To think there is a serious problem with the housing market in this country

[Kitchendisco21]

I was just about to buy my first home having spent 10 years saving a deposit. Thanks to the stupid help to buy intervention, the houses I was able to buy are now 50k more expensive so I am completely priced out. I am so utterly sick of it.

And no, I can’t move elsewhere/ get somewhere smaller/eat fewer avocados! I have been saving for a decade.

Aibu to be so fed up. I read last week that 98% of keyworkers couldn’t buy a home in the uk now. When will people actually wake up & see what a major problem there is? I am so angry.

And to reiterate something I wrote earlier. The whole problem is government / central bank policy. It has unwittingly enriched a couple of generations - not their fault - but they do think they are geniuses and in the main have no idea why they are so asset rich and their kids so asset poor.

Thank heavens then that there is now a get out. And all those articles that are anti crypto - well, you can start to understand why they would be anti it given it makes a mockery of the entire fabric of conventional money.

The fact they banned people buying it in ETFs under the guise of 'stopping retail investors from making terrible mistakes', just as the next leg of the bull run started says everything to me.

And yet they'll pump housing till the cows come home. It is absolutely criminal.

I can 100% see the advantages of cryptocurrency but I’m a bit of a wuss because I don’t fully understand it (which for a chartered accountant is embarrassing to admit). Global index trackers, yes. Individual equities, yes. But if somebody asked me to explain and quantify the risks of cryptocurrency I’d be stumped!

People weren't all wealthier in the 70s and 80s. The difference is they didn't need to buy. They had still had access to one of life's most basic essentials, a secure roof over their heads, via council housing.

People weren't all wealthier in the 70s and 80s. The difference is they didn't need to buy. They had still had access to one of life's most basic essentials, a secure roof over their heads, via council housing

It depended where you lived. Large northern City. Nicer or safer areas there was a waiting list of 15 year +. If you wanted one of the really nice areas 25years minimum
I went for a council house or flat I wasn’t fussed. The only things they could offer me was something that looked like it was currently being used as a drugs den in an area I had grown up in and my family escaped. It was bad when we left and it had only got worse.

For me it was either going into a shared house in a private rental at the edge of the bad area that I was lucky to get or the drugs den.

I think it is a myth that you could just wander into the council offices and get a house handed to you.

@Iamthewombat

I can 100% see the advantages of cryptocurrency but I’m a bit of a wuss because I don’t fully understand it (which for a chartered accountant is embarrassing to admit). Global index trackers, yes. Individual equities, yes. But if somebody asked me to explain and quantify the risks of cryptocurrency I’d be stumped!

Well, global index truckers and individual equities are just as risky imho in their own ways - I lobg, long stopped believing in the rational market philosophy, and that everything is priced in etc. Don't get me wrong - huge swathes of my assets are in vanguard funds though! And plenty in individual equities but many of those I own because they are 'hot' (I.e. Tesla, amzn etc), not because I believe they are fundamentally correctly valued. I'm just holding on until the music stops.

But crypto size well, when it comes to risk, I genuinely think there is only one when it comes to bitcoin in particular - which is some sort of global ban on ownership. And that is increasingly unlikely given the Institutional interest that's flooding into the space.

Otherwise it has everything....scarcity, first mover advantage (the first ever asset created that has that perfect scarcity etc). It's the perfect antithesis to conventional money since it stopped being backed by anythibg other than taxation and faith.

The other cryptos all have their individual reasons for existence, some good, some stupid.

Either way, best thing I ever got into, and not for financial reasons. I'm in it because I genuinely believe it's more ethical than $€£.

And to reiterate something I wrote earlier. The whole problem is government / central bank policy. It has unwittingly enriched a couple of generations - not their fault - but they do think they are geniuses and in the main have no idea why they are so asset rich and their kids so asset poor

The central bank thing again. The rich baby boomer thing again.

I want to know why if I am supposed to be so enriched

Where is this money?

Currently dd owns a flat and has savings in the bank and is currently paying all the household bills because her baby boomer enriched mother and father are on UC with thousands in debt and no pension.

Simply put, I would never sell bitcoin. I'd sell any other asset I hold except for that. There is nothing that has been created in human history that is 'harder' money.

What needs reining in is actually reckless lending. When a bank agrees to lend you a ton of money over 35 years in order to buy a pretty normal house, and when lending is based on ‘affordability’ at current rock bottom interest rates without a thought for where interest rates might go over the next 35 years, something is going a bit wrong in the market isn’t it?

It's a Ponzi scheme

I've noticed that in other countries like Spain, it's totally normal for families to live in (spacious, 3-4 bedroom) flats in city centres. Our city centres don't seem to have many nice flats suitable for families. I think we should be building more properties in cities and they should be good quality apartment buildings not shoddily built blocks of flats.

@Bythemillpond

And to reiterate something I wrote earlier. The whole problem is government / central bank policy. It has unwittingly enriched a couple of generations - not their fault - but they do think they are geniuses and in the main have no idea why they are so asset rich and their kids so asset poor

The central bank thing again. The rich baby boomer thing again.

I want to know why if I am supposed to be so enriched

Where is this money?

Currently dd owns a flat and has savings in the bank and is currently paying all the household bills because her baby boomer enriched mother and father are on UC with thousands in debt and no pension.

Sigh. Read the paper I referenced.

