To ask where all the money comes from?

[Whatsnewwithyou]

Mostly on these house buying/selling programmes with youngish couples in ordinary jobs and budgets of 750k. Is it almost all inheritance?

I have a friend who always seems to be going off skiing and another who has been unemployed/job searching for ages but still shops at John Lewis and goes on holiday. Both are single and have very nice houses. It turns out both have trust funds from grandparents but I knew then both for years before they ever mentioned it. I used to wonder why I couldn't afford all these holidays etc when they could and thought I must be really bad with money.

So are trust funds and inheritances quite common? They must be, right?

We had two affluent fathers at primary school go to prison for conspiracy to supply cocaine and money laundering. I think one took over the others "patch" when he went in first.

Some people are maxed up to the eyeballs in debt. I know someone who lives in a 750K house but has zero equity in it. They also have a very flashy brand new Range Rover and other expensive car both on lease as they cannot afford a deposit. They go on very expensive holidays. They are always telling everyone how great their lives are but argue and worry constantly about money. They like to out do DH and I as they are very competitive with their cars and holidays. Truth is though that DH and I own our house and 2 cars outright and are just about to buy another house. I'd never tell them this and it amuses me that they think we are not as well off as them.

I think there is probably a lot more inheritance from earlier generations than people think - many won’t talk about it to others.

My cousin died 3.5 yrs ago, he was a bachelor, only child, didn't spend much, still lived in his parents house bought many years earlier - neither he or his dad had spectacular jobs - but he left over a £1million when he died, split between cousins’ DC. We think the large amount came from an earlier inheritance his mum got, plus frugal living by both him and his parents.

It meant his beneficiaries got just shy of 100K, including my DC. However, outside of family who also inherited and a few close friends, no one knows they have a windfall. They are young adults and it is being invested for them to buy houses, hopefully in mid twenties once careers established. I am sure people will ask questions of us/them, but it really is none of their business!

Another friend has talked about her DC having inheritances from a Grt-GP. More recently, she talked about the person who died – they owned land obtained in 1920s/30s, which is still owned by the beneficiaries and rented out commercially. Her DH and DC (also young adults) will get substantial money when the land is sold, which they hope to do. Whilst she and her DH have good jobs, they aren’t at all flashy and don’t give any indication of the money they have/part-own via the land.

I agree with pps about family money etc. and also about priorities: I too see lots of people eating cheap and nasty food and prioritising holidays.

DH's family owned a large company (started by his grandfather) that was then sold, so they all got their percentage share. This enabled DH and most of the grandchildren to buy houses, mortgage free, as well as invest and not have many money worries...

As it stands we are early 30s, married last year, mortgage free on a 5 bed house, decent car, take at least 2 holidays a year (no kids) and no debt...

Trust funds aren't common, but debt is. As, seemingly, are people who've moved out of London and now have a huge pot to spend.

Mortgages seemed to have got eye-wateringly large too. At least it seems so to someone who still remembers interest rates of 17+%

My Dh thinks it's all on credit.

We live in an area classed as deprived, but there are hundreds of Land Rovers, Evoques, Mercs, Jags - all with private plates that spell something unfathomable.

And all the footballers mansions going up and selling like hotcakes.

A lot of young people at work have brand new lease cars and detached homes with large mortgages so must be paying out a fortune each month to have all this, they wouldn't all have inheritances but it just seems the norm for FTBs to buy detached homes and have new cars. We had a terrace house and second hand furniture when we were FTBs and an old car which needed welding to get through the MOT, so a lot of difference there.

Credit, huge mortgage, cars on lease, holidays on credit cards, no pension and no savings.
My DBiL is like that, latest everything, always bigger and better than us, and takes great pleasure showing it all off and looking down his nose because we don't do the same.
Now we're getting to thinking of retirement in the next 15 years he's changing his attitude and being a bit sneery because we've been sensible and will have a fantastic retirement and he's going to have nothing.
It makes me very happy

Has anyone else who owned property a long before any of their friends not felt uncomfortable about it?

And/or if you were from a middle class background, about owning outright in an area that's relatively down-at-heel, surrounded by people who have very different lives?

Has anyone else who owned property a long before any of their friends not felt uncomfortable about it?

We will own our property outright very soon due to inheritance. Our DCs will also inherit life-changing amounts.

I feel deeply unconfortable about it. we have not discussed and we will not discuss it with anyone - not even my parents. We won’t tell the DCs until they are much older.

We didn’t earn the money and I know we are incredibly blessed to be in this position.

I think an awful lot of people with the flashy cars and the flashy holidays are doing it on the never-never. I think that's far more common than trust funds or inheritance.

