Anyone else in their 30s and worried?

[NairobiGal]

Of course this might apply to other age groups but I can only speak for myself. I'm in my 30s. Saved and saved to get a mortgage which years ago would have been possible on my wage. Now, once I've saved enough to get a 5% mortgage, it's not possible and my savings are rapidly declining because my wage no no longer covers everything. I'm lucky to be in a position where I have a bit saved, as some of my friends have nothing and are getting further and further into debt. I'm worried that by the time we are out of this mess, if we are ever out of it, my savings will be next to gone, I'll be back to square one, and will be nearly 50 by the time I can save enough to get a mortgage. I know owning a house isn't the be all and end all, but I'm so disheartened that I spent all those years saving and it's now going on rent, groceries, fuel. Etc. Maybe I'm just feeling sorry for myself but I'm just fed up. For instance when my parents were on a similar equivalent to my wage when I was younger, they could afford a holiday every year. I've never taken my son on holiday and he's 4. I'm not entitled to a holiday but things have changed so much. I thought things were meant to get better for each generation. Not worse. I'm really struggling.

but I see people on a daily basis would rather spend £3.50 on an iced chai latte and £4.50 on a mozzarella pesto ciabatta than make their own lunch

Haven't younger people just replaced pubs & going out with coffee shops? I always took leftovers for lunch at work & don't drink coffee but I spent the equivalent on alcohol/clubbing on the weekends. Young people don't really club now, sad times!

Owning a house these days are more than important, it's the biggest asset we have if we want to a retirement with a minimum of comfort.

I haven't read any replies to your original post..... but I just want to agree with you. Your generation is coping the crap of a real estate market gone berserk, while my generation had it much, much easier.

I'm 62 y.o. I bought my first apartment with my ex in Madrid in 1982 and took us 2 years of savings to put 40% of deposit. We divorced, and bought a new apartment with my DH in 1989 when interest rates were 18%. I was a new nurse working part time work hours because I had a small child at home, and my husband had just graduated. With average incomes, we were still able to save, tightening our belts, to pay the mortgage in 5 years.

There is no way we'd be able to do the same today. With living costs sky rocketing, wages stagnant and a housing market becoming more unaffordable to people on normal wages, your generation is in no man's land. Either you have a six figure salary, have help from parents or are lucky enough to have a good job in a part of the country where housing is still affordable.

@ReneBumsWombats I worked out that if I was a few yrs older I could have stayed in my retail job & not bothered with uni & got one of those 100% mortgages & I'd be much wealthier today.

Owning a house these days are more than important

Yes & whether your parents owned & can help you is more important these days then your salary really.

@LuckySantangelo35 it's only when you're older that you have that insight and knowledge. I had kids in my early 20s and didn't have that hindsight! Also grew up in an abusive family home that I was desperate to escape.

Not all of us came from the privilege of a loving supportive family!

I"m an older millenial. We saved for a house or rather flat before having kids as we didn't think we'd be able to buy anywhere in the South East due to banks' mortgage affordability checkers when we had a dependent.
We bought the flat off-plan in a grotty area ( nearly lost our deposit due to problems getting a mortgage ) and sold before all the awful cladding issues kicked in. We next bought a nice new build a bit more further out, again in a very unglamorous town, sold that and bought a house in an unfashionable but up and coming bit of London during the stamp duty holiday.
We've done everything right, studied, saved both work full time ( between us have an easily top 10% income) don't pay for cleaners or big holidays and have a tiny v basic 10 year old car. have one child. However we've tried for a second child and haven't been successful (now probably can't afford one anyway) and I suspect the reason is my age, mixed with work stress.
Our finances are just starting to recover from the impact of childcare fees etc. And neither of us expect to inherit as parents likely to require care
I think this story shows that to have a life that was considered normal a couple of generations ago - , a small house and 2 kids, is now out of reach for many people without luck and immense hard work or family money/help.
I count myself lucky but it was a very difficult and precarious journey. Had we sold our flat at a different time or been unable to get a mortgage we would have been at Square 1 again.
At least I did not have to pay £9k a year student fees or had to deal with the sky-high rents that people in their 20s have to cope with now.

Life as much as we attempt to plan can have some terrible twists and turns both on societal and personal levels.

All any of us can do is make the best choices possible with the information we have at the time. I’m older so not affected like op as have a house but I did make some brutal choices when young. I have seen many of my friends lives affected negatively because it’s their heart over head.

