Tbayer2021 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 22, 2025 9:51 am
cdnavater wrote: ↑Fri Nov 21, 2025 1:21 pm
Tbayer2021 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 21, 2025 9:43 am
The father of a friend of mine had a similar mindset. Loved to point out how todays youth couldn't do this and that because they refused to cut out everything that wasn't bare bones sustenance and refrain from anything exciting in their life since exciting translates into $$$. My friend being a mortgage broker finally made his father understand how badly the math had changed against the new generation by showing him he couldn't afford the house he currently lives in. If he had to buy it at that point.
He showed his father that even being at the peak of his career as a civil engineer making roughly $250,000-at that time- he would not be able to afford, today, the house he purchased in the late 90s. Not even with a 30% downpayment. The kicker was that he explained this to his father while rates were historically low. Can't imagine what that math must look like now.
How does the math look for your average household in Canada that their combined income barely brakes 100K?
altipano claims he achieved what he did by tightening the belt, and it still took him a very long time to achieve what our parents had by their late 20s. How long would it take him if he was starting out today? Would he be able to get to the same place before retirement? Would he have to keep moving further and further away from civilization for the same "dream" while still claiming he lives exactly where he wants to live? That may be so, but again, not everyone can nor wants to live hours away from their place of work. Almost every commuter I fly with hates it and the only reason they do it is because they couldn't afford the same lifestyle any closer to the city.
You make a valid point, my kids couldn’t afford the house I just sold, nor the one I bought after that but they did buy a smaller house, one of which is literally a two minute drive from the city. Of course we are not talking Toronto, that’s the problem, there are many more affordable parts of this country and the commute sucks, no question, the company and airport authorities have made sure of that!
I have commuted my entire career and it is what you make of it and no I don’t use more sick time than non commuters, I only have one sick event for this year. I have one of the worst commutes you can think of but it’s still better than living in the most expensive cities in the country.
So, here is the crux of the matter, what would the pay need to get to so we can ALL afford to live in these big cities and own a house?
After you answer that question, what do you think the odds are of that happening? Since I know the answer to that is slim to none, wouldn’t our time be better spent trying to make it easier to commute, like the US, no fees, free space available seating on any airline or even let’s get posi-space commute.
I’m want to be clear, if you truly need 350k to live in “the city” and have two cars, you should realize that is not happening until you have 10-12 years and hold left seat NB, to think it’s happening before that is nothing short of delusional!
Just about every way to measure quality and standard of living has gone down for the new generation when compared to boomer/X. Not only does the new generation makes less when compared to their parents, but they also make less and keep less when adjusted in whatever way you want; inflation, real money, spending power, cost of livng, etc.
Have you guys not seen the payscales from the 90s/ early 2000s?
It doesn't seem to matter which way the information gets packaged. Somehow, somewhere, some boomer pipes up with "But.......". The crux of the argument they always seem to have is that we must be willing to make sacrifices they were never asked to. Very rich of you!
I’m far from boomer, about ten years from the top end of that era, however to say anyone in aviation hasn’t been asked to make sacrifices is outright false!
My first turbine job was 18k per years, 3 weeks on, 1 week off rotation, 18k today is adjusted to 34.9k.
I bought my first house for 56k and lost it to the bank after 911 wiped out jobs, I retrained and got back on track after a few years to get laid off again and have to start over, yet again at the bottom of some list and new hire pay. The next time I was able to buy a house, I managed to make a few bucks after 5 years and tons of renovations, thankfully I’m handy and am able to do the work myself because the trades can charge whatever the f@$k they want, don’t like it, do it yourself they’ll tell you.
My next house, I’ll say I got lucky because it sat on the market and I bought it under the comparables and after owning it for 17 years and another round of extensive renovations, to the tune of 250k spread out over the years I made a few bucks.
Currently in my next and likely last house, guess what, more friggen renovations, these however are more about preference and not needed but non the less I can’t afford what I want so I make it how I want it. I most certainly don’t whine about how hard it is to buy a house on FO new hire wages, I lived it and rented until I could afford it.
Now, I will concede, it is harder today to do what I did, it is possible because I’ve only lived in the same city I worked one time in my entire career, first job and ever since I’ve been a commuter, so instead of complaining about something that absolutely won’t be changing, ie; the airlines are not going to suddenly pay new hires 200k to start, so if you want to own a house, there are other parts of the country where you can.
