Do you really need a second car in the driveway?

Yup... might as well put the second car, err... clunker... in the driveway. Ya gotta keep the garage free and clear for all the other junk you bought and couldn't afford.

Yes let's all go out and buy a second car we can't afford which will make it harder to pay off the crushing student debt that's been accumulated on the way to the promised land jobs that don't exist for the overeducated and underemployed (and piss poor paid) younger generation while we also fund OAS, CPP, and all while we watch the Boomers sitting on their high horse telling us how easy we have it, how lazy we are, and that it was "so much harder" in their day.

These people don't live on the same planet as the rest of us.

@Patrick... I wish I didn't live on the same planet with the likes of you. Yes, I am a Boomer, and I own 4 cars, 2 of them worth over $100,000. SO WHAT!!! WHO CARES??? I also paid for my adult children's university education and living expenses (med. school), which cost more that what you probably have earned in your lifetime from the sounds of your whining. I don't want my kids saddled with debt and sponging off the tax payers. I pay over $150,000 per year on income tax alone, so you whiners just shut the F up! I am certainly not complaining.

I have two vehciles but considering I live in Alberta owning two vehicles is a must have. I have to agree with Patrick on a few points. The cost of living and education for younger generation or non boomers as it were, has become extremely expensive. i sympathize with the non boomers and if you can't afford a 2nd vehicle its better not to put yourself in more debt. I think we will all in for a big shock in the next few months when it comes to the economy. Good luck to boomers and non boomers alike.

I have retired ahead of my wife. When she retires we shall thankfully be down to one car.

I have had the benefit of company vehicle over the last 25 years. My wife is alowed to use it, so even though my wife has her own vehicle, she drives it very seldom. She bicycle commutes during the spring/summer/fall period and I drive her on the days she does not bike.

We are plalnning on retirement to have only one vehicle, not because we won't be able to afford a second or even a third one, but because we choose to live simply and far below our means.

My wife and I both plant to retire in the next few years, we are currently 53 & 54 and have been able to achieve this by not accumulating a lot of stuff and by avoiding all debt. Our house has been paid off for 10 years, we paid for both of our children's educations. We also gave each of our children a $100,000 each to get their lives started. Our kids are very good with their own money, so it has been great to be able assist them as it iis very expensive toset up a home now. This has given us much more satisfaction than buying a huge house or 'vanity' vehicles that many with our financial resources seem to buy.

We will still be retiitring with around 2.5 million in investments and look forward to continuing to support the numerous charities we have supported long term. Much more satisfying than spending more on ourselves.

Live simply so others can just live...

Jack,

You are an entitled, cocky, shameless jackass. We don't give a rat's ass about your material possessions.
What a burden for this Planet you are. Boo hoo! Patrick is right. And you shut the f up!

And Zehrer,

You too are an asshole. Living off somebody else's money. This is what your so-called investments are. Coming here and bragging about it. Disgusting!

Here come the parasites of the world to show off. Rememer Wall Street? The 'investments' they made in our names? Remember the CEOs? and their salaries? They don't work for the money, they invest the money. Meaning, the steal the money from the poor and live the good life while we are going down. Then, they show up on the blog to rub it in our faces. Nice, isn't it? There will come a day when you will have to count your pennies, because we are going to go after you.

@Chris... I have a nice big jar of pennies I'm willing to hand over to you... for free. Then, if you're really smart (which may be doubtful), you can invest them in Ontario's grape industry and become a bigger whiner than you are. After you get rich, your momma will be really happy when you vacate her basement.

@Jack

Actually I've had a job since I was 12 years old. I put over 100,000 down on my house and worked 45+ hours per week during my summers to graduate University debt free. I also own my car 100% and have never carried consumer debt.

Sorry I wasn't born into the easiest job market the western world has ever known. Sorry people my age today, despite being better educated than your generation or the generation after, still faces record levels of underemployment and unemployment.

I've never sponged off the taxpayers and don't ever plan on it Jack. Apt that your name is Jack because you certainly don't know jack.

Expecting the younger generation to kickstart the economy by spending themselves into oblivion. What a joke.

It's no sense trying to talk to people like Cris or Jack... THEY are the ones with the feelings of entitlement. They look at people like you, that have made a SIZABLE amount of money, and think, "That's not fair! They should give some of that to us." (For nothing in return, of course...) I look at that and think, "Good for him. Sounds like he worked for what he got, had talent, and was in the right places at the right times."

