Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Unfortunate baby boomer reality

Richard, I suspect we would not be amongst the majority of human beings if we did not seek advantage in life.
I suspect it those who may be unable to overcome whatever disadvantages they feel they have been dealt, may become afflicted with the curse of envy, while others just give it their best shot at improving their lives whatever disadvantages they might have or come along in time..?

I guess the title I chose for this thread was related to those who thought/hoped they were making wise automotive investments in terms of financial returns, if not profit motivated, at least having a hedge on inflation, which other than shares certificates, or bonds etc etc. one could also enjoy a hobby, tinkering, polishing driving or whatever else vehicle related, which in terms of investment and returns other than financial, has worked well for me over many decades. Another part of my investment plan was the idea that if one of life`s little emergencies appeared on the scene, whatever hobby machine I had at the time, could be turned into cash, to help reduce the pressure in whatever unfortunate situation might have arisen. All of which worked well enough for me, and for decades..

The sad aspect would seem to be for those justifying the cost of the hobby using a degree of man maths to a significant other, who might in time have imagined that the investment would indeed be simple to convert back into cash and for much more then the reality which the prevailing market might provide, if indeed the vehicles and associated paraphernalia can be sold at any price.... ?

From the beginning of the programme Bangers & Cash in circa 2018, and given it`s associated core business model, progressing as it has up to this time, subsequent market trends logically seemed to proceed in one direction only over the years and relative to the natural aging processes baby boomers such as I .....? All of which it seems can catch some poor folk out....Pity

George, I am with you on that page.

One of the things in todays woke small spherical objects that gets up my fundamental lower orifice is the excuses for little Johnny or Johnette maybe nowadays for not fulfilling their potential is not because they weren't breast fed, it's because they are lazy bastards and have watched closely how their parents have milked the system, and follow the same depressing path of low expectation.

Back on track, the very fact that my Birth Mother left us abandoned at 18 months I firmly believe was my motivator. I never wanted to see her again despite requests, Heather took those decisions on my behalf as she is a very deep thinker and knows me better tan I do.

We all have different drivers and mine is ALL about protecting and providing for us and our three and will always remain so. Doubtless a result of her deserting us, I'm happy with that result, it also made me chose my Devon Bird extremely carefully - 55 years and going..

You don't need a shrink to sort your life out ffs you just need quiet thought resiliense and common sense. I have to say Boxing and Rugby teach you the very best of life skills, in terms of getting back up there and give it sh1t when you are really hurting on an individual level.

Rugby teaches you everything there is to possibly know about forming relationships and total trust and teawork if you are listening properly -THE best game on Earth.

Richard, I tend to take a slightly different line on the general populace given the reported average debt of the UK population as a whole.

For me deregulating the banks under Thatcher was like opening the sweet shop to kids who had access to very few sweets since the war, and unfortunately it seems too many gorged themselves in the following decades. Perhaps those who had a tougher time in the fifties and sixties well remembered what life was like back then, and the idea of getting into debt given all the insecurities of the past was just not for them.. But then borrowing to buy an old run down flat was the only way forward to get out of the rent trap, and in life one has to save, take risks and work hard to minimise the ONE debt as the first step in building a future..... That the same is not available for kids today is a crime committed by politicians of all colours, in collusion with the financial services industry taking full advantage of the sweet shop mentality...

Plenty of kids out there giving it their best shot, while others look for excuses...and some if helped onto that first step, have more than enough of what it takes to begin to build their lives...

I live in hope...

Every generation has it's ;fair share of scroungers and benefit recipients, the only difference these days is in the scale of benefits available, the number of eligible recipients as reflected in Government spending as a % of GDP has risen since WW2 from a low of 38% in 1948 to an average of 40% now rising to 42% last year.

Whilst deregulation of the banks created some issues, it 's the Government policy of low inflation and low interest rates that makes available credit/finance facilities affordable. Low interest rates was a pre requisite for the Government to lead up to and remove mortgage interest tax relief completely by 2000. Had interest rates remained high, it acted as a barrier to loans and credit in general due to affordability and would have made it harder to lower then remove completely mortgage interest tax relief.(with the exception of buy to let).

