To think I some people have really got it right! BUT HOW?

[whalesandsharks]

So as the title says...

A few couples I know (all mid 30s-40's)
Seem to have it all sorted very fast...they are set up so well that they aren't exactly rich per se but are "untouchable" (for want of a better word!)

Two examples are...

One couple...she works part time...2 days a week (in a professional role) and they have 2 rental properties (not big ones, two apartments) that he mostly manages.
They have no mortgages which helps massively I know!! But all parents are still around so no inheritances as such.

Another couple...he works part time doing odd jobs (plastering of a shed, tiling a floor etc) and she is a teacher working a 3 day week. Again no mortgage....

They all have dc, how have they done this?? They have skipped through the pandemic untouched, nothing changed.
Here's me and dh working out asses off in 9-5 jobs, one dc(can't afford another one right now!), renting (can't afford to save) dh was furloughed and had just got back to full pay and then yesterday I was told I am getting made redundant 😫

I know I'm venting but how have they done this, is there a magic trick I don't know of?? These people didn't attend private schools and lived in the same village as me growing up. I am at a loss as to where I went wrong!

If they live mortgage free someone, somewhere has had capital to put down.

Not necessarily, no. I am mortgage free but I still live in the same 3 bedroomed cottage that I bought as a FTB 30 years ago.

Just because their parents are still around doesn't mean that they haven't been given large amounts of money. My guess would be large parental gift.

I'd say a part time teacher and odd job man with no mortgage must have had some combination of financial windfall (gift from family, insurance pay off etc), live in an incredibly cheap area, previously had higher paying jobs, saved incredibly scrupulously.

@whalesandsharks

They must have parental help? Also depend where you are in the world. If you’re up north and flats are 90k they could frugally save that up to be cash buyers.

@NYCDreaming I wouldn't say so to be honest, their parents aren't exactly minted. That's my thinking though, I could understand it if parents were loaded and it was obvious a such. But there's no obvious logic.

This one is hard. I don't agree necessarily that you have to be in a very well paid job (banker) or you've been given money - but you will find majority of people have had it easier with help!

I'm in my twenties, we just bought a house which is currently worth £550k, we bought with no help at all from parents. Straight out of uni we bought a small flat which we made enough on due to careful planning and a sprinkle of luck, to then pay for the deposit on this place. Our mortgage will be paid at 40 because we overpay. We go on extravagant holidays every year, 6 times a year, and we have some nice things.

Ignoring the fact my mental health is shocking, what people don't know is that I scour ebay for bargains, nice clothes BNWT for 99p instead of buying online. We LOVE voucher hunting, deal hunting etc. We do extra work, for example, I mystery shop so that we can eat out and do things paid by someone else. I drive a 2002 car and DH drives a 2007 car. We have no intention of upgrading until they break. I don't use my car much so it's fine but DH's is his lifeline.

We do both have professional jobs though and are higher earners but this is only recent as we were (and still are) working our way through the career system. Also I have £50k of student debt. I came from poverty.

We don't have children yet (I still feel too young/scared).

OP it will get better, I promise. Also, I find entering competitions gives me a buzz and you might win something. I know someone who won SECOND prize which was £100k off their mortgage!

I'm amazed how many people I know in their thirties, own job, own home, seemingly independent, whose parents are still regularly handing over cash.

@toffeekiwi sorry of course that is true.
I meant in the context of young families with a mortgage free home and no obvious high earners.

This is similar to us. I lived in a shithole to buy my first flat, which was the classic “worst house on the best street” and needed a lot of improvement. I took a high-paying job I had no interest in to save money quickly. Several years later released equity from that flat to buy another (rental) house. DH had similar and is now in a job that can pay anything from £ to ££££. I’m now mid-30s and look like I sit on my ass a lot of the time because of money from rental income plus DH’s very high salary. You wouldn’t know it from our house, car, holidays etc. People’s spending / lifestyle doesn’t always reveal everything about their income.

DH and I are both 30. He is a postman. I'm a full-time PhD student, having put myself through undergrad and postgrad degrees while working in a £25k pa admin job.

We have a house with no mortgage because both of DH's grandparents died within a year of each other and left us their house. We don't broadcast that fact though (or the fact that we own the house outright, to be honest). There's no way we'd have been able to stop renting any time soon without the inheritance and I'd assume anyone else in our financial position without a mortgage also had a boost from family, either in the form of a gift or inheritance.

