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

sigma said:
Well, this is a cheery thread :o
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Everyone needs someone to blame... an almost 60 year old, just-a-boomer writes.

I grew up in a house that I was allergic too (chronic asthma from dry rot) and which hospitalised me during my A levels. School was... hard. No counsellors or a queue of sympathetic teachers to turn to. We lived under the threat of the Cold War going Hot, the IRA bombing the UK mainland, and the three day week and power cuts. And we had to watch Jim'll Fix It!

We did, however, have TISWAS! #SallyJamesInLeather and Pink Floyd and Hendrix and Joni Mitchell and... you get the idea.

I graduated into a recession in '84, ended up grinding out a living with Asda, whose pension scheme was such a joke I saved into an ISA instead (haha, loser!) and my Mum's dementia cost me 8 years' wages and my chance of a comfortable retirement. But I had no family of my own to look after, so it was the right thing to do. So I did it.

I'm now living off my inflation-wrecked "pension" savings while I gird up my loins to get back into the slog of minimum wage employment. At least buying a flat (because my landlord was such a greedy git trying to convert the house while I worked nights!) in '95 was a sound choice... even though I had to change banks and have two gruelling interviews with the manager to get a £35k mortgage which my wage didn't quite justify, despite my track record and 5k deposit.

But the rise from Pong to Fallout4 was a fun ride. Not convinced by this internet lark though... it seems like a great way to convince the human race to destroy itself with pointless infighting to me. And to help you decide between a 486sx25 or a Cyrix. Swings & roundabouts, I guess.

I only ask one favour of everyone reading this... learn to be scared of dementia, not Tories. They're just people like us, nobody's trying to ruin anything, it's just there are no obvious ways to do The Right Thing... living longer shows you that, despite all the partisan political dogma. Dementia is what's ruining the NHS, not austerity's fallout and the ongoing effects of the crash that should've happened in 2008/9. It's a huge burden on families and councils, a looming disaster in an ageing population. If you're lucky you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. But those who know, know. Sadly. And it's coming for all of us, one way or another.

Have a wonderful day. For all the mess the world's in, it's a great time to be alive. Oblivion lasts a long time, so try to enjoy it when you can, ok?
 
I've long wondered who will buy all these boomer mansions?

My parents house (and most of the village) have these huge houses with huge gardens. My parents is valued at 1mln-1.2mln.

None of us kids would even want it. Its cost of upkeep (both in time and actual bills) would be ridiculous.

There must be so many houses like this. I can't see thier value holding up, as surely, as time goes by, more people will have less. (less wealth per head).


What's the fate of this excess of huge estates?
 
413x said:
I've long wondered who will buy all these boomer mansions?

My parents house (and most of the village) have these huge houses with huge gardens. My parents is valued at 1mln-1.2mln.

None of us kids would even want it. Its cost of upkeep (both in time and actual bills) would be ridiculous.

There must be so many houses like this. I can't see thier value holding up, as surely, as time goes by, more people will have less. (less wealth per head).


What's the fate of this excess of huge estates?
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Not everyone is like you, in most people I know would love a big house in the country, big garden etc. Problem is they tend to be nowhere near the good jobs unless you have many millions to spend.
 
413x said:
I've long wondered who will buy all these boomer mansions?

My parents house (and most of the village) have these huge houses with huge gardens. My parents is valued at 1mln-1.2mln.

None of us kids would even want it. Its cost of upkeep (both in time and actual bills) would be ridiculous.

There must be so many houses like this. I can't see thier value holding up, as surely, as time goes by, more people will have less. (less wealth per head).


What's the fate of this excess of huge estates?
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Snapped up by developers, split into several properties and sold for a profit.
 
200sols said:
Not everyone is like you, in most people I know would love a big house in the country, big garden etc. Problem is they tend to be nowhere near the good jobs unless you have many millions to spend.
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Oh believe me I've lived that life.
Its the cost, cleaning, the heating, the council tax.

