Something Is Leaving Me With a Nasty Taste

WARNING: Venting Session in Progress!

I am so sick and fed up with the media in this lovely country of ours, especially when I see headlines like "Baby Boomers Spending the Kids Inheritance". What gives anyone the right to feel so entitled to what most "baby boomers" worked their butts off for?

When my hubby and I first bought our house of a moderate size (not 40 squares with a media room) in 1979, we couldn't even afford to put carpet on the floors or curtains up at the windows . . . we had bare boards (not polished) and sheets to cover our windows. Like many of our peers, our furniture was either cheap or secondhand, but we kept our spending within our means.

Continued hikes in the Reserve Bank rate pushed 30-year mortgage rates to record highs throughout the 80's & 90's. To put this into perspective, the monthly payment for a $100,000 loan at the historical peak rate of 18.63% during this time was $1,558.58, compared to $421 at today's U Bank historical low rate of 2.99%. You might reason, land and houses are more expensive now, but wages are so much higher, and if people would consider buying a smaller home their mortgages wouldn't be to hard to meet . . . but these days there are those who have to have it all as soon as they move in!

The "baby boomers" also went through “the recession that Australia had to have”, when wages were low and jobs hard to find. Like many of our generation, both of us continued to work just to survive and so as not lose our house, my hubby worked three jobs.

Those parents have loved their children, fed them, clothed them and educated them, but obviously not well enough to make some of them and/or theirs, stand on their own two feet! To be honest, our generation has probably given them far too much already, we've spoilt them and our government has also had a hand in this.

When we were young and looking for work, we took any job we could find, we couldn't afford to be picky as we received no government assistance. A single person in Australia today who is “looking for paid work” is entitled to up to $555.70 a fortnight and could also qualify for $138 in rent assistance a fortnight. Australia is also one of few countries that does not charge a specific tax to employees or employers to fund unemployment benefits. In the UK, Canada, Germany and the US, employees pay to be “insured” against unemployment. In other words you have to have worked before you are entitled to anything.

Then when our parents passed we expected nothing and got nothing. Just knowing that they had the foresight to make sure they didn't leave any debts or funerals for us to pay for was enough of a blessing.

It took us 40 years to get to where we are, and now when the "baby boomers" could do with a hike in the interest rate to be able to live off their superannuation, it's at an all time low. So yes, reading those headlines did leave a nasty taste in my mouth . . . how dare anyone make claim to what we have worked so hard for all our lives!!! We earnt it, so we are going to spend it when and how we like! If that means some may choose to use their equity in the home they have paid for, good for them! After all it is theirs to do with as they please! "The good to come from this", you may well ask? Well if there's nothing left, the kids can't fight over it, can they?

Well now that I have got that off my chest, I'm going to have a cuppa and play with my dolls.

P.S. Please don't take this vent the wrong way.

-oOo-

I don't believe everything I read, but I do worry that others do.

I don't think for one minute that all people are likely to take their parents for granted, but some do.

Nor do I think all people are greedy or lazy, but some are.

As the journalist obviously believes that there is a generation which is entitled to receive an inheritance,
I wanted to point out they are not.

I simply get a bit fed up with those who continually take and give nothing back.

If parents wish to leave something to their children, they will do so.

If parents want to spend it on their children while they are still alive,
to see their kids happy and enjoying what they have been given, they will do so.

Whatever anyone thinks, it's up to the parents to choose what they do with their own money.

-oOo-

You may feel free to comment on this post and I will read them, but I will not post them or reply to them,
this is my vent and not an open discussion.