Peter Switzer is the founder of the Switzer Super Report, a newsletter and website for self-managed super funds. www.switzersuperreport.com.au

          Super unlucky

For starters, most baby boomers were not lucky enough to have a great deal of exposure to super, as compulsory super did not come in until 1992. The average super balance for males is around $87,589 while a female is only $52,727. These balances are brought down by the newcomers to the workforce and baby boomers who won’t have some 45 years of compulsory super saving that should see most workers who remain in work retire with more than a million dollars. Sure it will be affected by inflation, but it will be a ‘gift’ that benefits Generations X and Y over the baby boomers.

Then versus now

So the property price rises seen since the 1970s and enjoyed by many baby boomers is kind of an offsetting any pay-off, but many young people seemed to think buying and paying back the loans on these houses were all beer and skittles.

I recall when I a school teacher in the early 1980s before my media career kicked off, home loan interest rates went to 17-18%. We actually sold our old second-hand car and I caught the bus to work to make sure we made our home loan repayments.

We did not buy our first new car until the 1990s but because of lower protection, that lead to lower prices, young people find it so much easier to get into new cars. In the 1980s the tariff on a car was 57.3% compared to 5% today!

The wheel deal

A CommSec study in 2012 showed cars are more affordable than at any time since 1976 and that’s based on comparing average earnings with the cost of a new car. Craig James has made the point, amusingly, that due to rising wages over the past decade an average worker could now buy a luxury car like a Porsche on 83 weeks’ wages rather than two-and-a-half years or 130 weeks just a decade ago.

Come fly with me

When baby boomers went holidaying to Europe there was really only one airline – Qantas – and it you had to sell your grandmother into slavery to afford the cost of a ticket. Airline studies shows the cost of flying has nearly halved, but not just that, you can now fly to the Gold Coast from Sydney for less than it might cost to fill up a car with petrol. Younger generations now can miss out on the thrill of sitting in a car for 12 hours listening to their kids asking, “Are we there yet?”

Times are a’changing

Younger generations drink more expensive alcohol, by choice, than baby boomers, they go to expensive nightclubs by choice, the cost of clothing is miles cheaper and they live at home enjoying the baby boomer parents’ support right into the 30s. Baby boomers either left home in their 20s or got married and had kids, who now are whingeing that we – baby boomers – have lived the life of Reilly!

And they want to tax baby boomers to get make them pay for their great life saving, scrimping and making ends meet to have their quarter acre block home, which many will leave to these bleating young people when they kick.

Working hard for the money

Well, let me take the young of today down our taxpaying memory lane.

In the 1970s the top tax rate was closer to 70% but nowadays it’s 45%, but you have to be earning $180,000 before that kicks in. But as you can see the life of a baby boomer was not exactly that of the legendary Reilly.

Many baby boomers who now sit in their homes on a pension, walked to school or took a bus but as parents these same people became lowly paid chauffeurs to their over-pampered but very loved children.

A cautionary tale

I hate inter-generation finger pointing and I have written this to underline that the road to home ownership was not a walk in the park experience. The Budget problems of today need to be solved by an equitable strategy that is not driven by some petty analysis based on a belief that baby boomers have always had it so good.

People who own a house should not be punished for making the sacrifices that were necessary to make this possible. Sure some Australians are getting too much from the welfare budget but don’t hit those who have worked hard, paid their taxes and have not put their hand out for help until they were retired.

(Forrest Gump at The Reflecting Pool rally)....

"...and that's all I have to say about this budget!"

*hug from hippy:- "That says it all, bro!"

baby boomers married young to purposefuly get on the property ladder and take advantage of their free education and well paying jobs to kill the interest as young parents. Many payed off their houses circa 30 years of age.

Tell me I'm lying, .... dare ya!

  :) :)

One job for life, lol: I'll give ya this but--> not all of 'em went on to own property portfolios to r and p the kiddies but ya know there are quite a few nasty ones out there that did just that and then the western world reaped 9-11!!

A lot of baby boomer real estate agents out there didn't bother with portfolios of wealth disgusted at the rip off mentality... they made a living,.. a good living,.. but always knew it was a sour bloody industry!

Boomers mate, they're not all bad but they do a lot of complaining as a generation adn then they go and label the young kids who have an asian century to look forward to in a two speed economy no doubt the 'my generation' and they don't even own property  :o :o :o :o :o :o


hey, i'm gen x so i work two and a half days to stay sane but I'm retired: gen my are rooted and baby boomers have the nuts to label them gen my what a joke!

9-11 was inevitable: just the attitude adjustment that was needed made it inevitable!