I agree. We have, both set of parents, helped my oldest and his fiancé to buy a property in Madrid. Both have great salaries but without a good deposit, they'll be saving for years without being able to catch up with the housing market.

My generation had it much, much easier than you young ones today. It's beyond unfair.

Life as much as we attempt to plan can have some terrible twists and turns both on societal and personal levels.

Yes I had dc in my early 30s & ended up changing careers. This wouldn't have been possible without help with childcare costs, ability to stay local & also support with ill dc & now i'm in a good place again. DH did his fair share of course but gps help was invaluable. If I had waited or it had taken longer gps couldn't have helped in the same way as they now have health issues & one died.

If you cannot understand that it takes more than making sensible, common sense decisions to succeed then there's nothing I can do to help you. I think you're just trolling at this point

I'm 36 so not that far off of your age, albeit you're older so had even more of the good times than me. I really think suggesting that it's all down to young people spending on fast fashion, food etc is ignorant.

I bought a house at 24. However, I also managed to go out 5 times a week clubbing, buy new clothes every single week so I wasn't always wearing the same stuff, pay for uni and postgrad courses x2, eat lunches and go for coffees with uni friends, and go on multiple holidays a year. None of those things prevented me from buying a house and getting to the point now where I could today pay off my mortgage if I wanted to with what I have in savings but I'm buying a larger home instead.

Yes, some of the people in my generation did not save as hard as me or work 3 jobs at one point to save for uni etc. However it would be utterly ignorant of me to fail to see that I was doing all of that at a different time to now.

I was able to work from 16 as there were loads of jobs for people my age. I could go clubbing frequently as there were loads of £10 drink all you like deals or £1 drinks deals on wine/vodka red bulls. Interest rates in my ISA and general savings accounts were higher. Rent was more proportionate in the house I lived in. I got 50% off clothes at work. Holidays were sooo much cheaper and not just because of inflation - I took advantage of penny flights and package deals (regularly paid £200 for all inclusive including flights for my boyfriend and I to go abroad). I graduated into a recession and it was tough - lots of my peers didn't get the jobs they hoped for. But I acknowledge that alongside my hard work and tenacity, I also had luck too in getting roles I did, when I did. I also benefited from cheaper mortgage rates and houses - bought my property for half what it is worth now while on a minimum wage job and my husband an average salary. We could afford it and were able to pay off more than the monthly sum increasing the equity to the point that while those who didnt buy are now paying £1300 a month for a house like ours we pay £350. That gives us more cash and in turn more opportunity.

It would be wrong of me not to acknowledge that it isn't just my good decision making, hard work and perseverance. I was also lucky that I had a better job situation, savings situation re interest, cost of living situation and housing market than now.

It isn't because kids are buying coffee and clothes...

this is far. Things are harder for the young now but actually my generation still had decent chances unless life dealt them a rough hand like op

I’m a bit younger but I recognise some of the privileges you describe in my own life. However, it’s not as simple as both sides of the argument make it out to be. Of course I don’t think a twentysomething’s coffee habit is what’s holding them back from getting on the property ladder. However, there does now seem to be an attitude amongst the young of ‘things are out of reach so I won’t save at all” which is really unhelpful.

While I went out and had fun in my 20s, alongside savings for the deposit on my flat, this was not on the scale that I see now with the Gen Z staff at my company. I’ll give you an example. I started going to an expensive exercise studio, after years of going to the cheapest gym. I thought now I’m financially more comfortable, why not treat myself. Anyway, I was astonished to learn that one of the grads in my team also goes to this studio and much more frequently than I do (you pay per class). Now we all have different priorities in life, but I would never have dreamt of spending that kind of money as a 22 year-old grad. And of course this is on top of coffees, lunches, ubers, ski trips etc. There just doesn’t seem to be any forward planning / saving for the future. I mean even if one can’t afford a flat in London, isn’t it good to have savings in case you need it for another life event?!

I wasn't until very recently, I'm 31 and bought my house in April - five year fix just before the rates shot up, this house would cost me 500£ PM more at current rates so I know I'm lucky...but now I've realised i bought at the top of the market.

I started joking to my friends not to get too attached to my house because the way things are going in five years time when my fix is up I'll be booted out and selling up!...now I'm starting to say it with a hint of seriousness....

my strategy is just to work like a trojan from now until then and try my hardest to get promoted to a decent payrise...

worth mentioning I have no kids, no significant other, did it alone but had the very big leg up of living with my parents for three years meaning I could put the majority of my wage away into savings every month