% interest rates in the 1980s. Oh, actual gas SHORTAGES too.

We did have a break and college tuition compared to today, but most of us went to community colleges or state colleges. We didn't feel entitled to go to Yale.

We worked our way up, we worked long hours and paid our dues.

Young people today aren't interested in starting at the bottom.

This. Our first two homes were small townhouses before we could afford a single family house. Our first home interest rate was in the double digits. Boomers didn't graduate college and immediately go into large single family homes the way you fantasize. In our last neighborhood it was the younger gen z buying the largest, most expensive homes.

Work your way up in the housing market the way everyone else does. And while you're at it start seeing a therapist to work out your issues if you're the same person who keeps posting these boomer real estate rantings.

JHC. You still don’t get it. Half of Millennials won’t buy one home, let alone trade up multiple times. You can’t even recognize that the opportunities you were given no longer exist for young families.

This is exactly why we derisively say “OK, B00mer.”

I can’t believe you typed all that out without a hint of self reflection at your own fortunate circumstances

[Anonymous]

Young Gen X here. Do you know when we moved out of our shitty townhouse that we scrounged to buy in our early 30s? In our late 40s. Did we complain? Nope, we saved and waited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wow you people are nuts. Boomers actually bought real 3/2 simple starter homes and coped with 18% interest rates in the 1980s. Oh, actual gas SHORTAGES too.

We did have a break and college tuition compared to today, but most of us went to community colleges or state colleges. We didn't feel entitled to go to Yale.

We worked our way up, we worked long hours and paid our dues.

Young people today aren't interested in starting at the bottom.

This. Our first two homes were small townhouses before we could afford a single family house. Our first home interest rate was in the double digits. Boomers didn't graduate college and immediately go into large single family homes the way you fantasize. In our last neighborhood it was the younger gen z buying the largest, most expensive homes.

Work your way up in the housing market the way everyone else does. And while you're at it start seeing a therapist to work out your issues if you're the same person who keeps posting these boomer real estate rantings.

JHC. You still don’t get it. Half of Millennials won’t buy one home, let alone trade up multiple times. You can’t even recognize that the opportunities you were given no longer exist for young families.

This is exactly why we derisively say “OK, B00mer.”

I can’t believe you typed all that out without a hint of self reflection at your own fortunate circumstances

Hm. The past four houses that have sold in our neighborhood sold for around $1.2 Million to Millennials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wow you people are nuts. Boomers actually bought real 3/2 simple starter homes and coped with 18% interest rates in the 1980s. Oh, actual gas SHORTAGES too.

We did have a break and college tuition compared to today, but most of us went to community colleges or state colleges. We didn't feel entitled to go to Yale.

We worked our way up, we worked long hours and paid our dues.

Young people today aren't interested in starting at the bottom.

This. Our first two homes were small townhouses before we could afford a single family house. Our first home interest rate was in the double digits. Boomers didn't graduate college and immediately go into large single family homes the way you fantasize. In our last neighborhood it was the younger gen z buying the largest, most expensive homes.

Work your way up in the housing market the way everyone else does. And while you're at it start seeing a therapist to work out your issues if you're the same person who keeps posting these boomer real estate rantings.

JHC. You still don’t get it. Half of Millennials won’t buy one home, let alone trade up multiple times. You can’t even recognize that the opportunities you were given no longer exist for young families.

This is exactly why we derisively say “OK, B00mer.”

I can’t believe you typed all that out without a hint of self reflection at your own fortunate circumstances

You are wrong. There were no opportunities, we struggled too. 18% interest. Townhouses. Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Young Gen X here. Do you know when we moved out of our shitty townhouse that we scrounged to buy in our early 30s? In our late 40s. Did we complain? Nope, we saved and waited.

Yup! +1000

[Anonymous]

I just think millennials really don't understand how money works, but also they seem to have no concept of delayed gratification. Marriage, babies, etc., are only ok when they have the jobs, wealth and trappings of what middle aged people had in the 90s, so they think we all started this way. We didn't.

[Anonymous]

Baltimore has thousands of vacant homes the city is trying to give away but the entitled and lazy generations keep complaining about not being able to own a home in Bethesda or Arlington. You poor babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop your whining and get a therapist to help you deal with your very transparent issues with your parents.

NP. My parents aren’t Boomers but I legitimately don’t see how people don’t understand why Millrennials/Gen Z/Gen Alpha feel enraged that no matter how hard they work they will never have the ability to build wealth the way previous generations did.

Who do you think is going to inherit the houses and 401k balances of boomers?

Real answer: private equity and asset management firms that own housing vulture funds, nursing homes, hospital networks, and physician practices.

Yeah, people who discount this don't understand how it works. And the PP who mentioned that many Boomers amassed small fortunes with no or little skill is right, which is one reason Boomers are so susceptible to this-- many have no clue how to protect their money from being gobbled up by elder and end-of-life care.

Also, don't laugh, but scammers are a genuine concern. They are getting more aggressive and clever, there are more of them, and they know Boomers are sitting on piles of cash. I know of two Boomer men who recently got scammed out of thousands this way. It could have been a lot more.

And to be fair, what is the special skill that the younger generations have? They can make a mean pivot table and slide deck? Most people aren't sitting at the top in a leadership position, they are sitting somewhere in the middle bored and daydreaming.

Also some of the jobs boomers have had successfully - nurses, teachers, etc, we still need desperately today. Are you knocking those positions? Are you being condescending to people who work low wage jobs?

The irony is that you just proved our point: there are Boomers who have amassed small fortunes by having a career as a teacher, nurse, firefighter, low wages jobs, etc. They were able to buy property near job centers, had low cost for education (teacher or nurse), maybe a pension, decent 401K match.

Not at all possible today for similar jobs held by Millennials or Gen Z to amass significant assets as Boomers who held the same professions. This is the story!

My spouse and I are Millennials doing very well. Much better off than my own Boomer parents, and probably on par with spouse’s Boomer parents.

But - we moved from our hometown early, prioritized savings and paying off debt young, and have been willing to take career opportunities that have necessitated several moves since then.

I am so sick of the constant whining of my generation and those younger. It’s still very possible to have a nice life. You just have to work for it and BE PATIENT.

Finally a voice of reason.