Everyone deserves a roof over their heads, but nobody is owed a 2br unit for themselves in a nice area of one of the most expensive cities. She could get a housemate for that second bedroom and be better off financially.
I think instead of focusing on everyone owning a home, we should make renting better.
Hard to feel sorry for someone choosing to live in Sydney though.
Yeah, because that is automatically always guaranteed a choice
So it’s a bad thing if you are in a bad place, but if someone older than you is in a bad place, it’s fine?
Class war is the only war.
Sure Sandra probably made some questionable decisions but she deserves a place to live for retirement after a lifetime career. The system shouldn’t be so viscous that people are cast out for missing a few important decisions along the way. I don’t feel that a 70yo with a two BR should be considered living beyond their means.
100% agree. This pull your up by your bootstraps. The expectation that everyone is a competent businessperson or doctor or lawyer or mechanic. I have known so many people that are simply not competent enough to do things and yes they deserve to not be on the street. Many give back to societ just not in ways that fit a mold but in some cases maybe not. It should not matter. There should be floor. Does not have to be great but it should be there even if you just sit around drinking or smoking all day. The typical person should be able to blow their whole paycheck and still get by and retire eventually. Because guess what bootstrappers. People blowing their money at the low level is good for the economy. People should not be saving or investing with no idea how those things work but because its the sytsem. Better for the government do that. People should be saving or investing for reasons. Because they are recognize what is a good investment and what is bad and not just to throw it in the market and hope. Or squirrel away in a bank to get a down payment. Spending is a good thing and we should encourage it by making sure no one has to worry about falling past a minimum.
but she deserves a place to live for retirement after a lifetime career
how so is she deserving ?
she had every opportunity to buy herself a modest 2 bedroom flat in Sydney 30-40 years ago and have been mortgage free when she retired and chose not to. Near impossible to buy a modest 2 bedroom flat in Sydney now and not have to use your Suoer at age 67 to pay it off.
Fuck me, she can move anywhere in Australia or even elsewhere in another country and chooses one of the most expensive cities on the planet ?
not counting intra city moves, I’ve moved 6 times (states and countries) in 20 years, the process is mildly annoying at worst.
How is she deserving
Everyone is deserving. By default. Its the default. People are people. People are not fucking money pinatas.
Bud you have no idea what her life was like.
Most boomers affected by this shit are women. Guess why
Go on
Missing out on superannuation due to taking on domestic duties with kids, succumbing to financial coercion by male partners who prioritise their careers over child rearing, being aged out of the workforce. Blokes who grew up with single mothers know all about this.
My mum got left off her family inheritance because she was a woman.
I can totally understand the frustration at the boomer generation. But there is an underlying issue at play here which is unfair. There’s an assumption that older people should have forseen the future and made the right choices about housing. I was born in 1990, and I didn’t even see this housing crisis coming when I was in my mid 20s. Lots of people are being blamed for not making the right choices before the gate closed. The fact is that gate shouldn’t be closing. We shouldn’t have to live our lives focused on accumulating wealth just to be OK.
Yes, entirely as you said: fuck you.
For the people voting this down, this article highlights an important issue, which is that women aged 55 and over are at growing risk of homelessness.
Even more worrying for Sandra is the prospect of joining the fastest-growing group of people experiencing homelessness in Australia: women aged 55 and over.
Sydney-based Bacon has particular concern for the rising number of women facing homelessness in their older years.
She says this is because women typically have about 25 per cent less superannuation than men, due to the gender pay gap, which flows onto a gender retirement gap and motherhood penalty.
Fair point, a pity neither the article, her nor the second woman focused on that and instead feels more like them complaining about boomers being perceived as being given every leg up. Which is a complaint of younger generations trying to break into an impossibly competitive housing market.
Of course they did, it’s a way to manufacture outrage
On that, there is a doco on ABC about that
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/under-cover
Mental or physical heath issues aside (they need help through no fault of their own) , the lady in the article had 70 years to sort her shit out and didn’t bother and now comes across to me as entitled. I’m 61 and retired at 40.
Retired schoolteacher Sandra Barker has been single and a renter all her adult life.
The 70-year-old lives by herself in a two-bedroom unit in Sydney’s south-west.
She says she’d like to rent in a “better” suburb but doesn’t believe she’d be able to afford it
“I think it’s a bit misleading, actually, to think that every baby boomer is cashed up for retirement; I’m certainly not,” Sandra told Insight.
Boomer who not only refuses to downsize despite being retired and on a pension, is actively looking to increase her current expenses, while occupying a two bedroom by herself, in what has to be one of the most expensive cities to rent in, insists “not all boomers”. I’m actively employed and would have a hard time justifying (and in Sydney affording) living in a two bedroom by myself.
What’s her angle here? “Sure I’m part of the generation that got cheap as chips houses, free tertiary education, reasonable employment prospects and hoarded a good chunk of the real estate, but I feel I personally missed out, likely due to my financial decisions. So it’s a bit misleading, actually”. This entire article is mind boggling bordering on infuriating to read.
but I feel I personally missed out, likely due to my financial decisions.
yeah this… I am Gen X, 1966 but a cross over with younger boomers I guess, so many whiney entitled cunts it’s becoming intolerable .
I was literally able to retire at age 40 just by lazily taking the few opportunities that came my way.
I lived in Cambodia for a time 15 years ago and niw slow travel SE Asia for 8-9 months each year before boomeranging back to Aus for the Tassie summer, zero debt and a modest home in a rural area (m and f couple) The whiney entitled Aussie immigrants in other countries my age and older on YT are legion
Good for you. Sounds like a nice lifestyle.
Likewise, not everyone got those lucky opportunities. Not everyone has managed to find a partner. Some people have been working towards a lifestyle similar to yours and had it all blow up in their face due to their health or job losses or relationship breakdowns etc.
It’s fine to say ‘life is great’ when you’ve had good rolls of the dice every time you’ve taken a risk, and your setbacks haven’t been so catastrophic that you couldn’t financially recover.
im gen X but in the middle of the pack and I won’t see anything like a stable retirement. I don’t think im lazy. I got a dual majored stem with my bachelors and picked up a masters and tech certs. Now I did mary and my wife has medical issues and im in the us. So yeah if I was not supporting someone I would likely be fine. But is it a bad decision to love someone? Or to support them when life is not kind? Your experience sounds more like a charmed life than anyone born your year could do the same.
