Do the Millennials moan too much?

I don't think they are moaners - I think they face many problems that people of our generation didn't face: sky high costs of housing, energy, transport, etc., and decreasing job security and wages.

However, I think they are misguided in blaming older people for this. Of course, the "blame game" has been encouraged so as to detract from the real cause - the ever increasing gap between the very rich and everyone else.

GracesgranMkII yes I have one of that generation, say no more!!

I realise now that I am defining Millennials far too strictly and thinking just of those who came of age (18) at the Millennium or thereabouts, ie born in 1982 to 1985, or 1980-1985.
'Gen Y' - often said in a derisory tone by the slightly older and of course far more responsible Gen Xs.

We just totted up our income and found that we are fine at the moment, but if DH dies my income will drop to about a third of what it is now. I will have to rely on DS and his family still wanting to move in with me.

SO do I

paddyann Tuition fees were introduced by a Labour Government - once something is in place it is rarely taken off again, only increased by subsequent governments of whichever colour.
Will they be abolished? Of course not, they will just be adjusted up and down, probably up.
Bridge tolls (an extra and expensive road tax for some) introduced by a Labour Government - a small cost then but now very high and difficult to find for some who need to get to work.

Whoever you vote for - they all think of some innovative way of transferring money from your pocket into theirs and are not honest enough to say 'Right, income tax needs to go up by 1p or 2p in the £' and we are making sure no-one dodges paying their income tax.

And what's all this about only ENGLSH parents 'having to fork out' for their children's university fees?

No parent has to do so - students can take out a loan and won't even have to pay it back if they never earn over a certain amount.

No point getting hysterical about how badly done by the English are - and yes, it was Tony Blair's idea in the first place and the Lib Dems bottled out of voting against it.

It is not free in Wales apparently according to DN.

No, of course it isn't. Scotland has its own system.

And stats can be made to say what you like

Violet why are you blaming the Government as they are the ones that guaranteed the triple lock for state pensions! That hardly translates as 'they have to cover up it's total lack of interest in pensioners'.

re your actual question Whitewave.... Yes they do moan too much. That generation seem to think they are owed a living ... that they have a right to own their own house and the reason they can't is our fault.
I started work at 15 years old...I have never claimed off the state..I often did work I didn't like but that was how it was.
Now I live a comfortable life in a house with no mortgage . My needs are simple so my pension is enough.
The millenials want everything on a plate...tough cookie I say

gillym a millenium could repeat your life and have nothing to show for it.

What sort of pension will this generation have?

Sorry yorkshiregirl not quite sure what your point was ?We have two children and their uni education was quite recent.We had our children late in life

Absolutely Lilyflower!!

What a great idea. We can moan as much as we like and nobody to tell us to shut up! :-)

I don't think we moan too much, in fact I think our age group are pretty quiet when it comes to all the things we could moan about.

The weather for example. I am so fed up with grey skies and biting winds. UK would be perfect for me if we got more sunshine.

Neversaydie My point was that these days for ENGLISH children who want to go to university their parents will have to fund them to the price of a small house ie an average of £56 thousand pounds over 3 years. Yes, I know...if they don't earn more than £21 thousand pounds once they are working the pay-back will be shelved. Unfortunately, if you have not noticed, this government is quietly selling off student loans to private companies. Once this happens, and it already has started to happen, the private company can change the rules! Besides that, if you have more than one child how do you fund university for them all on a low income? How many GRADUATE jobs have you heard of that pay less than £21 thousand? Of course Cameron and Osborne (and their mates) would either have got a free education, or their parents would have been rich to start with so they were OK YA thank you very much. This leads to the great divide getting even wider between rich and poor.

This Government is giving one thing in a blare of publicity and at the same time quietly sloping shoulders and doing something else behind closed doors. The sell off of parts of the Civil Service being one of them. 6 months after they sell off one part the people employed in it lose their Civil Service terms of service and become a private Agency. My brother was caught in that trap and there is nothing you can do about it....you have been sold off along with the furniture. They seem to be doing the same thing with the NHS at the moment.

gillym We did the same. We started with next to nothing, I remember having to sell my bike so we could eat for example. We have worked hard and saved hard, doing without holidays, cigarettes, dining out, or alcohol. What we have now is a nice house which we both have worked our socks off to pay off. Now the government is hell bent on shifting people like us out of our homes with incentives to move and allow families to take it over. Well as far as we are concerned they can push off. We worked for this property, we are not going to give it away, our children will take it over or at least if one of them doesn't then it will be sold so they can inherit their share. Some might think we are being selfish but I think we deserve what we have worked all our lives for.

My son is 25 and has to share a house with 2 other people, he works full time sometimes finishing at midnight, he has a 4 mile walk home to get up a few hours later to start at 7a.m. After rent, council tax,utility bills and food he has less than £30 a week, so cant afford a bus ticket to get to work never mind save for a mortgage deposit. I think he is entitled to moan.

The millenials want everything on a plate...tough cookie I say

This is rubbish - I feel sorry for them and they have every right to moan. All this ... we sat on orange boxes and ate gruel is pathetic. Anyone now over 55 could quite easily and on modest incomes buy their own first home, no matter what the interest rates were.

Many of today's younger families don't even have secure employment.

I think millennials have a right to complain when the system has made hard workers as badly (if not worse) off as those who don't.

Values and prices just cannot be compared with when we were young. Expectations are the same.
We bought our first house, a brand new semi in 1960. It was a lovely house and cost £2500. We put down a deposit of £250.
On Tuesday my sons friend took his girl friend for a Valentine's dinner and overnight in one of Manchester's best hotels, he would have paid about £400 for the night.
Their spending pattern bears no comparison to our generation.

grannypiper So many youngsters are in the same boat. I think it is wrong and yes, they do have the right to moan. Too many bosses think, as they do in America, that once you start working for them they own you. Working all hours for no pay is not on imo yet it is expected these days. What choice do the youngsters have? Work long hours or lose your job, after all there are plenty more waiting in the unemployment queue.

How the Government got away with zero hours contracts and making people work part-time instead of full-time I do not know. Still it skewed the unemployment figures their way didn't it!

We've been here before! As an engaged couple, we started saving for a deposit as soon as the (very modest) ring was on my finger. We scrimped, saved and did without. We didn't start our family for several years. This seems like an alien concept to many younger people. Just the amount some people spend on booze, takeaway food and nights out is quite shocking. Many still smoke and the cost of that is eye watering! Latest mobile phone, iPad etc., pricey! The average amount spent on a wedding these days is a whopping £24,000! Add all that together and there's your deposit, or a good start anyway.

I didn't intend that link to latest mobile phones! It just appeared!