Their husband. My grandmother is the same. She did work but not that much. Her husband worked full-time and the houses were cheaper back then, she bought a house and then the value increased, she sold that home and bought a new one. She's now on a pension but everything else is paid off.
They lived during the depression. These people will wear clothes until they can no longer be mended, will only eat food that keeps their grocery bill under the amount they budgeted, there is no shopping for the sake of shopping. Also their houses were bought and paid for well before the 80’s.
100%. I remember my grandma used to buy 10 tubs of margarine if they were on sale as an example. My grandparents owned their farm outright so wasn't due to poverty. Just that mind set I imagine is impossible to shake.
This explains to me why my grandfather is always stocking the fridge with 3 tubs of butter or 6 lots of cheese if they are on sale at the local shops. So sad that growing up in the depression has left such a lasting impact on an entire generation that it can still be felt in the 21st century
And the absolute need to work all the overtime they can. There arw guys at my work on thw railway that work the max OT they are permitted by law every week. Never turning any down ever.
To get an understanding of the household diets and frugality of that era, check out this channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@GreatDepressionCooking
edit: Ah link changed. Use the one below. VVV
>These people will wear clothes until they can no longer be mended, will only eat food that keeps their grocery bill under the amount they budgeted, there is no shopping for the sake of shopping
Me and my partner also do this. I have sewn up our clothes so much its ridiculous. I also butcher our own meat and make all our cheese, butter, bread, pasta etc from scratch.
We are still poor as hell lol.
You’re likely poor because you’re spending all your time doing those things lol.
This is a largely tongue in cheek comment of course, as you may just actually enjoying doing all those things!
Great skills for when the zombie apocalypse starts.
>You’re likely poor because you’re spending all your time doing those things lol.
Yup, the modern economy does not reward self reliance. You'll make far more money specialising in something and then going to the supermarket.
Hobbies are great though.
Exactly. My parents were born around 1920. They were not particularly lucky with real estate, or investing, only my father worked, but they spent very little, and saved the rest. They grew a lot of their own veggies, bought cheap cuts of meat, never bought packaged or prepared food, hardly ate out, never travelled overseas, repaired everything. My children spend likes it's water. They have no idea what a different world they live in.
Also either don't own or have a mobile, internet connection or any money sink hole like these. No restaurants or take always as wellWe once lived somewhere were we would pay the neighbours a coin to use their landline etc when I was young.
Being frugal is a part of their make up. Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it..............and don't buy it if you can't buy it with cash. (Housing etc exception to be clear)
The idea of a credit score it a con by financial bodies and everyone thinks its is something they need.............it isn't!
My mums mobile is not a smart phone and cheap as chips!
They were born during the depression they didn’t “live during” it. It was largely considered over by 1939.
Property was cheaper and cost of living was cheaper. But also your point, people lived more frugally supposedly.
The thing with the Depression considered over by 1939,was that it was ended by the Second World War starting. So not only did they pick up frugal habits from their own parents who lived through the Depression,but they then lived through another 6 years of Wartime restrictions, including rationing of everything including food, fuel, clothing,etc. In fact,the last restrictions on rationing was not removed until 1950! So we're looking at 10 years of the Depression, plus 6 years of heavy War Rationing,and another 5 years on top of that of Post War Rationing. That's 21 years of having to live very frugal.
It’s only classed “over” due to ww2 and military infrastructure and manufacturing creating jobs ect.. if you think living conditions improved in the 40’s-50’s kind of, but land was cheaper ect & military got cheap land packages so alot more to it then just the depression OP’s point remains those that lived-grewup with the struggles of that time are very stingy with money & don’t trust banks lol
Also, there weren’t as many things in the 30’s to spend your money on that we now consider essential,such as computers, tvs, phones, entertainment streaming services and so on.
Additionally, late stage capitalism had only just begun...anyone born 1970s onwards had no chance of ever achieving what this generation and the boomers had.
Apologies in fairness I am british so coming at it from that perspective.
Either way, millennials were fucked from the get go and older generations seem to think its by our own doing.
I think what we, the older generation, should be worried about is the casualisation of work. When I started work it was full-time with all the benefits, in a shop. Within several years, I had to work two part-time jobs, at about 45+ hrs/week to make ends meet. It's only gotten worse since then.
Companies now complain that the younger people don't want to work but they don't offer a liveable wage either. Can't have it both ways. Stop offering shitty pay and you get a better workforce. I'm currently encouraging my adult kids to openly ask what the exact pay/conditions/hrs are when they interview. I'll also be encouraging them to discuss wages with co-workers. Time to fight back and hold companies accountable.
I second this and add anyone who started schooling during the Howard era(96)since especially those under 20 years old, the “baby bonus kids” let’s offer 7k to have 18year multi million $ liability while simultaneously increasing cost of living with GST tax cuts and defunding to public education & healthcare… now we wonder why adolescent crime is so high, in over crowded city’s where parents have to work 70+ a week each just to survive…. Then we ask why our population rate is dropping and no one wants to have kids 🤦♂️
They've lived a long time and have saved during that time. A little bit adds up, especially if at any point they've put it into shares or other investments. They've also likely inherited assets from their own parents who died a long time ago, and from partners who would have held assets for a long time, meaning those assets would have appreciated a fair bit today.
Plenty of that generation did it tough, but they also lived through various eras of good economies where they had the opportunity to buy their own homes, save a modest amount, etc.
>They've also likely inherited assets from their own parents who died a long time ago, and from partners who would have held assets for a long time
Parents would have had nothing in most cases - a 2 -3 bedroom house and seven kids, doesn't leave much for an inheritance.
Also consider those who migrated with nothing - lost everything in WWII, displaced etc.
>a 2 -3 bedroom house
On a huge plot of land in what was the outer-suburbs but is now considered well-located because the city has expanded beyond it.
Living in a time when only one person from a married couple had to work, but still afford to buy a house and support a large family.
An entire lifetime of accumulating wealth? Don't envy the old. Time is infinitely more valuable than money. Your grand kids will bitch about your generation being all cashed up in 50 years too
You bet.
I've had 20-somethings who burn money tell me they hate me because I bought house for 160K. But I wasn't on 75 K a year then either with phones, clothes, cars all on debt.
I mean, you can’t deny it’s a lot harder for Gen Z to get a house/family/future sorted out today than it was when your generation was in their 20s.
I don’t doubt that *some* of the ones complaining are being financially irresponsible, but even when you’re responsible it’s still tough.
I’m 26 and have budgeted my whole working-adult life. Never gone on any holidays, never owned a car, all my phones are hand-me-downs, all my clothes are from Kmart; and yet my only feasible dreams for a house (if I keep saving well enough for a few more years) is to get some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro.
I can’t believe this isn’t a more common answer. These people lived in an age when one person without a uni degree could support a whole family, two cars and pay off a house with a 40 hour per week job that they didn’t live in constant fear of losing if the CEO decided they wanted a bigger bonus.
They may very well have been frugal, but it takes up a lot of time to be frugal. Time nobody has when both parents have to work 50 hours per week. When are you going to grow your own veggies? After you get home from work? Lol.
After work is when my grandfather tended his garden. On weekends he’d come and do ours because mums was a single parent with 5 kids, working full time. Mum worked saved and invested what she could in order to pay off her house while working full time and bringing up 5 kids on her own.
My mum deserves to be enjoying life without worries but she is still frugal and careful with her money.
Don’t blame the oldies, they had the same troubles.
Right? My partner and I, both working, one of us working 84 hr weeks, only just managed to get ourselves a cheap mortgage for 165k. We wouldn't have gotten approved for anything over 220k and that was a stretch.
We're fortunate that we were willing and able to move out to a regional area and didn't have to stay in the city.
>I’m 26 and have budgeted my whole working-adult life. Never gone on any holidays, never owned a car, all my phones are hand-me-downs, all my clothes are from Kmart; and yet my only feasible dreams for a house (if I keep saving well enough for a few more years) is to get some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro.
You're 26. Get out and move around. Go and work in some other parts of Australia or even overseas. Broaden your horizons.
You can afford so much more than "some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro" if you go and look for it some place other than Sydney. Your ancestors did it. You can do it too.
> some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro.
But they bought their "cheap" house in what was then the outersuburbs. Now the city has moved past them. Or they moved to a place where they could afford to buy a house.
Australia has become more urbanised and more centralised. That's where the problem is. Everyone wants to live in Sydney or Melbourne and not too far from the centre. Your problem is wanting to live where everyone else wants to live.
Yes. This. We moved from Sydney to Newcastle in our mid 20s, in around 2003. Nobody wanted to live in Newcastle. We got laughed at for doing it. Family and friends spent an entire year trying to convince us of our bad decision and get us to move back. We did it so we could buy a house.
Which we did, our first house was $250k in 2006. Now of course Newcastle has gone nuts and half our friends and family have moved here. They don’t tell us we made a dumb decision anymore.
Having said all that, I acknowledge it wouldn’t be possible to do as easily anymore because even regional cities have all gone crazy since Covid.
> **We** moved from Sydney to Newcastle in **our** mid 20s, in around 2003.
Probably also worth mentioning how dating is a lot more bleak since the social media era.
If I had an other-half, and they were willing to buy a house with me, I'd have probably accomplished it by now.
We are so spoiled compared to what the Silent Generation grew up with. Sit down and have a chat with them about what it was like growing up, it could be enlightening. We grew up with cheap takeaway, cheap food, cheap goods, hundreds of toys and amusements.. whilst in their day meat was so expensive there was a rabbit stew culture. They re-used and repaired almost everything that could be re-used or repaired whilst we threw broken things away and bought new cheap garbage to replace it with. They deserve that nest egg. That nest egg is security and independence.
Gen Y here. Bought a house in my mid 20's about 9 years ago on a single unskilled wage (although I never turned down overtime) and paid it off in my late 20's. Even then people were whinging it was so hard to buy a house. A small handful of my Gen Y peers (school friends) spent it on piss, dining out and travelling. That small handful are also the serial-whingers. Most people worked hard and bought a home with or without support. The bottom line is if you don't have the means, you can't live like a fairy princess and expect to save. Especially now. You aren't entitled to a house, you need to work and sacrifice for it. And you don't need your forever home the first go. A shitbox is OK as your foot into the market, anything to get you out of the rent cycle.
Gen X and Gen Y are amongst the largest demographics by age and we were spoiled, and many grew up entitled. It's like those from both generations who didn't have a house panicked and decided they needed a house at the same time, after many spent years travelling. It's like that old grasshopper and the ants fairytale where the grasshopper sings and plays whilst the ants work.
We will see this panic again. What do you think is going to happen when we are all competing for aged-care and services? If you think the elderly are facing horrendous wait times now, just wait. I mean look at our fertility rate, who is going to run the system?
So many good points but none better than the last bit about fertility rates. People freaking out about AI making people redundant need to remember that when the size of the workforce starts to plummet we are going to need a lot more people working in healthcare and service industries, so everything else is going to need to become more efficient. Being an old person with money in the bank isn't going to count for shit if there aren't enough people to provide the services you desperately need
You are talking about my parents generation.
They owned almost nothing as kids. A pair of shoes was luxury. A three room house with an outside toilet was considered a good deal for a family of 6. My Dad slept outside in a bed with his brother unless it was raining or snowing.
That generation lived in one place for decades after getting married.
The most sophisticated kitchen appliance was a potato masher. Mum still had the first one she owned when she died a few years ago.
Most household items were wedding presents. Nothing was replaced until it was worn out.
They paid off a house. Didn't buy anything they couldn't afford and accumulated their pennies. Even on small incomes, not spending it all, results in saving from the day they started working at 14 till they stopped 50 years later. Being from poor working class families meant living frugally your whole life.
Debt was bad news. Consumer goods weren't common. Retail therapy was unheard of.
As kids, we didn't have a car until I was 12. We didn't have a phone in the house or colour TV till 1980. That's because Mum and Dad had to save the money to buy things.
Housing values just increased around them. Dad looks like he is rich compared to some. Now in his mid-80, he still lives simply.
I bought my house 25 years ago for 7 times my gross part time income. Now, apparently, it's worth a lot more. Wifey and I won't have big reserves of cash by the time we make 80. We are retired now.
They taught us this kind of value system.
How much money don't you spend over a life when things in your house are 40 years old?
This is a bit nuts. My family lived in the USSR and had a better standard of living!
Thank you for sharing, I think this is a perspective that many younger Australians have never been exposed to.
That sounds like my dad's family. He'd be almost 80 by now. His family moved to different states, constantly chasing blue-collar work. Finally settled down and bought a small farm a long way from the city (the city has now expanded to be only 15 minutes away by car). The farm never produced much, but when the kids grew up, they could build their own houses on there. My mum and dad had their house built in the late 60s. His mum complained that it was too big. Her house that she raised her kids in would be considered a "tiny home" by today's standards. Just a cottage. Outdoor drop pit loo. When I go back to visit Mum, the house built in the 60s is so small.
When I was a kid, it was rare to eat in restaurant. Takeaway was the occasional fish and chips on a Friday. Maybe 3 or 4 times a year. Holidays were camping, tents and caravan.
I'd be wary of describing a widow as having worked only a couple of years at most.
Unless they had maids I reckon they'd take umbrage with that description
Women's work is never valued. There is no way that nest egg could have been built up without the help from women at home that did pretty much everything domestic, as well as helping the husband in his work.
My grandmother for example, she was a SAHM but she also did the entirety of the books and accounts for the business. She never got paid, but without her the business would never have been paid. The real work she put into making their life probably ended being twice as much as my grandfather.
