Has HiFi improved in the last 10 years?

[Gazzip]

I don’t think the younger generation do moan, they are just anxious of the future which will all have at that age. With housing it is difficult and it is a case of priorities but not many young people can afford buying houses in all circumstances, where this was once the case where multiples of earnings to house price were 1:3, now it’s commonly 1:7+. disposable incomes are lower too with the higher rents people pay especially if you are around London.

I worked for a central London firm in one of my first jobs and everyone in the company, of about a 1000 people, was given a free £1000 holiday. I was only about 25. I went to Thailand and Singapore. Everyone was buzzing. So I’d say if they are buying posh coffee and you are making your own Nescafé or whatever, instead of spending £500 on a furman, get a really posh coffee maker for your studio so they don’t buy Costa coffee or whatever, and they won’t be in the morning coffee shop on the way to work but doing work for you instead. Plus your interests are more aligned.

We did the posh coffee maker for the office thing a few years ago. One of those that froths the milk etc. It was a lump of Stilton after two months because none of them were prepared to clean it. We tried the holiday thing just before Christmas when we took everybody to Paris for a night out and two days sightseeing. We actually had fun and some of them even spoke! We shall see after Christmas whether that has “aligned” us all...

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Yes but bank credit was easier pre financial crisis and 95% loans typical. It’s more difficult for the younger generation because you need maybe 30 to 50,000 to buy a house and it’s well out of people’s reach. Certainly if you are in the south east or defo London. Youngsters don’t save as much true, but look at what’s happened to rents in real terms adjusted for inflation and incomes over last 30, with the buy to let thing of the 90s which has lasted into now, plus eu demand, and higher house prices. So it’s hardly surprising young people cant save. We will probably turn into a German model of renters. I hope not though. My dads generation bought a house comfortably because of loan to income ratios being 3:1, and scrimped in living costs with a family. Now people can’t save for 15-20 years for a house so it’s hardly surprising they spend more of the income they have on rent, and the rest on themselves. It’s quite ridiculous for someone on a 25 grand average salary paying £1000 a month on rent for a one bedroom flat just for independence. You can’t blame them for going out and having a nice phone, and a few luxuries like coffee, going on holiday a few times year. It’s just what they pay in rent goes to a landlord who is doing nicely and upgrades their hi Fi, such is property being a moniker for making money when it shouldn’t - it’s traditionally been in the stock market, and house for quality of life.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Ive worked in some really difficult work environments gazzip and that must be difficult as the boss if they are a bit weird

I geuss if the boss wants coffee too, as they do, and they don’t clean it, the best example for them to clean it, is you clean it. Same with conversation, it works both ways. I often felt alienated when younger in a corporate environment when bosses and owners expected you to speak first, then when it became unnatural and strained, it was unsurprising people were quiet and uncomfortable around bosses. But most places have well got over that now and I suspect your company too. I think it’s probably just young people feeling ill at ease as people are when young and lacking a bit of work experience and confidence. You are just trying to make them comfortable at all times but at end of day an exchange of a contract of service.

 

[Gazzip]

Yes but bank credit was easier pre financial crisis and 95% loans typical. It’s more difficult for the younger generation because you need maybe 30 to 50,000 to buy a house and it’s well out of people’s reach. Certainly if you are in the south east or defo London. Youngsters don’t save as much true, but look at what’s happened to rents in real terms adjusted for inflation and incomes over last 30, with the buy to let thing of the 90s which has lasted into now, plus eu demand, and higher house prices. So it’s hardly surprising young people cant save. We will probably turn into a German model of renters. I hope not though. My dads generation bought a house comfortably because of loan to income ratios being 3:1, and scrimped in living costs with a family. Now people can’t save for 15-20 years for a house so it’s hardly surprising they spend more of the income they have on rent, and the rest on themselves. It’s quite ridiculous for someone on a 25 grand average salary paying £1000 a month on rent for a one bedroom flat just for independence. You can’t blame them for going out and having a nice phone, and a few luxuries like coffee, going on holiday a few times year. It’s just what they pay in rent goes to a landlord who is doing nicely and upgrades their hi Fi, such is property being a moniker for making money when it shouldn’t - it’s traditionally been in the stock market, and house for quality of life.

Hmmm... not buying it.

