Why do Boomers get so defensive about mortgage interest rates???

[Hobbit]

"Walk a mile in my shoes..."

Watching my children transition from school, through uni to getting a job, establishing a career, getting on the housing ladder I prefer my struggles.

My struggles into a headwind on a bike, sometimes walking a few of those 12 miles were brutal but it was MY house I was arriving at. My youngest is a teacher, her partner a self employed tiler. They still rent...

And yes, I still believe I'm right in some of the aspects but only because I don't think the younger generation really appreciate what it's like to hop on a bike at the end of a physically demanding day knowing you'll do it again twice tomorrow... Equally, I'm glad I'm not starting out now.

It applies to every generation, "walk a mile in my shoes" before you look to diminish anyone's struggles.

 

[Hobbit]

16% interest rates lasted about a year I believe. Painful no question, but then house values rocketed subsequently. We moved up the housing ladder by riding that wave.

High housing and renting costs are here to stay, have been for many years. The barriers to entry are greater now than they were. Anyone thinking otherwise is not aware of how the market is.

And although payrises lagged behind the mortgage rises, I got 3 pay rises that year totaling 22%

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

…not all do…but in my experience many who do express such sentiments do so from a rather smug, self-satisfied and self-congratulatory place…add in ‘we’ve paid off our mortgage’ and those expressions can go off the scale.

They tend to forget or ignore how fortunate they were when they were in their 20s picking up from where their parents left them…more often than not in a relatively advantageous place compared with many others. Of course the importance of that to their future life and work successes is downplayed - what mattered most was their ‘hard work’…leading to where they are now being ‘deserved’.

And so they look at the travails of the current 20s and 30-somethings through misunderstanding and rather uncaring eyes.

Why might they seem ‘defensive’? Well maybe they actually know all of this and don’t like to admit it to themselves.

 

[Voyager EMH]

At your age that’s a lot of money over the years.
Should of saved it as a deposit on a house

Didn't last long. They all went bankrupt.

 

[clubchamp98]

Nobody’s mentioned the outside toilet!
Now that was a shock to the system when I was young.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

And although payrises lagged behind the mortgage rises, I got 3 pay rises that year totaling 22%

I recall doing well around that time.
I was not fully aware of how council salaries worked and was on the lowest level of my pay scale so had about four years of double pay rises until I reached the top.
I was then promoted to PO scale
I could not believe my luck

At the same time I recall at least 3 of my staff having to hand back their keys to the houses they had recently bought at the top of the sharp property rise.

 

[harpo_72]

I would say wages definitely haven’t kept up. I remember being in a wage discussion and the different inflation values being quoted with the organisation preferences being the lowest. Then the line “your lucky to have a job, we can get anyone in to replace you” followed by “we have a new person starting, they will be seconded to you and we want you to train them” ..
So I have very little sympathy for these “entrepreneurs “ saying wage rises are hurting business .. but none of this is new it’s been going on since year dot, greed is a human condition.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I would say wages definitely haven’t kept up. I remember being in a wage discussion and the different inflation values being quoted with the organisation preferences being the lowest. Then the line “your lucky to have a job, we can get anyone in to replace you” followed by “we have a new person starting, they will be seconded to you and we want you to train them” ..
So I have very little sympathy for these “entrepreneurs “ saying wage rises are hurting business .. but none of this is new it’s been going on since year dot, greed is a human condition.

Seems to me like half of the UK is on the minimum wage.

I know someone who was offered a promotion to supervisor with a big brand chain.
She was chuffed to bits until she became aware that her wage only increased by 50p an hour
No thanks was her reply

 

[pendodave]

Why might they seem ‘defensive’? Well maybe they actually know all of this and don’t like to admit it to themselves.

I'd like to think that most of us older citizens are self-aware enough to realise that we were (mostly) fortunate.
I have 3 children who have gone through uni/recruitment/renting and I wouldn't swap their situation for mine for anything.
Quite literally, my greatest achievement in life was being born in 1964. Most things that have happened to me are a consequence of that.

 

[Aztecs27]

Seems to me like half of the UK is on the minimum wage.

I know someone who was offered a promotion to supervisor with a big brand chain.
She was chuffed to bits until she became aware that her wage only increased by 50p an hour
No thanks was her reply

That's the main crux of the issue. It's all well and good increasing minimum wage every year - but most would barely be able to survive on minimum wage with cost of living these days.

People might have a fighting chance if food/petrol/utility prices weren't through the roof (relief from any one of those would help!) - but as such prices are soaring and wages are increasing at a much, MUCH lower rate....but of course, as the cost of everything increases, so it does for businesses too - so it's not like they can keep their prices down (i.e. hospitality venues), because otherwise they're going out of business. Just an awful and depressing time for most really! I'll most likely die of old age before I can pay off my mortgage at this rate

 

[Tashyboy]

Nobody’s mentioned the outside toilet!
Now that was a shock to the system when I was young.