Granted, you're also FAR above the average Canadian Boomer, who is more likely to be only worth 2-300k in total, rather than 2 mil or more. These younger ones are also correct in how the Boomers don't understand their situation. An automatic job with a College degree? No more. Automatically being successful by working hard and proving yourself? Not these days. With the reclining economy, rising population, immigration and standard of education, plus increased regulation by government, it's much harder to 'go at it' and get somewhere anymore. Couple that with the greatly inflated costs of food, housing, transportation...what have you, and it's the perfect recipe to keep these people 'behind the eight-ball'. Which makes the resentment they feel when they look at the generation that were better rewarded for their efforts, a bit more understandable, if unwarranted.

So Chris, I am an asshole for saving money over the last 30 years? So being self sufficient heading into retirement makes me evil? Wow, you really are a loser. So I guess the fact that my wife and I contribute over $50,000 a year to various charities makes us real assholes then in your books. How much do you contribute? My wife and I are plannig to set up a foundation that will permanently fund charites close to our hearts. What's your legacy other than being a loser?

My wife and have worked hard all our lives, nothing was ever handed to us. I am not sure why the younger generations feel they are so hard done by. There is tons of opportunity out there for those with any ambition. Being born in either Canada or the US is like winning the lottery. But you actually have to have some skills and ambition to be part of it.

What I hear from most employers is that the sub 30 year old work force generally has a sense of 'entitlement' and it is frustratingly rare to get a 'young go'getter' that really wants to contribute to the organization they work for. Most make the minimum efort to stay employed.

We actively seek 45 to 50 year olds for our customer service as their work ethic far exceeds that from the younger generation.

@Troy... I agree with you.

@ZREXER
I am glad for you and your family. I have been also saving for many years now. However, I have a question for you... How many times were you outsourced during those 30 years of savings? How many times were you laid off to hire cheaper people with less skills?

I do not think that I am asking too much: just an steady job/income. Every time a company closes or restructures itself, and people are laid off, whatever savings are gone trying to live until the next job. The world is not longer the same than 30 years ago, so people should not judge how other generations are doing.

To all Boomers: if you want to see how the real world looks like now, start a new career and a new job from scratch. No previous experience in the field. We'll see how far you can go these days.
If you think the younger generations suck, remember you were the ones raising them, between smoking pot, being hippies and bus concerts. Peace brother!

To all the younger generations: Globalization means we have to compete worldwide for a job. So we have to hone our skills and lower our ambitions and salaries. We are screwed. Suck it up!

Thanks

I don't think we should be banking on younger people buying a second car, especially if they live in cities. Neither of my young adult "kids" have a car or even a full driving license and they are typical of their generation. They use urban transit, bicycles and walking and they use Greyhound between cities. They do have to rely on friends to get out to the mountains though. When I was their age I was the same. The only reason I bought an old clunker was to get to the mountains, albeit not always reliably!
Now I live IN the mountains, a 4WD is a necessity. especially since we do search and rescue, hike, ski, snowshoe, mountain bike etc etc and pull a camping trailer in summer. But in all my life, I've never bought a new car, and never plan to. I do have a second vehicle - a tiny second hand vehicle for about $6000, which is very easy on the gas and maintenance - car insurance, maintenance and gas come to about $150 a month or $2000 a year max - way less than the $3500 quoted above. It should last another 10 years too as should our 4WD.
So I sure hope plans for an economic recovery don't hinge on people buying more cars. The trend is just not there.

Also people my age should stop blaming the younger generation for everything. It's a tough world out there work-wise with not too many really secure jobs and few defined benefit pensions. There's a lot more part time and temporary work without benefits. Having kids later in life means that I am now experiencing this through the eyes of my kids. So fellow boomers, find young adults with a good attitude (there are many) and hire them if you can.
The reality of life is that there are upturns and downturns. When I left school in an upturn, I could get work easily. Then there was a downturn and people were severely underemployed - remember Monty Python sketches of people with PhD's discussing philosophers whilst working in Woolworths - a Walmart equivalent. That was reality then. Then it got better. Then I went to University (late) and graduated in a recession. Engineering grads were selling vacuum cleaners door to door, Geology grads selling perfume downtown Calgary - and these were the lucky ones. Found low paying work outside my field. Got into mining - mines shut down, lay offs, move to another mine etc etc. That's life, folks, boomers and non boomers, we're all in it together.