Cheap finance with long repayment terms, widespread use of credit cards,, all contributed to the increase in personal indebtedness, The increase in the available money in circulation thru finance and credit expansion allowed demand and the economy to expand to satisfy the new found consumerism generated by it. For example where would house prices be today,' if the interest rates and deposit requirements of the 60s/70s and 80s remained in place today. and take Housing Benefit out of the equation and I would suggest house prices would be much lower, had the UK population remained relatively stable.


Whilst many consider the baby boomers the most fortunate generation, we had to survive the massive decline in the UK industrial landscape and resultant lack of career opportunities and available jobs in those very important early years of our working lives, Maybe that strong very Victorian working ethic most of us demonstrated, has been increasingly diminished over time, as the cost of living and much higher expected standard of living cannot so easily be met by earnings and greater reliance on State aid eg Housing Benefit becomes the norm.

As the State increases it's taxation of all areas of growth/wealth generation and transfers between individuals , it will get to the stage eg Universal Credit, where the State will control (tax) all sources of income and in effect a prelude at some point in the future to giving us all an allowance to live on, making us totally reliant upon the State and not ourselves for our way of living.

As clearly the State knows best how to spend and prioritise what your money is spent on, than us mere mortals do.

and boats

John, many thanks for the detailed explanation.... while deregulation along with the introduction of credit card usage across the population, extended payment plans, and interest rate manipulation sped up the exponential rise on rotational speed of the moneygoround, it also greatly increased expectations of the general populace over decades, based on the exponential growth in debt, to the extent that those expectations can no longer be paid for...... A true example of a false economy.... A bit of a contradiction within a 7 word sentence....? (-:

I guess someone has to pay for whatever services we might depend upon, and if we have any nest eggs, set aside for nursing home fees etc.etc.etc.... My guess is they will be raided by the govt in a wide variety of ways...,

I suspect it is a difficult task for any government to try to balance the books and be voted back in, leaving us all exposed to the populists...

It seems we do indeed live in interesting times..

As a young kid in High School I tried to talk my dad into buying a convertible. I didn't really care if it was something fairly basic like a MGB or more fancy car like a Lotus Elise S4 or Jaguar E-type. I remember saying "Dad the Lotus Elise S4 is An Asset to Appreciate, an Asset to appreciate owning and an Asset that will Appreciate in value." I thought I was being clever and I still feel the saying is fun to think back on. Dad was not that interested in cars, he certainly never thought of cars as an asset and disagreed that cars would appreciate in value. He used to ask me why I thought certain cars would go up and my answer was simple, convertibles are not made any more so any convertible car is going to go up

To me decades later I see that certain cars have gone up heaps in value and others not so much at all. as an 18 year old a 1960's Mini was about $1000, A Mini Cooper maybe $2,000, a MGB probably $4,000 and E-type around $10,000. But a good Mini Cooper is now worth double a good MGB. So much for my thoughts that a convertible will go up in value and other cars probably not.

Now I am more like my dad regarding. I own my Frontline modified style of MGB because I want something nice and I hope to drive it for a couple of decades and not care less what it is worth when I can no longer drive it. It is my "Asset to Appreciate" driving and I don't care if it is also an "Asset to Appreciate" in value. To me the most important thing was to buy a house and pay it off, then have some funds in the bank for a rainy day, then buy a nice car. Now I would say my house and my superannuation are my biggest investments.

I feel Cars, Bikes (like in the video), Boats, Guitars etc. are things you own if you can afford and want, if you can make a profit selling later on then good luck but not something to base your retirement on. But I know some people especially with car collections who would disagree.