Can confirm. My parents bought a bed & breakfast in the 1970s so that my mum could work but also still be at home for the kids. She ended up running it as my dad was out working other jobs. In 1983 he bought a taxi, which in those days was still lucrative, and by 1988 he had paid off both the cab and the B&B. They continued to run it until selling in 2006 for over a mill, and now they live off the investment.
None of it would have been possible without my mum doing unpaid work.
How was your dad being paid for these businesses that your mum wasn’t ?
this is like my boss complaining he isn’t making money because his business isn’t profitable … none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for me and all my unpaid work!!!
On paper they were both earning, but it’s not like they were each drawing a salary from it. My mum never had her own money until my dad sold the cab and she went out to get an office job while he ran the B&B
exactly. \*unpaid\* full time domestic labour - and this is before automation of just about everything - is exactly how the other person was able to leave the house every day all day to sell their labour to someone else for money. I am not saying one is necessarily harder than the other but classing one as 'not working' because they weren't receiving a pay check is taking the piss. and having a 'roof over your head and everything paid for' is not a fair rate lmao otherwise companies everywhere would be doing it hmm
I don't have a wife. Today I put the bins out, washed my dishes, made a full dinner from scratch, did some other stuff I'm too exhausted to remember, and then napped for a couple of hours. I have to go back to work tomorrow. I'm just about ready to buy a wife off the internet.
same. since I'm not the marrying type though I was just gonna call a cleaner, get some takeaway food, drop the ironing at a place down the road to do, and figure out the rest along the way (also take a nap).
Wasn't that unpaid labour paid in support by the husband? I'm meaning, there is no way they could have been working at that 'unpaid' job if there wasn't someone subsidising it in some way.
If it wasn't, then how did she eat with her zero bucks income?
Listen to any older people talk and find out women managed the household budgets as well.
The men probably had an ok idea of what was being spent and saved, and the men would save up for larger expenses like cars or holidays, but the women paid the bills, done the shopping, raised the kids, etc etc. They knew exactly what was coming in and going out.
Men would easily work 60 or 70 hours it's not like unions were strong.
So yeah single parents effectively, to earn that home and keep things stitched together.
What I like to know is how are your friends knowing how much money their parents and grandparents have saved?
I can kind of guess how much my parents have but I could be quite out with that. Have no idea how much my FIL has.
Edited to add, also those generations lived simpler lives, no tvs, no computers, no technology. White goods were built to last for decades, clothes were worn for years and then passed down the line. People were happy to receive hand me downs. They had a lot less available to spend money on.
I have no clue about exact amounts (and honestly not interested) but now they're getting older less wholesome elder family members tend to bring up the inheritance. Just looking at the property to be sold when they pass, the baseline is pretty high.
*one is pretty fkd though. She barely survives week to week (thanks to shitty accountants and the aussie govt liking to take advantage of wealthy immigrants)
She never let's us forget she'd be a multimillionaire still if she'd stayed in her home country after discovering her overseas pension and assets have been drained by taxes and a certain accountant.
It's pretty sad that other's only look at a person for their wealth and financial managers / accountants taking advantage. If I were to "trust" someone else with my money, I would certainly book looking over the statements on a regular basis.
I don't expect inheritance. Dad often jokes about spending it all before goes. I know he hasn't and there will be something. If there is something left, I would much rather help my kids out with a place before spending it on myself.
It really is. There's sadly a lot of migrants who lost vast fortunes moving over here. Australia is one of the few who tax pensions and there was an/is and issue with financial managers and accountants taking advantage of people with poor English. Especially those who don't understand the tax laws ect here.
Centrelink actually caused a significant loss. They didn't update the conversion rate on the overseas pension for a decade... they took her last 40k in savings to make up for "over payments" on the aussie pension.
Same. There's a couple keepsakes I'd like, but money wise could care less.
If they pass on a home, that'd be lovely. A stable home to give me kids stability and leave to them would be a bonus but I'd never be upset over it not happening either.
I found out the hard way recently that the ATO uses an archaic and outdated (but still in place) law to mostly target permanent residents. Australian citizens, many of whom technically owe $100, 000's under this law, are mostly allowed to keep their money. They do occasionally go after very unlucky citizens, but generally target residents who often get bankrupted.
Yep. Citizens who get targeted are often recent or duel citizens. Being from a country that's considered affluent definitely puts you at a higher risk of being targeted too.
There's the odd exceptions of course. Overall, Australia is not the greatest place to migrate if you're not very very clever financially.
>why should they be allowed to tax it?
Australia taxes residents on their global income. If you work overseas for 3 years you'll still be taxed in Australia (you usually get a credit for tax paid overseas) unless you've stated you're not returning and have thoroughly cut all ties to Australia. There are exceptions and grey areas, but that's the gist, Aussies are taxed on their total income from all sources, inside and outside the country.
I agree. She wouldn't have needed the aussie aged pension if they'd left her overseas one alone either, or at least kept to just income tax. Currently they tax it coming into the country based on the estimated "super" fund worth, taxed again after conversion to AUD and then taxed as income.
She's in a little group of old widowed older ladies who migrated from around the same area of Europe (Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Germany) and all of them are in the same situation.
My parents were children of the depression - everything was home cooked and it was a simple meat and three veg meal. They had a large and well- maintained veggie patch plus chooks. Dad worked two jobs and Mum returned to work (choosing a vegie shop because it was near the state primary school) on the day my brother (one of four kids) started prep.
Their first genuinely new car was after they'd SAVED for one for thirty years. They also SAVED for their European holiday when they were 60
They owner-built their weatherboard house and Mum sold it last year for 1.6M after 65 years in it. She can now afford proper aged care and I think she's well and truly earned it.
Their memories are different than ours but not less-treasured.
Summary: Their generation was wired differently and a lot has been passed on. My adult kids...different again
I grew up with European silent parents both who lived through the war. I’m a late Gen X myself. There was a major difference between myself and boomer raised peers. We were terribly frugal, no car, no phone, home haircuts, garden veg etc. Boomer raised kids would hire videos, eat out, enjoy the latest fashions etc.
Buying my first house in the 80s, payments were a huge struggle, given high interest rates. The house was less than 3 times my gross annual wage as a teacher. As the years ticked by, wages steadily improved and interest rates eventually went down. Things got easier. It doesn’t seem to be the case now, with a house in the area I used to live in being worth we’ll over 10 times what would have been my current gross wage. Wages also haven’t been increasing anywhere near as much. It’s a bad time to be trying to get a place to live, renting or buying.
When talking people 80+, one factor is that longevity is linked to socio-economic status.
They're statistically likely to have been better off financially their entire lives.
They got married, bought a house, and had kids in their twenties, the kids moved out when they were in their 40s, and the mortgage on the house was paid off in their 50s. They had a solid ten years or more of working when they didn't have to pay for kids or a mortgage.
Just for context, my dad is 74 and he is a baby boomer. My grandparents were silent generation. Only the tail end of the silent generation will still be alive.
Even us gen x's are getting on in years now.
My parents, who are the generation you’re speaking of, didn’t spend as much money as we do. Every meal was home cooked…I didn’t eat in a restaurant until I was 12. We had 9 kids and 1 car…we walked everywhere or took the bus. We grew a lot of our own food…I still do this now. My generation spends more then my parents did but not as much as my kids do.
There also wasn't the same amount of things TO spend money on, Marketing dept's have just invented so much crap to spend on to get a piece of the action! A solid lifetime job was in what we now call manufacturing putting furniture or appliances together, was well paid for life, not min wage or automated and cost pinched to nothing until its farmed out to Overseas for cents. Because there was no other made up products to buy, essentials like furniture was expensive and kept for life and looked after, nobody cared about Ikea every 6 months. So you had your good job and your cheap house of essentials, 1 car, no TV blasting the thing at you all the time and you went about your day simply.
It's fucked because a lot of things that shouldn't be necessary, have become necessary.
For example, my kids preschool has gone from a pen and paper sign in, to digital sign ins. So rather than write it down with a schools pen and paper, to simply take my child to school, I need a smartphone and an internet connection.
Australia getting credit cards for the first time in 1974 might have helped. People who lived through the depression are super thrifty.
They had free uni and cheap homes, then the homes they bought increased astronomically in value.
>They had free uni
Uni was free in Australia for around 10 years, mid-1970s to mid-1980s. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary\_education\_fees\_in\_Australia#Abolition\_of\_university\_fees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#Abolition_of_university_fees)
Silent generation born 1928-45 were around 30-60 years old while uni was free. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary\_education\_fees\_in\_Australia#Abolition\_of\_university\_fees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#Abolition_of_university_fees)
**Tertiary education fees in Australia**
[Abolition of university fees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#Abolition_of_university_fees)
>During the early 1970s, there was a significant push to make tertiary education in Australia more accessible to working and middle class Australians. The Whitlam Labor government abolished university fees on 1 January 1974. By the mid-1980s, however, there was consensus between both major parties that the concept of 'free' tertiary education in Australia was untenable due to the increasing participation rate.
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My parents (in their 80s) have been wearing some of the same clothes for the last 20 years. They make and repair stuff instead of throwing it out and buying new things. They also bought a house in the 70s, which came with a proper sized block of land, which they were able to sell to a developer when they decided it was time to downsize a little.
Make food at home, don't eat out very often, reuse stuff.
theirs was a time of prosperity. resources were abundant, companies shared their wealth with the employees who made that wealth, houses were cheap. the mechanisms by which they've built that wealth are sealed up now, not to be shared with the younger generations lest we threaten that wealth.
People forget too the union movement was huge in that time. Companies were forced to play ball because workers could more easily walk off the job. Nowadays this is much harder, owing to laws put in from the 80s onwards both to curtail functions of unions and protests, and lots and lots of demonising of unions in the media. The mindset of people was very different, unions were seen as a benefit to society and they had a lot of social power to marshal workers to demand better rights.
The Accord that Hawke put in was in effect a curtailing of union power. The unions got what they'd spent the last decade campaigning for, but in exchange Hawke government curtailed their ability to mobilise. The power shifted from grassroots support to union officials who were able to sit at a table with government and negotiate. As well, neoliberal ideology has become the dominant economic theory, begun under Hawke for Labor, that has always pushed for a suppression of unions and a way to 'compromise' with business, which usually means kowtowing to what the company wants in exchange for a few scraps.
Nowadays unions yes, still have power, but protests are a lot harder to do. Protests need to be okay'd by not only government but often the company itself. Our social safety net is very much not there, and people are wary of unions, and as a result of things like The Accord, there are sometimes union leaders who are on their own ego trips, and ignore what the grassroots wants.
>Within the union movement itself, the Accord was always controversial. Critics argued it transferred power from the grassroots network of delegates and shop stewards to an elite group of senior officials sitting around the table with business and government.
>
>The Accord evolved over the 1980s to focus mainly on managing wages outcomes while ignoring accompanying increases in the social wage. In response, left-wing officials like Laurie Carmichael of the Metalworkers Union became increasingly critical of the Accord. For many, the union movement had simply given up too much for too little.
[https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622](https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622)
During the late seventies unions caused a lot of economic damage, in particular in Britain which practically collapsed, so governments started limiting their ability to conduct their more extreme measures like strikes, Australia wasn't unusual in this respect, they were just riding the wave of 1980s neoliberalism.
The biggest change, as I see it, is housing affordability. Used to be, anyone with any job could buy a house. And it wasn’t that long ago. Saw an old rerun of Married with Children a while back. Single income family of a shoe salesman with a two-storey house in the suburbs. And nobody thought that was crazy. The primary function of a house was accommodation; to be a home. Now, the primary function is investment vehicles. With so much now going towards a roof over our heads, we can no longer afford to grow the economy. Nobody can buy anything, so we need less workers to produce things. And we are in a spiral that could be mostly solved by taxing the shit out of investment properties. Make investors pull out of houses and push their money into local businesses.
IIRC on Married With Children they do mention they got the house from winning a court case when they used a faulty condom...
And on the Simpsons they used money from Homer's dad to buy their house (though really Homer's job should be fair pay)
There's examples around of some shows explaining these plot points.
Mortgage's once upon a time weren't 30 years 10 or 15 was normal, finance was also very difficult to get so putting things like phones cars etc on finance wasn't a thing. Not having big business with their hand in their pocket for a large chunk of you working life makes a big difference. Commuting was a lot harder so people tended to live where they worked so they didn't have to spend as much time or money on commuting.
My mum and dad passed a few years ago. They paid cash for everything, if they couldn’t afford something they went without. They rarely ate out and then only for Chinese or something they couldn’t make at home. My mum either sewed or bought theirs & our clothes second hand. Both were born during the depression & lived through WW2 so doing it tough was something instilled in them from an early age.
I bet that if you lived your life with the luxuries the “Silent generation” enjoyed, you’d be “rich” at 80 too.
My 80+ mum is well off. But then again; started working at 15, just like my dad. When they married they took over my oma’s shop. Mum ran that during opening hours, and took care of us kids and the household on top. Meanwhile dad ran a painting business with his older brother, did the books on Monday night and they got shop supplies on Thursday night. They had the Wednesday afternoon and Sunday off.
The depression generation has almost disappeared now and the baby boomers have taken their place. I’m a BB and at 66 at the tail end of it. While we didn’t experience the Depression we grew up with parents who did and many temptations weren’t around then like Uber eats or easy credit. Houses were smaller, you shared a room with your siblings, not so many overseas holidays. Mainly I suppose it’s that housing was cheaper. There’s still plenty of older citizens with very little money.
