Aibu to think that "suspended adulthood" is going to lead to large problems?

[BlancheBlue]

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/22/young-people-living-in-a-suspended-adulthood-finds-research

Just this really. There was a telling comment about this article with the ever increasing age profile of parents the chance of children knowing grandparents is going to be remote.

I think lots of the boomer generation really fail to understand this. Whenever it is said it is tough for young people que loads of "well I worked my arse off and owned a house by the time I was 21" type comments.

And don't come back with stupid daily mail links to "you can buy a whole street of terraced houses in Salford for £50k" or something. What is the point of buying a wreck which needs major refurbishment to be habitable - these are cash purchases (no mortagage avliable) and people who are struggling for housing have not got the money for a new roof etc

Quick rightmove search within 30 miles of Manchester throws up 20k plus homes up to 3 beds for under 100k. 100k mortgage is 500 quid a month. 5% deposit is 5k.

When you disregard London and other southern bubbles there's a lot of stuff out there is affordable.

The point is not that housing prices are not out of control in some places, or that young people today don't have it harder in some ways, it is that HOUSE PRICES ARE NOT THE ONLY, OR EVEN THE MAJOR PROBLEM FOR THE WHOLE COUNTRY.

And sometimes it would be nice if that fact were recognised. Then we could explore other issues - like why so much of the country's economic development has to be focused in the south east. Indeed we might even conclude that the issues are linked.

I'm 30 and have my own flat, bought at 27. I afforded it by taking a second job, living in a shithole of a shared flat, no holidays.. the usual. On the one hand, some people my age can and do do this; on the other hand, it really shouldn't be necessary on a large scale IMO.

And to whoever wants us all to just cut out the pints - my flat was £180k 3 years ago. Based on what neighbours have sold for, it's now north of £300k. If I hadn't bought when I did, no amount of saving on pints and iPhones would've made a difference.

Sorry t4 you are completely out of touch.

As others have pointed out £4K barely makes a dent. And frankly, house prices are going up faster than most people under 30 can save, even if they eat sandwiches wrapped in newspaper and buy all their clothes in charity shops, etc.

Ye Gods! Again?

Let's see, stock answers to stock stupidity:

1. Owning your own home is a peculiarly British thing and it is very, very recent
2. Multi generational living is common, the norm in most countries, and was in the UK until just 2 or 3 generations ago - really there hasn't been an entire generation of home owning Brits yet! Why it has become a lifestyle yardstick I have no idea.
3. Boomer Bashing, again: try to understand that each generation has its battles. Just because the some of the so called Boomers could buy houses, had good pensions, jobs for life etc, doesn't mean they all did. Far from it. And they had other problems too - ones the current generation of adults do not have!
4. Stop acquiescing to the media hype. The Us and Them is something The Mail etc have designed. Setting one section of society against another is a good paper seller. Ignore that fact at your own peril.

When you have accepted that The Boomers have stolen nothing from you, you might start to work out some of the real causes of today's financial issues!

And no, I am not A Boomer and nor are my parents!

My dd is 18 and going to uni in february to do paramedic science. There's no other way of doing the job without the degree. She will be in debt of £50k when she leaves. She will then get a job which pays around £24k a year and she plans to do that for about 5 years before going on to do a trauma course which could up her salary to around £30k a year.

Many moons ago when uni education was free, they also did apprenticeships on the NHS. Midwives, nurses, paramedics. Now you need a degree. So anyone wanting to go into these professions will end up with a shedload of debt and a not very well paid job as it's really a vocation rather than a career.

I would love to see uni fees for these types of courses reduced or paid off if the person who does them actually then goes and does that job for 10 years plus.

My dd has no chance of getting on the housing ladder unless she marries someone who has a better paid job than she will.

We lost our home last year and we are now renting. Our rent is £1050 a month. It's nothing special, just a three bed house but it eats up nearly all of dp's wages and we struggle with the bills. We also need to help dd through uni with food and petrol costs. She needs a car to get on placements.

I don't know what the answer is but the divide between the haves and have nots is getting wider and wider.

Blanche, what are the causes of today's financial issues?

I suspect that every generation looks at the previous generation and feels hard done by.

When I was in my 20s, it WAS easier to buy a house. Back then remember, only the husband's salary counted towards the calculation, so the mortgage you could get was pretty low. We also had 15% plus inflation, so almost all our money went on the mortgage or food. But then there was not a lot else to spend your money on. No computers, mobile phones or games machines. Restaurants were mostly rubbish or very expensive. Fast food was Wimpy or chips and gravy from the chippy. Going to university was rare, and there were no loans (I worked). There were no credit cards for students, so we made our own entertainment larking about on the tube with a bottle of Newcastle Brown ale. I remember having to save up for many weeks to buy a Laura Ashley dress in the sales.

Subsequent generations have different expectations, different needs and different ways to spend their money. The media has put huge pressures on them to spend their money NOW, even if they don't have it. So it's not really surprising that they are unhappy. I wish I knew what the solution is, but blaming previous generations isn't it.

This is the issue isn't it - 4 k doesn't make a dent, look after the pennies folks - I think the real issue is about refusing to set priorities and give things up to afford other things - everything is on the never never which never gets paid off and so and so on. Its about wanting/deserving it all now, its about having the city job not settling for something where you can actually afford to live - cut your cloth blah blah blah. Some people just need to take responsibility for themselves and their families and sort out living where they can afford in jobs that allow them to do this rather than having to have a city job with all that brings in terms of cost of socialising in central London or commuting. Truly understand where your money goes - its not about what your salary is it is about what your free spending is.

