How the cost of living has changed from late 70's

DXP55

DXP55

DXP55

Soldato
Joined
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Shropshire
Sorting out house insurance file I came across estate agents flyer for the house we bought just north of Wellington in Shropshire.

We sold our house in Brum for 16k and bought this dilapidated semi for 15k - The bloke who owned it was a building laborer so it had two colours -Bright green and bright pink emulsion (knicked).
It was in the sticks and we bought it at height of petrol crisis (around 1979) so we bought a commuter motorbike.

Anyway the reason we bought it was because the bills were cheap and I quote

rateable value £98.00 PA -Rates payable £66.54 PA -Water and enviromental charges £10.29 PA.

Mains water and electric are connected. Sewage to septic tank.
When we moved in it was on mains sewers.


Then Poll tax hit us -by then rates had gone up to around £250 pa and rocketed up to £750 - a year later they dumped poll tax and reduced our rates to £500 -so 100% rise for nothing.

We sold it 13 yrs ago and it didn't go for silly money and most of it was used to get this dump of a 1972 gerry built bungalow into livable condition.

My water rates are now £530pa
Council tax over £1k
 
At CPI, 2023 money is about 4.5x 1979 money so CoL has certainly outstripped that. I don't know what the right numbers to compare are in your example but is it £77 vs £1,530? If so then yikes!
 
DXP55 said:
Sorting out house insurance file I came across estate agents flyer for the house we bought just north of Wellington in Shropshire.

We sold our house in Brum for 16k and bought this dilapidated semi for 15k - The bloke who owned it was a building laborer so it had two colours -Bright green and bright pink emulsion (knicked).
It was in the sticks and we bought it at height of petrol crisis (around 1979) so we bought a commuter motorbike.

Anyway the reason we bought it was because the bills were cheap and I quote

rateable value £98.00 PA -Rates payable £66.54 PA -Water and enviromental charges £10.29 PA.

Mains water and electric are connected. Sewage to septic tank.
When we moved in it was on mains sewers.


Then Poll tax hit us -by then rates had gone up to around £250 pa and rocketed up to £750 - a year later they dumped poll tax and reduced our rates to £500 -so 100% rise for nothing.

We sold it 13 yrs ago and it didn't go for silly money and most of it was used to get this dump of a 1972 gerry built bungalow into livable condition.

My water rates are now £530pa
Council tax over £1k
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you take advantage of all the tax breaks when buy a home, that people these days do not get.
 
Job for life, whacking great final salary pension, house for five grand......

Free university, low council tax and energy bills, NHS actually worked, police actually cared.

The generation that had it the easiest in history to date, and the way things are going probably the last for a while.

Enjoy spending my pension contributions, you might as well, not like I'll end up with anything.
 
BUDFORCE said:
Job for life, whacking great final salary pension, house for five grand......

Free university, low council tax and energy bills, NHS actually worked, police actually cared.

The generation that had it the easiest in history to date, and the way things are going probably the last for a while.

Enjoy spending my pension contributions, you might as well, not like I'll end up with anything.
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On the other hand that generation had to settle for poor quality hash, so it kind of equals out in the long run.
 
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We have the original bill of sale for our house. 1500 in 1970 (will need to double check but was definitely 4 figures). That is under 20k in today's money according to bank of England calculator.

When my mother and father got divorced in 1996 she got a settlement of 20k whilst my father got custody. Bought a house outright straight away.

Retired at 60 and only worked 10 years of her life tops. Boomers gonna boom ;).
 
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BUDFORCE said:
Job for life, whacking great final salary pension, house for five grand......

Free university, low council tax and energy bills, NHS actually worked, police actually cared.

The generation that had it the easiest in history to date, and the way things are going probably the last for a while.

Enjoy spending my pension contributions, you might as well, not like I'll end up with anything.
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What Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale books have you and rest of this generation been reading.

The main boomer generation wasn't all the same - Very few of the country lived in London where pay was much higher than anywhere else in UK and they down there bought their council houses and sold them for big prices - That had a knock on for whole of UK and prices increased although pay stayed lower here.

We could never have had a council house as we didn't have kids so we rented furnished then unfurnished - we then saver for a deposit on a house and at one point interest rate hit 12%+ and my income didn't cover the mortgage so good job wife worked.
From there it's as my OP above.

So when I retired 23 yrs ago and collected my whacking great final salary pension I was ovewhelmed.
On retirement my salary was 2/3rds of the national average so being clever work that out then half it for my pension -Now see how much it is after 23 yrs of inflation and I can tell you the girl over the road that works at Tesco picks up more than me.
The wife and I like a lot of the people of our age who did buy their own houses were the same as me - Property owner but not rich by any means. We don't buy things we can't afford - we never took out debt but saved for it - Not quite like this gen who "WANT'S IT NOW.

The wifes parents bought their council house for around 50k and it sold for £120k when they died years later. - that was divided by two. (her sister)

I just wish you lot would look at the whole picture not the tasty bit's you pick out to support your flawed argument.

The NHS did indeed work but we the boomers didn't vote in smarmy face Bliar who opened up this country to the scum of the world - How can something work when another 4million are added to the list but not paying in - of course it is broke.