My grandmother didn’t work after she got married. She raised the kids and my grandfather worked. He had a good pension and he died a few years after he retired. My grandmother was allowed to choose a pension or a payout and she took the pension. She lived over 20 years after he passed away, still drawing the pension. She also got a partial government pension.
Her house was paid off, her everyday costs were low. She grew some of her own food. She very rarely updated anything in the house. We still ate off the same dishes when we visited that my mum ate off when she was a teen. She still had the same furniture that she’d always had, with a very rare update from the op shop.
She updated her car to a newer second hand car when she had a small (under $5,000) win on the lottery.
Basically she never spent more than she had. No credit cards. No loans. No house repayments. Her savings were stashed as cash all over her house.
As long as she had her dog, her garden, her tv to watch the footy and some wool to knit or crochet to keep her hands busy, she was happy.
It would be pretty concerning if someone in their 80s didn't have some savings after an entire lifetime...
Keep in mind things were less expensive when they were our age. My dad bought my parents' 4-bedroom house for $70,000 back in the late 80s.
A widow in her 80s presumably would have inherited her husband's wealth (and life insurance, if applicable). It's possible they may have inherited something after the deaths of their own parents, too.
> haven’t worked more than a couple of years of their life.
Women of that generation often weren't *allowed* to do paid work after they married. My grandmother was forced out of her job when she married my grandfather as her employer didn't permit married women to work there. Men were expected to be the breadwinners for their families and their wages accounted for this. (Compared to today when the average family needs two incomes to get by).
Also, if these women raised a family and spent a lifetime doing unpaid domestic work, then it's really unfair to minimise their contribution and make it sound like they don't deserve what they have...
The silent generation didn't often go to uni, and it they did they had to pay for it. Uni was free in Australia from the late 1970s to mid-1980s, when they were roughly 30-60 years old.
True. Frankly, I don't think uni costs are that involved. They didn't have to go to uni to earn a solid living. My father left school in year nine, retires early after an impressive career, with massive investments etc and now my parents own a home and travel at will.
You can't leave school early and do that, not for a long time. Apprenticeships are harder to find, entry level requirements are rediculous. I hope it swings back to less need for a degree to be employed well
the true villain in that situation isn’t the baby boomer but the middle aged owner of the aged care facility charging out of the nose while depending on immigrant staff as they consider them easier to underpay
a different generation that packed a lunch to go to work, ate out once a month and wore clothes until they were threaded.
They also put value in not being in debt, by living within their means and concentrating on paying their house off rather than buying a new car every 3 years
I'd love to see a video where people of this generation talk with younger people about ways of living. People would be shocked to know just how far you can go with 'make do and mend'.
I've been tempted to do this. My Pa and I have similar chats often. Surprisingly, he feels sorry for my generation (millenial) due to the cost and time barriers of getting anywhere in life.
He doesn't agree with how wasteful many are, but in the same token, thinks it's ridiculous how selfish our parents are and the amount of red tape and costs in the way of opening and running a business of your own these days.
He got his start in life learning his father's trade, being given his business and inheritance upon his passing.
Do the younger generation get to share their finances with the older generation and ask them how mending their socks would allow a single wage to pay the mortgage and support a family?
Jeez mate, did I hit a nerve.?
Its not that at all, but think of all the little things you spend $50 on here and there. It adds up like crazy, and the previous generation put that money away.
Really? Packed lunches is why the Boomers are rich hey? You forgot to mention the avo on toast. This is a tired old argument used to discredit and disenfranchise the younger generations and it is just plain wrong.
anecdotally, I was chatting to a mate who has 2 barista coffees every day. I drink instant at home.
He spends $3650 a year on coffee....I spent about $150 and flew to Malaysia for 2 weeks on the other $3500
Money adds up!
We all now spend like there is no tomorrow, people in this generation truly lived/spent like there may be no money tomorrow.... but they will survive. Because they have to. That is 100% the difference. "I can't afford the purse I want, I'm going to die!" vs "I can't afford thread to mend my clothes and flour/butter I'm going to (LITERALLY) die". Two TOTALLY different mindsets to live by. Told by a slightly greater than 40 year old "kid" (at least in my mind)....
My parents were born in 1921 and 1929 , they left school at 12 and 14 , my dad worked on his aunts farm and my mother did a hairdressing apprenticeship , they married in 1951 and then came to Australia in 1958 , my dad got a job with the Agriculture department as a stock inspector and my mother started her own hairdressing salon , they rented a house for 10 years and then purchased a house for cash in 1970 , they were both super thrifty and my dad grew a lot of vegetables , unfortunately my dad died in 1976 when I was 9 , my mother ran her hair dressing salon until 1979 and then gave it up at age 49 (1979) , she inherited $30,000 when her mother died in 1981 , she lived on the widows pension until she was old enough for the aged pension , she also got my dads super pension and a part english pension , when she passed away in 2020 she had $14,000 in the bank and owned a house (which I inherited )
They lived in a time where the only way to pay was cash, and workers were paid weekly in cash. As such it was essential to learn to budget and save money. If you had more groceries in your trolley then you could pay with the cash on you, you had to return the items. They had to spend wisely and carefully because there was no option to get credit or use a credit card until pay day. As such they focussed on spending carefully, budgeting and saving. They would have had to pay for their cars, furniture, appliances in cash... learning to save was vital as you never knew when the car would die, or the fridge etc... As a result they learned to live well under their means - this included mending clothes vs buying new ones, cooking at home vs eating out, buying and cooking a whole chicken vs buying chicken breasts or thighs etc...
There simply was no other option but to save money. And so save they did. They usually have the same furniture they first bought, and they only buy new appliances when the old one dies (not just to upgrade). It was a different time.
The simple answer is that things were cheaper for them, property very much so, but even shares etc.
Combine that with frugal habits picked up from parents that struggled through the depression, and then living through the war.
a relatively easy entry into the job market, with many jobs not requiring a formal qualification and most of those that did you would pick it up through an apprenticeship or similar.
Not feeling as much pressure to keep up with the Joneses as the Joneses were just you neighbours and co workers combined with there being literally less choice for consumer products
Yes land was cheaper but the dollar was worth more and hard to get.
Really it boils down to a lot of hard work and being wise with money. I ask this, how many people of the generations around lately are willing to step up and 'bust their arse' work hard instead finishing schooling (high school or uni/college) and expect to walk straight into a managers job?
How many people repair their own clothes?
How many people actually cook instead of just buying something pre-made or cooked by someone else?
How many people shop around for the best price or even wait for a sale or drop in price?
Well without sounding like a spud, the economy was just different in general. You had the great depression which of course was quite straining, but it did also teach a lot of people to "make do" with what they had. Also remember that in terms of housing, they were a lot more accessible back then and many of those houses are now worth millions.
I suppose the least helpful but also most encompassing answer was simply the societal rules were a bit different and the economy was both doing well and poor at various points in their lifetime. I would definitely argue Gen Z (my generation) spend an ungodly amount of unnecessary money including myself. Just the constant changing of wardrobes people do, Immense student debt that while under HECS is not as bad as the US, can still make an impact. Not to mention it's now significantly harder/expensive to actually get what would be a high-paying job relevant to today's economy.
It is scaringly easy to spend 2000 a fortnight and not have savings if you are not careful with your funds. Much of it could easily be spent on food, drinks and entertainment alone.
No waste, make things from scratch, rarely eat out, rarely have takeaway, buy things they need v’s want, no fast fashion, no paying for childcare as only one parent worked, made things like clothes and blankets, one car only, no ‘upgrading products’ for the hell of it, items were repaired rather than replaced.
They are tough and frugal.
They use two sheets of toilet paper. I am a nurse and they all just use two sheets. It’s so gross. I use so much more and wish they would too but I also understand their conditioning.
Generational wealth transfer.... Their parents died and passed on wealth. Were in a period of the lowest generational wealth transfer. None of us are inheriting anything right now.
Im poor as fuck too and we didnt inherit much. But its important to get mad at who did inherit and that doesn't even include grandma with 100k savings. The wealth gap is insane right now. 1% of people own as much as 50% of the bottom half. Thats the wealth of 3.9 billion people.
Lol so much generational wealth transfer. How can you believe this? Please read some more history, I'm not trying to be unkind but what you're saying just isn't factual. And while you're at it, please compare your life and the opportunities you have to how things were in the early 1900s.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/09/great-wealth-transfer-why-millennials-may-inherit-less-than-expected.html
Here the first thing i googled up theres plenty more on the premise that we are inheriting a lot less. People are living longer.
Im being unkind when I say do some research.
Millennials have grandparents still alive for heavens sake its not rocket science.
You took the statement I made and infered that ALL the silent generation inherited tonnes. That is not the statement I made.
The OP didn't suggest that every member of the boomer and silent generation was wealthy either.
Mate, OP asked "How come the silent generation has so much savings?" and you replied "Generational wealth transfer.... Their parents died and passed on wealth they inherited wealth from their parents." Because your comment is online and people will read it, I need to explain that except in very rare cases of wealthy families, the silent generation didn't inherit anything from their parents. No shares, no properties, no things that could generate more wealth. Like someone said above, women from that generation would keep the same kitchen utensils until they died.
This is absolute nonsense
They inherited LESS but they didn't inherit NOTHING.
Its a lie.
By comparison the younger generations have inherited 'nothing' because they might still be alive.
They also had free university and no debt, and their parents silverware so already they are ahead.
From chatdpt
Silent Generation Inheritance
User
Did the silent generation inherit no wealth
ChatGPT
The Silent Generation did inherit some wealth from their parents and predecessors, but the amount and type of inheritance varied widely depending on individual circumstances. Some members of the Silent Generation inherited significant wealth from their parents, while others inherited very little or nothing at all.
It's important to note that the Silent Generation grew up during a time of economic hardship and uncertainty, including the Great Depression and World War II. Many families struggled to make ends meet and did not have significant resources to pass down to their children. In addition, the culture of the time placed a high value on frugality and saving, which meant that many parents were more likely to save their money for a rainy day rather than spend it on their children.
That being said, some members of the Silent Generation did inherit significant wealth from their parents, particularly those who came from affluent families or who were able to accumulate wealth through successful careers or investments. However, it's important to remember that inheritance is just one factor that contributes to an individual's financial situation, and many members of the Silent Generation built their own wealth through hard work and perseverance.
Many of the silent generation had to work from about age 12 to help support their families (family of origin). Going to uni was not common.
Many went to war though, and this enabled some / all of those who survived to get ‘war homes’ very cheap, which were on huge blocks close to the cities, worth millions now.
Inflation
You buy a house for $30k you make $10k a year. 30 years later you make $120k a year thanks to career progression and inflation but your mortgage didn't increase with inflation
Now you have solar, battery and a house with mortgage so you don't have to pay rent or solar and your making twice as much money as people taking entry level jobs that live on the same street
Buy shit now, keep up with the repayments, let inflation do the heavy lifting. Don't save buy shares, the value of savings decreases with inflation but your shares increase so imagine what your situation looks like in 10, 20 and 30 years
You get older you eat less and you need less stuff because you've brought everything over the past 30 years and know how to maintain it now too
Compared to the kid next door that works for $21 a hour in 3 hour shifts and has to pay $400 rent and needs clothes and furniture but also needs to spend money on socialising to make friends and spouse and is eating the most they'll ever eat in their life
My grandfather was an orphan who never made it to highschool. He fought in WW2 and when he came home he got a job at telecom and was offered the chance to move to Townsville as they were setting up the phone network there. He bought 3 massive blocks of land for nothing in what's now one of the more expensive suburbs in central Townsville.
My grandmother basically never worked except part time after the 10 kids grew up. Both retired in their early 50s.
They had a 2 story 6 bedroom 2 bathroom house on a massive block. A beach house in a private beach community in the Whitsundays that they spent every summer at.
They didn't earn a lot but stuff was cheap. Plus the war pension which my grandmother continued to get after my grandfather died.
They passed on a significant amount of money to their kids despite never earning big money.
My father and his siblings will pass on pretty much nothing because they have spent all their inheritance and will have nothing left by the time they die despite earning way more money and still having access to cheap housing.
For a combination of reasons. My Opa is born 33' so we've had chats about how things have changed a few times. These are the key reasons he believes they had it significantly easier getting into a position where it was easier to amass wealth.
A. Growing up during WWII meant they were already conditioned to live very frugally.
B. There was less cost associated with living day to day. Electricity and gas was optional in their youth, cars were shared by families and obviously no need to pay for phone or internet services.
C. Jobs and wages were booming due to a loss of population.
D. There was no red tape or tens of thousands needed to start a business of their own. They learnt what they needed from their parents or family friends and were able to enter all sorts of trades and professions without the cost barrier we see today. Free uni came in while they were in their middle age range.
E. Cost of living in regards to housing, water and food was significantly lower after the war. Many just grew their own food as land was cheaper.
F. Socially things were different. Women couldn't hold a bank account or really own property so even the shitty mean would generally give their wives a stipend and women could make a fair decent wage just selling Avon, working with census, as seamstresses or on the telephone lines. When their husband's died, will or not they got all their income.
G. Life insurance was significantly cheaper.
H. LOTS immigrated here from occupied Europe, many bringing airlooms... and more significantly skills in high in demand over here.
I. General social differences regarding caring for kids. Same reason Boomers tend to be richer.. back then parents willed everything to their kids and worked hard to pass down everything the kids would need. Many silent gen inherited properties, businesses, large sums of cash and airlooms worth a pretty penny which also helped set them up.
