Where were/are you financially at 28?

[SunshineOverStress]

So I’m 28, still live at home, have no savings but I do own a nice car which is worth around 14k.

I want to save up for a deposit but living in Greater London it seems an impossible task to be able to buy a place by myself!

I’ve been on a lot of nice holidays, went travelling for 4 months last year, and waste a lot of money on going out drinking and eating! I always end up choosing to spend money on travel rather than for my future and want to at least try to find a balance!

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions? Preferably without the suggesting of selling my car as it brings me joy everyday! Am I failing at being an adult by having never have moved out at my age? 🙈

I must add in that time I've also done some extra qualifications (one masters) so that did impact savings too. It really depends on what your priorities are. But also what your long term aims are.

@IHaveAMagicBean we don't know if OP has compelling reasons to stay in london. I certainly don't stay in London ( I own a 2 bed flat with DH that we bought for £400K) for the jobs. I stay in London because we have family here, synagogue here, and also because I have visited towns outside London and have had several unpleasant experiences i.e. pub refused to serve me (but served several white people), people said 'ching chang chong' to me ( I am singaporean, DH is jewish).. I can't imagine this situation is going to improve with Covid so for the foreseeable future, I would rather stay in a city that I am familar with. for BAME brits, moving to the countryside is an uncomfortable option.

At 28 I was travelling all over the world doing a very specific job. I earnt around 95k. I think. I managed to save (because my job was essentially also my social life)

It was bloody hard work though. I was really
Lucky work wise.

Everyone is different OP, but if you want to make it happen look at how much you can save. Could you buy with a friend if you're not in a relationship?
London prices are ridiculous.

At 18 I was on a take home wage of around £800 a month. Of that I started by saving £200 a month, then discovered that wasn't getting me anywhere fast so upped it to £500 a month. I gave my parents £150 per month and had the rest for driving lessons, going out and clothes. It was easier I guess as I wasn't used to having money. Going from having no income to having £150 a month to spend on myself felt amazing!

It took a few years to save, plus a boyfriend, plus a small inheritance of his to get on the housing ladder... It was a lovely flat, small but fine for us, cost £140k in a nice commutable to London town.

Anyway, by 28 I was married to someone else, 2 DC and living in a completely different part of the country, with enough savings. Sometimes life turns out differently to how you expect!

I was 28 a few months ago. At that point I had a stable FT job with good salary (over £50k) and good pension, was overpaying to reduce my student loan, had our 'forever' home that we've been doing up for the last couple years (with large mortgage - SE commuter town), and about to buy a second home by the coast (in cash), was married and pregnant with DS following infertility treatment. We take 2 holidays a year usually and only have one car (second hand but owned outright). A lot of our money is spent on travelling and our dogs. Soon to be spent on nursery fees!

You're only 28. You have plenty of time. At 28, I was working abroad and travelling and partying and having an amazing time. I met dh and then went back to start a postgraduate degree. I had absolutely no savings I'd saved myself (though I did have a small inheritance from my dad, which I had in savings since I was 18) and hadn't even pondered the thought of saving for or buying a house. It was great.

10 years later, we've travelled lots, have great careers, and are just buying our first house (which is a very big, very nice house, one we don't plan on leaving until we retire). It did me absolutely no harm and I'm not in anyway behind friends who were working in established careers and paying a mortgage from their early 20s.

I moved out of home at 28, ( which was late in those days, 1988) the minute I got a professional qualification, and bought a flat - my wages doubled overnight. The deposit was a bit from my mum, and several thousand that I'd saved by living at home. I did pay my mum rent/keep though.
I had part time jobs while I was studying, then a full time job but at apprentice wages, so an evening bar job to top that up. I had a car from when when I was 18, but a really cheap old runaround. I've never had an expensive/new car. I did travel, mainly in Europe, but on the cheap - camping, staying with people, even staying in a hostel was more than I could usually afford, but I was fortunate in that I had friends and family living abroad. I didn't really have an expensive lifestyle, working in pubs funding my drinking in them, and eating out was a bit of a luxury, if it was a birthday or something.
For quite a long time,I'd save half what I earned, and give half the rest to my mum for keep, and the rest was spending money/fares.
I met my now DH at 28, just after I'd bought the flat.

Firstly thank you all for your replies!

I live with my mum in a council house to be honest, so I pay my share of rent to the council, and buy food etc. My mum doesn’t mind me being at home still whatsoever! I earn £26000 in my main job but also work 2 part time jobs which means I’m on about 30k a year. To be honest I’ve been in my main job for years it’s a dead end job and I need to look for another one ideally in the city as I am bored and it’s not challenging me to my full potential and I want to be earning more!

I live Essex/east London and we could potentially buy our council house with the huge (very fortunate) discount through right to buy, however this would mean I’m tied into this property for a minimum of 5 years - should I buy this house with my mum and brother? Or look at getting my own place? I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth!