Spending hours every weekend doing house work, mowing the lawn. It's nearly another full time job.

If rather live in a little house with a wild garden and nearby access to a lot of nice things to do. It's easy to underestimate the amount of work that goes into a big house with a big kept garden.
 
413x said:
I've long wondered who will buy all these boomer mansions?

My parents house (and most of the village) have these huge houses with huge gardens. My parents is valued at 1mln-1.2mln.

None of us kids would even want it. Its cost of upkeep (both in time and actual bills) would be ridiculous.

There must be so many houses like this. I can't see thier value holding up, as surely, as time goes by, more people will have less. (less wealth per head).


What's the fate of this excess of huge estates?
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There's a very expensive road into Stratford on Avon, basically every house is huge. They are snapped up the minute they go on sale, so lots of people still have a lot of money.
 
413x said:
If rather live in a little house with a wild garden and nearby access to a lot of nice things to do. It's easy to underestimate the amount of work that goes into a big house with a big kept garden.
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Yeah, but that is you and for everyone like you who wishes for that life there is another person who wished for the big garden, these houses get snapped up all the time. Unless its listed then modernising to make the house more efficient is perfectly possible as well.
 
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Freefaller said:
Just domicile yourself in another country and you can avoid it,
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It's a complex area (and not in my field) but I don't think that's right. If the deceased (parents) are UK domiciled then their estate is still liable for IHT. Even if the inheritor is a non-dom, then IHT is still due on UK assets, like property and bank accounts.

Freefaller said:
or get your folks to gift the house to you, they need to survive 7 years and then there's no tax to pay I believe...
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For property this is a lot more complicated than it sounds, and quite risky for the parents. Basically unless you charge them market rate rent then they are deemed to still be the owners.
 
200sols said:
Yeah, but that is you and for everyone like you who wishes for that life there is another person who wished for the big garden, these houses get snapped up all the time. Unless its listed then modernising to make the house more efficient is perfectly possible as well.
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Its not so much now as in 20 years.
In my opinion there is a growing wealth divide over time emerging with a small proportion of very wealthy and more people in the "OK" and a growing number in the "struggling" section.


If I were guessing, I'd think there going to be more people who need to be close to work for longer in their lives. And fewer people like my parents who were never high flying but who have been able to retire at a decent age and live in this funded huge house without difficulty, not needing to be close to town.

Most of the village are like them. Older & retired early.


In my opinion I think this is going to be the big demographic change. Fewer early retirees.
Its a big chunk of people right now, hence the drive to get people back to work.


With it looking like all taxes will go up over time, it will be harder for kids to inherit these big houses unless you are lucky enough to inherit enough you don't have to work.

I get it that many people would love a big house in country. But I still think the number of people this is viable for will dwindle over next few decades.
 
413x said:
Oh believe me I've lived that life.
Its the cost, cleaning, the heating, the council tax.

Spending hours every weekend doing house work, mowing the lawn. It's nearly another full time job.

If rather live in a little house with a wild garden and nearby access to a lot of nice things to do. It's easy to underestimate the amount of work that goes into a big house with a big kept garden.
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I'm the same as you. If I inherit the house my folks are currently in I wouldn't want it. Expensive running costs and the garden...omg. Its about 3/4 acre and my mum has spent the last 30 years developing it. I mean, it's absolutely stunning and could easily be classed as a show garden (people pay to see gardens not as good as this!) But the maintenance, they live it and are out there all day every day in the summer, that's not for me.

In one way its a huge asset to the house, in another I wonder how many people would be put off by it as well!
 
Freakbro said:
I'm the same as you. If I inherit the house my folks are currently in I wouldn't want it. Expensive running costs and the garden...omg. Its about 3/4 acre and my mum has spent the last 30 years developing it. I mean, it's absolutely stunning and could easily be classed as a show garden (people pay to see gardens not as good as this!) But the maintenance, they live it and are out there all day every day in the summer, that's not for me.

