Economic mobility: Are you better off than your parent(s)?

[Marka Ragnos]

Yep. My parents were never really very well off.

My starting wage at my graduate job was more than either of my parents had ever earned as a salary.

I currently earn more than their combined wages would have ever been

Impressive! Sounds like education was the key?

[ender4]

I am better off than my parents were when they were my age. I am also better off than my parents are now - though they will now have savings and assets that i don't currently have. But i would expect to have similar or more saved by the time i am their age. I have a bigger house than them, earn more relatively than they did, go on more holidays than they did, eat out more, have more leisure time, etc.

 

But they probably enjoyed life just as much as me, maybe more.  They had less stress, and they do have amazing pensions (relative to me) that will kick in soon.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2015 by ender4

[Marka Ragnos]

 

Glorious -- and there's a little spark in the eye, too.

[markavfc40]

I wanted one when I was 26, ended up with one at 27.  Reason being, I want to be reasonably young when he's 27 (as well as wanting a kid since I've been about 10 anyway, always thought I'd make a good dad for some reason, turns out I'm an awesome dad )

 

 

I had my first child at 24 for similar reasons although then waited another 8 years till having my second . My wife wanted us to go again about 3 years ago but I was 38 by then and didn't want to know as then I'd have kopped for it at both ends of my life and been knocking on 50 by the time my youngest had started senior school. As it is my eldest is 17 and my youngest is 9 and I am 41.

We've been pretty fortunate really in that me and my wife both have half decent jobs but more importantly I was lucky to buy my first house at just the right time in 1998 as with in two years I got 40% more than I paid for it. Then our next house had more than doubled in price inside 12 years when we sold it. The house we live in now I would have struggled to be able to afford had I have been a first time buyer it was only the fact I had a massive deposit to put down as we'd been fortunate in terms of how house prices shot up giving us big profits on our first two houses.

I genuinely feel for younger people now looking to get on the housing ladder as house prices are extortionate.

Edited September 28, 2015 by markavfc40

[mjmooney]

We've been looking after her today, as her mum's a bit under the weather with a virus, and dad's at work. She's a little sweetheart.

[emoji177]

[ender4]

 

The people who I know who have retired all say the same thing, that until they stopped work they didn't realise how expensive going to work actually is.

When transport costs and nursery fees are added together and the cost of clothing and lunches are accounted for, it quickly becomes clear how little net benefit working is.

Elizabeth Warren (as mentioned above) says that a household where both partners work get stuck in what she calls the 'two-income trap' which makes them much more vulnerable to bankruptcy.

Really?   I'm not convinced.  Yes, if i earn £20k and spend £10k in nursery fees and other work related costs, then in effect i'm only earning £10k net.   

But thats still a decent net benefit.

 

and as someone mentioned, my wife now only works 2 days a week because of young kids. She finds a lot more 'projects' and shopping that need doing - ie: new sofas, new dining table, redecorating, clothes shopping, etc... i'm sure part of that is because if she was working full-time there wouldn't be time to do any of that.  

 

[leviramsey]

Economic mobility and "doing better than one's parents" are being falsely conflated in this poll.

Data point: I'm almost certainly (despite an annual income exceeding nearly all of Villa's squad's weekly wages) worse off than my dad: I don't expect to inherit more than a single-digit percentage of the $1-2 million he's inherited, though my employment situation is somewhat better than his.

Consider, there's a fairly strong case to be made that a marker of a society that performs well from an economic mobility standpoint is one where around half of people are worse off than their parents.

[MakemineVanilla]

 

The people who I know who have retired all say the same thing, that until they stopped work they didn't realise how expensive going to work actually is.

When transport costs and nursery fees are added together and the cost of clothing and lunches are accounted for, it quickly becomes clear how little net benefit working is.

Elizabeth Warren (as mentioned above) says that a household where both partners work get stuck in what she calls the 'two-income trap' which makes them much more vulnerable to bankruptcy.

 

Really?   I'm not convinced.  Yes, if i earn £20k and spend £10k in nursery fees and other work related costs, then in effect i'm only earning £10k net.   

But thats still a decent net benefit.

 

and as someone mentioned, my wife now only works 2 days a week because of young kids. She finds a lot more 'projects' and shopping that need doing - ie: new sofas, new dining table, redecorating, clothes shopping, etc... i'm sure part of that is because if she was working full-time there wouldn't be time to do any of that.  

 

Your predicament confirms my belief that a lot of guys should definitely take their agent along, when they negotiate their contract of cohabitation.

[Stevo985]

Yep. My parents were never really very well off.

