I agree about the Higher Education costs etc My son is at Lancaster University doing Maths Physics and Chemistry - luckily he went last year before they put the fees up. However, I end up paying a good proportion of his maintenance money because he can't get the full loan. So I get shafted again.
Re: Well said Dave Eh me ? I didn't go to uni and my training was night school paid by my employer. As for house, you can pick up a house similar to what I had for about £75k. If you have saved a deposit of 5% that leaves a mortgage of £71,250 about £450 per month. If a couple earn say £30k pa between them then that's £2k net per month. I'm not saying it would be easy, but it is do- able. I'm not saying it is easy now but to put a 'rosy glow' on the past as if we did have it easy is a little unfair I feel. Edit ... I also have a son at 25 and a daughter at 23 so I can see both sides of this.
Re: Well said Dave Learn to use the internet you silly old gimmer My response was to Brush. That's why I posted it under Brush's post. durrrr.
Re: Well said Dave And another thing, us over 50s don't like being reminded that we are technologically inept !!! :redface:
Re: Well said Dave At the risk of sounding like the 4 yorkshiremen sketch I agree - if you went to Uni in the early 80's it was hardly a breeze and I dont agree with the pulling up the ladder analogy Yes the University fees were paid but because my parents both worked (Teachers not some high paid jobs) I only got the minimum grant so parents had to fund me through University not the state. My first house a 1 bed shoe box which was a mid terrace back to back house cost £33500 in 1985 in Surrey Interest rates were 14% and you had to have saved a 10% deposit - or tap up Mum and Dad again. I have worked almost all my life since except for a short while involuntarily out of work - as my wife was working at the time the state didnt have to help then - I have reasonably well paid jobs so have paid a lot of tax and National insurance over the years. Seen my Pension plans wrecked by Gordon Brown and have a private pension ( as the small company I have worked for for the last 10 years hasnt got any pension scheme - though this will have to change) oh and I can see the retirement age I am aiming at increasing all the time When I eventually get there if I am still fit and capable I will almost certainly do some sort of voluntary work - but for this to be a condition of a state pension for which by then I will have been paying for for over 50 years is just a piss take People retiring now will have similar stories and doubtless people retiring 10 years after me will be the same as well. The simple fact is if you pay into a state pension scheme for over 40 years its not unreasonable to get something back when you are old without being forced to carry out additional work. PS if the work is there shouldnt the younger ones who are out of work be doing it?
Re: Well said Dave My first house was an ordinary 3 bedroom semi detached in Stockport. It cost £250,000. My starting wage fourteen years ago, as a graduate of Cambridge University, was £16,000 per year. Even today my salary is significantly less than the c60% mortgage value that yours was when you first bought your house - and I pay 40% tax on a fair old chunk of that salary. I was one of the lucky ones in that didn't have to pay my tuition fees - but I did have to take out student loans every year. Nowadays someone in my position then would be about 40 grand in debt already, plus have the same housing to salary ratio, and that's if they are one of the lucky ones to get a job. At the risk of sounding like a ****, your generation don't know you're born. So forgive me if i don't shed a tear for your hardships.
And what percentage of the electorate was that exactly? less than a third for certain, and I dont think the lined their pockets approach is necesarily true in a lot of cases and as an aside the party most responsible for the pensions mess we are now in was in fact Labour under Brown's misguided pension grab poilicy. oh and anyone who labels all under 35's in the way you describe is completely bonkers - all generations have their fair share of lazy workshy layabouts - not a special privilidge for todays young, as well as a majority of decent hardworking people
Re: Well said Dave Clever the way that the ruling/monied classes have turned this in to a deserving poor/undeserving poor argument so that the working class turn on each other while Starbucks, Amazon and other multi-nationals pay negligible tax to HMRC on their profits earned in the UK. In the meantime small businesses with roots in the UK and who do pay their taxes struggle to compete in the same marketplace.
Re: Well said Dave ""part of me thinks f-ck them roughly up the gary and make them work for something for a change." I dont understand why when YOU get to pension age you would want to be made to work for your pension?? or won't you be part of them??
Re: Well said Dave Fluffin' hell mate £250k that's a lot of dosh... should have stayed in Barnsley, could have bought a village for that ! You do know that in 30 years time a younger version of you will be criticising your generation ?
Re: Well said Dave Oh to have a 'retirement age' thanks to the world banking fcuknuts. Started a pension for young'un, it's the only way she'll ever be able to retire, unless she becomes an MP.
Re: Well said Dave Doesn't help if viewing in the more modern linear mode - that's why there is a quote option.
Re: Well said Dave Bloody hell Grandad, you need to switch to threaded view so you can see who's replying to what No, it was to Brewery Stander, sorry. I know I've come across as a bit of a tw-at in this post - that's partly because i am, mind - I don't think the previous generation had it easy, but they had it a sight easier than mine did. And you're correct - it's twice as difficult again for someone who is nineteen or twenty at the moment, I honestly don't know what the majority of this generation will do about finding work, a place to live etc. And I don't think a lot of people in this post, who got houses for one and a half times their annual salary, appreciate how hard it is and will be.