There are 260 working days in a year. Assuming they keep having their costly coffee and nice lunches for a treat at the weekends and on holiday then they can save £2.6K PA (£10/day) by taking a homemade sandwich/pasta dish for lunch and making their own 2 cups of coffee at work. Another £1K PA saving by cutting out a couple of those expensive holidays, but still taking a couple of foreign breaks. Ditch the gym, buy some weights and go for real outdoor runs! There’s another £1K PA right there. A couple saving for 4 years can put aside nearly £37K on that basis and maintain a great deal of their lifestyle.

Houses are expensive and expensive things require sacrifice. The problem is that they don’t want to save and make that sacrifice, they just want to spend it all.

 

[Gazzip]

Ive worked in some really difficult work environments gazzip and that must be difficult as the boss if they are a bit weird

I geuss if the boss wants coffee too, as they do, and they don’t clean it, the best example for them to clean it, is you clean it. Same with conversation, it works both ways. I often felt alienated when younger in a corporate environment when bosses and owners expected you to speak first, then when it became unnatural and strained, it was unsurprising people were quiet and uncomfortable around bosses. But most places have well got over that now and I suspect your company too. I think it’s probably just young people feeling ill at ease as people are when young and lacking a bit of work experience and confidence. You are just trying to make them comfortable at all times but at end of day an exchange of a contract of service.

Well they are 80% EU nationals and although all fluent in English I guess that adds a difficult edge. I guess I should stop worrying about it given that my office will be filled with all of those UK Architects the government are obviously training up in secret to replace the unwanted foreign ones after they kick out the majority of my workforce in March 2019.

 

[jmjones]

I’m in the food industry and we are heavily reliant on mobile workers and relatively low wages. Brexit is going to make life interesting.

Anyway, what was this thread about again?

Oh yes, I think it has. Back on message.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Donno how you get to £37k on gym and coffee and sandwiches for a couple over 4 years. And £1k doesn’t buy four holidays a year, as you initially mentioned.

Have you not just thought it’s impractical to enjoy any quality of life if you spend 60-70 percent on rent and what if a single person, as many 20 something’s are at that stage of their lives. It’s even tougher. How much did rail commuting cost as a proportion of salaries in the 70s versus nowadays.They probably don’t want to buy and who could blame them. It’s not about entitlement, it’s just with these different pressures on them like rents and housing, which are probably very different to your generation, they live life in a different way.

Frankly if you could buy a house easily when young like bygone generations, they’d do it as an investment. And you wouldn’t see them with their coffeee. But spend 60 percent on housing, you’d be down the pub or coffee shop too, or on holiday once a year, to enjoy the little and basic things in life. Especially if your peers were doing it too.

Also young people who have incurred £30k on loans to go to university, understandably have reservations about taking out mortgages. I definetly think it’s more difficult for kids nowadays to generations buying houses in the 70s onwards. My generation at uni in the 90s had no tuition fees and it’s a huge benefit for us lot and prior generations.

 

[Gazzip]

Donno how you get to £37k on gym and coffee and sandwiches for a couple over 4 years. And £1k doesn’t buy four holidays a year, as you initially mentioned.

Have you not just thought it’s impractical to enjoy any quality of life if you spend 60-70 percent on rent and what if a single person, as many 20 something’s are at that stage of their lives. It’s even tougher. How much did rail commuting cost as a proportion of salaries in the 70s versus nowadays.They probably don’t want to buy and who could blame them. It’s not about entitlement, it’s just with these different pressures on them like rents and housing, which are probably very different to your generation, they live life in a different way.

Frankly if you could buy a house easily when young like bygone generations, they’d do it as an investment. And you wouldn’t see them with their coffeee. But spend 60 percent on housing, you’d be down the pub or coffee shop too, or on holiday once a year, to enjoy the little and basic things in life. Especially if your peers were doing it too.

Also young people who have incurred £30k on loans to go to university, understandably have reservations about taking out mortgages. I definetly think it’s more difficult for kids nowadays to generations buying houses in the 70s onwards. My generation at uni in the 90s had no tuition fees and it’s a huge benefit for us lot and prior generations.

I’m not saying it’s easy because it’s not easy. What I am saying is that they could make it easier on themselves. I’m not some foolish old dude sitting at home in my ivory tower like Alf Garnett or Victor Meldrew. I am somebody who cares about his staff (a bit), who knows exactly what they earn and take home, who sees exactly what they pay off on their student loans PCM because I pay it directly, and who knows as the employer’s reference what they pay in rent PCM. I therefore have a pretty good idea what their expendable income is, and I tell you that they are wasting so much of it on the aforementioned uneconomical luxury so that they can live “The now”. That is a new thing that has developed with this generation, probably because credit has been so cheap for a decade, and I find it deeply disturbing.