Funny stuff this comparing generations. My mother was a scientist and paid around $365 a year when she was working round about 1947. Dad was also a scientist but being a male paid slightly more. They got married so she had to stop working. They bought a house for what seems like peanuts but with government help. They didn’t have a tv because one didn’t exist at the start of their married life and they got a car later. They used a hand wringer washing machine and the sun to dry clothes because there were no driers
I started working in 1974 and was paid $3750 as a graduate. I bought a house with my partner in 1977 for around $28000. I can’t remeber my salary then but around $7000 I think. (It was a time when the goal was to hit $10000 a year). We paid some miserly sum for a car in today’s terms but it cost us a lot at the time. I bought almost every type of personal computer as they came on to the market and they were comparatively expensive then. But half the other things we have now simply didn’t exist. I happily indulged in experiencing new products as they came on to the market. Automatic washing machines, driers, upgraded computers, fancy cookers and do on. Because I could. And because technology was interesting. Travel too gave me some of the most wonderful memories and still does.
whether people save or spend is more personal than it is generational. And in any case it is actually my generation that has driven much of the consumerism. The technology, the housing the “stuff”. We grew up in an era that was actually relatively affluent. We experimented and technological advances and a prolonged period without war led to a lot more opportunities to create goods for a consumer market. we were the first generation to have control over fertility. Fewer kids meant more money to spend on other things.
The other way our generation influence spending is the way we seek growth in our investments. Once upon a time people didn’t expect companies to grow at significant rates year on year. That’s changed. How do they grow - well in part they need more people to buy more stuff - the total size of the market needs to grow or another business suffers and thus investors suffer.
In truth life changes for each generation. Their conditions change. The social expectations change. These changes are actually the result of the actions of the previous generation. So to find fault with one over another makes no sense. We are in this together.
However I actually agree with digglet. It’s all a bit .... and each generation that has gone before has helped to create those conditions.
And now a bunch of mean minded and crabby old people pick on them. That’s completely weird. For goodness sake they are our children and grandchildren.
