Boomers claiming financial life is easier today

[msommers]

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Getting real tired of the Boomer crowd telling me,
"We got by on one income and raised a family".
"You guys just always need the best and that's why you're in debt"
"You Father's income wasn't very much but we managed to buy our home"
"Interest rates were 20% and your mom could still stay at home and raise you kids"
"Both parents don't need to work today. You're just too greedy with material items is all and you need to choose, raise your kids or have newest phone."

I've looked at the CPI calcs and what salaries were back in 1980s and 90s vs today and I don't think I'm off base with saying, they could not do it the same as today. No a chance unless it was a basement suite rental in NE Calgary or Airdrie.

Discuss.
Show off the tables or stacked bar charts you know that show Canadians are in deep now compared to 80s & 90s.

Every metric I've read shows that life is a lot more expensive now than then, and a select few Boomers think that life is peachy and easy now, we're all lazy etc etc. However, many Boomers I've spoken with don't actually feel this way and are of the mind that, for example, all their kids need a hand with a down payment because they'll really not be able to enter the housing market. Talk to anyone in mortgages, gifts from parents incredibly common now.

I really do feel it's a select group of idiots who are making the most noise about this stuff.

[rage2]

I’ll try to speak for my boomer parents. Fresh immigrants in ‘82, both worked full time plus lots of OT, didn’t buy first home till ‘84 where we shared with another family. 2 families in a sub 1000sqft home in the hood. I was raised by TV, can’t afford shit so we’d have illegal descramblers from Chinatown, basically home alone since I was 8 years old. Vacations were day trips to west Edmonton mall, never got on a plane again till I was in my late 20s. Meals on vacation? One hamburger each kid, one fry shared. @kenny should remember those vacations haha. Wanted to play hockey, couldn’t afford it. Used skates was all we got, we’d steal wood from nearby construction sites to make our own goalie nets and shit. Summer baseball? Tennis balls and broken hockey sticks as bats lol.

I mean, a have a million other stories I could share growing up in the hood, that shit would not fly today. The bare minimum has been reset for todays kids, so OPs boomer isn’t wrong, but they’re also not right. Half the shit we went through, such as being home alone till 10pm with a 8 year old watching a 4 year old will get someone thrown in jail today.

One thing I learnt growing up like that, is not to start a family till I could afford it.

[ercchry]

The world has changed so much I’m not sure how you can even start comparing then and now… a few large things that come to mind:

-things use to be built in North America, they were built to last by people that were paid enough to provide for a family. This has since been replaced with Amazon/Walmart fulfilment centres staffed with min wage workers moving goods that break and need replacement as you cannot service them.

-the labour pool has also been globalized, along with this is more competition that drives lower wages along with a sense of your staff being replaceable. There is no longer loyalty to staff or business with it being the exception that someone is a lifelong employee vs the norm.

-access to information. It once was finely filtered and only available the next morning via the daily paper… now it’s instant. This has made the markets respond with knee jerk reactions within minutes/hours for what use to take days/weeks. This volatility has pushed large corporations to focus more than ever on the shareholders than their staff’s well-being, ties into the above as well, with globalization of markets, cheaper, faster, better, etc

[suntan]

Yeah those RCA TVs sure were better. Nostalgia effect in full force.

[ercchry]

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Yeah those RCA TVs sure were better. Nostalgia effect in full force.

Not better, but you bought it once and it lasted, cause “tv repairman” was a job

[Buster]

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The world has changed so much I’m not sure how you can even start comparing then and now… a few large things that come to mind:

-things use to be built in North America, they were built to last by people that were paid enough to provide for a family. This has since been replaced with Amazon/Walmart fulfilment centres staffed with min wage workers moving goods that break and need replacement as you cannot service them.

-the labour pool has also been globalized, along with this is more competition that drives lower wages along with a sense of your staff being replaceable. There is no longer loyalty to staff or business with it being the exception that someone is a lifelong employee vs the norm.

-access to information. It once was finely filtered and only available the next morning via the daily paper… now it’s instant. This has made the markets respond with knee jerk reactions within minutes/hours for what use to take days/weeks. This volatility has pushed large corporations to focus more than ever on the shareholders than their staff’s well-being, ties into the above as well, with globalization of markets, cheaper, faster, better, etc

you have it backwards. Efficient supply chains and cheap foreign labour have increased wealth, not decreased it.

[ercchry]

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you have it backwards. Efficient supply chains and cheap foreign labour have increased wealth, not decreased it.

It has shrunk the middle class, yes… but as long as Musk and Bezo can live on Mars we’ve all done our part!

Also, these are just changes… draw your own conclusions of which is better

[Buster]

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It has shrunk the middle class, yes… but as long as Musk and Bezo can live on Mars we’ve all done our part!

I don't see evidence of the "middle class shrinking" in any way that is relevant.

[ExtraSlow]

I'm sure someone can find the stats for this, but is the distribution of wealth in North America much more unequal than it was 40 years ago? Politicians talk about "the middle class" a lot, but I don't even know what that means anymore.

I swear I'm one of the poorest beyonders, but I'm much "richer" than my parents ever were. I have no idea if they were middle class, or if I am.