Your gen has so many funny groups who are managing to force the police to change the way they work.

Our life wasn't easy - we worked hard day in day out and made do - nothing wife and I had was handed to us on a plate -we worked for it. We couldn't even afford a washing washine when we got our first house -we had a wishy washy ringer machine given to us -Would you accept that today -I very much doubt you would.

Anyway do what we did and work hard -do overtime -save your money -don't go on expensive holidays -don't waste it on trivia -buy a left hand drive Citroen 2CV like we did - or a rusty DAF 44 or Fiat Panda. And main thing -Don't have kids unless you can afford them - I have spent my life paying family allowance for other peoples kid and now I am subsidising child care. Can't you all pay your own way and save me a bit of tax.
:rolleyes:

My car is a 13 yr old Focus.
 
You realise a lot of us haven't had anything handed to us on a plate either and we work hard as well?

At least you get to retire at a reasonable age and on a final salary pension which doesn't exist anymore. There's little hope for the average joe in the UK to do that.

We are property owners but we're not rich either. We cope, we can live, we can buy good quality foods and experiences for our kids, and we can go on holidays to see family. We don't drive a posh car, we don't have a tv subscription, we don't wear designer clothes nor do we own a console or anything like that. We live a modest but comfortable life nor are we frivolous with our spending. We have to save for most things rather than impulsive purchases.

I'm very lucky that I'm ploughing as much as I can into a private pension, but if I were as min wage person, on support just about able to put cheap food on the table, and also work 12+ hr days they won't be able to retire on a nice pension or maybe ever afford a home.

I don't blame the boomers at all for any of this, but I do think the dismissive behaviours of the boomers is not helpful.
 
Freefaller said:
I don't blame the boomers at all for any of this, but I do think the dismissive behaviours of the boomers is not helpful.
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Yeah I dont blame boomers at all, it's the life they got accustomed to.

But as a child I used to remember always hearing "you kids dont know how easy you have it" or similar, maybe that were true then.

Well, I look at the kids today and think "You guys are ******"

I guess this is a bit of payback growing up no and seeing actually, maybe us "kids" didn't have it so easy in the long run...

I feel sorry for the next generation though, they are going to have it worse still.
 
Been investing for our daughter since my wife showed me the positive pregnancy test.

Also toying with buying an investment property, which will one day become hers. Although, she's an only child so she'll end up getting our house anyway.

We have it good but it can feel like a slog at times. Can't imagine what it'll be like for her, should the current trajectory continue.
 
My parents paid less for their rural 3 bed semi in 1985 than I would put down as a minimal 10% deposit for it in 2023. I bought a house in 2006 and sold it in 2021 for pretty much what I originally paid. My parents house after 15 years was worth 5 times more, and is worth ~16 times more in 2023.

As a 37 year old looking to buy again, I'm well priced out of the area I grew up in (and love) and will possibly have a mortgage well into my 60s if I manage to outlive all the other men in my family. My parents had theirs paid off and could afford for one of them to be unemployed for over a decade, put money into renovation etc.

It feels like I'm always on the back foot financially. Despite now having a decent career and no debt, I do worry I'll be priced out of the lifestyle I want for my family. My parents worked hard and had their own money worries, they started with sod all (no carpets till I was 4), but opportunity to rectify it seemed easy and swift. My mum is comfortably retired at 55 with no mortgage and minimal bills but that's almost impossible for me who is earning more than she did at my age.
 
Dup said:
My parents paid less for their rural 3 bed semi in 1985 than I would put down as a minimal 10% deposit for it in 2023. I bought a house in 2006 and sold it in 2021 for pretty much what I originally paid. My parents house after 15 years was worth 5 times more, and is worth ~16 times more in 2023.

As a 37 year old looking to buy again, I'm well priced out of the area I grew up in (and love) and will possibly have a mortgage well into my 60s if I manage to outlive all the other men in my family. My parents had theirs paid off and could afford for one of them to be unemployed for over a decade, put money into renovation etc.

It feels like I'm always on the back foot financially. Despite now having a decent career and no debt, I do worry I'll be priced out of the lifestyle I want for my family. My parents worked hard and had their own money worries, they started with sod all (no carpets till I was 4), but opportunity to rectify it seemed easy and swift. My mum is comfortably retired at 55 with no mortgage and minimal bills but that's almost impossible for me who is earning more than she did at my age.
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You have to think globally with your skills.
 
Things were different, my mum was a careers officer my dad a college lecturer so we lived on a nice avenue (they still do), if they wanted a mortgage it was suit on and off to see the bank manager. Less well off would get a council house or on a short list for one.
The unemployed and on benefits would not be able to say they are too depressed to work and their 9 kids had adhd and milk the system like today
obviously some things have moved on for the better and but some values have been lost
 
You don't even need to go that far back. I bought my house in 2013. In 10 years the purchase price has doubled and interest rates for the same deposit percentage have gone from 3.5% to 5%. I have a record of my committed expenses every year too that I could dig out later. I remember looking at the housing marked just 1 year later thinking if I didn't get this place, I'd have been locked out of owning a house.
 
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