Why You Are Poorer Than Your Parents

Why is it that young people are poorer than their parents’ generation? It was once taken for granted that each successive generation increased in prosperity compared to the one before it, as the world became a better and more interconnected place.

But this has not happened for our generation – millennials and tail-end Gen Xers are falling behind, finding the post-recession world a difficult and expensive place within which to build a future.

Souring house prices, a soulless jobs market and an ageing population are often quoted as the blame. But is life really worse now than it was for our parents and grandparents?

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Why You Feel Poorer

1) Rubbish Pay

The jobs market has always offered insulting pay rises to hard working employees, but since the 2008 economic crash we have also seen starter salaries and pay grades stagnate and fall with inflation, and professions devalued.

Unskilled immigration has also infamously played a factor in stagnating pay rises at the bottom end of the jobs market, though Brexit may correct this. Employers are already starting to hire British workers over EU nationals in these lower paying roles to prepare for the uncertainty of labour access ahead.

It's not enough today to rely on even a professional job for financial freedom

By trade Ben is a Chartered Accountant; in our parents’ generation, being a Chartered Accountant meant you were wealthy by default; but it’s not enough today.

Even though we’re paid well relative to our peers, our investments and side hustles (business start-ups) are the vehicles by which we acquire wealth.

Most jobs, even professional ones, are now paid far less than their equivalents in the 90s in real terms. You can’t rely on a job any more for financial freedom.

2) House Prices Are Too High

Between the 20 year period 1996 and 2016, house prices rose 281% across the UK, and 501% in London. To put this into perspective, 2.5% inflation over 20 years should be only a 64% increase.

The youth of today are expected to buy far more expensive homes with their far lower salaries. It’s a recipe for trouble.

Underpaid and undervalued

3) Forced to Stay in Family Home

We were both fortunate to learn about investing and business early on and had built up income streams to subsidise our wages when we bought homes in our 20s.

But it is common for people to live at home well into their 30s to save money for a house deposit, taking away many freedoms that our parents’ generation knew when they left home aged 18, and making you feel poorer.

4) Your Pension Is A Joke

Our parents and grandparents generations enjoyed Final Salary Pensions, meaning they could look forward to retirement knowing their monthly income would be more or less similar to when they were working.

Workers in their 20s and 30s have only ever known Defined Contribution Pensions – you pay in a small amount of your salary and your employer pays a bit in too.

The young generations will be too poor to retire at 70

It is estimated that most people on these modern pension schemes will be too poor to retire on their pensions when they get to retirement age, as they are saving too little of their salaries. This is likely because their salary barely covers their rent or mortgage payments and they can’t save any higher.

Final Salary Pensions were far too generous and ultimately unsustainable, so we agree they had to go – we understand that if you want to retire wealthy, you have to invest and build passive income streams NOW.

It’s Not All Bad for Millennials Though, Surely?

Odds are you are currently looking at a smart phone, or have one in your pocket. Technological advances in the last decade have been incredible, and the improvements to our lives are taken for granted.

We can now shop online, invest in shares for free with a single click, watch TV on demand anywhere, navigate without paper maps, sell stuff on Facebook Marketplace and eBay, and run entire businesses from a laptop and mobile phone.

The freedom and time saving power that the internet and tech has given us was not there for our parents growing up, making life that little bit harder for them.

Also, a large part of why young people are poorer is because we tend to be looser with our cash – how often do you go out for meals or to the cinema?

For our parents’ generation this was a rare treat, and for our grandparents it was only on special family occasions like a silver wedding anniversary.

Because the economy is so vibrant now compared to then, we are constantly tempted by brands, gadgets and leisure activities – and we think our generation is guilty of overspend.

No such thing as a job-for-life anymore

A Job For Life

There is no longer such a concept as a job for life. People our age spend 2 or 3 years in a post before moving on to the next role out of career necessity.

There’s plenty of criticisms to say about David Cameron, but he at least got the jobs market moving again after the recession. The jobs market is so fluid and full of opportunity following the reforms of the coalition government of 2010 that people can climb the career ladder more quicker by changing employer than they can staying within one company. 

The jobs market at least is full of opportunity

Employers know this, and as such make little effort to retain and develop staff – far easier to hire someone new who already has those skills.

In the place of a job for life, we have the gig economy. More and more millennials are moving towards a multiple incomes approach, working several jobs and side hustles.

The gig economy is a harsh place to be if forced into it due to lack of money, but for those who choose this lifestyle, there is far greater freedom and life is rarely boring.

A job for life offered security. But the gig economy offers freedom.

What Can Be Done?

First, let’s look at what the government can do for you. Then we’ll look at what others can do for you, and finally, what you can do for yourself.

 The government could decide overnight to slash tax rates on entrepreneurs, recognising the many young people in the gig economy who are also our greatest innovators.

And the government could and should abolish stamp duty on houses, or at least slash it to a nominal 1%.

Many older people can't afford to leave their big homes, due to stamp duty

Old people can’t afford to downsize their homes as they are hit with thousands of pounds of stamp duty tax, meaning young families cannot access this limited housing stock of 3 and 4 bedroom houses.

We believe that tax cuts generally benefit everyone in an economy, so the fact that both the old and the young would benefit from this tax cut is a good thing – it doesn’t have to be zero-sum.

One popular idea that was widely reported on recently is the idea that your relatives could decide to skip a generation in inheritance, or hand money down years before their deaths.

The logic is that with people living far longer now, their descendants tend to inherit in their 60s or 70s when they are already financially comfortable, rather than what used to be the case, in their 30s or 40s when household income is tight.

We don’t agree with this though – we believe it is up to YOU to get your finances in order, and not to rely on a future windfall from a tragic life event.

Anyone relying on inheritance for their financial freedom is a) not managing their money right, and b) a little morbid!

The Twin Pillars of Business start-ups and Investing

Take Back Control – The Twin Pillars of Business Start-Ups and Investing

Finally, what can YOU do for yourself? We encourage everyone to take back control of their finances, and not let the modern world push you around.

If you are feeling poor, build yourself new income streams – check out our very popular video on side hustle ideas linked in the description below.

And make sure to invest any surplus cash you make from it. The twin pillars of investing and starting businesses will set you financially free.

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