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on May 16^th, 2014 at 3:05am:

baby boomers married young to purposefuly get on the property ladder and take advantage of their free education and well paying jobs to kill the interest as young parents. Many payed off their houses circa 30 years of age. Tell me I'm lying, .... dare ya!   :) :) One job for life, lol: I'll give ya this but--> not all of 'em went on to own property portfolios to r and p the kiddies but ya know there are quite a few nasty ones out there that did just that and then the western world reaped 9-11!! A lot of baby boomer real estate agents out there didn't bother with portfolios of wealth disgusted at the rip off mentality... they made a living,.. a good living,.. but always knew it was a sour bloody industry! Boomers mate, they're not all bad but they do a lot of complaining as a generation adn then they go and label the young kids who have an asian century to look forward to in a two speed economy no doubt the 'my generation' and they don't even own property  :o :o :o :o :o :o hey, i'm gen x so i work two and a half days to stay sane but I'm retired: gen my are rooted and baby boomers have the nuts to label them gen my what a joke! 9-11 was inevitable: just the attitude adjustment that was needed made it inevitable!

Is that the same spiel you give to your oldies?

I think the article speaks volumes & your attitude speaks to that.

Interesting a Gen X saying they are retired, so early?
Saw them being referred to as the 'lost generation'.

So I had to search the different gens and approx years they spanned, just for a comparison.


Here is a list of the years and generations

1927-1945 - Silent Generation or Traditionalists
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1965-1983 - Gen X or the Busters
1984- 2002 - Gen Y or the Millennials
2003- Current Gen Z or the Digital Generation

Silent Generations - born around, or parented by, those of The Great Depression of 1929 & children of the WWII gen.; marriage is for life; labor union generation; Korean and Viet Nam War generation; in grade school, the gravest teacher complaints were about passing notes and chewing gum in class; readers; the Big-Band/Swing music generation; strong sense of trans-generational common values and near-absolute truths; dsiciplined, self-sacrificing, & cautious.

Baby Boomers - the "me" generation; "rock and roll" music gen.; ushered in the free love and societal "non-violent" protests which triggered violence; self righteous & self-centered; buy it now and use credit; too busy for much neighborly involvement yet strong desires to reset or change the common values for the good of all; the first TV generation; quite conversational & skilled vocal & writer advocates; poor on marital skills...the first divorce generation; begin "gay toleration"...AIDS begins and is first lethal infectious disease in the history of any culture on earth which was not subjected to any quarantine what-so-ever because of a beginning obsession of individual rights prevailing over the common good...especially if it is applicable to any type of minority group; optimistic, driven, team-oriented.

Generation X - raised by the career and money conscious Boomers amidst the societal disappointment over governmental authority and the Viet Nam war and the scoff-law attitudes coming out of the protest times; school problems about drugs; late to marry (after cohabitation) and quick to divorce...many single parents; are iconographic...clothes lables are large & shows of caring (turning out for a worthy-cause rally) are fully sufficient expressions (while government, charities, agencies will see to the work of it); want what they want and want it now but struggling to buy; conversationally shallow because relating consists of shared time watching video movies; short on loyalty & wary of commitment; all values are relative...must tolerate all peoples; self-absorbed and suspicious of all organization; computer generation; survivors as individuals; cautious; skeptical, unimpressed with authority, self-reliant.

Generation Y - Facebook, MySpace, SMS and other instant communication technologies may explain Generation Y's reputation for being peer oriented and for seeking instant gratification. Generation Y, like other generations, is shaped by the events, leaders, developments and trends of its time. Members of this generation are facing higher costs for higher education than previous generations.
Sources: class on "Connecting Across Generations"

I don't think it's a total accurate assesement of individuals per se, but probably some of the aspects like the "me generation" I could say belongs to my parents big time (the silent or traditionalists gen)....definitely not silent nor traditional, very much all for themselves and us baby boomer kids, were just meant to be seen and not heard.
Always felt 2nd to them, whereas I (baby boomer) always put my (on the cusp of between gen x and y) kids first.

I think the gen x or y have a 'me now' aspect. Live for the day.

The facts the Gimmee Generations are running a mile from

Baby Boomers are in their 60's and 70s now

The Boomer generation began work, full time work, at age 13, many of them

The only way blue-collar workers' kids could hope to have a career back then was to win a Teacher's Scholarship and they weren't handed around like peanuts either.  You had to had high grade averages

Wages for women were half those of men.  It was accepted.  That's the women who were actually IN the workforce. Most were not.  Fathers didn't want to 'waste' education on girls

No easy access abortion

Girls under 18 were put into 'homes' if they were pregnant and their babies were wrested from them at birth

Lino on the floors

Doing the weekly wash in 'coppers' out the back, fired by wood.  Then dunked in starch solution.  Ironing took many hours

Few if any synthetic fabrics.  Wool, hand-knitted, took an age to dry.  Pressing pleats into school uniforms etc. with a damp cloth and unreliable irons. 

