Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Retirement a distant dream for many Canadians

IliketoPuck · 09-13-2011, 03:42 PM

Here's my take EE, and I was being partially faceitious in my first post.

Yes things have changed, and kids are tending to live with their parents for longer periods of time. Some of it definitely has to do with a lack of motivation, but there are other factors to consider as well.

When my parents were young professionals (approximately my age), and had just recently married, they were able to buy a house in Hawkwood for ~$250k. They are both engineers, and were working in O&G, so their salaries would have been (and i'm guessing here) about 50-60k a year.

Fast forward to today. To buy the same house they have in Hawkwood would cost me over $650k, an increase in house prices of more 2.5x!! Have wages kept up with that increase in the cost of living? Not even close. I make more than they did, but my first house will be no where near what theirs was. I do not live an extravagant lifestyle either; my wife and I have one car, I bike to work and rarely go out for dinner or the pub. I save 30% of my paycheque and make regular contributions to my TFSA and RRSP.

The threshold required to be able to effectively move out from under your parents has increased drastically over the years, and I completely understand why some people choose to live at home into their mid twenties in order to be able to afford their first home.

I am not defending people who choose poor spending habits and exorbitant lifestyles while living off of their parents, only saying that it can be difficult to make that first purchase given the availability of high paying jobs and current house prices/economic conditions.

I understand that GenY just doesn't work as "hard" as you do. But I also think a lot of it has to do with whatever generation is youngest being looked down upon by the "hard working" omniprescient infallible previous generation that went straight from highschool to being highly contributing member of society, without making any mistakes along the way either....kids will be kids.

Anyways, all I'm saying is it isn't as easy as it was 25 years ago.

09-13-2011, 03:42 PM	#53
IliketoPuck Franchise Player Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Calgary Exp:	Here's my take EE, and I was being partially faceitious in my first post. Yes things have changed, and kids are tending to live with their parents for longer periods of time. Some of it definitely has to do with a lack of motivation, but there are other factors to consider as well. When my parents were young professionals (approximately my age), and had just recently married, they were able to buy a house in Hawkwood for ~$250k. They are both engineers, and were working in O&G, so their salaries would have been (and i'm guessing here) about 50-60k a year. Fast forward to today. To buy the same house they have in Hawkwood would cost me over $650k, an increase in house prices of more 2.5x!! Have wages kept up with that increase in the cost of living? Not even close. I make more than they did, but my first house will be no where near what theirs was. I do not live an extravagant lifestyle either; my wife and I have one car, I bike to work and rarely go out for dinner or the pub. I save 30% of my paycheque and make regular contributions to my TFSA and RRSP. The threshold required to be able to effectively move out from under your parents has increased drastically over the years, and I completely understand why some people choose to live at home into their mid twenties in order to be able to afford their first home. I am not defending people who choose poor spending habits and exorbitant lifestyles while living off of their parents, only saying that it can be difficult to make that first purchase given the availability of high paying jobs and current house prices/economic conditions. I understand that GenY just doesn't work as "hard" as you do. But I also think a lot of it has to do with whatever generation is youngest being looked down upon by the "hard working" omniprescient infallible previous generation that went straight from highschool to being highly contributing member of society, without making any mistakes along the way either....kids will be kids. Anyways, all I'm saying is it isn't as easy as it was 25 years ago.