Boomers claiming financial life is easier today

[Xtrema]

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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.

Bingo, lives were different in the 80s. When my folks told my neighbor that we eat out at least 2 times a week, their jaw dropped.

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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.

Yeah, those pensions were sweet. Especially from the likes of Shell Canada. We gen Xer had to DIY but finger cross, that's been ok so far.

[suntan]

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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?

This was not a thing during the late 70s, all of the 80s and early 90s. Inflation ate away at savings. This is part of the reason why so many boomers are in such dire financial situations and are hoping their homes will sell for current prices.

[Manhattan]

Boomers and millenials/Gen Z are both right.

1) Technology has helped the poor have relatively high standards of living. You don't need much money to have the newest iPhone, nice laptop and 70 inch TV. Lots of little affordable gadgets that make life easier whether you're rich or poor. That kind of technology used to be reserved for the wealthy. Food prices also haven't increased that much. Advances in tech leads to deflation

2) Interest rates have climbed down from 80s to historical lows today leading to insanely high housing prices. If you're okay with a 30+ year mortgage your payments probably aren't all that much higher (maybe lower) compared to 20 years ago.

[ThePenIsMightier]

The exponential increase in people's dads getting fucked has put a new pressure on Boomers and they are simply voicing their displeasure about their overall situation.

Economics, inflation and arguments about buying power are scapegoats for their actual issue: violent rape.

[Manhattan]

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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.

Every generation is dealing with its own trauma and improves/gets a little softer depending on your perspective. Kids raised by TV/themselves in the 80s/90s was an improvement on the generation before it, especially immigrants, who probably not only raised themselves but dealt with frequent beatings/spankings, food insecurity, and extreme poverty. Having a warm place to sleep, plenty of (processed) food, and color TV was a big improvement.

Old school Chinese families not taking vacation is so common. Some weird extreme work ethic that that can't seem to shake even when they have the means to do it now. Chris Rock called it growing up too poor for your own good

[Buster]

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Boomers and millenials/Gen Z are both right.

1) Technology has helped the poor have relatively high standards of living. You don't need much money to have the newest iPhone, nice laptop and 70 inch TV. Lots of little affordable gadgets that make life easier whether you're rich or poor. That kind of technology used to be reserved for the wealthy. Food prices also haven't increased that much. Advances in tech leads to deflation

2) Interest rates have climbed down from 80s to historical lows today leading to insanely high housing prices. If you're okay with a 30+ year mortgage your payments probably aren't all that much higher (maybe lower) compared to 20 years ago.

basically everything has gotten far cheaper on a labour-hour basis (ie a real basis). When things become cheaper, then consumer capital flows to other areas, causing those areas to increase in price over what they otherwise would be.

[ZenOps]

When I was a kid you had to save up for a month to get a 13" black and white TV with three channels.

[ThePenIsMightier]

For those that have said "dwelling sq-ft" I think you make excellent points. I'm saying this not because I feel it explains everything on one side of the debate, just moreso to emphasize the ludicrous expansion we've made in the perceived "need" of living space.

I think my original family arrived here and built a place smaller than a double garage to raise a family of 8 (before influenza started picking a couple off). And like someone else just said, 2,000 sq-ft was a "mansion" not that long ago.

[tirebob]

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

I think I actually agree with this. I think the main difference today is the level of Uber-Wealth has expanded, and because of the way that they are celebrities today and in the public face 24/7, what we are dealing with is a giant case of "trying to keep up with the Jones's" and jealousy is huge. Now everybody can see what they have, they are pissed off and want some of it back...lol

[haggis88]

My financial life was easy until i met my wife

[Buster]

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I think I actually agree with this. I think the main difference today is the level of Uber-Wealth has expanded, and because of the way that they are celebrities today and in the public face 24/7, what we are dealing with is a giant case of "trying to keep up with the Jones's" and jealousy is huge. Now everybody can see what they have, they are pissed off and want some of it back...lol

I think the idea of uber wealth itself is largely overstated to a great degree. The numbers in the bank or impressive, but much of what we consider "wealth" has become very normalized among the population.

Elon Musk still uses the same iphone as everyone else, for instance. The areas that the uber wealthy get big advantages keep getting pushed down the hierarchy of needs.

[tirebob]

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My financial life was easy until i met my wife

Not a new phenomenon...

[ExtraSlow]

Hah, you guys need to marry rich like a few of the esteemed members of this forum.
I didn't manage that but my wife is very cheap, so still a new positive contribution.

[haggis88]

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Hah, you guys need to marry rich like a few of the esteemed members of this forum.
I didn't manage that but my wife is very cheap, so still a new positive contribution.

Can she teach my wife?

[ExtraSlow]

Send your wife over for a few days and I guarantee she'll learn some things....

[CompletelyNumb]

Cost of living far outpaces average incomes. Everything else is just pandering or opinions. Fact is, life is more expensive and harder to get ahead for each new generation.

[Buster]

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Cost of living far outpaces average incomes. Everything else is just pandering or opinions. Fact is, life is more expensive and harder to get ahead for each new generation.

How do you calculate this?

[davidI]

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How do you calculate this?

I was going to make an attempt at the calculations but can't find any nominal data historical salaries/incomes. StatsCan always seems to adjust the data with CPI measures (without specifying the %'s) so the 1980 data I found was in 1995 dollars which makes it a little difficult to do analysis with.

A quick input on this CPI calculator shows a $20k basket of goods in 1980 would cost $62,338 now so average salaries/incomes should have at least tripled over the same period (though of course CPI could be sliced and diced to reflect any number of things).

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/re...on-calculator/

[Lex350]

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My financial life was easy until i met my wife

My financial life was easy till I divorced my wife!

[ThePenIsMightier]

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My financial life was easy till I divorced my wife!

That's another good point!
We must be better off because something like 70% of us can afford to lose half our shit and restart a decade late!