Baking done by hand in old-fashioned or wood-burning stoves

Baby Boomers watching as fathers cranked up the family car before it would start

Old American left-over cars or old British cars with tattered yellowed plastic for 'windows' -- many of those vehicles dating back to the 1920 and 30s

No seat belts in cars.  Fumes making kids car-sick - stopping the car so the kids could run to the verge to throw up

No television until the late 1950s.  Movie theatres as a weekly or monthly treat

Few pre-packaged foods. Buying cheese cut from the round with wires.  Bulk honey - take your own clean jar.  Bread and cakes made at home

Holidays, for the few lucky enough, were a yearly marathon drive in the car to a campsite.  Unpack.  Raise the tent

Floggings delivered by both fathers and mothers were routine

Corporal punishment at school.  Each day began with 'Parade' where the head-masters, flanked by teachers, would call out the boys due to receive a 'caning'

Teachers commonly had a rack by their desk in the classroom.  In that rack were a variety of 'canes' running from thin and deadly to thick and bone-breaking

Boys, from little kids to man-sized were routinely called to the front of the class and told to 'bend over' after which they were whipped and beaten by often sadistic teachers, sometimes up to ten times while the classroom of kids watched.  I've seen a boy, promising violin student, 'caned' so brutally that his wrist snapped.  Absolutely nothing was done.  That's the way it was

Poor kids forced to sit at the front of the 'class' in their rags, hungry for lack of food, exhausted through lack of sleep (often because Dad had been beating up the family again after drinking 90% of his weekly wage).  Those kids weren't bright.  So they were class-scapegoats, blamed for everything.  Didn't have a chance in life.  Kicked from pillar to post.  That was 'education' then

Christmas often consisted of a comic and cheap plastic toy.  Many Baby Boomers got nothing for Christmas and hid throughout the day out of shame in case someone asked them what they got

Put to work when barely out of childhood at age 13 because that was the legal age for leaving school and many parents were keen to put their Baby Boomer kids to work for money

No Medicare

No unemployment benefits

No free education right through to tertiary

No job-start allowances

No work for the dole

No single-mother benefits

A few dollars a month in 'child endowment' as family assistance and the government thought that was generous.  Even in the mid-70s, payments to families with two kids was just over six dollars a week

The half-wits who're trying to sound 'relevant' and 'on trend' online jump on what they think is the 'trendy band-wagon' by knocking the poor bloody Boomers --- about which they actually know nothing

There was NO superannuation for over 90% of the workforce when the Boomers entered it

Can't the Gimmee Generation even do basic math ?

If the Boomers were born in the immediate Post-War boom, they are almost 70 right now !

Super wasn't made mandatory until the 90s, when the Boomers were already pushing 50 !  When the Boomers were either made 'redundant' or had collapsed from exhaustion after working since they were 13 !

The vast majority of Boomers NEVER had Super to tide them through their old age !


Yet the Gimmee Generations WANT TO BELIEVE that the Boomers are 'all rich'

nice people !  The Boomers were working five days a week PLUS Saturday mornings as well as a matter of course

Postmen delivered mail on Saturday mornings in those days !  There were TWO mail deliveries per day !

A lot of the Boomers earned a pittance from their full-time job of delivering telegrams -- driving bicycles for miles to do so in all weathers

Rich ?

And when they damaged tendons etc. THERE  WAS  NO  FREE  MEDICAL !

If you wanted to go to a doctor, you had to take time from work and PAY for the consultation

So the Boomers suffered through their aches and pains because  they couldn't bloody afford to go to the doctor !  And these are the Boomers who right now suffer in agony due to the abuse inflicted on their bodies by HARD DAMN WORK lifelong !


And what a waste of their lives, efforts and sacrifice

Their grandchildren shave their heads -ponder their latest tattoo - live on taxpayers as if its their right -think it's their 'right' to take some dumbed-down course at university - use drugs - and WHINE    WHINE    WHINE

PZ, sure do remember the car sick one! Both my parents were always smoking (Viscount ciggies) and with mum's Gossimer hair spray and dad's brylcream, the combination of strong chemical smells and cigarette in the car, it's any wonder I can't sit in the back seat of any car without a fear of feeling car sick! True.

Here's a story of different generations attitude.

I used to aspire to those that had something, and thought, I want to work and save and one day get something like that also, as a form of security (home and good car etc).

