Bitter millennials need to stop whining and make their own way in the world

It’s bad enough having to stomach the bitterness and the sneering from Millennials (those born between ‘81 and ‘96) and Gen Z (born between ‘97- 2012) about how selfish Baby Boomers are (that’s you and me dear readers) and how we’ve wrecked their futures because we were all greedy and wasteful.

But I’m also now furious at the constant accusations that we Boomers had it easy - that when we were young life was a breeze, money was cheap and we were all able to buy our houses for a song and there were jobs a-plenty.

Most of this is fanciful tosh. Yes, it’s true that in recent years house prices have exceeded wage growth so it’s harder for young people to buy a house.

But since when was it a human right for anyone – let alone a millennial- to own their own home?

Many people in Europe never do. They rent. It’s normal.

But back to the fallacy that Baby Boomers had it easy. Life sure as Hell wasn’t easy when interest rates hit 17%, when there were financial crashes that wrecked the economy and plunged the price of the houses those millennials are so resentful about into negative equity.

And believe me, for many of us, THAT took years of hard slog to get out of.

I didn’t buy my first house until I was 29 and it was tiny. Still, it nearly broke me and the mortgage payments took more than half of my salary every month.

But I sacrificed other stuff because my parents had drummed into me that having my own house would require sacrifice and hard work so I was prepared for it.

But millennials don’t seem to be. They see people around them with houses and they think “Why can’t I have one too?”

Well, the reason’s simple. They can’t afford it and many are not prepared to do what it takes to afford it - whether it is giving up treats, clothes, going out, holidays, or cars.

Many of the millennials who think they should own their own house and actually believe it’s their parents’ job to buy them one or give them theirs don’t even have a job and have no interest in finding one.

Figures this week show that there are 481,000 young people aged between 16-24 who are unemployed and more than 40% of those hadn’t worked in more than a year.

Worse, 280,000 of those are on some form of unemployment benefit.

Oh Yes, and there are currently 900,000 job vacancies which could very easily be filled by those young people on unemployment benefits. But No, many of them turn them down because, well, they just don’t fancy them.

Now on what planet would these people think they’re entitled to own their own home?

This week a new survey says two in five millennials think their parents and grandparents are selfish because they dare to take one or two holidays a year in their retirement because they see that as them spending THEIR inheritance.

This latest research from Moneyfarm also says two in five people aged between 35 and 50 think their parents should provide them with an inheritance.

And incredibly almost half thought they shouldn’t have to wait until their parents are dead to get it. They should just be given it now and to Hell with how their parents live out their final years.

Many of these young people felt their parents have a responsibility to give them money for their futures, money which could help pay off their mortgages.

Have they forgotten about all the “help” their parents have given them from the day they were born? The fact they grew up with a roof over their heads, were fed, clothed and educated?

Have they forgotten about all the sacrifices their parents made to get them into the school or the university they wanted? And what about the help millions of parents give their kids long after they’ve left school or university to help with the rent, the grandkids – whatever?

Do they think none of that is THEIR responsibility? Don’t they think there has to come a point where they are responsible for their own lives?

And as well as expecting everything from us selfish Boomers, they blame us for all the problems they’re facing today - inequality, climate change, university tuition fees, lost opportunities.

Do Millennials and Gen Z not see they have a responsibility to make their own way in the world and that their parents have the right to a comfortable retirement and to spend their hard-earned cash on themselves not propping up their kids?

I grew up never expecting to inherit a penny from my Mum and Dad because I knew how hard they had worked to get what they had.

Like most parents, they desperately wanted to do something for me, to leave me something and in the end, they did leave me their home.

And yes, I was grateful but I swear I wished they’d taken money out of the house and gone on a mad spending spree in their final years having spent a lifetime scrimping and scraping always worrying they’d never have enough.

But the reason I expected nothing from them was because they taught me to work hard and to go get what I wanted myself. And I did.

That is why I hugely resent Gen Z and Millennials telling people of my generation that we had it easy and that we should now give everything we’ve got to them even though they’ve done nothing to earn it.

Sorry, but they need to do it for themselves.