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.

"I've now accepted that this is the new normal, and the country is in irreversible decline and economic stagnation (hence why I am seriously considering not having kids)."

I believe that what we're currently experiencing is called catabolic collapse. It's not a single apocalyptic event, but a process that can take years or decades. There is an excellent podcast on it called 'Breaking down: Collapse', for anyone who's interested.

The world is massively overpopulated anyway and one of the ways in which we can reduce climate change is by not having as many kids but that's an argument for another day hahaha...

We've killed ourselves to get here, doing diy EVERY weekend for 13 years.

Should this really be a requirement for people to have a decent home?

@Queenofcheese1 birth rates are through the floor in many western countries. Many will see the populations halve over the next fifty years. So good on one hand but we are then left with older populations & a shrinking tax paying population. There are now more over 65s than under 15s. We will be in economic decline because we are already broke.

Very smug. Also maybe OP's child wasn't planned?

I’m in my 40’s and have managed to buy a house (well the bank still owns most of it). It’s still depressing at the moment because my job had enterprise ‘bargaining’ last year which only managed to get a 1.5% per annum wage increase. I can feel my spending power going backwards more every time I go food shopping.

Currently trying to get a job at the next pay level but it’s a slow process (I work in government). I’ve come second in two jobs I’ve applied for recently. Joy. I can’t just completely leave working my state government job (I’m in Australia) because of the associated benefits I get here. If I leave my sick leave balance goes from 7 months to zero. Plus I get long service leave.

We've killed ourselves to get here, doing diy EVERY weekend for 13 years.

"Should this really be a requirement for people to have a decent home?"

Erm, maybe?
My boomer parents worked three jobs each (a week day job, evening job and Saturday job) to save their house deposit. Doing DIY is our equivalent.
I certainly don't think it's something that people should think they're too good for.

People might not want to kill themselves doing DIY every weekend for 13 years to have a habitable house because they think they're too good for it?

*runjy · Today 06:50

@Queenofcheese1 birth rates are through the floor in many western countries. Many will see the populations halve over the next fifty years. So good on one hand but we are then left with older populations & a shrinking tax paying population. There are now more over 65s than under 15s. We will be in economic decline because we are already broke.*

Another recommendation: a book called 'Empty Planet - The shock of global population decline'.
It breaks down all of the interesting ways in which we'll be impacted by a vast ageing population and shrinking workforce (robot carers, anyone??)
And I say this as someone who's chosen not to have kids and am therefore absolutely NOT doing my bit for society!

People might not want to kill themselves doing DIY every weekend for 13 years to have a habitable house because they think they're too good for it?

I don't understand what point you're making! If you don't want to, you don't have to! The option is on the table though...
And theres a huge difference between 'habitable' and 'desirable'. We could have done no work at all to our first flat and it would have been a perfectly decent and very 'habitable' home that we could have lived in for years - it just wouldn't have sold for as much.

The point I'm making is that having a habitable home shouldn't be so far out of reach that people should have to kill themselves doing DIY in all their spare time for 13 years. And that finding that objectionable has nothing to do with feelings of superiority.

I feel for you OP. I'm 44 now and first bought in my 30s - 100% mortgages were rife (yep no deposits needed) and most people took out interest only mortgages so there were so many ways to make buying a home affordable. I have 2 DC who I desperately want to have the same opportunities as us but I worry.

@SmokedHaddockChowder what I find scary is how people think it's all because everyone is having too many kids 🤦🏻‍♀️

Life is too short as well IMO to not be enjoying life too (don't have to spend money for that).

People might not want to kill themselves doing DIY every weekend for 13 years to have a habitable house because they think they're too good for it?

Nope, 13 years is a ridiculous length of time to make a house habitable, particularly for a starter home!

This. Bonkers. Can't believe how many people smugly refuse to realise how horrific things are for lots of people right now.

"The point I'm making is that having a habitable home shouldn't be so far out of reach that people should have to kill themselves doing DIY in all their spare time for 13 years. And that finding that objectionable has nothing to do with feelings of superiority."

And the point I'm making is this isn't necessary to have a habitable home - but it might be to have a desirable home.

So if you work full time all week and then DIY all weekend for 13 years how is that living?

Same here… my DH and I spent our 20’s renovating grotty 1 bedroom flats to get a decent deposit. I’m talking every night after work and every weekend we were doing DIY. There were bo take-aways, no holidays, no new clothes. We knew we had to make sacrifices to buy a family home before we had kids. Once our children were born we started to plan for their future and have put a tiny amount away for them every month which can grow considerably if you do this consistently for 18 years. We are not in exceptionally well paid jobs and we didn’t get free family childcare either, we got to where we are today through planning, hard-work and sacrifices.

"People might not want to kill themselves doing DIY every weekend for 13 years to have a habitable house because they think they're too good for it?"

Nope, 13 years is a ridiculous length of time to make a house habitable, particularly for a starter home!

No, 13 years is the total length of time it's taken from buying our first flat to being where we are today - in a 4 bed detached house.
Our first flat was habitable on day one and we could have left it there.
We made it highly desirable over the course of 3 years. We then sold it for a large profit and went through the process again.

Also I think if you do want dc it's a bit sad to spend all your time pre dc working, weekends doing diy & living a constant life of frugality.

I spent my 20s working really hard & saving but I travelled, I enjoyed myself, tried new things etc. And then I had a dc & found my much loved & fought for career was incompatible with dc.

My boomer parents worked three jobs each (a week day job, evening job and Saturday job) to save their house deposit. Doing DIY is our equivalent.

My boomer parents bought their family home in the 80s for about 50k & those houses sell for 1.8m plus today. My mum didn't work but did do lots of diy.

*FortSalem86 · Today 07:31

So if you work full time all week and then DIY all weekend for 13 years how is that living?*

I've loved it! I'm an early riser naturally. We might head to Screw Fix for opening time and grab the supplies that we need. Then work on our house until the early afternoon. Then call it a day and head out with our dog for a long walk, before getting dressed up and going into town for dinner and drinks or to see friends.

@SmokedHaddockChowder I was specifically replying to another post that only said habitable about people thinking they were too good for diy.

Plus the market has changed, at least in London post Brexit particularly flats. Stamp duty is often prohibitive to moving. I would advise anyone to skip the flat & go straight for the house.

No, that's the point you're making now because you're backpedalling after responding "er, maybe?" when I asked you if 13 years of killing yourself repairing your home with no downtime was a reasonable expectation to have a decent home.

Do you not think there's something wrong if the only starter homes available are ones that are so shit they require you to kill yourself (I keep repeating this because it's your phrase) in all your out of work time to make them decent? And do you really think the only reason someone might think this is a problem is because they think they're too good for it?

Besides, I bet anything that you enjoy DIY and doing houses up. You've worked hard, no doubt, but it is always sweetened when it's a labour of love...

You have a choice in your 20’s… you can work hard, make sacrifices and save your arse off or you can go on holiday, nights out, get Starbucks and buy new clothes. There is no right or wrong answer here and people should live anyway they choose. However, if it’s the latter more frivolous option don’t be surprised if you don’t have enough savings to get in the property ladder!! We didn’t have the cheap houses our boomer parents enjoyed but our priority and focus was being able to buy a family home in a nice area and we made sacrifices for years to get our goal.