What an absurdly divisive title. As if every single boomer is buying an elevator right now specifically to spite other generations. Why not point out the more obvious demographic that is actually doing this: wealthy people. It was nothing to do with age and everything to do with how much disposable untaxed income you have lying around.
this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
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Age is absolutely relevant. Old people have trouble with stairs. Rich 30 somethings aren't buying elevators for the thrill.
I had an elevator in my 4 story townhouse when I was 26. It was however really slow so I just ended up putting a keg of beer in it. Mobile beer!
How did it work, counterweight, hydraulic ram, chain pulley, or what?
Most kegs just pressurize the beer, and use that for the extraction... But some use a hand pump mechanism, or an external CO2 tank.
Ah the ol' Lemmy switcheroo
Hold my beer, I'm goin in?
WHILE YOU ARE STRUGGLING TO MAKE RENT, BOOMERS STILL OWN HOMES!
Good reminder that people should have a conversation with their parents about the fact that they wil probably end up unable to go up and down stairs at some point and that if they want to keep living in a house for a long time then a two storey house might not be the best solution...
We moved my parents from a two storey to a one storey about fifteen years ago and damn if it wasn't one of the best decisions we (the extended family) ever made. Dad got a mobility disorder not three years later and we went from twenty stair steps in the house to three. The front porch, the back porch, and the step into the garage. We even got a wheelchair ramp installed, which was great for my SIL (she uses one). The timing was fortuitous.
Poor boomers and rich millenials exist.
Exceptions to every rule exist.
The vast majority of boomers are not wealthy. The vast majority of every age demographic are not wealthy.
Considering something a "rule" that is overwhelmingly contradicted by "exceptions" makes the rule extremely silly to hang on to.
Generational divisiveness is merely ageism used to distract us from class conscious analysis of issues.
There is a higher percentage of working age people living in poverty than elderly people, yet every year more money is shifted from the working class to the retirement class.
My father is 65, made over a million from selling the house he bought for 250,000, still collects my mother's survivor benefits totaling half of her government pension (she died 20 years ago), gets a pension from magna, and next year the government is going to give him an extra 2 grand a month.
I don't think any more of my taxes should go to him, don't you agree?
Exceptions. WTF Most boomers are not wealthy, but according to Reddit they’re all drinking gold flaked champagne. Are your parents rich or grandparents? Here’s a secret most prople you meet are not wealthy.
You believe wealth exists only in a binary states of either gold flaked champagne or homeless destitution? Or perhaps you are being facetious? Regardless, the simple truth remains that your average boomer is much better off than your average millenial, or zoomer.
Citation needed. Because I see older folks going through my recycling for empties every Wednesday. And I see tired exhausted old folks on the bus every day. Not saying rich boomers aren't a thing, of course. But their elder millenial kids tend to be well off too by now. In the grand scheme of things, it's a class thing, not an age thing. Always has been.
Citation needed.
Okay, how about statcan.gc.ca which in 2019 reported:
"Canadian millennials had higher incomes and assets than young Gen-Xers at the same age. However, they were also more leveraged, as their debt to after-tax income levels surpassed 200%."
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2019006-eng.htm
The post title is boomers, this link is GenX and Millenials.
Try looking at the source.
I see the source, but I don't see how your link compares Boomers, can you point out wherebit does??
Because I see older folks going through my recycling for empties every Wednesday. And I see tired exhausted old folks on the bus every day.
Anecdotal evidence
While you are struggling to make rent, we're releasing clickbait to distract you from who you should really be mad at.
Without watching (ew video), imma assume the elevators are for the mobility impaired.
The only boomer I know with an elevator is handicapped.
Pretty much, the first thing the interviewed couple mentions is that they're building an elevator in order to keep living in their home as they grow older (and assumedly become impaired due to age).
It must be nice to have so much money that they can indulge their sentimentality like that.
Imagine having to move into a new house without stairs, they'd lose the will to live and die after a month
It might be a purely financial decision of "we want to keep living independently but we can't afford to buy a different house than the one we locked in 40 years ago, so lets spend a few thousand putting in an elevator instead of spending hundreds of thousands changing houses" since some major cities have housing markets that are simply that extreme
My googling tells me:
The typical cost to install a home elevator in a two-story house ranges from $30,000 to $60,000 on average
Minimum cost: Around $20,000
Maximum cost: Up to $100,000 or more
National average: Approximately $48,000
My parents put in a stair lift. I'd expect more are doing something like that where they are a few thousand bucks. But you still need to be able to transfer to/from the seat. It doesn't accommodate a wheelchair.
It's not such an extravagant purchase when it's the only way my father could make it up and down from his bedroom.
Honestly I was thinking of how things are for my family in LA, where house prices are so bonkers that its legitimately cheaper to renovate (although part of that probably also stems from the local tax law limiting property tax increases for existing homeowners) but that's really my only secondhand experience with a truly unaffordable housing market so I don't know how transferrable that is
A reno to make the house sellable would cost that as well
Much doubt in that statement. Define 'sellable', is taking the price from 900,000 to 1.1 million making a house sellable? I guess you don't want to leave 270,000 dollars on the table but if they're at the point where they can't walk up stairs ik going to hazard a guess that those amounts will result in the same quality of life for them
Sellable as in the cost/price increase negate each other but you’re actually going to find a buyer within a reasonable timeframe
Yeah huh
Some things to consider
Asbestos/mold will get you passed on unless you’re selling to a flipper
You as a buyer are going to want a home that doesn’t have the above so you’re going to want the money that a home without it provides
Boomers are so financially illiterate that their retirement plans were that their house would pay for the last 20 years of their lives
Just a standard office building elevator.
This is yet another reason why we need proper "aging in place" infrastructure like small retirement communities right near where people live, so people can both stay in their community but also get more appropriate accommodations as they age. Not only that, but those retirement communities will free up plenty of housing for younger people who are struggling to find housing.
I completely agree. The race to the bottom dollar is so exhausting. Housing should never have been used as a financial vehicle.
I cannot fathom how an old couple manages to maintain a 5 bedroom, 3 storey house for just the 2 of them. Maybe a handful of times a year the house is full with family. It just seems like a lot of air to heat/cool, a lot of furniture that doesn't get used, a lot of appliances and land to maintain, and a lot of wasted room in the house when they probably only use a kitchen, bedroom, and living room the majority of the time.
My grandparents did this. Rather than downsizing after the fire and moving closer to services, they rebuilt their house even bigger and added an elevator, then asked all their kids to drive them around. Not ideal.
My dudes, I think you all got it wrong. I want an elevator in my next home. So when I get older and the boomers get closer to fossilized under ground, I'll be out there finding the right home with an elevator.
If there's any anger here, it should be directed towards the bankers and billionaires. They keep racking up the money and we keep getting screwed instead of having enough to afford our own elevator.... eventually.
Garbage post.
ok, but this is the internet.
I instal a new one every month as I hate using old elevators /s