Friend of mine and her sister inherited a house worth £1+ million and quite a lot of money. She owns her house outright as does her sister. The inherited house is rented out. My friend has two kids, her sister is single and has none. Imagine how much those two kids will inherit between those three mortgage free properties in London.

I think a lot of mumsnetters are in not aware of how much people earn in the City

Ten years ago I was 27 and a junior business analyst. Limited stress, 9-5. I was on £45k a year plus bonus of £8k

My ex husband, 44. £150k a year plus £70k bonus. Middle management.

DH and I often have this conversation. Even with my 35 year old DB who is about to purchase his second £800k house, I have no idea where the money comes from. In his case I don’t think it’s credit cards, I think they are just frugal (and earn a lot but not a huge amount!)

I have been wondering this about a couple DH knows. We were invited to their housewarming party last year. They had sold a nice 3 bed semi in a pleasant part of town for £250,000. Got a shock when I looked up directions for the party. New house is a listed, huge detached country house set within large grounds. Cost £825,000.
Immaculate interior too. Not even a fixer upper.
Can't figure out how they've done it. And yes I am a bit green! It's a gorgeous house. DH reckons they have inheritance plus huge mortgage.

We bought our holiday cottage with an inheritance plus a bit of savings and paid a big chunk off our mortgage with another. We have goodish jobs plus some financial help. We have rich relatives who regularly give hand outs to the whole family.
Which in turn will enable us to help DC.
Children of many baby boomers are supposedly going to inherit the biggest amount ever.
Friends of ours have just received an inheritance of £400k.

Openup41, how can you ustify not buying your kid a second hand bike when you both work full time?

I know ONE FAMILY where the kids don't have bikes, they are disabled jobless and on the bones of their arse. There's no excuse for you.

And yes I am a bit green! It's a gorgeous house. DH reckons they have inheritance plus huge mortgage

This could be us, the sums are somewhat similar but not quite,, the reality was we lived in the small house for far longer than we needed to and moved when we wished to, and we took a huge jump when we did.

It was my salary that had increased substantially over the years, and we had been good with saving money. If you didn't know us well enough for me to tell you, you'd wonder, and I've a few acquaintances who clearly do. It's neither inheritance or a big mortgage. It's increased salaries and saving over the years.

You don't need to be that old to have done ok property-wise. The house we bought in 2008 for £123k at 23 with a 6k deposit and sold in 2013 for £125k is worth £170k 5 years later. The house we moved into has also increased by a similar percentage. Obviously doesn't apply to FTB.

There are definitely lots of grandparents living in houses that mean massive inheritances. Bungalows in Surrey bought in the 70s now worth 3/4 of a million and so on. Split between 2 kids and passed down to the grandkids for deposits... Hefty deposits.

For some couples there is the moving in together bonus. If both of them had their own flat prior to moving into together quite a few people I know have moved into one of the flats and rented out the other. When they finally want to move to a bigger property they sell both flats so have a much bigger deposit than it might seem.

My Mum left a significant legacy which meant we could move and have less financial worries.

I don’t discuss it with people in RL just as I wouldn’t enquire about their finances.

I’m now wondering if the neighbours think we’re bloody drug dealers or something

For what it’s worth, I’d rather have my Mum than money.

Yeah, I worry our neighbours think we're drug dealers. DH works from home...I don't seem to work at all. :-)

A girl on the checkout asked me if I'd always been a tomboy the other day, so I mentioned something about makeup and she said she spent £150 on her face makeup (didn't ask over what timescale). To me that's a lot but I think it must be more normal I than think.

Not everyone who has a big house or nice things has inherited it. DH and I have never, ever been given any money by anyone. We both left uni with debts and lived in a shared house when we first moved in together. Our house is worth over a million (SE England) and we paid cash for our house. We were able to do so because we lived abroad for 17 years, saved most of our money and worked 6 days a week. We were able to buy our house in our early 40's. We consider ourselves very lucky, but no one gave us that money.

Having a friend to whom this applies, I actually think some of it must be smallish lottery wins which they don’t shout to he works about - not necessarily the kind which allow you to pack in work entirely and buy a mansion and a yacht but enough that you can pay off the mortgage, put money in savings, work part-time and so on. Somebody must win with their Premium Bonds every month and if you look at National Lottery breakdowns there are several average size prizes each week.

Also agree on property price increases and that even relatively young people can have made a lot of money this way - I bought a flat in what was then regarded as an undesirable part of London in 2008 for £82,000 aged 22. Sold it last year for £300,000 - and there will be people who bought before that even who made significantly more in their sales.