[Rocket1k78]

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I’ll try to speak for my boomer parents. Fresh immigrants in ‘82, both worked full time plus lots of OT, didn’t buy first home till ‘84 where we shared with another family. 2 families in a sub 1000sqft home in the hood. I was raised by TV, can’t afford shit so we’d have illegal descramblers from Chinatown, basically home alone since I was 8 years old. Vacations were day trips to west Edmonton mall, never got on a plane again till I was in my late 20s. Meals on vacation? One hamburger each kid, one fry shared. @kenny should remember those vacations haha. Wanted to play hockey, couldn’t afford it. Used skates was all we got, we’d steal wood from nearby construction sites to make our own goalie nets and shit. Summer baseball? Tennis balls and broken hockey sticks as bats lol.

I mean, a have a million other stories I could share growing up in the hood, that shit would not fly today. The bare minimum has been reset for todays kids, so OPs boomer isn’t wrong, but they’re also not right. Half the shit we went through, such as being home alone till 10pm with a 8 year old watching a 4 year old will get someone thrown in jail today.

One thing I learnt growing up like that, is not to start a family till I could afford it.

The hood as in SE or NE lol Ive got all the same experiences growing up in penbrooke and i was babysat by the tv too. I was taking the bus to marlborough mall in grade 6 with my friends to go to the lasers illusions.

[suntan]

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Not better, but you bought it once and it lasted, cause “tv repairman” was a job

I got my washer fixed last week. Cost was $150 for the part and $170 for the labour. Not bad. Guy was in and out in about an hour. I presume some of that was him fucking my wife, so not bad.

What was the inflation adjusted cost back then for getting, say, a TV tube replaced?

[Buster]

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I'm sure someone can find the stats for this, but is the distribution of wealth in North America much more unequal than it was 40 years ago? Politicians talk about "the middle class" a lot, but I don't even know what that means anymore.

I swear I'm one of the poorest beyonders, but I'm much "richer" than my parents ever were. I have no idea if they were middle class, or if I am.

People talk far too much about distribution of wealth. It's an unimportant factor unless it contributes to social unrest and the bastille gets stormed or gov't gets powerful enough that it getting captured by the elites is a danger.

[Xtrema]

Middle class is living upper class standards of the old.

If people are willing to raise their family in 1000 sqft dwelling again, it'll be more affordable, especially in Calgary.

But there seems to be some unattainable standards to keep up.

- - - Updated - - -

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I'm sure someone can find the stats for this, but is the distribution of wealth in North America much more unequal than it was 40 years ago? Politicians talk about "the middle class" a lot, but I don't even know what that means anymore.

I swear I'm one of the poorest beyonders, but I'm much "richer" than my parents ever were. I have no idea if they were middle class, or if I am.

There are stuff that's cheaper. Remember a gaming PC was like $4K in the 90s. It's same today. A 48" TV was for ballers in the 90s, now it's for guest bedrooms. For the longest time a Corolla (basic transportation) really didn't inflate much.

And 2000 sqft was a mansion in the 90s, now it's a just standard homes.

[suntan]

My goddamned Commodore 64 cost $300 in 80's dollars. My dad really loved me.

[ercchry]

Metrics based purely on income seems like a poor way to define “middle class”

But I guess the real question is, what is middle class?

It use to be the ability to save and acquire assets. But that seems to be something reserved only for those on the upper edge of the “middle class” earnings bracket.

Would a modern definition be closer to the ability to qualify and service debt obligations?

[Rocket1k78]

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all their kids need a hand with a down payment because they'll really not be able to enter the housing market. Talk to anyone in mortgages, gifts from parents incredibly common now.

This will be the new norm if its not already, i also think that eventually people will be paying mortgages well into their 60's if not longer.

[Buster]

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Metrics based purely on income seems like a poor way to define “middle class”

But I guess the real question is, what is middle class?

It use to be the ability to save and acquire assets. But that seems to be something reserved only for those on the upper edge of the “middle class” earnings bracket.

Would a modern definition be closer to the ability to qualify and service debt obligations?

It is a meaningless term. It's ultimately just a comparison and comparisons are just about jealousy.

People talk about the mythical group of the "middle class" as a way to score political points. Like when dummies use the term "trickle down economics" as if it wasn't just a campaign slogan.

[pheoxs]

I’m torn with this, I definitely recognize that I have a better quality life than when I was a kid. My dad worked while my mom stayed home then eventually had random part time jobs as we grew up. Things definitely cost a lot more nowadays but I think a lot of that (personally) also comes from having higher standards of living.

As a kid we:
- never ate out, that was a once a month kind of thing.
- once a month grocery runs, we lived a lot more off baking and frozen things
- never had a truck newer than 10 years old and ran them into the ground
- only vacations were camping trips in the summer
- never replaced things with new until they broke. 10+ year old tv. Old appliances, old couches, etc.
- if we needed something we often bought used from neighbours from word of mouth

I think if I went back to that standard then it’s probably a lot easier to raise a family on one income, but that’s not exactly how I want to live life anymore. Going out for food and drinks is great, socializing a lot more, going on trips, etc. I’d rather work and grind more to enjoy life than to just survive at home.

[bjstare]

Yup, just don't be poor.

[Tik-Tok]

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If people are willing to raise their family in 1000 sqft dwelling again, it'll be more affordable, especially in Calgary.

.

Mehhh. I'm in a 1000sq.ft bungalow, bought prior to the housing boom of the 2000's, and we sure as hell can't make it on one middle-class income. When the house is paid off, sure, but not now.

Edit: not unless I stop saving for retirement anyways, which is one advantage boomers had, most of their middle class had pensions.