There is no way any boomer who had a half decent job shouldn't be minted. If you didn't have a decent job, or you didn't know how to invest, then yeah, you might not be sorted. But the opportunities that generation had are just phenomenal when it came to housing and pensions if you had as I said - a half decent job. Today, a half decent job gets you nowhere. You need a f**king brilliant one.

As I mentioned previously - our generation also has one (crypto) - but most believe the rubbish that the mainstream financial journalists wrote about it and have missed out in the really big opportunities there were so far. Still plenty of ops if you look though.

Anyway back to boomers. My folks are (rolling in it) - but they at least have the good grace to have recognized the idiocy and the short termism of this and are apoolectically angry with the policies that have led to their kids needing to become rampant speculators to get the basics in life.

@LemonadeFromLemons

It seems to me that the government are quite happy being socialists when it suits them. They crow about the importance of allowing a free market but actually interfere and don’t allow it to be free (stamp duty holiday, h2buy, government backed mortgages). They could interfere by introducing rent controls (like Germany has) making less people desperate to own a home and a house being less attractive as a pension investment, but of course they won’t do that.

Banks also appear to be allowed to lend a crazy amount. Maybe because history has taught them that any risks are covered by the tax payer; if it all goes tits up we’ll just bail them out. Must be nice to gamble with other people’s money.

I do wonder whether the government’s grand plan is Serfdom. If we are all in so much debt that we owe to the man then we hardly have the energy to stir up any change. As pointed out by a previous poster it also means we have less money to spend in the economy, meaning less tax revenue and likely less innovation too, if nobody has any money left over to risk a new business venture.

Sad thing is is I truly think this is their goal, less small businesses less innovation and a move to Big multi coropration businesses running things (which is really just backed by gov anyway). First step, Cause a huge housing market crash so people end up in massive amounts of debt due to negative equity and then create a solution where their debt will be written off if they give up their house, business and eventually themselves in order to suit the governments agenda. Feels like we are slowly moving towards a communist Britain but no one has noticed yet. Its Scary

Sigh. Read the paper I referenced.

Or just look at all the statistical evidence, I'm amazed how so many people deny facts because their own experience doesn't fit the narrative. Saying boomers had it good does not mean no boomers experienced poverty or debt.

Fact is, unless you earn 85k plus in the south east, you are utterly disenfranchised if you want a shot at all three of

• Kids
• House
• Retirement

It's crazy and it shouldn't be like this.

And remember - this is coming from a person who earns 150k and has f*kloads of assets so it's not the words of 'envy' and I don't need to be told 'cut down on avocados and iPhones'. I'm sorted but I'm very angry most of my friends are f*ked.

@TulisaIsBrill yay a fellow crypto believer and follower. Out of interest what coins are you feeling good about atm? Its about the only thing that's making me see hope and a future for me and my family right now. Every other financial avenue is a literal dead end.

@terribleg

Sigh. Read the paper I referenced.

Or just look at all the statistical evidence, I'm amazed how so many people deny facts because their own experience doesn't fit the narrative. Saying boomers had it good does not mean no boomers experienced poverty or debt.

And sigh. That's what I said.

I said if you had a half decent job, as a boomer you should be utterly sorted. Kids, house, retirment - easy. If you had a half decent (average salary) job and you fucked it up, that's on you.

If you didn't have a half decent job, then yeah, you're in the same position as the younger generation who - as it should be obvious - can have a very good job (say twice the average) and still have no shot at the above.

You now need at least 3x the average salary to have kids, retirement and a house. This is insanity.

As pointed out by a previous poster it also means we have less money to spend in the economy, meaning less tax revenue and likely less innovation too, if nobody has any money left over to risk a new business venture

It would be so much more productive for people to have less money tied up in property.

People get so excited by rising prices but it's not a good thing for most.

@TulisaIsBrill I'm agreeing with you

[quote lettinggoagain]@TulisaIsBrill yay a fellow crypto believer and follower. Out of interest what coins are you feeling good about atm? Its about the only thing that's making me see hope and a future for me and my family right now. Every other financial avenue is a literal dead end.[/quote]
😁

I do the simple thing.

BTC and ETH, in an 80/20 asset split. I've got a few bits of others, but I wouldn't change the core holding unless something changes. I might be some polkadot/cardano when I get my arse in gear.

[quote terribleg]@TulisaIsBrill I'm agreeing with you [/quote]
Ah - ok - sorry!

@TulisaIsBrill Kicking ourselves for not getting ETH last year when we got BTC, we were skeptical to say the least, but best decision we could have made.

[quote lettinggoagain]@TulisaIsBrill Kicking ourselves for not getting ETH last year when we got BTC, we were skeptical to say the least, but best decision we could have made.[/quote]
You don't want to know what I first bought Eth at 😂 I messed up by getting a tiny amount (worth quite a bit today - but I easily had the opportunity to be holding millions worth 🤷🏻‍♀️). I swapped 1/8th of a bitcoin for some in 2016.

I bought some more in my pension a few years back - unfortunately our ridiculous FCA have now closed that opportunity.

@TulisaIsBrill Hindsights a beautiful thing in this game But have to be pleased you took initially jump anyhow

[quote lettinggoagain]@TulisaIsBrill Hindsights a beautiful thing in this game But have to be pleased you took initially jump anyhow[/quote]
Exactly and well done for doing so!

Honestly, even if it all goes to zero, I’m just glad to have been a participant in it, because I feel so strongly that it is the one thing holding governments and banks feet to the fire to change things and enforce some kind of redistribution of wealth.