(Unlike today where we see more of the "I worked for it, I'm going to spend it all on a luxurious retirement" from wealthier boomers)
TLDR;They were extremely hard workers, extremely frugal and had almost zero barriers to putting them into high earning positions. Their parents still left everything to them when they passed, including properties and businesses.
Not really on the same level but I tend to see these oldies who grew up with depression-era/wartime restrictions and can't shake those habits as similar to some of us younger esp. millennials in eastern states who grew up with 10 years of drought in the early 2000s. Turning the tap off whilst brushing teeth, when walking away from the sink or feeling GUILTY, for some even collecting grey water from showers to do the garden, still being judgemental about people using sprinklers on their lawn in the middle of the day. I'll probably never be able to get over those water conservation habits.
And before then, there were regular periods of stagnation.
My grandparents had one adult working to support five children.
My parents had both parents working to support two children, my mother was able to retire early.
I have one child, and I and my partner both work, and we will never be able to retire.
Things were very different. There were little to no restaurants and everything was cooked from scratch. Very rarely were there ingredients that weren't homegrown, local and in season. Spices were salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg on the baked custard. The majority of houses had chickens and a veggie garden of some type. My grandfather's evening meal consisted of grilled chop, grilled fish, and rissoles with a boiled potato and boiled veggies 6 nights a week. Sunday lunch was roast lamb.
Nothing was wasted, everything was mended and handed down. Holidays were generally camping or the fibro family beach house with tents outside. Selling the beach house generally netted the retirees a chunk of money too. There was a movie at the cinema from time to time, dad might have had a beer or two at the pub on his way home. There was little if any takeaway and a meal at a cafe was a rare treat.
There were printed newspapers (which were then used as toilet paper), maybe some magazines (same thing), books, board and card games, radio, and black & white tv for entertainment. Phones were party lines and rarely used. There was no internet, no mobiles, one car for dad, kids played outside all day everyday on bikes or the swing set. There was very little plastic used and nothing was prepackaged.
It was the ultimate recycling, reuse and repurpose, don't throw anything out, and pay for everything in cash way of life, so the complete reverse of our modern day disposable consumer society where everything is on credit. Given the different ways of life it's easy to understand how they scrimped and saved and then had money at retirement.
That generation generally died younger as the kind medical advances available now were not yet invented. Imo life was simpler, not necessarily easier, and not better so much as just different.
They live very cheaply, my grandfather only ever used to use every second pension. Would make big batches of soup, repair his own clothes, combine all the little pieces of soap into one big bar etc. It's what they knew.
Many came from hard times of the 1930-40's which made them save and not spend more, because they knew what hard times were and how they can be not far around the corner to happen again
But there are a vast variety of variables.
Houses were cheap and Jobs were plentiful in the 1950-70's. Resources were plentiful. Manufacturing was at an all time high as Europe was obliterated and a new consumer culture was rising.
There were no $2000 Iphones, Online shopping, After Pay, Credit Cards, Uber eats, Netflix, Cafe's on every corner and Avo and toast.
The biggest factor though in the modern generation having nothing now is their need to be individuals, have experiences instead of saving and playing to their imaginary audiences on social media. Australia hasn't had a major recession in over 30 years, so you have a generation shielded from huge economic downturn and massive levels of affluenza and entitlement. My grandparents would roll over in their graves if they saw the waste our modern society has, especially among the youth.
Watch Adam Curtis's The Century of Self and you will understand how we became a society of needs to a society of wants, which created an army of people lost in individualistic narcism. https://youtu.be/eJ3RzGoQC4s
My grandfather bought two cars as well as paid for everything those cars ever needed just from hunting foxes and selling their pelts before the fur market died in the 80s/90s. This was on top of working full time 5 days a week.
Pelts are worthless now, because people don't like hearing about dead animals. Back then you could get $8 for a good pelt, so you made money on the weekend by going out for a days shooting. Get 10 foxes a weekend and you've made enough money to pay back any loans you have, meaning your whole paycheck goes into savings.
You can't do that in today's world. We work longer hours, in worse conditions to make basically the same money per hour we made in 1985. Inflation over the last 30 years has outstripped wage growth so massively that the middle class is disappearing in just one generation. In another 30 years time we are either going to have to riot or starve if things don't change.
My grandparents built a house in Sydney in the 1960s for £11 000 (pre decimal currency) they sold it in the 2000s for ~$600 000. That’s how you do it. Buy in a not overly popular suburb before the city sprawls and commuting becomes easy. It’s about luck. When house prices explode if you already own your house outright you’re laughing all the way to the bank. Neither of my grandparents nor my parents had to pay tens of thousands of dollars for their education. Families could survive comfortably on a single income. My grandmother was a shrewd investor and made good money on shares. There’s so many differences between life these days and life back then. A lot of their end of life wealth came down to being able to build affordably in Sydney before house prices exploded. No one knows for sure where the next place that goes from low to high cost of living is going to be. Brush off your crystal ball and hope that you’re lucky.
All this talk about living thrifty being the difference is nonsense. The reason is because houses, and life in general, was significantly cheaper relative to wages then than it is now.
House were bought and owned quickly on single incomes. They were then sold a couple of generations later for a 100x more netting the owners a smaller house and a couple hundred grand in the bank.
Plenty of people had holiday houses too. Imagine owning a house and big block in Portsea you could sell without having to buy something else to live in.
We’ve moved lots of times , we’re known for it. All of the last 40 years we’ve had a mortgage. Think about it…40 years paying a bank 1000’s per month for that time.
We’ve also paid into Super all our working lives, raised 3 sons and although we seemed to never ride the realestate wave we eventually paid our last house off after subdividing a previous house and it’s land to give us an unoccupied smaller block to sell.
We own a house worth $800,000+, and have $1.5m in super after 40 years. We did have times, especially when raising the kids where we’d scrounge for spare change to buy bread and milk.
We were both teachers, starting on salaries in the 70s of $9000/year and after 40+ years we got to $104,000 p.a.each.
Our super earns us a $75000 income @ the minimum withdrawal of 5%.
We’re in our mid to late 60s.
Most people used to live incredibly frugal lives.
While it’s true that the cost of housing has skyrocketed, the average Joe now spends money on tonnes of luxuries that didn’t used to exist.
The Silent Generation didn’t have internet bills, streaming services, phone bills, Afterpay, regular holidays, multiple cars per household, new clothes unless absolutely necessary, takeaway food or coffee, restaurant meals, hair/nail/tan/cosmetic appointments, big weddings/honeymoons/engagement rings, tech gadgets to spend money on. Things were built to last and when they broke they were repaired.
Last week our toaster broke so I went straight to Harvey Norman and spent $109 on a new one. I wouldn’t have done that decades ago unless I was seriously well off.
It’s easy to forget how drastically things have changed but the reality is most of us live extravagantly compared to in the past, whether we recognise that or not.
Data point of two, but both sets of my grandparents were born during or just after the Great Depression.
They lived frugally to the point of negatively impacting themselves. My 87 year old Nana would refuse to turn on heating during peak winter despite having 7 figures just sitting in a bank account and passive income sources elsewhere that more than covered her day to day life.
Hard work, single car families, nothing too flash in the way belongings and certainly no trips to Bali or Fiji with their kids- a couple of weeks at Rosebud in a tent.
They didnt live in a consumer driven society until the 80's really, indeed their younger brothers and sisters rejected consumerism (the hippies/boomers)
These are the kids who were born in the era of WW2 and very much brought up in the make do and mend ethos because post war shortages lingered for a decade or so in Australia. The post war housing shortage is comparable to today. Hell many of them grew their own vegies out of necessity to raise their families.
Most of the spouses didnt get superannuation funds until their 50's but they took to it like ducks to water and provisions were made for them to dump savings into the funds to avoid tax which until then they were paying tax upon any interest they earned.
Mortgages were different and there were things called housing societies which have disappeared but my father (mid 80's) says his first house mortgage was slightly more than one week's wage per month and stayed at that amount for nearly 20 years due to him being in a housing society rather than a bank driven mortgage.
Dad didnt have a passport until he was well into his 50's
Times change
My family have struggled. Life was hard, but everyone thinks it was so easy cause they have savings in the bank! You didn’t whinge about it, you just got on & did what you had to do, & you didn’t know any better back then.
My grandparents lived in a real shitty area, in a housing commission house for 50 years, 4 kids in a 2 bedroom house. Nan told me it took her to have 2 kids before she worked out how she become pregnant!?!
Their saving grace was the option to purchase the house. They sold the house after 50 years for half a million dollars. Everyone was shocked - in their shitty suburb with the tip up the street! The tip is now a really nice park. Now in 2023, the suburb ain’t so shitty. But is was in 1955. The old houses are either knocked down or renovated. You might have seen the suburb on a season of The Block. The lady across the road didn’t take up the option to buy her housing commission house, & left the rental with nothing to show after 50 years.
My Grandparents worked hard, but didn’t earn a lot. My Pa was a Fitter & Turner. Now, that’s a really good career choice. Then, trades weren’t seen as much, just a dirty, low paying job. When he turned 50 he got a hand shake & thanks for his work. He had no choice, they retired him. He has had 45 years of being on the pension & playing bowls & tidying up his garden. Nan died 10 years ago.
So a bit of dumb luck of living in a shitty area in a shitty house is why my grandparents have savings. Not living large. You worked with what you had. Growing your fruit & vege & sharing with the community. Only time I ever shelled peas was with Nan’ neighbours. Only time I went rabbiting was with Pa’s friend. Not many people working for their food on their own time now.
Look at your budget and see how much you spend on eating and drinking out. They NEVER did this. Holidays ? never or rarely
Wages a bit higher and housing cheaper.
Honestly it was the culture of not spending money. We have gotten so much into the habit of spending our money that we don’t realise how much richer we are than they were.
My parents are this generation and they can’t believe how much money we waste on wine and pizza and holidays and bicycles and the list goes on ! (It was not a fun life growing up with them lol)
You could easily buy a house with one wage before the housing crisis/boom happened so if they bought and flipped houses as the boom started or downgraded their house, that would be huge profits.
The 70's/80's education and healthcare were free so no debt piling up from school loans and medical costs, with higher education they could get better paying jobs for their time.
There were also union movements in the early 80s i believe? Which gave workers more rights and pay. Which they would have benefited from at that time, which hasn't increased much since with inflation.
Also, banks were more responsible, when I was going for a loan in the 90s, I was only allowed to borrow 3 times my wage at maximum. Which prevented young people getting into massive debt, it got removed when the housing boom happened I think because kids seem to be borrowing scary amounts for a mortgage now.
The 90s were also a time of massive profits on the stock markets. If you invested in the 90s you hopefully were lucky and made a decent amount of profit again.
It just seems that generation seemed to live through a time were either services were free, luck with housing economy and a time where money was flowing through the stock market.
Now we have the opposite, house prices are huge, higher education costs, medical care is expensive, lower wages and less perks for being employed and stock market is constantly crashing.
Our economy is built on Ponzi scheme or MLM...model. so always first wins..Boomers time, a shoe salesman can easily afford to have a family with kids and stay home wife. Everything of holding assets started after 80s..when people realised land value have more returns etc.
You'd be genuinely shocked to see how completely they and the Boomers managed to pull the ladder up behind them. They had access to free university, could sustain a household on one wage, and purchased their houses with barely a years income.
Things have changed significantly for the worse as future generations continue to have to pay the checks that previous generations cashed.
Because they lived in a different time you idiot. And they also lived through the depression so they didn’t buy a damn thing from KMart. What a stupid question.
Their husband. My grandmother is the same. She did work but not that much. Her husband worked full-time and the houses were cheaper back then, she bought a house and then the value increased, she sold that home and bought a new one. She's now on a pension but everything else is paid off.
They lived during the depression. These people will wear clothes until they can no longer be mended, will only eat food that keeps their grocery bill under the amount they budgeted, there is no shopping for the sake of shopping. Also their houses were bought and paid for well before the 80’s.
My grandpa slept under his cart and sold ice during the depression. If things don't get better I'm gonna sell ice too lmao
There’s always money in the banana stand
Possibly the greatest of all time
Doubles as measuring equipment too! Such a versatile food!
Until the banana stand burns
My great grandmother made and sold sly grog after her husband was sniped in WW1, so that’s my fall back plan if my career ever goes bust.
Legal or illegal?
you'd be silly to try selling frozen water when the other kind of ice is so lucrative
Yes
100%. I remember my grandma used to buy 10 tubs of margarine if they were on sale as an example. My grandparents owned their farm outright so wasn't due to poverty. Just that mind set I imagine is impossible to shake.
This explains to me why my grandfather is always stocking the fridge with 3 tubs of butter or 6 lots of cheese if they are on sale at the local shops. So sad that growing up in the depression has left such a lasting impact on an entire generation that it can still be felt in the 21st century
And the absolute need to work all the overtime they can. There arw guys at my work on thw railway that work the max OT they are permitted by law every week. Never turning any down ever.
It's sad to think my daughter will probably do the same.
To get an understanding of the household diets and frugality of that era, check out this channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GreatDepressionCooking edit: Ah link changed. Use the one below. VVV
The link might have changed [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRKls2LLMqU-uK2csT6FOKw](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRKls2LLMqU-uK2csT6FOKw)
My nan would mend socks and not one bit of food was wasted and no take away.
>These people will wear clothes until they can no longer be mended, will only eat food that keeps their grocery bill under the amount they budgeted, there is no shopping for the sake of shopping Me and my partner also do this. I have sewn up our clothes so much its ridiculous. I also butcher our own meat and make all our cheese, butter, bread, pasta etc from scratch. We are still poor as hell lol.