Its all circumstances and factors and sometimes a bit of luck though isn't it.

We earn pretty well now, but we didn't meet till we were late 20's and neither of us had invested in property before then ( i will still paying off the loan for my masters) so the first property we bought was when I was 30. My friend bought a teeny tiny flat at 25 in Hammersmith (ex council) and made £150k profit on it in selling it three years later. Thats how she lives mortgage free in a lovely cottage in Kent now at 41. (also, no kids, which helps financially!) and she is frugal too. that also helps.

The area we bought in isn't cheap, and we upgraded two years ago which means we are going to be paying our mortgage for the next 20 years.
We have had a couple of handouts from MIL, but nothing that would make a dent in housebuying. It paid for a car though.
We aren't extravagant. We go on one main holiday a year abroad (ok not this year) and one small one.

Clearly drug dealers.

[quote whalesandsharks]@CruzControl they never had high paying jobs to be honest. I only know they have no mortgage because I overheard her say to her dh something about one of the properties taking longer to close and she couldn't understand because it's a cash offer like the last time! Those words never really left my head...I know I shouldn't hold to things like that but I'm having a hard time I suppose. She worked full time before they had dc I suppose but I'm guessing on an average of 30k and he worked in several hands on type jobs. Brick work etc...[/quote]
When we bought a 2nd property it was a cash purchase. Doesn't mean we don't have a mortgage but we increased the mortgage on the family home to raise the funds for the 2nd property as it was cheaper for us to do it that way.

I have 2 children who are financially in very different positions with regards to buying a house but one is able to live at home while the other rents a flat. One is able to save due to it and one isn't. Choices do come into things one is more prepared to sacrifice now to buy as soon as possible but the other wants to enjoy life so has much higher outgoings.

@Lweji

Clearly drug dealers.

Yup I'm sure the national crime agency has a big file on their 'unexplained wealth'😶

@Lweji

Clearly drug dealers.

you may or may not be joking... but someone's doing it!

you may or may not be joking... but someone's doing it!

Exactly.

Agreed.

Or the nearest thing, pyramid scheme sellers.

Who knows...

DH brought the house We live in at 20 then rented it out (during a time of really high rental returns) while continuing to live with his parents.

He made his mortgage payments and put the rent payments also towards paying off his mortgage do by the time we met and got married 12 years later it was almost paid off.

Comparison is the thief of joy !

You went wrong when you started comparing yourselves to others

Do you know for sure they have three mortgage free properties?
They my have two mortgages to free up cash.
Friends of ours bought two buy to let properties (not at same time) by heavily remortgaging their first house to free up cash (which they got lucky with equity due to buying at right time).

If I was King of the World, I'd make it a rule that people have to disclose how they manage their finances, because you do see some people living far beyond what you'd expect their means to be.

A PP definitely got it right about timing - I think there are many people in their late 30s/early 40s who just scraped into Gen X, with lower tuition fees and access to 100% mortgages. I was the last year without tuition fees, and then bought a property with a family member (no parental help, but buying together meant we could buy a much bigger place).

I also think some people have been able to make money because they have money - it is easier (relatively speaking - I'm not saying it is easy) to start your own business if your other half is earning enough to pay for rent and food than if neither of you is earning is enough to live off one income. Or if you start before you have DC, when you perhaps can take more risks.

Also, I think a lot of people get parental help which they don't admit to. A very wealthy friend (5 bed listed house, kids in private school, she doesn't work) says that she gets "the odd cheque" from her multi-millionaire father. I suspect each "odd cheque" is about the same as my annual post-tax income. Ditto another friend - he admitted after 10 years of marriage that the reason they live the life they do is because his FIL bought the house they live for them.

Having said that, I think some people just are very very good with money, and some people get paid more than you'd expect for the jobs they do.

They sound lazy, assuming they aren’t carers or dealing with disabilities or illnesses.
Managing two rental apartments isn’t a job.

To be mortgage free they either got extremely lucky with the (likely, London) property market or they inherited/were given a property.

Both are varying degrees of luck in my opinion.

I know people are saying you don't know others situations etc but I do think it's fine to be a bit jealous. But after a while I have to remind myself of those who would consider ME to be extremely lucky compared to what they have... it's all relative in the end.

@Thehollyandtheirony

They sound lazy, assuming they aren’t carers or dealing with disabilities or illnesses. Managing two rental apartments isn’t a job.

Managing two rental apartments is a low effort way to syphon other people's hard-earned wages into your own pocket