Baby boomers are a lucky generation, houses were cheap enough to pay off and other stuff could be bought and I expect a fair few of us have collections of stuff worth something, but like this video the reality is it is probably not worth as much as we think and as tastes change prices are probably dropping. Plus without credit cards it was harder to get into bad debt. Also I feel we got to enjoy many types of cars. I do wonder if my grandchildren will ever drive a car, my wife wants to keep her Skoda Rapid for them to learn on but it will be very old by then. Not even sure if they will care about driving, let alone a manual ICE car.

The video is sad as the guy left his wife with his hobby to deal with and that is not going to be easy to cope with, plus she needs the funds so must try get a decent price. But at least the stuff has some value, not like the crockery, teaspoon collections etc. that are so prized by their owners, but can't even given away once they pass on.

One of my neighbour's was into cars and had a pretty good collection of 6 at one stage, he knew he was getting too old to deal with them, one of his kids wanted one of them but no-on wanted the others so he got me to take photos and help him sell them, when he died his house, some furniture etc. was sold quickly and the kids had a pretty easy time as anything hobby related was sold before he passed away. To me my neighbour was much more thoughtful about the people left behind than the guy in the video. My son is not into guitars, he might keep one of mine just to have it as something from me but I don't think so. I have got rid of a couple recently as I want to reduce to a sensible collection. What I have done to make it easier after I have gone is write a description of each guitar that could be used in an advertisement including the history of the guitar. I have also got an agreement with a guitar nut mate of my sons to help sell them for my son for a good price and for his efforts he gets to keep the one he wants, I have a few idea's of what ones he likes but no idea what he would actually choose.

I feel if we want to be responsible baby boomers we either need to clean up our stuff before we go or at least make it easier for the next generation to get rid of it.

Not sure about being born in 1848 being the luckiest year, it could be as I feel those people got to but houses and other things a lot cheaper than people born later on, that is the start of the Baby Boomer era. I was born in 1963, the end of the baby boomer era and I managed to get into the real estate market even though I felt hard back then. But for the first 5 years of my working life was in an office with some chain smokers until smoking in the building got banned, sometimes I feel being born in 1968 night have been better and avoided passive cigarette smoke.

Thankfully Chris Convertible I’m still here as it was 1948 not 1848 !
The Swedes start Death Cleaning in their 40/50s and I’ve started but hopefully can stay a good while longer ……..
Things do change, you think you had the answers. We have some wonderful antique ‘brown’ furniture, French Armoire, Welch Dresser, Clarice Cliff dinner sets, antique Art Nouveau glass wear etc etc. You can now buy brown furniture at less than IKEA tut and pottery who knows. The secret is to just enjoy what you bought and like and I failed with being too busy to enjoy the last Morgan. The kids want very little of any of it !! Think I will print Boomers still Rock bumper stickers for my friends .
We possibly learn too late but we are trying to make amends.
Luv MM
PS Do Baby Boomers feel the country is in terminal decline, a Doom Loop economically, as every time I spend time abroad it does tend to make me feel we have lost something in our British collective psyche………

Mike, to answer your last question, from my perspective yes !

Sorry, that was a typo

Sounds very sensible. I am trying but my wife is still in denial that she has too much stuff. She wants to live somewhere close to shops and we have a house on a very steep block and I am finding it hard to keep the garden in shape. In 2024 we both had medical issues, I snap my quad tendon and was on crutches for 4 months and my wife had a brain tumour removed, we found our current house very hard to live with and while it is fine again now it was a bit of a wake up call of what life could be like later on. We have bought a place that is flat and about 1km from a good shopping centre. We plan to knock the place down and build a house without steps etc. that hopefully we can live in for the rest of our lives. I have been going through my clothes, garage tools etc. and so far given away 7 trailer loads of stuff. My wife has the idea she will go though her stuff when we move. I am not happy as I feel it is better to go slowly go though stuff now deciding whether you want it in your new place, when we are ready to move and prepare this house for sale we will be very busy

100% agree, just buy what you want and not care about its future value, if you like it that is all that is important.

Not sure, listening to the news the whole world has me pretty worried at the moment.