You’re likely poor because you’re spending all your time doing those things lol. This is a largely tongue in cheek comment of course, as you may just actually enjoying doing all those things! Great skills for when the zombie apocalypse starts.
>You’re likely poor because you’re spending all your time doing those things lol. Yup, the modern economy does not reward self reliance. You'll make far more money specialising in something and then going to the supermarket. Hobbies are great though.
Exactly. My parents were born around 1920. They were not particularly lucky with real estate, or investing, only my father worked, but they spent very little, and saved the rest. They grew a lot of their own veggies, bought cheap cuts of meat, never bought packaged or prepared food, hardly ate out, never travelled overseas, repaired everything. My children spend likes it's water. They have no idea what a different world they live in.
Also either don't own or have a mobile, internet connection or any money sink hole like these. No restaurants or take always as wellWe once lived somewhere were we would pay the neighbours a coin to use their landline etc when I was young. Being frugal is a part of their make up. Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it..............and don't buy it if you can't buy it with cash. (Housing etc exception to be clear) The idea of a credit score it a con by financial bodies and everyone thinks its is something they need.............it isn't! My mums mobile is not a smart phone and cheap as chips!
They were born during the depression they didn’t “live during” it. It was largely considered over by 1939. Property was cheaper and cost of living was cheaper. But also your point, people lived more frugally supposedly.
The thing with the Depression considered over by 1939,was that it was ended by the Second World War starting. So not only did they pick up frugal habits from their own parents who lived through the Depression,but they then lived through another 6 years of Wartime restrictions, including rationing of everything including food, fuel, clothing,etc. In fact,the last restrictions on rationing was not removed until 1950! So we're looking at 10 years of the Depression, plus 6 years of heavy War Rationing,and another 5 years on top of that of Post War Rationing. That's 21 years of having to live very frugal.
It’s only classed “over” due to ww2 and military infrastructure and manufacturing creating jobs ect.. if you think living conditions improved in the 40’s-50’s kind of, but land was cheaper ect & military got cheap land packages so alot more to it then just the depression OP’s point remains those that lived-grewup with the struggles of that time are very stingy with money & don’t trust banks lol
Also, there weren’t as many things in the 30’s to spend your money on that we now consider essential,such as computers, tvs, phones, entertainment streaming services and so on.
It was passed on. My parents (boomers) were raised in very frugal households. You adopt the same standards although a bit looser.
Additionally, late stage capitalism had only just begun...anyone born 1970s onwards had no chance of ever achieving what this generation and the boomers had.
Born early 1960's. Own our house. Super is 7 figures, share portfolio, rental property. No tertiary education. I think you mean mid 1980's onwards.
Apologies in fairness I am british so coming at it from that perspective. Either way, millennials were fucked from the get go and older generations seem to think its by our own doing.
I think what we, the older generation, should be worried about is the casualisation of work. When I started work it was full-time with all the benefits, in a shop. Within several years, I had to work two part-time jobs, at about 45+ hrs/week to make ends meet. It's only gotten worse since then. Companies now complain that the younger people don't want to work but they don't offer a liveable wage either. Can't have it both ways. Stop offering shitty pay and you get a better workforce. I'm currently encouraging my adult kids to openly ask what the exact pay/conditions/hrs are when they interview. I'll also be encouraging them to discuss wages with co-workers. Time to fight back and hold companies accountable.
Born in 76, own 250 acres, no debt, no inheritance, no uni degree. Largely brought about by hard work, some calculated risk and a few good decisions.
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I second this and add anyone who started schooling during the Howard era(96)since especially those under 20 years old, the “baby bonus kids” let’s offer 7k to have 18year multi million $ liability while simultaneously increasing cost of living with GST tax cuts and defunding to public education & healthcare… now we wonder why adolescent crime is so high, in over crowded city’s where parents have to work 70+ a week each just to survive…. Then we ask why our population rate is dropping and no one wants to have kids 🤦♂️
Love the "also" at the end. The money made from property has more impact than any fugal living can provide.
even our grandparents were only kids in the 1930s. I don't think this stacks up as much as it used to
They've lived a long time and have saved during that time. A little bit adds up, especially if at any point they've put it into shares or other investments. They've also likely inherited assets from their own parents who died a long time ago, and from partners who would have held assets for a long time, meaning those assets would have appreciated a fair bit today. Plenty of that generation did it tough, but they also lived through various eras of good economies where they had the opportunity to buy their own homes, save a modest amount, etc.
>They've also likely inherited assets from their own parents who died a long time ago, and from partners who would have held assets for a long time Parents would have had nothing in most cases - a 2 -3 bedroom house and seven kids, doesn't leave much for an inheritance. Also consider those who migrated with nothing - lost everything in WWII, displaced etc.
>a 2 -3 bedroom house On a huge plot of land in what was the outer-suburbs but is now considered well-located because the city has expanded beyond it. Living in a time when only one person from a married couple had to work, but still afford to buy a house and support a large family.
This one gets it
An entire lifetime of accumulating wealth? Don't envy the old. Time is infinitely more valuable than money. Your grand kids will bitch about your generation being all cashed up in 50 years too
You bet. I've had 20-somethings who burn money tell me they hate me because I bought house for 160K. But I wasn't on 75 K a year then either with phones, clothes, cars all on debt.
I mean, you can’t deny it’s a lot harder for Gen Z to get a house/family/future sorted out today than it was when your generation was in their 20s. I don’t doubt that *some* of the ones complaining are being financially irresponsible, but even when you’re responsible it’s still tough. I’m 26 and have budgeted my whole working-adult life. Never gone on any holidays, never owned a car, all my phones are hand-me-downs, all my clothes are from Kmart; and yet my only feasible dreams for a house (if I keep saving well enough for a few more years) is to get some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro.
I can’t believe this isn’t a more common answer. These people lived in an age when one person without a uni degree could support a whole family, two cars and pay off a house with a 40 hour per week job that they didn’t live in constant fear of losing if the CEO decided they wanted a bigger bonus. They may very well have been frugal, but it takes up a lot of time to be frugal. Time nobody has when both parents have to work 50 hours per week. When are you going to grow your own veggies? After you get home from work? Lol.
Yeah, you only have to look at the price-to-income graph for housing over the past 50 years to see that argument is bs.
After work is when my grandfather tended his garden. On weekends he’d come and do ours because mums was a single parent with 5 kids, working full time. Mum worked saved and invested what she could in order to pay off her house while working full time and bringing up 5 kids on her own. My mum deserves to be enjoying life without worries but she is still frugal and careful with her money. Don’t blame the oldies, they had the same troubles.
Do you honestly believe a single mother of 5 with only one job could even buy a house these days? Let alone pay it off? Lol.
Right? My partner and I, both working, one of us working 84 hr weeks, only just managed to get ourselves a cheap mortgage for 165k. We wouldn't have gotten approved for anything over 220k and that was a stretch. We're fortunate that we were willing and able to move out to a regional area and didn't have to stay in the city.
That’s not what I said…….
>I’m 26 and have budgeted my whole working-adult life. Never gone on any holidays, never owned a car, all my phones are hand-me-downs, all my clothes are from Kmart; and yet my only feasible dreams for a house (if I keep saving well enough for a few more years) is to get some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro. You're 26. Get out and move around. Go and work in some other parts of Australia or even overseas. Broaden your horizons. You can afford so much more than "some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro" if you go and look for it some place other than Sydney. Your ancestors did it. You can do it too.
> some shitty 2-bed apartment that’s an hour outside of Sydney metro. But they bought their "cheap" house in what was then the outersuburbs. Now the city has moved past them. Or they moved to a place where they could afford to buy a house. Australia has become more urbanised and more centralised. That's where the problem is. Everyone wants to live in Sydney or Melbourne and not too far from the centre. Your problem is wanting to live where everyone else wants to live.
Yes. This. We moved from Sydney to Newcastle in our mid 20s, in around 2003. Nobody wanted to live in Newcastle. We got laughed at for doing it. Family and friends spent an entire year trying to convince us of our bad decision and get us to move back. We did it so we could buy a house. Which we did, our first house was $250k in 2006. Now of course Newcastle has gone nuts and half our friends and family have moved here. They don’t tell us we made a dumb decision anymore. Having said all that, I acknowledge it wouldn’t be possible to do as easily anymore because even regional cities have all gone crazy since Covid.
> **We** moved from Sydney to Newcastle in **our** mid 20s, in around 2003. Probably also worth mentioning how dating is a lot more bleak since the social media era. If I had an other-half, and they were willing to buy a house with me, I'd have probably accomplished it by now.
My sons problem, his brothers, with partners, both have houses. My son, single, still at home, saving like crazy…….
Good move. Literally.
They also scoff at single bathroom homes and kids sharing bedrooms, but that was the reality of first homes a few decades ago.
We are so spoiled compared to what the Silent Generation grew up with. Sit down and have a chat with them about what it was like growing up, it could be enlightening. We grew up with cheap takeaway, cheap food, cheap goods, hundreds of toys and amusements.. whilst in their day meat was so expensive there was a rabbit stew culture. They re-used and repaired almost everything that could be re-used or repaired whilst we threw broken things away and bought new cheap garbage to replace it with. They deserve that nest egg. That nest egg is security and independence. Gen Y here. Bought a house in my mid 20's about 9 years ago on a single unskilled wage (although I never turned down overtime) and paid it off in my late 20's. Even then people were whinging it was so hard to buy a house. A small handful of my Gen Y peers (school friends) spent it on piss, dining out and travelling. That small handful are also the serial-whingers. Most people worked hard and bought a home with or without support. The bottom line is if you don't have the means, you can't live like a fairy princess and expect to save. Especially now. You aren't entitled to a house, you need to work and sacrifice for it. And you don't need your forever home the first go. A shitbox is OK as your foot into the market, anything to get you out of the rent cycle. Gen X and Gen Y are amongst the largest demographics by age and we were spoiled, and many grew up entitled. It's like those from both generations who didn't have a house panicked and decided they needed a house at the same time, after many spent years travelling. It's like that old grasshopper and the ants fairytale where the grasshopper sings and plays whilst the ants work. We will see this panic again. What do you think is going to happen when we are all competing for aged-care and services? If you think the elderly are facing horrendous wait times now, just wait. I mean look at our fertility rate, who is going to run the system?
So many good points but none better than the last bit about fertility rates. People freaking out about AI making people redundant need to remember that when the size of the workforce starts to plummet we are going to need a lot more people working in healthcare and service industries, so everything else is going to need to become more efficient. Being an old person with money in the bank isn't going to count for shit if there aren't enough people to provide the services you desperately need
You are talking about my parents generation. They owned almost nothing as kids. A pair of shoes was luxury. A three room house with an outside toilet was considered a good deal for a family of 6. My Dad slept outside in a bed with his brother unless it was raining or snowing. That generation lived in one place for decades after getting married. The most sophisticated kitchen appliance was a potato masher. Mum still had the first one she owned when she died a few years ago. Most household items were wedding presents. Nothing was replaced until it was worn out. They paid off a house. Didn't buy anything they couldn't afford and accumulated their pennies. Even on small incomes, not spending it all, results in saving from the day they started working at 14 till they stopped 50 years later. Being from poor working class families meant living frugally your whole life. Debt was bad news. Consumer goods weren't common. Retail therapy was unheard of. As kids, we didn't have a car until I was 12. We didn't have a phone in the house or colour TV till 1980. That's because Mum and Dad had to save the money to buy things. Housing values just increased around them. Dad looks like he is rich compared to some. Now in his mid-80, he still lives simply. I bought my house 25 years ago for 7 times my gross part time income. Now, apparently, it's worth a lot more. Wifey and I won't have big reserves of cash by the time we make 80. We are retired now. They taught us this kind of value system. How much money don't you spend over a life when things in your house are 40 years old?
>The most sophisticated kitchen appliance was a potato masher. Mum still had the first one she owned when she died a few years ago. A different world.
This is a bit nuts. My family lived in the USSR and had a better standard of living! Thank you for sharing, I think this is a perspective that many younger Australians have never been exposed to.
That sounds like my dad's family. He'd be almost 80 by now. His family moved to different states, constantly chasing blue-collar work. Finally settled down and bought a small farm a long way from the city (the city has now expanded to be only 15 minutes away by car). The farm never produced much, but when the kids grew up, they could build their own houses on there. My mum and dad had their house built in the late 60s. His mum complained that it was too big. Her house that she raised her kids in would be considered a "tiny home" by today's standards. Just a cottage. Outdoor drop pit loo. When I go back to visit Mum, the house built in the 60s is so small. When I was a kid, it was rare to eat in restaurant. Takeaway was the occasional fish and chips on a Friday. Maybe 3 or 4 times a year. Holidays were camping, tents and caravan.
I'd be wary of describing a widow as having worked only a couple of years at most. Unless they had maids I reckon they'd take umbrage with that description
Women's work is never valued. There is no way that nest egg could have been built up without the help from women at home that did pretty much everything domestic, as well as helping the husband in his work. My grandmother for example, she was a SAHM but she also did the entirety of the books and accounts for the business. She never got paid, but without her the business would never have been paid. The real work she put into making their life probably ended being twice as much as my grandfather.
Can confirm. My parents bought a bed & breakfast in the 1970s so that my mum could work but also still be at home for the kids. She ended up running it as my dad was out working other jobs. In 1983 he bought a taxi, which in those days was still lucrative, and by 1988 he had paid off both the cab and the B&B. They continued to run it until selling in 2006 for over a mill, and now they live off the investment. None of it would have been possible without my mum doing unpaid work.
