Are today’s young the worst off in history?

I think young people had a harder time in the middle ages. You could die of plague or have nothing to eat because it p****d down constantly.

I certainly think today’s young people have to struggle more to get on the first rung of the housing ladder depending on which part of the country you are considering. Here in Norfolk there are small flats and houses in the £60-80K bracket but – the inevitable downside – there might not be suitable work avaialable. Generally it seems that people are still only waiting until they are sixteen before starting a family, however, and the first car seems to arrive before their GCSE’s in many cases. When I left school at 18 in 1965 there was nothing like the availability of college and university places so we went straight out to work building up our financial and career resources. Before I was 21 I was able to buy a three-year old flat in Enfield Town for under £9,000; a three-year old flat in the same area today would cost around 14 times more. I was earning around £750 pa whereas today a 20-year old might be on £300 a week [£15,000 pa] – a twentyfold multiple. So it looks as though incomes have shot ahead of property prices. But in those days we didn’t have to pay for broadband connexions and ISP charges, mobile phone tariffs, and high fuel and energy bills; rates and taxes were manageable, insurance was cheap, and the cost of living was not such a problem – but the interest rate soon rose to 12-15 per cent [but on a much lower mortgage of course]. Overall, and taking everything into account, I thinks things are neither better nor worse but the young people of today are handicapped by the demands of the modern life-style and the extra time spent in education for little apparent financial benefit in the short term. A degree no longer puts young people in the higher pay bracket from the outset because employers are clogged up with over-50’s with paid-off mortgages, children off their hands, and three foreign holidays a year. Quit now, I say, and give the young graduates a chance.

I was having this conversation with my parents-in-law at the weekend. Having had considerable help to ‘get on the ladder’ six years ago, I know how tough it is – and it’s got a whole lot tougher in those six years.

But the in-laws argued that young people today have higher expectations – i.e. grand 20K weddings and everything brand new for their babies. Not so for me, but they’ve got a point – we all have more stuff that we see as essential to everyday life nowadays and often aren’t prepared to give that up.

But, on balance, I still think that the rising cost of everything, paired with fewer job opportunities and rising uni fees all make it a lot tougher to be young today.

I disagree that “we” are worse off (I include myself at 34)

My parents were quite poor when I was young and my Mum stayed at home to look after me and my 2 sisters. My Dad didn’t earn very much and now, even as a director of his own company, my Dad takes home less than most people would accept for a job in London.

For me, it’s the entitlement culture that has skewed this debate. In no other country is the ability to buy a house portrayed as a “right”. Have a roof over your head, yes, but really, why do people think it is a “right” to go into massive debt for 25 – 30 years?

The interest rate for my parents on their house was 15%.

In my opinion, people just need to learn how to manage money and budget rather than complaining how expensive things are. Maybe they need to logon to Which Money and take some advice from there?

For example, just think how much buying lunch costs you every day. Think how much you could save by making your own sandwiches at the weekend, freezing them, and taking one out each day to take to work? By the time it reaches lunchtime, it has thawed out and is ready to eat.

We just need to stop being lazy because it costs so much more.

eg. I will never buy anything again at Euston after I was charged £4.50 for a sausage roll and a bottle of This Water

House prices have always been too high for the young to get onto the housing ladder easily. I’m not sure about the 80s but in the 60s you usually had to find 15-20% of the price before a building society would lend you the rest and then only up to 2.5 times your salary. Repayments were high because the interest rates started at around 6% (compare that with today’s) and, in the 70s rose to 15% at one point. And mortgage famine is nothing new.

The reason for costly tuition fees is that so many young people now expect to go to University and 40% or so actually do so ~ compared with about 10% in the 60s. The money has to come from somewhere and they are the beneficiaries of study. Although it may well be that for many who enroll uni isn’t the best choice. I must admit that the fees would put me off ~ I decided that I couldn’t afford it when tuition was free and grants were available.

The real frightener is the prospect of unemployment or badly paid jobs. This seems comparatively recent ~ I cannot remember a time when work was so hard to find (for young or older). However, if my father was alive, he would be able to. It is very discouraging to leave school with high ambitions and find that there is no work and that job applications are not even acknowledged. But, in the 30s, my grandfather was unable to find work for more than 20 years. So this ain’t new, either.