The most lucrative genre of journalism in Australia is profiles about young homeowners or property investors who lecture millennials on their unsustainable spending and saving habits, revealing their own vast property portfolios which they have built entirely by the sweat of their own brow (and, of course, a little bit of Daddy’s money).
Domain alone publishes approximately 2,000 of these articles per day – demanding those pesky Gen Yers pull their socks up, stop scarfing down avo on toast and bloody well get on with it.
Today’s example – via 60 Minutes – is the most molto bene of them all. Young rich lister and property tycoon Tim Gurner, 35, smacked down millennials for spending all their dosh on COFFEE instead of HOUSES:
When I was buying my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for 19 bucks and four coffees at $4 each. You have to start to get realistic about your expectations. There is no question we are at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high.
Well, that’s all very well and good, isn’t it? Thanks for the advice, Timmo.
This may seem like a battle between the generations, but even some around the same age disagree about the values of the ‘Now Generation.’ pic.twitter.com/m9UnBAZzlq
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) May 14, 2017
But there’s another little tidbit of knowledge about Gurner, who owns a half-billion dollar property portfolio, which might go some way towards illuminating what’s gone on here. As per the News Corp article about Gurner’s meteoric rise:
He started out by taking over a lease on a suburban gym as a 19-year-old, using $34,000 given to him by his grandfather. He sold the business a year later to a competitor and went into property development, riding the boom in Melbourne and Brisbane.
I’m sorry, what? Alright, no dramas. No more coffees, no more avocado on toast, and I’ll do my best at getting $34,000 out of my grandfather. See how I go with that.
Every single time, there’s a tiny little caveat.
Source: News.com.au.
Photo: Richie Rich.