My starting wage at my graduate job was more than either of my parents had ever earned as a salary.

I currently earn more than their combined wages would have ever been

Impressive! Sounds like education was the key?

Possibly. My mom wasn't very well educated. She was raised on a farm and left school when she was 14. She's very very intelligent, but was just not educated to a high level. She did fine though, she's been manager of various hotels over the years.

Dad left school fairly early and went into the army. Being brutally honest I don't think he had much motivation for "normal" work. He's always been employed since but he's just had comfortable jobs really. Did his job but I don't think he had much motivation to climb any promotional ladders.

So yeah, education probably helped my particular situation, but it's by no means the be all and end all in my opinion.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Stevo985

[sexbelowsound]

Hard work and motivation trumps education any day of the week. That or just being born into privilege. 

[Marka Ragnos]

 

So yeah, education probably helped my particular situation, but it's by no means the be all and end all in my opinion.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I only meant for YOU, not your parents. Same story with my dad, btw.

[jonno_2004]

I'm 25; I earn circa 3 times more than my Dad.

However, he owns a house, sports car and boat (sadly whilst saving for a deposit only the former seems a fairly distant prospect for me in London) - the most he has earned per annum is around £35k I'm led to believe with my mum at a similar level. 

Baby boomers FTW.

[MakemineVanilla]

Counting up the people I know, the remarkable thing is how everyone seems to have stayed in the same class as their parents (C1 & C2).

I know a few people whose parents were DE but those are very much the exception.

It kind of confirms my suspicion that kids only succeed as far as their parents allow them.

 

 

[mjmooney]

Counting up the people I know, the remarkable thing is how everyone seems to have stayed in the same class as their parents (C1 & C2).

I know a few people whose parents were DE but those are very much the exception.

It kind of confirms my suspicion that kids only succeed as far as their parents allow them.

 

 

Most of my friends are BC1, having had DE parents. Baby boomer generation.

[Stevo985]

Counting up the people I know, the remarkable thing is how everyone seems to have stayed in the same class as their parents (C1 & C2).

I know a few people whose parents were DE but those are very much the exception.

It kind of confirms my suspicion that kids only succeed as far as their parents allow them.

 

 

 

Most of my friends are BC1, having had DE parents. Baby boomer generation.

I'm AB positive

[Rodders]

Nope. My parents were always well off, their parents had fancy jobs with tidy incomes, and my folks did well enough that now neither currently work regularly, ( late 50's - 60 ) but they bought up a few properties in the early nineties to rent out, which has obviously worked out very well for them. 

I am 30, would be marked as in the low income bracket, currently enrolled on a second post graduate qualification but have been renting for ages, and will continue to do so for a couple more years. I am fortunate in that my folks will be able to help me out with a house, without them I'd be screwed.

 

 

[MakemineVanilla]

Nope. My parents were always well off, their parents had fancy jobs with tidy incomes, and my folks did well enough that now neither currently work regularly, ( late 50's - 60 ) but they bought up a few properties in the early nineties to rent out, which has obviously worked out very well for them. 

I am 30, would be marked as in the low income bracket, currently enrolled on a second post graduate qualification but have been renting for ages, and will continue to do so for a couple more years. I am fortunate in that my folks will be able to help me out with a house, without them I'd be screwed.

 

 

The willingness of parents to help their children and the expectation of children that they will be helped is definitely a strong class marker, in my experience.

 

 

[Stevo985]

My parents helped me out with my deposit. 

I wish they hadn't. Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly grateful for it, but I've felt guilty ever since. I've nearly saved the full amount to pay them back so they'll get the money back. But still.

[ender4]

Counting up the people I know, the remarkable thing is how everyone seems to have stayed in the same class as their parents (C1 & C2).

I know a few people whose parents were DE but those are very much the exception.

It kind of confirms my suspicion that kids only succeed as far as their parents allow them.

 

 

I'd have to disagree with that.

Most people i know are professionals - doctors, dentists, accountants, bankers, pharmacists, opticians, etc...

90% of their parents were immigrants to this country and were semi-skilled workers at best.  The parents pushed us hard to achieve, so we would have a better life than them, and in most cases we have succeeded in moving up the class scale.   

[ender4]

My parents helped me out with my deposit. 

I wish they hadn't. Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly grateful for it, but I've felt guilty ever since. I've nearly saved the full amount to pay them back so they'll get the money back. But still.

My parents and my wife's parents both helped me out with a deposit to buy our first house and again when we traded up.

Both times we paid them back asap.  But without it, we would have been restricted in what we could have bought.