Boomer Calls Out Young Aussies - But They Have Brutally Snapped Back
A baby-boomer owner of multiple properties who said the current younger generation are bad at saving and want everything 'now' has been slammed as 'out of touch'.
Lorna, who appeared on SBS's Insight program in early July, told the audience she bought her first house with her husband for $62,000 when she was 23.
The boomer said she wasn't from a wealthy family and the couple had received no assistance.
'When I left high school, I went nursing because you got paid at the same time as getting a qualification,' she said.
'And I just saved and saved.'
When asked how she had since purchased and sold multiple million-dollar properties, the boomer replied: 'I just kept buying from time to time.'
Lorna said after doing this for a while, she was eventually able to purchase a home without a mortgage, as stone-faced younger people in the audience watched on.
'I would pay cash,' she said.
Lorna (pictured) is a baby boomer who said the younger generation are living beyond their means and she 'saved and saved' for her first home - which cost $62,000
Younger audience members appeared shocked (pictured) by Lorna's description of how she came to own multiple properties
Lorna went on to say that baby boomers are a 'fabulous generation' but that the current group of younger Australians don't have the same dedication to saving.
'I think they're the generation that see something and they want it right now,' she said.
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'And that's why they will use services like Afterpay and live beyond their means.
'I don't think they're brilliant at budgeting.'
But once a clip of Lorna's comments were posted on TikTok, members of Australia's younger generation pointed out obvious flaws in Lorna's argument.
'You get paid at the same time when getting the qualification! **screams as a broke nursing student**,' one frustrated student wrote.
'Her qualification was also free, so she didn't have a 62k debt to start with,' another replied.
Nursing is now a degree that must be studied at university and incurs a hefty HECS debt if students don't have the money to pay upfront - a considerable financial burden baby boomers didn't have to deal with.
'Not only was the house cheaper, she got paid while getting her degree and bought a house with her husband… does she not see it?? How do they not?' one exasperated viewer wrote.
High rents and high demand: the reality for the younger generations is polar opposite to how boomers got into the property market (pictured, potential renters lined up to look at Sydney apartment)
Another added: 'If I was paid to go to school instead of having student loan debt, I probably would have flipped a couple [of] million dollar homes as well.'
Many young Aussies were also left gobsmacked at the price Lorna and her husband paid for a house.
'That [$62,000] wouldn't be enough for a deposit today,' one wrote.
'We have a budgeting problem because our degrees are the cost of her house when she bought it?'
Fired up Aussies also took issue with Lorna's assertion their generation wanted instant gratification - even though Lorna was only 23 when she bought her property.
Nursing wasn't a degree when Lorna was paid while she studied, but students now incur a large HECS debt (pictured, stock image of the University of New South Wales)
'I'm sorry that me wanting a house at 32 is wanting things "right now",' one wrote.
The fact the Insight guest purchased her first property with her husband also did not go unnoticed, with home ownership now feeling like a thing of the past for many single Aussies, while others accused her generation of being 'out of touch'.
'How were you able to do that? "I just kept buying",' one wrote.
But some people defended Lorna and said she made some important points.
'Y'all gotta admit though she does kinda have a point about people not knowing how to budget and living far beyond their means,' one person posted.
The current cost of living crisis has hit all Australians hard, but the younger generation are facing historically high rents, university and TAFE fees, and sky-rocketing property prices.
Despite Australian wage rates growing by 4.1 per cent in the year to the March quarter of 2024, inflation has risen by 3.6 per cent over the same period, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' data.
With people struggling to buy groceries and essential items, it is not surprising that nearly a half of all Australians have less than a $1,000 in savings, according to Finder.
Forty-seven per cent of Australians could only live off their savings for one month or less - let alone have enough for a home deposit.
And despite Lorna thinking the younger generation are turning to buy now, pay later services like Afterpay because they 'want' things, a report about Afterpay's economic impact instead shows it is helping Aussies deal with the financial crisis.
Twenty-six per cent of Aussies surveyed says it helps them save more, while a further 20 per cent said it helps them manage the impact of inflation.
Cost of Living CrisisHousing MarketTikTok