Why Sydney Millennials & under resent Boomers: Real Estate profits take no skill

It's not the money that Baby Boomers have, but rather how they made it, that has younger generations miffed.

“Ok, Boomer.”

It’s become the catch-all dismissive rallying cry to denounce any of the perceived out-of-date attitudes to modern social issues that the Baby Boomer generation is accused of holding – from climate change, to immigration, to perhaps most obviously in Sydney: the property market.

Boomers will often fire back accusing their youngers of being lazy and spoiled by technology, or simply just jealous of the wealth they’ve acquired. But that’s missing the point entirely.

We’re not jealous of you having money, Boomers. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with wealth acquisition as a pathway to satisfaction in life – but when that wealth acquisition directly affects the quality of life of the greater society it’s happening in, then it does become a problem.

It’s no secret that Sydney’s property market ranks amongst the most ridiculous in the world. You’ve heard all the stats: housing prices have increased an eye-popping 106% in Sydney since 2008, and Sydney now ranks as the third-most expensive city to buy property in the world relative to income trailing only Hong Kong and its high-density shoebox market and Canada’s Vancouver.

While there’s multiple contributing factors to this including obvious supply-versus-growth issues, foreign investment and its ilk, the Boomer generation defaulting to property investment as their go-to money making scheme remains an integral ingredient in this foul-tasting recipe as well.

The biggest issue with property acquisition as a default for wealth acquisition isn’t merely the fact that not everyone has the means to do it – it’s about how boringly easy and uninventive it is.

Of all the ways to be creative with money, acquiring pre-existing real estate in areas that are already facing supply issues ranks at the bottom of the barrel. This type of easy wealth investment requires minimal thought or ingenuity, and kills any need for innovation while stagnating society as a whole – both economically and creatively.

Imagine if many more of those Boomers were instead forced to be creative and, say, establish new businesses with that money that could provide tangible social benefits? Would we have had a considerably higher amount of innovative Aussie companies in existence today?

Our country already punches above its weight in terms of inventions of importance, but you can only wonder how many more there may have been with a forced extra influx of cash.

It’s only theoretical, sure; but simply looking at a graph of property trends and throwing money at a house that you never plan to inhabit is always going to be far less of an intellectually challenging method for funnelling your finances.

It’s of course easy to understand why someone would want to make as much money as possible with minimal effort. It’s also directly contrary to the criticisms of laziness often levelled at the younger generations – a criticism that belies the fact that Australia currently ranks 9th in the world for workers clocking in over 50 hours of work each week.

When you’re given such a massive series of tax-advantaged wealth incentives – negative gearing, tax-free franking credits and more combine to make what Tony Walker of the Sydney Morning Herald called “the most favourable giveaway tax regime for an entitled generation in the Western world” – why would you not simply opt in, after all?

“Of all the ways to be creative with money, acquiring pre-existing real estate in areas that are already facing supply issues ranks at the bottom of the barrel.”

That’s all well and good as an easy-out argument, but then the Boomer generation can’t turn around and wonder why there seems to be an inter-generational disconnect in Sydney and other major cities that’s only getting larger.

So forgive us, Boomers, if we’re a little bitter about your generation choosing to focus on wealth acquisition over the future well-being of our country while we’re looking with dispair at the plummeting levels of home ownership for our Millennial-and-under generations while you accuse us of eating one-too-many $20 smashed avocados.

It’d just be nice if you could possibly consider the answers to two questions: what else could you have done with that money had you just tried a little harder? And how much money does one honestly need to live a comfortable retirement?

I hear most cruise companies are offering great package deals these days, after all…