Boomerang Generation

[No1newts]

I know someone who worked at a charity shop for a while collecting and delivering furniture and some of the matresses bought by eastern Europeans (not beds just matresses) were to houses with matresses already in the front room and probably the rest of the house. It's easy to blame young adults and call them lazy but due to the free movement of people there is a surplus of labour not only making finding a job more difficult but keeping wages from rising. Not only that but you've got people treating housing like a commodity, buying up as many houses as they can and then renting them out at ever increasing rates due to a shortage they themselves are helping to perpetuate. Then on top of that you've got millions of economic migrants from Africa and the Middle East posing as refugees, they aren't in any danger in their native countries but thanks to Angela Merkel/EU policy and NGO people trafficking charities they simply come to western Europe for a better life and all of them need to be housed by councils and take priority.

Blaming young adults is just a distraction from all of those issues, it's like the way the homeless are all being portrayed as professional beggars after we've had a decade of austerity and explosion in food banks, there may be some who aren't really homeless but in the main it's just a cover to hide the fact there are an increasing amount of genuinely homeless. Why would the government ever admit to failing the British people if they can simply point to scapegoats? "it's not that we've resided over record homeless they're all just professional beggars!", "it's not that getting on the housing ladder is more difficult young people are just lazy!". Government enforcing EU policy has failed people and that's why you had Brexit but most remainers have had a cushy life and don't want anything to change. MP's who own 5 houses and rent 4 of them out don't want housing/rent prices to come down. They don't want to have to pay their secretaries/cleaners/gardeners 50% higher wages.

Nice work on shoe horning in brexit but you shoot yourself (and your stupid point) in the foot in the same paragraph claiming "remainers now have a cushy life and don't want anything to change" when the overwhelming demographic in favour of remaining is the young who don't have any of your perceived benefits and it is in the those who benefited (elder generations) who are pro leave.

Meet brexit where logic is illogical, sense makes no sense and lies and emotions are more important than truth and fact.

 

[Rroff]

I think this is far more complex than it appears at first.

Some things I've noticed/general ramble:

Increasingly a lot of people at the age of say 30, working a job that is generally the same kind of thing as their parents were doing at 30, are unable to afford anything like the kind of housing their parents could at 30 and while it is a bit subjective increasingly people can't afford a house commensurate with their otherwise position career wise - for the amount of saving and scraping that their parents or even their parents' parents generation would do they won't get anything like the same rewards. It is alright making comments like "Very few people have to live somewhere they can't afford. Lots of people choose to." but that is glossing over a big problem.

There does seem to be an increasing number of younger generations who are poorly suited to looking after themselves from both a mental perspective and level of preparation for dealing with the real world and I think the reasons are complex with TV/Movies (influence in terms of what younger people perceive as being normal) being partly to blame but only one part of the story.

Another aspect is I think an increasing number of people who can't be bothered to put anything more than a token effort into bringing their children up (which itself is complex) and then seem surprised when their offspring are poorly equipped for the real world. To be fair in some cases that is due to parents being caught up in a spiral of rising cost of living, etc. and having to put a lot of energy just into being able to afford to keep a roof over their heads and a meal on the table.

It doesn't help that more and more what would be full time positions paid at a little above minimum wage are now zero hours through to say 20 hour contracts paid at minimum wage and often not the greatest job security.

Having been involved in the hiring process at work for over a decade and seen the quality of people coming through I've noticed a marked decline with the younger ones - so many are just completely useless and often seem to think they can turn up to work socialise, joke around, do maybe an hours work in an 8 hour shift and still keep their job years ago that used to be just a small percentage of hires. I've noticed as well even in the intermediate generations people generally are becoming lazier and less inclined towards any kind of competence or conscientiousness when it comes to their work.

Can't say I have any sympathy though for those that don't contribute anything to their household while living with their parents, who treat it like living in a hotel, etc. but on the other hand it can be difficult even to cut into contributing in terms of helping out with chores, etc. sometimes it seems parents expect it to be a binary thing without making the opportunities for their children to organically grow into helping - I especially can't get my head around the mindset of passive aggressiveness whereby because their kid doesn't help out with X they make it harder for them to even voluntarily help out with X rather than trying a bit of encouragement and getting them involved at maybe a simpler level at first so they can find their way into where they can help out.

 

[Jono8]

There is no doubt that property prices compared to wages are ridiculous in London and the South East and it is difficult. However there is no doubt a vast swath of young adults that i think just like to be the victim and use this as an excuse as to why they haven't saved enough or been savvy enough (money wise) to get on the ladder.

It is completely possible, even on average to low wages.

However, based on the article, i wouldn't say 23 was too old to still not have your own property/live with parents though. The guy does sounds like a **** though.

 

[Em3bbs]

Indeed, London business seems to have the “benefit” of a mass exodus of young people once they hit about 30 once they realise how **** a place it is to actually live in, so they need to promote people in their early careers into more senior roles quicker.

That's not what happens in my experience. There is more competition in London, because so many people want to live and work there so it attracts global talent. I've seen what you mention happen in places outside of London (home counties/Thames Valley etc.) but definitely not in London itself.

