How many of you have made it?

[washerdrier]

Another thread about spending money and saving for a deposit to buy a house got me thinking about how so many people seem to be in a situation where they're either renting and saving to buy, just married and saving to have kids or in some other way squirrelling money away for the next stage...

I feel like the generations before us didn't really live like this.

I just wondered by show of hands how many of us have made it... I.e. completed their family, in their forever home, pensions ticking along, fun money available each week. Vs how many of us are still striving to get there? Bonus points for sharing your age.

You go first OP then older people can add where they were in life at your age?

Still striving to get there, early 30s

Generations before you DID save hard.
I am 48 and moved back to my parents and cut my expenses to the absolute bare minimum to save for my first place, for example I commuted to work by coach taking 2 hours each way, instead of the train which took an hour. When I moved in, all my furniture was 2nd hand and I had a borrowed black n white TV on a cardboard box for the first year or so.
Saving hard for your first home is not new.

In my family the previous generations had it harder.

I'm 32.

One child. Second due in just over a week. We are done after that!

Four bed house.

Almost £50k a year salary.

£1000 on bills. £1000 in savings. Rest is "fun money".

Husband - 42.

Earns similar.

£1000 on bills. Rest in savings. He doesn't really spend any money on himself.

Three years ago we were struggling.

I'm 62, married 41 years, 2 adult sons. Got our 1st mortgage 36 years ago, on just my husband's wage. We'd been council tenants, so got a council mortgage, 100% (no deposit). After 6 years of that, we sold up and moved to where we are now. Mortgage was 12.5% interest rate. It was a massive struggle to pay it each month, then we finally paid it off 6 years ago.

Right sorry, I'm 40. Single mum, one child with a disability so I've got crap going on that's put a hold on achieving buying a house and I always wanted 2 kids which I probably won't have now.

@Chewbecca

Generations before you DID save hard. I am 48 and moved back to my parents and cut my expenses to the absolute bare minimum to save for my first place, for example I commuted to work by coach taking 2 hours each way, instead of the train which took an hour. When I moved in, all my furniture was 2nd hand and I had a borrowed black n white TV on a cardboard box for the first year or so. Saving hard for your first home is not new.

We're the same generation. I should have shared my age

Still striving

@Cuntness

I'm 32.

One child. Second due in just over a week. We are done after that!

Four bed house.

Almost £50k a year salary.

£1000 on bills. £1000 in savings. Rest is "fun money".

Husband - 42.

Earns similar.

£1000 on bills. Rest in savings. He doesn't really spend any money on himself.

Three years ago we were struggling.

Can I ask what you're saving for as I'd put you in the "made it" camp ?

Feel like I've made it.

Career going well.
Bought a house. Paid off 30% of the mortgage and planning to just get it all paid asap. Bought my house from the council. I will get boos now.

Started again at 38 because my ex h tried to bankrupt me. It's been a long arsed few years but I'm good.

Not without problems in my life but I'm happy. Feel comfortable where I am. Nothing extravagant but comfortable.

Feel content and just striving to get my savings up. I have none at present.

Don't have a plan as such just a vision

Happy with my lot, yes. 40, 3 bedroom house worth around 250k with about 110k paid off, lovely partner after a horrible first marriage , salary 100k and I save (to investments, pension and mortgage payments) over 2k a month which helps me feel positive about retirement.

Age 52
3 grown up DC
House paid off worth 675-700k
Married
My DH and I have just retired with pension pots worth 1.4 million.
I also had the old TV on a box years when I was younger.

I have OP. 4 bed house, one DC (one by choice), both have amazing jobs we love, we earn 6k month net so have fun money after bills paid.

I'm 45, DH is 47.

DH parents died so that's how we could afford a house. Not what either of us would have wanted.

We benefited massively from free university and growing up in SE so could live at home when we were starting out our careers.

I would never say this to anyone irl but I think we Gen xrs are incredibly fortunate.