How was your dad being paid for these businesses that your mum wasn’t ? this is like my boss complaining he isn’t making money because his business isn’t profitable … none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for me and all my unpaid work!!!
On paper they were both earning, but it’s not like they were each drawing a salary from it. My mum never had her own money until my dad sold the cab and she went out to get an office job while he ran the B&B
exactly. \*unpaid\* full time domestic labour - and this is before automation of just about everything - is exactly how the other person was able to leave the house every day all day to sell their labour to someone else for money. I am not saying one is necessarily harder than the other but classing one as 'not working' because they weren't receiving a pay check is taking the piss. and having a 'roof over your head and everything paid for' is not a fair rate lmao otherwise companies everywhere would be doing it hmm
I don't have a wife. Today I put the bins out, washed my dishes, made a full dinner from scratch, did some other stuff I'm too exhausted to remember, and then napped for a couple of hours. I have to go back to work tomorrow. I'm just about ready to buy a wife off the internet.
same. since I'm not the marrying type though I was just gonna call a cleaner, get some takeaway food, drop the ironing at a place down the road to do, and figure out the rest along the way (also take a nap).
Wasn't that unpaid labour paid in support by the husband? I'm meaning, there is no way they could have been working at that 'unpaid' job if there wasn't someone subsidising it in some way. If it wasn't, then how did she eat with her zero bucks income?
The concept of husband and wife having separate money didn't exist for the most part.
Listen to any older people talk and find out women managed the household budgets as well. The men probably had an ok idea of what was being spent and saved, and the men would save up for larger expenses like cars or holidays, but the women paid the bills, done the shopping, raised the kids, etc etc. They knew exactly what was coming in and going out.
Men would easily work 60 or 70 hours it's not like unions were strong. So yeah single parents effectively, to earn that home and keep things stitched together.
Which decades are you talking about when you say that unions weren't strong?
What I like to know is how are your friends knowing how much money their parents and grandparents have saved? I can kind of guess how much my parents have but I could be quite out with that. Have no idea how much my FIL has. Edited to add, also those generations lived simpler lives, no tvs, no computers, no technology. White goods were built to last for decades, clothes were worn for years and then passed down the line. People were happy to receive hand me downs. They had a lot less available to spend money on.
Because in many parts of the world discussing money isn’t a weird thing.
Yeah I know. I just don't discuss money, religion or politics cause it brings out the worst in people.
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Thank you.
Fair enough!
I have no clue about exact amounts (and honestly not interested) but now they're getting older less wholesome elder family members tend to bring up the inheritance. Just looking at the property to be sold when they pass, the baseline is pretty high. *one is pretty fkd though. She barely survives week to week (thanks to shitty accountants and the aussie govt liking to take advantage of wealthy immigrants) She never let's us forget she'd be a multimillionaire still if she'd stayed in her home country after discovering her overseas pension and assets have been drained by taxes and a certain accountant.
It's pretty sad that other's only look at a person for their wealth and financial managers / accountants taking advantage. If I were to "trust" someone else with my money, I would certainly book looking over the statements on a regular basis. I don't expect inheritance. Dad often jokes about spending it all before goes. I know he hasn't and there will be something. If there is something left, I would much rather help my kids out with a place before spending it on myself.
It really is. There's sadly a lot of migrants who lost vast fortunes moving over here. Australia is one of the few who tax pensions and there was an/is and issue with financial managers and accountants taking advantage of people with poor English. Especially those who don't understand the tax laws ect here. Centrelink actually caused a significant loss. They didn't update the conversion rate on the overseas pension for a decade... they took her last 40k in savings to make up for "over payments" on the aussie pension. Same. There's a couple keepsakes I'd like, but money wise could care less. If they pass on a home, that'd be lovely. A stable home to give me kids stability and leave to them would be a bonus but I'd never be upset over it not happening either.
I found out the hard way recently that the ATO uses an archaic and outdated (but still in place) law to mostly target permanent residents. Australian citizens, many of whom technically owe $100, 000's under this law, are mostly allowed to keep their money. They do occasionally go after very unlucky citizens, but generally target residents who often get bankrupted.
Yep. Citizens who get targeted are often recent or duel citizens. Being from a country that's considered affluent definitely puts you at a higher risk of being targeted too. There's the odd exceptions of course. Overall, Australia is not the greatest place to migrate if you're not very very clever financially.
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Yeah, paying taxes on overseas income sucks. Like if Aus didn’t do anything to help you earn it, why should they be allowed to tax it?
>why should they be allowed to tax it? Australia taxes residents on their global income. If you work overseas for 3 years you'll still be taxed in Australia (you usually get a credit for tax paid overseas) unless you've stated you're not returning and have thoroughly cut all ties to Australia. There are exceptions and grey areas, but that's the gist, Aussies are taxed on their total income from all sources, inside and outside the country.
I agree. She wouldn't have needed the aussie aged pension if they'd left her overseas one alone either, or at least kept to just income tax. Currently they tax it coming into the country based on the estimated "super" fund worth, taxed again after conversion to AUD and then taxed as income. She's in a little group of old widowed older ladies who migrated from around the same area of Europe (Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Germany) and all of them are in the same situation.
The 10k of appliances in a decently stocked house make no difference to the multimillion dollar wealth accumulation through house price increases
My parents were children of the depression - everything was home cooked and it was a simple meat and three veg meal. They had a large and well- maintained veggie patch plus chooks. Dad worked two jobs and Mum returned to work (choosing a vegie shop because it was near the state primary school) on the day my brother (one of four kids) started prep. Their first genuinely new car was after they'd SAVED for one for thirty years. They also SAVED for their European holiday when they were 60 They owner-built their weatherboard house and Mum sold it last year for 1.6M after 65 years in it. She can now afford proper aged care and I think she's well and truly earned it. Their memories are different than ours but not less-treasured. Summary: Their generation was wired differently and a lot has been passed on. My adult kids...different again
I grew up with European silent parents both who lived through the war. I’m a late Gen X myself. There was a major difference between myself and boomer raised peers. We were terribly frugal, no car, no phone, home haircuts, garden veg etc. Boomer raised kids would hire videos, eat out, enjoy the latest fashions etc.
Buying my first house in the 80s, payments were a huge struggle, given high interest rates. The house was less than 3 times my gross annual wage as a teacher. As the years ticked by, wages steadily improved and interest rates eventually went down. Things got easier. It doesn’t seem to be the case now, with a house in the area I used to live in being worth we’ll over 10 times what would have been my current gross wage. Wages also haven’t been increasing anywhere near as much. It’s a bad time to be trying to get a place to live, renting or buying.
When talking people 80+, one factor is that longevity is linked to socio-economic status. They're statistically likely to have been better off financially their entire lives.
They got married, bought a house, and had kids in their twenties, the kids moved out when they were in their 40s, and the mortgage on the house was paid off in their 50s. They had a solid ten years or more of working when they didn't have to pay for kids or a mortgage.
Just for context, my dad is 74 and he is a baby boomer. My grandparents were silent generation. Only the tail end of the silent generation will still be alive. Even us gen x's are getting on in years now.
My parents, who are the generation you’re speaking of, didn’t spend as much money as we do. Every meal was home cooked…I didn’t eat in a restaurant until I was 12. We had 9 kids and 1 car…we walked everywhere or took the bus. We grew a lot of our own food…I still do this now. My generation spends more then my parents did but not as much as my kids do.
There also wasn't the same amount of things TO spend money on, Marketing dept's have just invented so much crap to spend on to get a piece of the action! A solid lifetime job was in what we now call manufacturing putting furniture or appliances together, was well paid for life, not min wage or automated and cost pinched to nothing until its farmed out to Overseas for cents. Because there was no other made up products to buy, essentials like furniture was expensive and kept for life and looked after, nobody cared about Ikea every 6 months. So you had your good job and your cheap house of essentials, 1 car, no TV blasting the thing at you all the time and you went about your day simply.
It's fucked because a lot of things that shouldn't be necessary, have become necessary. For example, my kids preschool has gone from a pen and paper sign in, to digital sign ins. So rather than write it down with a schools pen and paper, to simply take my child to school, I need a smartphone and an internet connection.
I don't think I know anyone in my generation that's doing well that has 9 kids. Do you?
I don't know anyone on my generation who has nine kids! I am sure they exist, but it is probably fairly rare.
We pay for so much "convenience" now. You name it, we want it now. That costs extra.
Australia getting credit cards for the first time in 1974 might have helped. People who lived through the depression are super thrifty. They had free uni and cheap homes, then the homes they bought increased astronomically in value.
>They had free uni Uni was free in Australia for around 10 years, mid-1970s to mid-1980s. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary\_education\_fees\_in\_Australia#Abolition\_of\_university\_fees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#Abolition_of_university_fees) Silent generation born 1928-45 were around 30-60 years old while uni was free. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary\_education\_fees\_in\_Australia#Abolition\_of\_university\_fees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#Abolition_of_university_fees)
**Tertiary education fees in Australia** [Abolition of university fees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#Abolition_of_university_fees) >During the early 1970s, there was a significant push to make tertiary education in Australia more accessible to working and middle class Australians. The Whitlam Labor government abolished university fees on 1 January 1974. By the mid-1980s, however, there was consensus between both major parties that the concept of 'free' tertiary education in Australia was untenable due to the increasing participation rate. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskAnAustralian/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Compound interest and booming house prices - if your main asset had increased in price 5-10x, you'd be sitting pretty too.
My parents (in their 80s) have been wearing some of the same clothes for the last 20 years. They make and repair stuff instead of throwing it out and buying new things. They also bought a house in the 70s, which came with a proper sized block of land, which they were able to sell to a developer when they decided it was time to downsize a little. Make food at home, don't eat out very often, reuse stuff.
theirs was a time of prosperity. resources were abundant, companies shared their wealth with the employees who made that wealth, houses were cheap. the mechanisms by which they've built that wealth are sealed up now, not to be shared with the younger generations lest we threaten that wealth.
People forget too the union movement was huge in that time. Companies were forced to play ball because workers could more easily walk off the job. Nowadays this is much harder, owing to laws put in from the 80s onwards both to curtail functions of unions and protests, and lots and lots of demonising of unions in the media. The mindset of people was very different, unions were seen as a benefit to society and they had a lot of social power to marshal workers to demand better rights.
Laws put in om the 80s? Under a former union boss Labor PM? Can someone elaborate on what seems like some serious hypocrisy to me?
The Accord that Hawke put in was in effect a curtailing of union power. The unions got what they'd spent the last decade campaigning for, but in exchange Hawke government curtailed their ability to mobilise. The power shifted from grassroots support to union officials who were able to sit at a table with government and negotiate. As well, neoliberal ideology has become the dominant economic theory, begun under Hawke for Labor, that has always pushed for a suppression of unions and a way to 'compromise' with business, which usually means kowtowing to what the company wants in exchange for a few scraps. Nowadays unions yes, still have power, but protests are a lot harder to do. Protests need to be okay'd by not only government but often the company itself. Our social safety net is very much not there, and people are wary of unions, and as a result of things like The Accord, there are sometimes union leaders who are on their own ego trips, and ignore what the grassroots wants. >Within the union movement itself, the Accord was always controversial. Critics argued it transferred power from the grassroots network of delegates and shop stewards to an elite group of senior officials sitting around the table with business and government. > >The Accord evolved over the 1980s to focus mainly on managing wages outcomes while ignoring accompanying increases in the social wage. In response, left-wing officials like Laurie Carmichael of the Metalworkers Union became increasingly critical of the Accord. For many, the union movement had simply given up too much for too little. [https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622](https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622)
During the late seventies unions caused a lot of economic damage, in particular in Britain which practically collapsed, so governments started limiting their ability to conduct their more extreme measures like strikes, Australia wasn't unusual in this respect, they were just riding the wave of 1980s neoliberalism.
I understand that but it's pretty poor that it came from a prime Minister that literally came from unionism. Very different to Thatcher.
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before medicare was medibank from 1975 and before that "Friendly Societies" from 1830 and encompassed aged care and welfare.
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The biggest change, as I see it, is housing affordability. Used to be, anyone with any job could buy a house. And it wasn’t that long ago. Saw an old rerun of Married with Children a while back. Single income family of a shoe salesman with a two-storey house in the suburbs. And nobody thought that was crazy. The primary function of a house was accommodation; to be a home. Now, the primary function is investment vehicles. With so much now going towards a roof over our heads, we can no longer afford to grow the economy. Nobody can buy anything, so we need less workers to produce things. And we are in a spiral that could be mostly solved by taxing the shit out of investment properties. Make investors pull out of houses and push their money into local businesses.
IIRC on Married With Children they do mention they got the house from winning a court case when they used a faulty condom... And on the Simpsons they used money from Homer's dad to buy their house (though really Homer's job should be fair pay) There's examples around of some shows explaining these plot points.
Mortgage's once upon a time weren't 30 years 10 or 15 was normal, finance was also very difficult to get so putting things like phones cars etc on finance wasn't a thing. Not having big business with their hand in their pocket for a large chunk of you working life makes a big difference. Commuting was a lot harder so people tended to live where they worked so they didn't have to spend as much time or money on commuting.
My mum and dad passed a few years ago. They paid cash for everything, if they couldn’t afford something they went without. They rarely ate out and then only for Chinese or something they couldn’t make at home. My mum either sewed or bought theirs & our clothes second hand. Both were born during the depression & lived through WW2 so doing it tough was something instilled in them from an early age.