 

[Jokester]

That's not what happens in my experience. There is more competition in London, because so many people want to live and work there so it attracts global talent. I've seen what you mention happen in places outside of London (home counties/Thames Valley etc.) but definitely not in London itself.

I'm just referring back to an article in a recent Economist that showed from ages 30+ there's a massive exodus of people out of London.

Edit:
It's probably a bit of both, initially people go there post university and then leave when they start to settle down, but once the kids have left home might move back to work in the late 40s/50s.

 

[h4rm0ny]

This is exactly it, they all think they have a right to live right in the centre of a major city in a really nice place. You can get a decent flat for £60k in Glasgow, 30 minute walk to the city centre. But no, they all want to live in the main drag where the same flat is £250k.

Yes, you could move to Glasgow or Hartlepool or something. But people don't necessarily set owning a house above their friends or seeing their family. And if you draw comparisons with how people used to set off in history (emigrating to America or whatever) or Eastern European workers coming over to the UK today, it's seldom one individual setting off on their own but usually a few friends together doing it. We don't have those sorts of friendships these days. At least I don't see them. It's asking a lot to say of someone unable to afford a home in the area they grew up "move to Glasgow on your own".

This article seems like it was made on purpose in a manner that was going to aggravate, how exactly can you make a judgement from one ****? ********.

They do seem to have picked an unusually awful child for their story. At least I hope he's unusually awful.

Nice work on shoe horning in brexit but you shoot yourself (and your stupid point) in the foot in the same paragraph claiming "remainers now have a cushy life and don't want anything to change" when the overwhelming demographic in favour of remaining is the young who don't have any of your perceived benefits and it is in the those who benefited (elder generations) who are pro leave.

Meet brexit where logic is illogical, sense makes no sense and lies and emotions are more important than truth and fact.

Areas below the median income voted Leave, areas above voted Remain. So LabRat is not without grounds for saying that Leave/Remain has a strong poor/affluent correlation.

 

[Rroff]

Yes, you could move to Glasgow or Hartlepool or something. But people don't necessarily set owning a house above their friends or seeing their family. And if you draw comparisons with how people used to set off in history (emigrating to America or whatever) or Eastern European workers coming over to the UK today, it's seldom one individual setting off on their own but usually a few friends together doing it. We don't have those sorts of friendships these days. At least I don't see them. It's asking a lot to say of someone unable to afford a home in the area they grew up "move to Glasgow on your own".

Yeah also moving any distance (even within the local area isn't cheap) is expensive - money people might not have. A lot of people aren't in a position just to move away from friends or family and/or have limitations in terms of where geographically the jobs are they are best suited or qualified for, etc. along with other real world factors. It is also much easier to do bigger and further moves if you are a pro-active/self starter and/or fairly confident person but not everyone is and you can't just make yourself more confident, etc.

 

[Randomface74]

There does seem to be an increasing number of younger generations who are poorly suited to looking after themselves from both a mental perspective and level of preparation for dealing with the real world and I think the reasons are complex with TV/Movies (influence in terms of what younger people perceive as being normal) being partly to blame but only one part of the story.

I think this is something you learn when you have to, historically when you get kicked out at 16 or 18, but now it's much later.

 

[Hades]

The parebts should tell him to pay more towards the running of the house. Molly coddling his behaviour won't help him long term. Charging more will help him realise the true cost of living and would teach him to be more careful.

If the parents can affird to cover the bills then still charge him more but aecretly put it i to another account to give it back to their son whem he moves out.

 

[Randomface74]

I especially can't get my head around the mindset of passive aggressiveness whereby because their kid doesn't help out with X they make it harder for them to even voluntarily help out with X rather than trying a bit of encouragement and getting them involved at maybe a simpler level at first so they can find their way into where they can help out.

Between the end of uni and starting my first job at the other end of the country I had about a 3 month period where I had nowhere to live. So I moved back home just for that gap.
From my perspective, it was just mum helping me out, and I worked temp jobs to try and get some money together for rent deposit etc so I was ready for my move.
Mum decided as I was at home and working she would then decide to charge me rent (a decision made after I'd already moved back). Her argument was it would make sure I didn't stay there forever.
My argument was I was trying to get money together precisely so my move accross the country would actually be successful. She didn't understand.
I made a point of making it difficult for her to get rent from me, with the hope that she'd just back down, but she didn't, every week we had the same argument.
Instead of helping me she actually made it as difficult for me to move out as she possibly could.

 

[Rroff]

I think this is something you learn when you have to, historically when you get kicked out at 16 or 18, but now it's much later.

While true I think with more recent generations there have been a lot of influences on them that older generations didn't have which have shaped their perceptions even less favourably towards adult life (obviously that is going to be more or less true on an individual basis). I mean it isn't a particularly new attitude but we seem to get an ever increasing percentage of younger people who start work thinking they can doss about basically act like the kind of normalcy of work they see in TV shows and still keep their job and it is genuinely a shock to many when they realise it doesn't work like that.