No tuition fees, in fact DH got a grant, graduated into a booming economy, low interest rates for the mortgage, just got on housing ladder in London before it all went mental. Free movement in EU and Erasmus so we both studied and lived abroad for a bit too.

I think we were lucky and I'm sorry it's not been so easy for younger generation.

We are hoping to pay off our mortgage by the time I'm 35.

I also like to have a buffer after years of having no money. And my husband is self employed so there's always a worry that something could go wrong.

I'm a worrier!

37 and very definitely haven’t ‘made it’. Good household income but eaten away by mortgage, bills and childcare. Very little in terms of savings.
Hopefully one day!

So, yes, I'd put myself in the "made it" column. But it feels fragile and I don't trust it.

Don't get divorced whatever you do - that's what set me back financially massively!

The generation before me, my parents, grew up in extreme poverty. They didn't have an inside loo or bath. At 7 my dad was evacuated, had little communication with his parents, and didn't know from one week to the next if they were still alive.
The generation before them, my grandparents, were worse off. My maternal grandparents were bombed out, losing their home and most of their belongings.

My parents and grandparents worked more than one job in order to pay the bills. So literally on their feet all day in physically demanding jobs, go home for tea, then out again to their second jobs.

I’m 39 and due to give birth in Dec. Got the forever home, life partner, career, pension (although needs to grow much more)

I’ve had a shocking year though and now don’t agree with the phrase “made-it” as this is different things to different people as it tends to look at the material side of life

I think “happy and secure” is probably a better phrase.

Yes I suppose when I say other generations I was thinking of those who are 60s/70s now but possibly also as PP says, also those who are not much older than me but who bought property before it all went crazy.

I'm not sure to be honest. We're both 41 and we have four children aged 3 to 12. Live in a nice area in a 4 bed detached house and we use what was the playroom downstairs as a bedroom so everyone has their own room.
Probably worth 400k ish with a mortgage of 210k ish. Our net income is £4300 and I work part time 3 days a week. We stopped paying children after years and years in Jan so we are finally getting together some good savings but house needs work and both our cars are old and will need replacing. We never take out finance for cars but always have crap cars compared to everyone else it seems!!
We're doing OK. I need to start putting more into my pension.
I have to say though amongst my friends we don't feel well off. All of my friends have had massive massive amounts of parental support financially and still do. Cars bought for them, deposits on houses, savings accounts for their children. They also know they will without doubt get huge sums of inheritance so they tend to splash out and don't save. We are saving basically to try to help our children out in the future as there is no inheritance coming our way which is absolutely fine but we are definitely in the majority with this

37 and we're in a decent position but I wouldn't say we've quite made it yet.

Married for 10 years, two kids, neither of us want any more. Own our house (mortgaged) but it's not our forever home.

Both have good jobs but I'm on a training contract (junior doctor) which finishes in 18 months, so I need to find a consultant job at that point. We may have to move house at that point, and certainly will need to before DS1 is secondary age, as our local school is shocking and very little prospect of getting in anywhere else.

Once I've got the permanent job and we find our next home, then I'll feel more like we've made it.

I’m 32, married with one child, pregnant with my second (will be our last!), homeowner but only in a 2 bed. Earn decently but in the SE so cost of living is high.

I’ll consider myself as having made it when we’re in our forever home (which will be our next move), DC2 is here safely and I don’t have 2 in childcare (as that’s going to eat up all our spare cash!)

I reckon by 36, if I’m lucky, we’ll be there. Im trying not to take my blessings for granted, I love my husband and kids to bits and they’re the most important things of the above by a million miles.

I'm now 38 but when I was 27 and had been teaching a few years my mum said
'How funny, when I was your age I was married and had bought a house, look at you still house sharing'.
It was a really mean comment, as I was single and we had the same job! After a couple of years teaching she had enough money to buy a house and support my dad through a degree.
All I had was lots of student loan debt and no savings.
Now I have a house and 3 kids. I love my house and in some ways feel I have 'made it'. Yet I still have lots of student loan debt and a mortgage I will probably still be paying in my 60s.