We only have one car in the household and that is all my spouse and I will ever have. I'm fine with that. We don't need a second car in the city. Anyway, here are on my 2 cents worth on the old/young arguing.
I think the boomers should recognize the energy of the youth and give them a chance and CHANNEL all that energy in a productive way. That being said, in today's day we are no longer allowed to say negativities, whether it be at the workplace or home. So, the young people also need to learn to RESPECT what experience and education has taught the boomers and learn from them, gracefully. The young people need to be more patient in their learning. I know how hard that is too. I was young once. In short, we need the experience, expertise of the boomers. We also need the ambition, energy and willingness to learn from the youth.

TODAY i look at it we are many dual income families so 2 vehicles is a must

There are some people that get it and some that don't. I'm nothing stellar.

I graduated from 6 years post-secondary in 1992 with $26,000 in student loans. I spent another five years part time going back to further my education after working for a few years in industry.

I borrowed from my RRSP for a downpayment on my house in 1997.

I am a very well paid prfoessional with a relatively young family and I have it easier than most.

However, I am also part of the generation that needs to pay for the excesses of previous generations through the politicians and their programs. The reason our country has so much debt is exactly because of the promises of yesteryear that couldn't be paid for by the generation of voters of yesteryear. And it is even worse today. We have to meet the obligations of the past and we have to meet the obligations of the present, and many of us have a strong feeling that our children and grand-children should not have to go through what we are currently going through.

Our societal burdens are based on kicking-the-can down the road for someone else to deal with.

The problem is, there are still too many voters that still allow for the ever-growing burden to increase.

it is a different world today than it was yesterday. The problem is exacerbated by our having to pay for the excesses of our previous generations (forget about strictly pointing out the excesses of our own generation). If there weren't excesses then we wouldn't have the debt obligations - not all of them entirely entered into by us - but entered into by our previous generations.

There are lots of opportunites out there for people with the right skills and that are not afraid to work. My daughter graduated as an English major 2 years ago. Her friends gave her a hard time that she wasted 4 years on a useless degree.

Well she started in a executive head hunting firm, worked her ass off, put in 10 hour days when needed. Her boss decided to start another executive head hunting frim and took my daughter to the new company. She is making $70,000 a year now at 24 with benefits and a bonus structure. she also owns her own condo in Calgary. She still works long days when required. She also works some weekends. She is doing what she needs to do to get ahead. She never complains about the economy or how hard everything is. This would be because she is not a whining loser. Just because the media continues to say how hard things are does not mean it is true, unless you want to make it an excuse for not getting ahead.

My son made $47,000 last year while taking a full load of university classes. His job at a local government recreation facilty had a shift starting at 5:30 am. He arranged his classes, so he worked a 4 hour shift every day. He also worked a shift starting at 5:30 pm to 1:30 am on some days. He has been on the deans list every year and will graduate this spring with distinction. I paid for his university, but when your kid demonstrates a work ethic like this, I am happy to do so. He is a saver and when he leaves home he can easily buy a house or condo.

@ZREXER

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/jobless-youth.aspx

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/01/29/business-youth-unemployment-cost.html

http://www.cga-canada.org/en-ca/ResearchAndAdvocacy/AreasofInterest/Employment/Pages/ca_employment.aspx

The unemployment rate of youth in Spain is the highest in the world sitting at over 50%!!!

I consider myself lucky especially compared to my peers. I have worked hard and nearly doubled my salary in less than a year just because I work hard, am educated, and go after every opportunity that presents itself.

To pretend like your daughter or son's situations are par for the course or normal shows how laughably small the bubble you live in is (Jobs out west are more plentiful and higher paying but, the higher pay is also due to the higher cost of living)

If your daughter lived in say.. Detroit, Halifax, Sudbury, Michigan, or some such other city, state or province that wasn't rife with growth and opportunity then she too would likely be struggling... very hard.

I have friends with apparently extremely desirable degrees who cannot get work simply because there's too many people applying for jobs and not enough jobs to fill the gaps.

Computer engineers who cannot get simple entry level IT positions.

A friend who is a solid works, auto-cad, and steel works mechanical engineer with 3-4 years experience who has moved 3 times and been laid off twice in the past 2 years. He's supposed to be having the easiest time because his education and job skills are apparently in the highest level of demand.

He now is looking at his 4th move in less than 4 years. He's moving cities and jobs at a rate of once per year because the cycle seems to be to have them work, finish a few projects, then dump them.

Your kids are working hard and doing well. That's great for them. Don't for one second think it's because they're so much better than anyone else though because you could be the greatest genius the world has ever seen and if you're living in Detroit and are too poor to even afford food, let alone shelter, your life probably isn't going anywhere.