 

[Rroff]

The parebts should tell him to pay more towards the running of the house. Molly coddling his behaviour won't help him long term. Charging more will help him realise the true cost of living and would teach him to be more careful.

If the parents can affird to cover the bills then still charge him more but aecretly put it i to another account to give it back to their son whem he moves out.

Even just the simple things can be a good start - helping bring the shopping in from the car or whatever and getting them more involved with the day to day processes - a lot of parents seem to think a switch should suddenly flip at 16-18 and their children suddenly start helping with doing the shopping, etc. or making dinner of their own volition while their children even if interested might not know how to break into that.

 

[XeNoN89]

Left home at 24 as I wanted my freedom. Been renting ever since. I have no chance of being able to buy my own place in the near future but would never want to return to live with parents to afford to do so.

 

[BongoHunter]

The lad in that article is just an inconsiderate twunk imo

 

[malachi]

I know someone who worked at a charity shop for a while collecting and delivering furniture and some of the matresses bought by eastern Europeans (not beds just matresses) were to houses with matresses already in the front room and probably the rest of the house. It's easy to blame young adults and call them lazy but due to the free movement of people there is a surplus of labour not only making finding a job more difficult but keeping wages from rising. Not only that but you've got people treating housing like a commodity, buying up as many houses as they can and then renting them out at ever increasing rates due to a shortage they themselves are helping to perpetuate. Then on top of that you've got millions of economic migrants from Africa and the Middle East posing as refugees, they aren't in any danger in their native countries but thanks to Angela Merkel/EU policy and NGO people trafficking charities they simply come to western Europe for a better life and all of them need to be housed by councils and take priority.

Blaming young adults is just a distraction from all of those issues, it's like the way the homeless are all being portrayed as professional beggars after we've had a decade of austerity and explosion in food banks, there may be some who aren't really homeless but in the main it's just a cover to hide the fact there are an increasing amount of genuinely homeless. Why would the government ever admit to failing the British people if they can simply point to scapegoats? "it's not that we've resided over record homeless they're all just professional beggars!", "it's not that getting on the housing ladder is more difficult young people are just lazy!". Government enforcing EU policy has failed people and that's why you had Brexit but most remainers have had a cushy life and don't want anything to change. MP's who own 5 houses and rent 4 of them out don't want housing/rent prices to come down. They don't want to have to pay their secretaries/cleaners/gardeners 50% higher wages.

^^
And there you have it, a perfect example of what I said earlier. Blaming society instead of themselves.

That's the mindset of people who never will achieve anything greater in life (Not a personal attack on the poster)

 

[Rroff]

Government enforcing EU policy has failed people and that's why you had Brexit but most remainers have had a cushy life and don't want anything to change. MP's who own 5 houses and rent 4 of them out don't want housing/rent prices to come down. They don't want to have to pay their secretaries/cleaners/gardeners 50% higher wages.

Those are the people though that will feel Brexit the least in many cases being in a position to profit from it even! as a gross generalisation the ones that have voted for leave for the most part are the ones that are going to feel it the most keenly.

 

[Cleisthenes]

I moved back in with my folks after uni at 21. Bought a place with my sister in Birmingham (nowhere near where I live but she lived there, and with lots of help from family) at 22, she and her husband bought me out at 24 and I bought my own place and moved out in the same year. I once again had plenty of help from family.

I think I would have moved out and rented when I was about 22 otherwise, just impossible to get a deposit together when I could only borrow about 60% of what a basic place around here is worth. A 50k deposit would have taken me decades to get together if I were buying on my own.

 

[Malevolence]

I don't know how anyone could choose to live with their parents past say 21. I moved out at 18, but after many years out in the wilderness I've recently had to move back in with them in order to help my Mother care for my old man. Even though I don't have the same rules applied as when I was a teenager it's horrible. But it's got to be done.

 

[stockhausen]

A very depressing thread

People who have left home at 16 or 17 and are proud of the fact; likely inadequate education; just refer to their mum so presumably an absent, selfish, indifferent father - rinse and repeat - things can only get worse.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I was a student of the early 00s so not a million years ago. Lived in student digs and went back home during holidays. I properly left home at 24 and lived in a small bedsit and worked in a job that paid £6.50 to £7 an hour. So it wasn't a life of luxury but I managed to save a bit so that after 3 years of living in the bedsit, I had enough deposit for a small 1 bed semi at age 27. I still live there and the mortgage is now half paid off (12.5 into 25 years).

The story in the OP is about London, so that is the partly the problem. Move out of London if you can't afford it! For everyone else outside of London, stop buying the latest iPhone every year, and move into a cheaper rent. Yes it sucks living in a bedsit and having to share a kitchen like I did for 3 years, but it meant that I saved a few thousands in the process which became a deposit for my house.

Also, don't have 15 pairs of trainers. No really, 15 pairs, don't. I know a friend who have that amount, really expensive ones too like Fila Distruptor @ £80. Also, he doesn't hang onto most of his trainers for long because he doesn't like them, so he's always constantly buying new ones and selling his old ones at a loss, but he'll always have 15 pairs at any given time.