In one way its a huge asset to the house, in another I wonder how many people would be put off by it as well!
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Yeah same here.
My parents is 3/4 acre. And with inherited field at back (from grandparents) it puts it at 1.5 acres. It's not immaculate. And has a protected (tpo) ash/oak mixed wood at the front covering 1/3 acre.

But the upkeep is just a life long burden. If you have a 9/5 job you need another 9/5 job for at least 2 days just to keep on top of the cleaning/garden.

So you can kiss goodbye to your weekends unless you love that working in the garden thing.

Its not for me, or any of my siblings. None of us would want it, even if we could afford it. One of those things that looks great.. But don't underestimate the time commitment!
 
Freakbro said:
It's a complex area (and not in my field) but I don't think that's right. If the deceased (parents) are UK domiciled then their estate is still liable for IHT. Even if the inheritor is a non-dom, then IHT is still due on UK assets, like property and bank accounts.



For property this is a lot more complicated than it sounds, and quite risky for the parents. Basically unless you charge them market rate rent then they are deemed to still be the owners.
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Ah fair enough - anyway my parents are no longer domiciled in the UK, and all our family assets are no longer linked to the UK - they did that so we wouldn't get stung - it's all been checked and it's all above board etc... Perhaps my "statement" was overly simplified, but thank you for flagging it :)
 
Freefaller said:
Ah fair enough - anyway my parents are no longer domiciled in the UK, and all our family assets are no longer linked to the UK - they did that so we wouldn't get stung - it's all been checked and it's all above board etc... Perhaps my "statement" was overly simplified, but thank you for flagging it :)
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You are living in the UK, so you could be double taxed.or end up paying the highest tax of each country. Let's say country A has 30% tax. And uk has 40% tax you will still need to pay the UK 10% tax.
 
I was actually at my parents at weekend. And as they are old rich and unhappy inheritance was brought up.
I've never expected/counted on inheritance. Never even really looked up ins and outs. But my step dad brought it up and said you get inheritance tax and then your inheritance gets taxed again as earnings. I thought this was wrong. But I dunno.

As he's so stubborn I didn't push the matter.
 
413x said:
I've never expected/counted on inheritance. Never even really looked up ins and outs. But my step dad brought it up and said you get inheritance tax and then your inheritance gets taxed again as earnings. I thought this was wrong. But I dunno.
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Inheritance on estates over 325k is taxed at 40%
Capital gains is paid if an estate is sold and you gain from it at 28%
 
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CoL has gone up but then so have living standards, in general. I think this is sometimes overlooked, I mean if you took people today and plunked them back 50 years in the past they'd probably be shocked by stuff like:
  • Lack of variety in foodstuffs
  • Road safety (around 4-5x more road fatalities per year despite there being fewer cars on the road)
  • Very basic car features, might get wind up windows in the back if you were lucky
  • No internet, mobiles phones etc. I honestly think people take the internet for granted now in terms of just how easy it makes researching things, even people who grew up without it
  • 3 TV channels on a 14" TV, might be a colour TV if you were a bit flash
  • Less medical advances (sure, it would be a lot easier to see a GP, but outcomes from identified illnesses might have been worse)
  • Less travel options
  • If you stay in your house you are exposed to asbestos, if you go to work / the pub you are exposed to second hand smoke
That's just random stuff off the top of my head, I wasn't alive in the 70s so I'm sure there were a lot more things people had to put up with.
 
413x said:
I was actually at my parents at weekend. And as they are old rich and unhappy inheritance was brought up.
I've never expected/counted on inheritance. Never even really looked up ins and outs. But my step dad brought it up and said you get inheritance tax and then your inheritance gets taxed again as earnings. I thought this was wrong. But I dunno.

As he's so stubborn I didn't push the matter.
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Its not taxed as earnings but if you inherit a pension e.g a SIPP it will be taxed at your rate when you access it if they die after 75, if they die before 75 its tax free. Bit of a loophole that needs closing really.
 
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