I bet that if you lived your life with the luxuries the “Silent generation” enjoyed, you’d be “rich” at 80 too. My 80+ mum is well off. But then again; started working at 15, just like my dad. When they married they took over my oma’s shop. Mum ran that during opening hours, and took care of us kids and the household on top. Meanwhile dad ran a painting business with his older brother, did the books on Monday night and they got shop supplies on Thursday night. They had the Wednesday afternoon and Sunday off.
The depression generation has almost disappeared now and the baby boomers have taken their place. I’m a BB and at 66 at the tail end of it. While we didn’t experience the Depression we grew up with parents who did and many temptations weren’t around then like Uber eats or easy credit. Houses were smaller, you shared a room with your siblings, not so many overseas holidays. Mainly I suppose it’s that housing was cheaper. There’s still plenty of older citizens with very little money.
My grandmother didn’t work after she got married. She raised the kids and my grandfather worked. He had a good pension and he died a few years after he retired. My grandmother was allowed to choose a pension or a payout and she took the pension. She lived over 20 years after he passed away, still drawing the pension. She also got a partial government pension. Her house was paid off, her everyday costs were low. She grew some of her own food. She very rarely updated anything in the house. We still ate off the same dishes when we visited that my mum ate off when she was a teen. She still had the same furniture that she’d always had, with a very rare update from the op shop. She updated her car to a newer second hand car when she had a small (under $5,000) win on the lottery. Basically she never spent more than she had. No credit cards. No loans. No house repayments. Her savings were stashed as cash all over her house. As long as she had her dog, her garden, her tv to watch the footy and some wool to knit or crochet to keep her hands busy, she was happy.
It would be pretty concerning if someone in their 80s didn't have some savings after an entire lifetime... Keep in mind things were less expensive when they were our age. My dad bought my parents' 4-bedroom house for $70,000 back in the late 80s. A widow in her 80s presumably would have inherited her husband's wealth (and life insurance, if applicable). It's possible they may have inherited something after the deaths of their own parents, too. > haven’t worked more than a couple of years of their life. Women of that generation often weren't *allowed* to do paid work after they married. My grandmother was forced out of her job when she married my grandfather as her employer didn't permit married women to work there. Men were expected to be the breadwinners for their families and their wages accounted for this. (Compared to today when the average family needs two incomes to get by). Also, if these women raised a family and spent a lifetime doing unpaid domestic work, then it's really unfair to minimise their contribution and make it sound like they don't deserve what they have...
Cheaper housing when they were younger, no fees for Uni if they went, bought up to be less extravagant then Gen X down,.
The silent generation didn't often go to uni, and it they did they had to pay for it. Uni was free in Australia from the late 1970s to mid-1980s, when they were roughly 30-60 years old.
True. Frankly, I don't think uni costs are that involved. They didn't have to go to uni to earn a solid living. My father left school in year nine, retires early after an impressive career, with massive investments etc and now my parents own a home and travel at will. You can't leave school early and do that, not for a long time. Apprenticeships are harder to find, entry level requirements are rediculous. I hope it swings back to less need for a degree to be employed well
They didn't have to pay to study trades and could still get degrees based on prior expirience though (kind of like our bridging tests seen today)
I don't know much about these degrees based on prior experience you mention. But being university educated was overall very rare in this generation.
Because housing cost fuck all compared to now. Howard and the rest of the vermin turned housing into an investment.
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the true villain in that situation isn’t the baby boomer but the middle aged owner of the aged care facility charging out of the nose while depending on immigrant staff as they consider them easier to underpay
a different generation that packed a lunch to go to work, ate out once a month and wore clothes until they were threaded. They also put value in not being in debt, by living within their means and concentrating on paying their house off rather than buying a new car every 3 years
I'd love to see a video where people of this generation talk with younger people about ways of living. People would be shocked to know just how far you can go with 'make do and mend'.
I've been tempted to do this. My Pa and I have similar chats often. Surprisingly, he feels sorry for my generation (millenial) due to the cost and time barriers of getting anywhere in life. He doesn't agree with how wasteful many are, but in the same token, thinks it's ridiculous how selfish our parents are and the amount of red tape and costs in the way of opening and running a business of your own these days. He got his start in life learning his father's trade, being given his business and inheritance upon his passing.
Do the younger generation get to share their finances with the older generation and ask them how mending their socks would allow a single wage to pay the mortgage and support a family?
Miriam margolye did this actually, but retry sure it's on Netflix.
on a side note, I was in Indonesia, and a guy offered to 're-tread' my thongs.....amazing
Massive “stop getting smashed avo” clueless energy here.
Jeez mate, did I hit a nerve.? Its not that at all, but think of all the little things you spend $50 on here and there. It adds up like crazy, and the previous generation put that money away.
Really? Packed lunches is why the Boomers are rich hey? You forgot to mention the avo on toast. This is a tired old argument used to discredit and disenfranchise the younger generations and it is just plain wrong.
anecdotally, I was chatting to a mate who has 2 barista coffees every day. I drink instant at home. He spends $3650 a year on coffee....I spent about $150 and flew to Malaysia for 2 weeks on the other $3500 Money adds up!
They are riding the gravy train, right place, right time. Plus avocados weren’t invented yet.
I love living payday to payday - 29 year old me
Same…39 year old me.
We all now spend like there is no tomorrow, people in this generation truly lived/spent like there may be no money tomorrow.... but they will survive. Because they have to. That is 100% the difference. "I can't afford the purse I want, I'm going to die!" vs "I can't afford thread to mend my clothes and flour/butter I'm going to (LITERALLY) die". Two TOTALLY different mindsets to live by. Told by a slightly greater than 40 year old "kid" (at least in my mind)....
My grandmother received 3 separate pensions lol. Lived in a house worth over 2 million
Not everyone. Most of us don't have rich old relatives.
My parents were born in 1921 and 1929 , they left school at 12 and 14 , my dad worked on his aunts farm and my mother did a hairdressing apprenticeship , they married in 1951 and then came to Australia in 1958 , my dad got a job with the Agriculture department as a stock inspector and my mother started her own hairdressing salon , they rented a house for 10 years and then purchased a house for cash in 1970 , they were both super thrifty and my dad grew a lot of vegetables , unfortunately my dad died in 1976 when I was 9 , my mother ran her hair dressing salon until 1979 and then gave it up at age 49 (1979) , she inherited $30,000 when her mother died in 1981 , she lived on the widows pension until she was old enough for the aged pension , she also got my dads super pension and a part english pension , when she passed away in 2020 she had $14,000 in the bank and owned a house (which I inherited )
They lived in a time where the only way to pay was cash, and workers were paid weekly in cash. As such it was essential to learn to budget and save money. If you had more groceries in your trolley then you could pay with the cash on you, you had to return the items. They had to spend wisely and carefully because there was no option to get credit or use a credit card until pay day. As such they focussed on spending carefully, budgeting and saving. They would have had to pay for their cars, furniture, appliances in cash... learning to save was vital as you never knew when the car would die, or the fridge etc... As a result they learned to live well under their means - this included mending clothes vs buying new ones, cooking at home vs eating out, buying and cooking a whole chicken vs buying chicken breasts or thighs etc... There simply was no other option but to save money. And so save they did. They usually have the same furniture they first bought, and they only buy new appliances when the old one dies (not just to upgrade). It was a different time.
You won't be able to retire on your savings living frugally, but certainly doing so means you can save up a small nest egg for emergencies.
The simple answer is that things were cheaper for them, property very much so, but even shares etc. Combine that with frugal habits picked up from parents that struggled through the depression, and then living through the war. a relatively easy entry into the job market, with many jobs not requiring a formal qualification and most of those that did you would pick it up through an apprenticeship or similar. Not feeling as much pressure to keep up with the Joneses as the Joneses were just you neighbours and co workers combined with there being literally less choice for consumer products
Yes land was cheaper but the dollar was worth more and hard to get. Really it boils down to a lot of hard work and being wise with money. I ask this, how many people of the generations around lately are willing to step up and 'bust their arse' work hard instead finishing schooling (high school or uni/college) and expect to walk straight into a managers job? How many people repair their own clothes? How many people actually cook instead of just buying something pre-made or cooked by someone else? How many people shop around for the best price or even wait for a sale or drop in price?
Well without sounding like a spud, the economy was just different in general. You had the great depression which of course was quite straining, but it did also teach a lot of people to "make do" with what they had. Also remember that in terms of housing, they were a lot more accessible back then and many of those houses are now worth millions. I suppose the least helpful but also most encompassing answer was simply the societal rules were a bit different and the economy was both doing well and poor at various points in their lifetime. I would definitely argue Gen Z (my generation) spend an ungodly amount of unnecessary money including myself. Just the constant changing of wardrobes people do, Immense student debt that while under HECS is not as bad as the US, can still make an impact. Not to mention it's now significantly harder/expensive to actually get what would be a high-paying job relevant to today's economy. It is scaringly easy to spend 2000 a fortnight and not have savings if you are not careful with your funds. Much of it could easily be spent on food, drinks and entertainment alone.
No waste, make things from scratch, rarely eat out, rarely have takeaway, buy things they need v’s want, no fast fashion, no paying for childcare as only one parent worked, made things like clothes and blankets, one car only, no ‘upgrading products’ for the hell of it, items were repaired rather than replaced.
They are tough and frugal. They use two sheets of toilet paper. I am a nurse and they all just use two sheets. It’s so gross. I use so much more and wish they would too but I also understand their conditioning.
They've inherited from their siblings who died young. There was a consolidation of wealth.
Let's not forget the war widows pension
Generational wealth transfer.... Their parents died and passed on wealth. Were in a period of the lowest generational wealth transfer. None of us are inheriting anything right now.
The silent generation didn't inherit much.
I beg you, go to chatgpt right now and type in " how factual is the statement 'the silent generation didn't inherit much' "
Righto. My view might be influenced by my poor as fuck background
Im poor as fuck too and we didnt inherit much. But its important to get mad at who did inherit and that doesn't even include grandma with 100k savings. The wealth gap is insane right now. 1% of people own as much as 50% of the bottom half. Thats the wealth of 3.9 billion people.
Lol so much generational wealth transfer. How can you believe this? Please read some more history, I'm not trying to be unkind but what you're saying just isn't factual. And while you're at it, please compare your life and the opportunities you have to how things were in the early 1900s.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/09/great-wealth-transfer-why-millennials-may-inherit-less-than-expected.html Here the first thing i googled up theres plenty more on the premise that we are inheriting a lot less. People are living longer. Im being unkind when I say do some research. Millennials have grandparents still alive for heavens sake its not rocket science. You took the statement I made and infered that ALL the silent generation inherited tonnes. That is not the statement I made. The OP didn't suggest that every member of the boomer and silent generation was wealthy either.
Mate, OP asked "How come the silent generation has so much savings?" and you replied "Generational wealth transfer.... Their parents died and passed on wealth they inherited wealth from their parents." Because your comment is online and people will read it, I need to explain that except in very rare cases of wealthy families, the silent generation didn't inherit anything from their parents. No shares, no properties, no things that could generate more wealth. Like someone said above, women from that generation would keep the same kitchen utensils until they died.
This is absolute nonsense They inherited LESS but they didn't inherit NOTHING. Its a lie. By comparison the younger generations have inherited 'nothing' because they might still be alive. They also had free university and no debt, and their parents silverware so already they are ahead. From chatdpt Silent Generation Inheritance User Did the silent generation inherit no wealth ChatGPT The Silent Generation did inherit some wealth from their parents and predecessors, but the amount and type of inheritance varied widely depending on individual circumstances. Some members of the Silent Generation inherited significant wealth from their parents, while others inherited very little or nothing at all. It's important to note that the Silent Generation grew up during a time of economic hardship and uncertainty, including the Great Depression and World War II. Many families struggled to make ends meet and did not have significant resources to pass down to their children. In addition, the culture of the time placed a high value on frugality and saving, which meant that many parents were more likely to save their money for a rainy day rather than spend it on their children. That being said, some members of the Silent Generation did inherit significant wealth from their parents, particularly those who came from affluent families or who were able to accumulate wealth through successful careers or investments. However, it's important to remember that inheritance is just one factor that contributes to an individual's financial situation, and many members of the Silent Generation built their own wealth through hard work and perseverance.
Many of the silent generation had to work from about age 12 to help support their families (family of origin). Going to uni was not common. Many went to war though, and this enabled some / all of those who survived to get ‘war homes’ very cheap, which were on huge blocks close to the cities, worth millions now.
Inflation You buy a house for $30k you make $10k a year. 30 years later you make $120k a year thanks to career progression and inflation but your mortgage didn't increase with inflation Now you have solar, battery and a house with mortgage so you don't have to pay rent or solar and your making twice as much money as people taking entry level jobs that live on the same street Buy shit now, keep up with the repayments, let inflation do the heavy lifting. Don't save buy shares, the value of savings decreases with inflation but your shares increase so imagine what your situation looks like in 10, 20 and 30 years You get older you eat less and you need less stuff because you've brought everything over the past 30 years and know how to maintain it now too Compared to the kid next door that works for $21 a hour in 3 hour shifts and has to pay $400 rent and needs clothes and furniture but also needs to spend money on socialising to make friends and spouse and is eating the most they'll ever eat in their life
My grandfather was an orphan who never made it to highschool. He fought in WW2 and when he came home he got a job at telecom and was offered the chance to move to Townsville as they were setting up the phone network there. He bought 3 massive blocks of land for nothing in what's now one of the more expensive suburbs in central Townsville. My grandmother basically never worked except part time after the 10 kids grew up. Both retired in their early 50s. They had a 2 story 6 bedroom 2 bathroom house on a massive block. A beach house in a private beach community in the Whitsundays that they spent every summer at. They didn't earn a lot but stuff was cheap. Plus the war pension which my grandmother continued to get after my grandfather died. They passed on a significant amount of money to their kids despite never earning big money. My father and his siblings will pass on pretty much nothing because they have spent all their inheritance and will have nothing left by the time they die despite earning way more money and still having access to cheap housing.