I’ve currently been furloughed so I’m not working at the moment with less pay however I should still be able to save a good chunk each month! If I got a job in the city I would sell my car as I just wouldn’t be using it as much, I do understand that that will free up a big chunk of money to put towards it!

I know I can’t have it all and need to make sacrifices!

At 28 I had two children and was completely in a mess financially. We were in temporary accommodation, just moved area away from my family (near to ex family) and I was a SAHM while my ex worked. We were poor and I was lonely.

On the plus side I turned things around when my ex left and pottering on ok now although will never be ‘well off’ or own a house (got a lovely rural council property). I’m studying for a qualification and hopefully will improve my earning potential over next few years.

Don't buy your house with your mum and brother. I know this might work for some people but I would just foresee problems down the line, and never properly being independent.

re: your update, the only thing I would mention is that loads of places have stopped right to buy recently, so if it is something you are vaguely considering I would have a serious think about it/chat with your mum and brother right now because your local council could feasibly stop it at any time.

good luck whatever you go for!

At 28 we had just bought our first home, we saved so we missed the first step in the property ladder and bought a nice family home, we had a 4 year old and just about to fall pregnant with our second, on around 60k a year between us, 10 grand car, both decent jobs, no worries about money, with savings, can buy what we like within reason really. However, have had only a handful of proper holidays, since children only weekends away really.

At 28 I had been a homeowner for two years, 3 bed semi, married, owned a car that was one year old. My only debts were (are) mortgage and student loan. I live in Essex.

I was in employee, married with three children at 28.
In the last 18 months I have found part time employment, received a good pay rise, restarted my degree and found more part time, paid employment in the field I am studying.
Myself and my husband earn decent wages for our area, not high earners by any stretch but more than minimum wage. We are still not in a position to buy a house and rent.
We are in a position to live comfortably and have a plan for the future.

I was ‘unemployed’ the first line should say

I’m 27 1/2.

Did a lot of job hopping post uni, eventually settled into a good career.

As soon as I had a stable income, bought a small house (SE market town so pricey!) with my ex aged 24. That fell apart within 6 months so I spent the next 18 months trying to buy him out. Eventually a promotion and payrise made it possible. Finally became the sole owner aged 26. Basically since I’ve had a stable income I’ve thrown every penny into my property in order to become the sole owner.

So at 26 I was a sole homeowner but 0 savings, nice brand car but now 10 years old with 100k plus miles on the clock and counting every penny every month. Also felt like I had really had no opportunity to travel etc as I prioritised the house.

Recently my new partner moved in and pays me some money for bills and have had another small payrise. This means month to month I have money leftover and am just about starting to build savings back up. £2k so far and it feels SO good to finally have a slight buffer in case anything goes wrong, despite the fact that my partner has significant savings, I feel the house is my responsibility. My partner also earns significantly more than me so treated us to a great holiday in Canada/USA. It’s SO good to have the breathing space of being a 2 income household.

We’re now planning our wedding and looking to see how we move to be able to have joint finances once married. A little complex as we own a property each but live in mine whilst his is rented out.

Basically it’s not easy. I work for an investment bank and earn well above the national average salary and seriously struggled to become a homeowner on one income. Once it happened, there wasn’t much leftover as I owned a house that needed work so all spare income goes into that.

Once our finances are completely joint we will be a £100k plus, 2 property household so I hate to say it but it’s having 2 incomes that changed it.

Im 28 right now

Earn 22k a year, rent a 2 bed flat in london and own a car worth 8k. No debts and only a few hundreds in savings.

We graduated and qualified, then bought a house at 23, married at 24, baby at 25. By 28 we’d bought a bigger house.

I have never spent that much on a car though!

Surely you don’t need to buy in Greater London-I would have thought that is completely unattainable on one salary these days. I’d look much further afield. My DH works in London, but we live an hour away on the train.

I was still travelling and partying hard at 28, no savings at all but did have a good job qualification so pay was good. As I started to think about settling down and buying somewhere I met dh who had his own house already, handy really. Met, married and 2 children in 5 years!

I think you you consider buying with your mum and spending the next 5 years saving hard so you can then look at getting your own place after that. Also look at your career and where you want to be for the future as better to be in a job with good prospects than a dead end one....

We bought our first home at 24, in the south east. We could have moved to something bigger but we love to travel so have spent most of our money on that 😁 We will hopefully buy something bigger next year. Household income of ~£85k pa

Should have said we are 30 now

I would absolutely buy your council house if you can. That’s a golden opportunity to get on the housing ladder

I’m 28. We have three children and just bought our second house. No debts, decent savings. We do live in a fairly high col area and we scrimped hard in the early years to afford the things we wanted to prioritize.