Yup did that in Rochdale.

 

[Firestormgjc]

I got my first mortgage in 1982 on a flat for 13500. A 100% mortgage at 14 % based on 3.5 times my salary of 4000 pa.
Just after I got it , the rate went up to 15.5% , this was a 10 % increase interest payments

That flat today ,170k a 100 % mortgage would be 5x a salary of 34000 pa , an interest rate rise of 1.5% would be closer to a 30% increase in the interest payments.

Wage inflation and house price inflation meant I could move from a one bedroom flat to a 3 bed semi , 3 and a half years later.

Sure, today mortgages a ear to be easier to get, loads more providers , no “ must save with us for 2 years before you an apply”, but jeez , it’s sod sight harder to get on the housing ladder theses days.

I bought my my current place in 95 ,albeit at the bottom of a slump, with a 10% deposit whilst earning 30 k, if I wanted to repeat that purchase I would need to be earning close to 120k

I would not like to even think how , these days, anyone could get on the housing ladder before the age of 30 , without considerable financial assistance from somewhere, what with the massive student loans round the necks of many of that age.

 

[Aztecs27]

I got my first mortgage in 1982 on a flat for 13500. A 100% mortgage at 14 % based on 3.5 times my salary of 4000 pa.
Just after I got it , the rate went up to 15.5% , this was a 10 % increase interest payments

That flat today ,170k a 100 % mortgage would be 5x a salary of 34000 pa , an interest rate rise of 1.5% would be closer to a 30% increase in the interest payments.

Wage inflation and house price inflation meant I could move from a one bedroom flat to a 3 bed semi , 3 and a half years later.

Sure, today mortgages a ear to be easier to get, loads more providers , no “ must save with us for 2 years before you an apply”, but jeez , it’s sod sight harder to get on the housing ladder theses days.

I bought my my current place in 95 ,albeit at the bottom of a slump, with a 10% deposit whilst earning 30 k, if I wanted to repeat that purchase I would need to be earning close to 120k

I would not like to even think how , these days, anyone could get on the housing ladder before the age of 30 , without considerable financial assistance from somewhere, what with the massive student loans round the necks of many of that age.

Nailed it.

 

[Old Boy]

How much were utilities back in the day?

Proportional to then wages very similar but electricity demand was less as there were fewer appliances and devices.

Times have always been hard for the majority of people establishing homes and families and it is impossible to accurately compare due to changing standards and expectations.

My parents were born in the aftermath of one World War and were married whilst both serving in another.

As a child I endured years of rationing and as a young married man I experienced price inflation of over 20%.

No one wants future generations to suffer the financial hardships of their own and past generations.

It's not just we so called Boomers who can sometimes be unsympathetic but later generations who think that they are the first to be subject to hardship.

Times and standards of living change but so do expectations.

The constant factor is that life for most of us is never easy.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Yup did that in Rochdale.

We has an inside toilet but the bathroom was across the yard in the stables.
Winter's Friday night chilly dash to the house.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Didn't last long. They all went bankrupt.

Many did, Loadsamoney era.
Golf clubs lost many members, most were silent blessings.

 

[Neilds]

And GCSEs are much easier than when I did O Levels

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

And GCSEs are much easier than when I did O Levels

Soak for yourself I didn’t get either

Mind you that would’ve required turning up to lessons

 

[chrisd]

Most of us were working between 15 or 16 years old. Personally I was in full time employment at 15 years and 4 months, for the princely sum of £5 per week in 1967, not much chance of a mortgage !!

My first house, a brand new semi detached in mid Kent £9,750 in1975. Had I bought one a year earlier it would have been £6,500. Then we had a variable mortgage averaging about 11% over the years decided by the Bank of England /Government, and which I had to remortgage to buy assets to set up my own business when my employer went bust in the 1990 recession and, with millions out of work, I had little chance of finding a job..

 

[D-S]

Most of us were working between 15 or 16 years old. Personally I was in full time employment at 15 years and 4 months, for the princely sum of £5 per week in 1967, not much chance of a mortgage !!

My first house, a brand new semi detached in mid Kent £9,750 in1975. Had I bought one a year earlier it would have been £6,500. Then we had a variable mortgage averaging about 11% over the years decided by the Bank of England /Government, and which I had to remortgage to buy assets to set up my own business when my employer went bust in the 1990 recession and, with millions out of work, I had little chance of finding a job..

This is a huge factor that is often overlooked. At least 3 to 5 years of extra working/earning and no student debt or costs meant that most 25 year olds were in a very different position than those of today.