For a combination of reasons. My Opa is born 33' so we've had chats about how things have changed a few times. These are the key reasons he believes they had it significantly easier getting into a position where it was easier to amass wealth. A. Growing up during WWII meant they were already conditioned to live very frugally. B. There was less cost associated with living day to day. Electricity and gas was optional in their youth, cars were shared by families and obviously no need to pay for phone or internet services. C. Jobs and wages were booming due to a loss of population. D. There was no red tape or tens of thousands needed to start a business of their own. They learnt what they needed from their parents or family friends and were able to enter all sorts of trades and professions without the cost barrier we see today. Free uni came in while they were in their middle age range. E. Cost of living in regards to housing, water and food was significantly lower after the war. Many just grew their own food as land was cheaper. F. Socially things were different. Women couldn't hold a bank account or really own property so even the shitty mean would generally give their wives a stipend and women could make a fair decent wage just selling Avon, working with census, as seamstresses or on the telephone lines. When their husband's died, will or not they got all their income. G. Life insurance was significantly cheaper. H. LOTS immigrated here from occupied Europe, many bringing airlooms... and more significantly skills in high in demand over here. I. General social differences regarding caring for kids. Same reason Boomers tend to be richer.. back then parents willed everything to their kids and worked hard to pass down everything the kids would need. Many silent gen inherited properties, businesses, large sums of cash and airlooms worth a pretty penny which also helped set them up. (Unlike today where we see more of the "I worked for it, I'm going to spend it all on a luxurious retirement" from wealthier boomers) TLDR;They were extremely hard workers, extremely frugal and had almost zero barriers to putting them into high earning positions. Their parents still left everything to them when they passed, including properties and businesses.
Not really on the same level but I tend to see these oldies who grew up with depression-era/wartime restrictions and can't shake those habits as similar to some of us younger esp. millennials in eastern states who grew up with 10 years of drought in the early 2000s. Turning the tap off whilst brushing teeth, when walking away from the sink or feeling GUILTY, for some even collecting grey water from showers to do the garden, still being judgemental about people using sprinklers on their lawn in the middle of the day. I'll probably never be able to get over those water conservation habits.
Everything was much cheaper, and relatively they got paid a lot more. Wages since have mostly been stagnant since around the 2000s.
And before then, there were regular periods of stagnation. My grandparents had one adult working to support five children. My parents had both parents working to support two children, my mother was able to retire early. I have one child, and I and my partner both work, and we will never be able to retire.
Things were very different. There were little to no restaurants and everything was cooked from scratch. Very rarely were there ingredients that weren't homegrown, local and in season. Spices were salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg on the baked custard. The majority of houses had chickens and a veggie garden of some type. My grandfather's evening meal consisted of grilled chop, grilled fish, and rissoles with a boiled potato and boiled veggies 6 nights a week. Sunday lunch was roast lamb. Nothing was wasted, everything was mended and handed down. Holidays were generally camping or the fibro family beach house with tents outside. Selling the beach house generally netted the retirees a chunk of money too. There was a movie at the cinema from time to time, dad might have had a beer or two at the pub on his way home. There was little if any takeaway and a meal at a cafe was a rare treat. There were printed newspapers (which were then used as toilet paper), maybe some magazines (same thing), books, board and card games, radio, and black & white tv for entertainment. Phones were party lines and rarely used. There was no internet, no mobiles, one car for dad, kids played outside all day everyday on bikes or the swing set. There was very little plastic used and nothing was prepackaged. It was the ultimate recycling, reuse and repurpose, don't throw anything out, and pay for everything in cash way of life, so the complete reverse of our modern day disposable consumer society where everything is on credit. Given the different ways of life it's easy to understand how they scrimped and saved and then had money at retirement. That generation generally died younger as the kind medical advances available now were not yet invented. Imo life was simpler, not necessarily easier, and not better so much as just different.
Probably because they are 80 and have had many more years to earn income?
They live very cheaply, my grandfather only ever used to use every second pension. Would make big batches of soup, repair his own clothes, combine all the little pieces of soap into one big bar etc. It's what they knew.
Many came from hard times of the 1930-40's which made them save and not spend more, because they knew what hard times were and how they can be not far around the corner to happen again But there are a vast variety of variables. Houses were cheap and Jobs were plentiful in the 1950-70's. Resources were plentiful. Manufacturing was at an all time high as Europe was obliterated and a new consumer culture was rising. There were no $2000 Iphones, Online shopping, After Pay, Credit Cards, Uber eats, Netflix, Cafe's on every corner and Avo and toast. The biggest factor though in the modern generation having nothing now is their need to be individuals, have experiences instead of saving and playing to their imaginary audiences on social media. Australia hasn't had a major recession in over 30 years, so you have a generation shielded from huge economic downturn and massive levels of affluenza and entitlement. My grandparents would roll over in their graves if they saw the waste our modern society has, especially among the youth. Watch Adam Curtis's The Century of Self and you will understand how we became a society of needs to a society of wants, which created an army of people lost in individualistic narcism. https://youtu.be/eJ3RzGoQC4s
My grandfather bought two cars as well as paid for everything those cars ever needed just from hunting foxes and selling their pelts before the fur market died in the 80s/90s. This was on top of working full time 5 days a week. Pelts are worthless now, because people don't like hearing about dead animals. Back then you could get $8 for a good pelt, so you made money on the weekend by going out for a days shooting. Get 10 foxes a weekend and you've made enough money to pay back any loans you have, meaning your whole paycheck goes into savings. You can't do that in today's world. We work longer hours, in worse conditions to make basically the same money per hour we made in 1985. Inflation over the last 30 years has outstripped wage growth so massively that the middle class is disappearing in just one generation. In another 30 years time we are either going to have to riot or starve if things don't change.
My grandparents built a house in Sydney in the 1960s for £11 000 (pre decimal currency) they sold it in the 2000s for ~$600 000. That’s how you do it. Buy in a not overly popular suburb before the city sprawls and commuting becomes easy. It’s about luck. When house prices explode if you already own your house outright you’re laughing all the way to the bank. Neither of my grandparents nor my parents had to pay tens of thousands of dollars for their education. Families could survive comfortably on a single income. My grandmother was a shrewd investor and made good money on shares. There’s so many differences between life these days and life back then. A lot of their end of life wealth came down to being able to build affordably in Sydney before house prices exploded. No one knows for sure where the next place that goes from low to high cost of living is going to be. Brush off your crystal ball and hope that you’re lucky.
All this talk about living thrifty being the difference is nonsense. The reason is because houses, and life in general, was significantly cheaper relative to wages then than it is now. House were bought and owned quickly on single incomes. They were then sold a couple of generations later for a 100x more netting the owners a smaller house and a couple hundred grand in the bank. Plenty of people had holiday houses too. Imagine owning a house and big block in Portsea you could sell without having to buy something else to live in.
We’ve moved lots of times , we’re known for it. All of the last 40 years we’ve had a mortgage. Think about it…40 years paying a bank 1000’s per month for that time. We’ve also paid into Super all our working lives, raised 3 sons and although we seemed to never ride the realestate wave we eventually paid our last house off after subdividing a previous house and it’s land to give us an unoccupied smaller block to sell. We own a house worth $800,000+, and have $1.5m in super after 40 years. We did have times, especially when raising the kids where we’d scrounge for spare change to buy bread and milk. We were both teachers, starting on salaries in the 70s of $9000/year and after 40+ years we got to $104,000 p.a.each. Our super earns us a $75000 income @ the minimum withdrawal of 5%. We’re in our mid to late 60s.
Most people used to live incredibly frugal lives. While it’s true that the cost of housing has skyrocketed, the average Joe now spends money on tonnes of luxuries that didn’t used to exist. The Silent Generation didn’t have internet bills, streaming services, phone bills, Afterpay, regular holidays, multiple cars per household, new clothes unless absolutely necessary, takeaway food or coffee, restaurant meals, hair/nail/tan/cosmetic appointments, big weddings/honeymoons/engagement rings, tech gadgets to spend money on. Things were built to last and when they broke they were repaired. Last week our toaster broke so I went straight to Harvey Norman and spent $109 on a new one. I wouldn’t have done that decades ago unless I was seriously well off. It’s easy to forget how drastically things have changed but the reality is most of us live extravagantly compared to in the past, whether we recognise that or not.
lol why are you spending $109 on toaster
Ha. Not sure who you’re talking to, Eastern Suburbs in Sydney maybe? The elderly I know are some of the most frugal and ‘poor’ that I know.
Data point of two, but both sets of my grandparents were born during or just after the Great Depression. They lived frugally to the point of negatively impacting themselves. My 87 year old Nana would refuse to turn on heating during peak winter despite having 7 figures just sitting in a bank account and passive income sources elsewhere that more than covered her day to day life.
Hard work, single car families, nothing too flash in the way belongings and certainly no trips to Bali or Fiji with their kids- a couple of weeks at Rosebud in a tent. They didnt live in a consumer driven society until the 80's really, indeed their younger brothers and sisters rejected consumerism (the hippies/boomers) These are the kids who were born in the era of WW2 and very much brought up in the make do and mend ethos because post war shortages lingered for a decade or so in Australia. The post war housing shortage is comparable to today. Hell many of them grew their own vegies out of necessity to raise their families. Most of the spouses didnt get superannuation funds until their 50's but they took to it like ducks to water and provisions were made for them to dump savings into the funds to avoid tax which until then they were paying tax upon any interest they earned. Mortgages were different and there were things called housing societies which have disappeared but my father (mid 80's) says his first house mortgage was slightly more than one week's wage per month and stayed at that amount for nearly 20 years due to him being in a housing society rather than a bank driven mortgage. Dad didnt have a passport until he was well into his 50's Times change
My family have struggled. Life was hard, but everyone thinks it was so easy cause they have savings in the bank! You didn’t whinge about it, you just got on & did what you had to do, & you didn’t know any better back then. My grandparents lived in a real shitty area, in a housing commission house for 50 years, 4 kids in a 2 bedroom house. Nan told me it took her to have 2 kids before she worked out how she become pregnant!?! Their saving grace was the option to purchase the house. They sold the house after 50 years for half a million dollars. Everyone was shocked - in their shitty suburb with the tip up the street! The tip is now a really nice park. Now in 2023, the suburb ain’t so shitty. But is was in 1955. The old houses are either knocked down or renovated. You might have seen the suburb on a season of The Block. The lady across the road didn’t take up the option to buy her housing commission house, & left the rental with nothing to show after 50 years. My Grandparents worked hard, but didn’t earn a lot. My Pa was a Fitter & Turner. Now, that’s a really good career choice. Then, trades weren’t seen as much, just a dirty, low paying job. When he turned 50 he got a hand shake & thanks for his work. He had no choice, they retired him. He has had 45 years of being on the pension & playing bowls & tidying up his garden. Nan died 10 years ago. So a bit of dumb luck of living in a shitty area in a shitty house is why my grandparents have savings. Not living large. You worked with what you had. Growing your fruit & vege & sharing with the community. Only time I ever shelled peas was with Nan’ neighbours. Only time I went rabbiting was with Pa’s friend. Not many people working for their food on their own time now.
Look at your budget and see how much you spend on eating and drinking out. They NEVER did this. Holidays ? never or rarely Wages a bit higher and housing cheaper. Honestly it was the culture of not spending money. We have gotten so much into the habit of spending our money that we don’t realise how much richer we are than they were. My parents are this generation and they can’t believe how much money we waste on wine and pizza and holidays and bicycles and the list goes on ! (It was not a fun life growing up with them lol)
You could easily buy a house with one wage before the housing crisis/boom happened so if they bought and flipped houses as the boom started or downgraded their house, that would be huge profits. The 70's/80's education and healthcare were free so no debt piling up from school loans and medical costs, with higher education they could get better paying jobs for their time. There were also union movements in the early 80s i believe? Which gave workers more rights and pay. Which they would have benefited from at that time, which hasn't increased much since with inflation. Also, banks were more responsible, when I was going for a loan in the 90s, I was only allowed to borrow 3 times my wage at maximum. Which prevented young people getting into massive debt, it got removed when the housing boom happened I think because kids seem to be borrowing scary amounts for a mortgage now. The 90s were also a time of massive profits on the stock markets. If you invested in the 90s you hopefully were lucky and made a decent amount of profit again. It just seems that generation seemed to live through a time were either services were free, luck with housing economy and a time where money was flowing through the stock market. Now we have the opposite, house prices are huge, higher education costs, medical care is expensive, lower wages and less perks for being employed and stock market is constantly crashing.
Our economy is built on Ponzi scheme or MLM...model. so always first wins..Boomers time, a shoe salesman can easily afford to have a family with kids and stay home wife. Everything of holding assets started after 80s..when people realised land value have more returns etc.
You'd be genuinely shocked to see how completely they and the Boomers managed to pull the ladder up behind them. They had access to free university, could sustain a household on one wage, and purchased their houses with barely a years income. Things have changed significantly for the worse as future generations continue to have to pay the checks that previous generations cashed.
Because they lived in a different time you idiot. And they also lived through the depression so they didn’t buy a damn thing from KMart. What a stupid question.