I suspect that every generation looks at the previous generation and feels hard done by.

"Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts ...."

Ooch! I forgot SOD LONDON IT IS NOT THE ENTIRE COUNTRY!

5 miles from my home you will find a number of 2 and 3 bed properties for £120K or less. All nice, ready to move into! And there are jobs here too!

It is absolutely possible for most young people with decent qualifications to own a house, but it can take a lot of sacrifice. If you're not willing to make the sacrifice then you won't buy a house, but that's not the end of the world.

There is a big difference between not 'wanting' or seeing the need to buy a house until later on (which you see quite a bot on the Continent compare to the UK) and not being able to afford to buy a house at all.

My main issue with not being able to buy is the fact that rent in the UK is so high that it is actually cheaper to pay a mortgage (on a monthly basis - not even talking about the fact that paying a mortgage helps you build a pot of money at the same time).
But because rent is so high, people can't put money aside so they can't buy.

We won't be able to do a lot for our dcs but I really really hope that my parents will be able to leave a bit of something to my dcs so they can have a deposit. Because wo that, you're screwed really.

No Elly the point is once YOU have woken up and start to look beyond the ready made hate figure YOU will be able to work it out!

I live in a very famous city in the north. (Comes up regularly on the "Where do you dream of living" polls on mumsnet.)

Jobs are fairly plentiful here and not to seasonal (as tourists want to come here in the winter too! They undoubtedly don't pay as much as, say, London though. (My own profession (finance related) I suspect I could get between 50% and 100% more if I worked in London, Dh (IT) probably closer to the 50% more.)

I've just done a rightmove search.

1 shared ownership for £65k. (Not sure if anyone can buy this or if you have to be a particular occupation such as a nurse.)
Several (admittedly rather grotty looking) studios for £80k - £100k.

£390k would buy you a 4 bed detached in a nice part of the city.

I have several friends who are now "stuck" in London as they moved there "for a couple of years" post university, got jobs, specialised, met someone, got married and now either they or their husband's job can't be done outside London.

Will be advising my kids to avoid London at all costs! (Although can't imagine they would want to go when they already live in the most beautiful city in the country! )

My dc aren't suspended in childhood, we raised them to be independant from a young age and certainly didn't encourage them to be materialistic.
You can get on the property ladder quite easily if it is your sole aim.
Trouble is young people today are greedy and not prepared to start off like we did.
We would have loved to buy down south, but couldn't afford to, woe is us, blar blar blar.
I'm not boomer generation, just brought my dc up to be realistic and save for a deposit.
You can still have a house paid for in early twenties if you make it a priority, but they don't want to.

As others have pointed out £4K barely makes a dent. And frankly, house prices are going up faster than most people under 30 can save, even if they eat sandwiches wrapped in newspaper and buy all their clothes in charity shops, etc.

Again remove London and southern bubbles from the equation.

Just to make it even more relevant for those who claim the world is ending.

Rightmove - Manchester - houses only within 20 miles. Max price 80k - so 4k is your 5% deposit. Want to guess how many listed?

4,000+

So yes poor ickle hard done by pint of coffee drinking, latest iphone must haves, 400 quid a month on socialising, must live in London idiot millenials clearly cant afford anything. And the sky is falling down.

RB I agree about thinking carefully about the whole picture and looking at costs of living overall compared to where you live etc...
I also do agree about having to make some sacrifices.

But I still think that nowdays you have much less leeway than before. (I'm thinking ratio between income and cost of housing etc...).
How on earth can you save money when you rent a house at £700 a month (that's a semi detached 3 bed house where I live - not the poshest place either) but that same house with a mortgage would only cost you £400~500 a month?

And in case anyone thinks I was privileged, our first house was an unmodernised mid terrace in Newham. We spent our first year bathing in the kitchen until we put a bathroom in. Our furniture was very 2nd hand. Even then, to get on the housing ladder, you had to put up with a much less than satisafctory situation. My brother lived on the Isle of Sheppey (before the bridge) and had a very long commute every day. But that was all he could afford.

I fear too many young people won't do that.

ourblanche so you won't answer Elly's question then? What is the cause of these "financial issues"? Back up your arguments or they are bs.

Yes, here you could get a house needing modernisation for 55/60k
It would be palacial at 70k.
Only a two up two down terrace, but what my generation started out with.
Now, I see youngsters wanting a 3 bed new house on an estate, moaning because they can't have it, they are so entitled, lazy and on another planet if they think we had this.

The answer is to rent a terraced house rather than a semi-detached, or better still an apartment and have children share for a while.

Why DOES everyone want to live in London or the South? Especially if they can't afford it. If more people went to the midlands or the north, it would be cheaper for them and help those areas become more vibrant. Better all round really.

One of the saddest factoids of the changes in society is that the first baby many people ever hold is their own - not sure why that upsets me so much ... at least I was able to hold my DB and cousins when they were tiny.

Why is this so sad? I've never held a baby, I don't consider it sad just a fact that we don't have any kids in the family and none of my close friends have had babies yet.

t4 Not much happening on the daily mail forums today so you are posting here?