Well, some years ago, at age 50, had this nice house, and was renting to a female and her partner and their 3 yr old, and she had to come to our house for some reason, anyway, she is in her early to mid 20's (so just under 30 years younger than me).....I get this "Gee you're so lucky to have such a beautiful home, I wish I could have this, I wish I could win the lotto" blah blah blah, then I said to her.....
"Tell you what, how about we swap, you give me your youth of 30 years, and you can have my age, and aches and pains, and this house, but I still want to keep my brain and knowledge"......
I stressed the point, to swap 30 years of age subtracted from me, and added onto her, for the house.
I got a pursed lip and puzzled look. The proposition didn't seem all that attractive.
So that made her realize, why wish for something, when you see elder folk in something they worked so damned hard for and then have at the latter part of their lives?
It sort of put things into perspective.

Sophia wrote on May 16^th, 2014 at 2:01pm:

PZ, sure do remember the car sick one! Both my parents were always smoking (Viscount ciggies) and with mum's Gossimer hair spray and dad's brylcream, the combination of strong chemical smells and cigarette in the car, it's any wonder I can't sit in the back seat of any car without a fear of feeling car sick! True. Here's a story of different generations attitude. I used to aspire to those that had something, and thought, I want to work and save and one day get something like that also, as a form of security (home and good car etc). Well, some years ago, at age 50, had this nice house, and was renting to a female and her partner and their 3 yr old, and she had to come to our house for some reason, anyway, she is in her early to mid 20's (so just under 30 years younger than me).....I get this "Gee you're so lucky to have such a beautiful home, I wish I could have this, I wish I could win the lotto" blah blah blah, then I said to her..... "Tell you what, how about we swap, you give me your youth of 30 years, and you can have my age, and aches and pains, and this house, but I still want to keep my brain and knowledge"...... I stressed the point, to swap 30 years of age subtracted from me, and added onto her, for the house. I got a pursed lip and puzzled look. The proposition didn't seem all that attractive. So that made her realize, why wish for something, when you see elder folk in something they worked so damned hard for and then have at the latter part of their lives? It sort of put things into perspective.

Good post !


Guess it's hoping for too much in wishing the Gimmee Generations would take a few minutes to read it and learn

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on May 16^th, 2014 at 3:05am:

baby boomers married young to purposefuly get on the property ladder and take advantage of their free education and well paying jobs to kill the interest as young parents. Many payed off their houses circa 30 years of age. Tell me I'm lying, .... dare ya!   :) :) One job for life, lol: I'll give ya this but--> not all of 'em went on to own property portfolios to r and p the kiddies but ya know there are quite a few nasty ones out there that did just that and then the western world reaped 9-11!! A lot of baby boomer real estate agents out there didn't bother with portfolios of wealth disgusted at the rip off mentality... they made a living,.. a good living,.. but always knew it was a sour bloody industry! Boomers mate, they're not all bad but they do a lot of complaining as a generation adn then they go and label the young kids who have an asian century to look forward to in a two speed economy no doubt the 'my generation' and they don't even own property  :o :o :o :o :o :o hey, i'm gen x so i work two and a half days to stay sane but I'm retired: gen my are rooted and baby boomers have the nuts to label them gen my what a joke! 9-11 was inevitable: just the attitude adjustment that was needed made it inevitable!

An excellent rendition of mindless babble based on a total understanding and acceptance of the very finest bullshit compiled by the greatest minds to never set foot in reality, and which have shown a clear predominance in near lack of thought and reason.

The observer can only remain flabbergasted and stand in awe of such intellectual ants in the land..

Every generation inherits a slightly different world, that's the bottom line.

I'm a baby boomer, married young, faced much higher home loan interest rates, so bought a smallish house in the outer suburbs as our first home.
Took some maternity leave, but returned to the workforce, did pay into super.
Yes, we own our own home but it is still in the outer suburbs and probably under the average cost of homes in inner Melbourne.
Yes, I have govt superannuation which allows me to take it as a pension, so I am one of the luckier females I guess. But I consciously made that choice. Back in the 1990s we were all offered a lower priced super choice if we wanted to swap and I elected to keep paying into the original, more expensive one.
Now my workmates who went cheaper and pocketed the difference have the cheek to call me 'lucky'.

As Lols said, whatever you own has taken years of work to acquire, or it has for most people.

My 3 children-2 of them are going into first homes that are bigger than my second home. All of them have had several overseas trips. I never left Australia till 2009, and that was on a cruise to the Sth Pacific. Still have never been to Europe or anywhere distant.

I guess we all make choices, but it is what it is. I just thank my lucky stars I wasn't born in my parents' generation. Born just as the great depression was about to hit, then as they reached their teens, the world was plunged into war. My father witnessed an ocean covered with bodies as far as the eye could see, running red with blood. He was all of about 18 years old.
Some males in my generation faced conscription to Vietnam.

I'm not wealthy, but I've lived a life in peace, always with a home and enough to eat. I may not have seen Europe but on balance, I have lived a lucky life I think. I hope my kids have the same.