To think on £30,000/year I should be able to afford to live on my own in London?

[kjhgfdfhj]

I earn £30,000, which I know isn't high by any means but I think it's decent. But I still can't afford to rent my own place in London. Lots of my colleagues who must earn around the same amount somehow rent flats in London and I don't get how. The only ones I understand are those who live with partners as there's two incomes to pool together for rent and bills.

I really don't see myself ever getting into a relationship, and feel like because I'm single I'll never be able to give myself the kind of home and lifestyle I want. I never really realised before how much being single negatively impacts you financially.

It was come out of your office at 5pm and be in your 2nd job by 5.30pm.

It's really not uncommon these days to have to work past your official finish time. Did you never have to stay late?

£120pcm on a gym has nothing to do with me @finallydones

Two lots of my single friends have bought houses together in London. They all have agreements should they want to move out. My DH and I only managed to get a deposit when he was made redundant and got a sizeable chunk of money and my Dad passed away and I got some inheritance. Other friends managed after receiving deposits from their parents. One friend borrowed from his parents, brother and uncle. It is tough.

People keep mentioning teachers- I've never ever met a teacher on 30k or less?

I agree, I'm not sure where that narrative comes from, in London a starting salary for a teacher is about 34k & would increase each year to 44k & then if you moved onto the upper pay scale the max basic is 53k but you would often have an additional responsibility with that so could be on 55-60k.

Our son at 24 earns £36k and lives with a friend in Belsize Park. They pay £855 each rent plus £200 each for bills. He brings home around £2200. He also has a car (paid off) which costs him £200 a month in fuel and insurance, road tax, AA etc-doesn't really need one but likes to visit has grandad and us etc quite regularly -

He gets by but I know it's tight and I often ping him £100 a week before payday but I don't mind because he's hard working, doesn't go out a lot and has created a nice little home himself (it was unfurnished) - he also isn't paying much more than when he lived in a crappier area to be honest

@RosesAndHellebores Im confused!!! I posted about being too tight & then you @ me saying "I don't think I said they were finding things tight"

Also there are still less expensive parts of london.
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/129010478#/?channel=RES_LET

950 pcm

Oh were you responding to an earlier post? Well I was replying to someone else & I probably would find 70k tight with todays housing costs.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E87490&maxBedrooms=1&minBedrooms=0&maxPrice=1000&propertyTypes=flat&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=#prop129009560

900 pcm

@finallydones my apologies. You quoted a previous poster and said something nice. It was meant for them.

In my industry 30k is the salary for someone with years of experience, multiple degrees and ideally a PhD. Yes, in London. Depressing (but not inaccurate) to see it described as a ‘very low’ wage by so many. Unfortunately everyone I know is either living with a partner, living in a flatshare well into their 30s and 40s, or being supported by parents.

@RosesAndHellebores no worries.

So shop workers are earning £50K in London as there's an awful lot of shops and these people must live somewhere?

Could someone please enlighten me?

What industry is this?

Starting salary for a postdoc (i.e., you have been awarded your PhD are carrying on in academic) is 34k. With the london weighting it's 37k.

Typically this is considered the lowest paid option, which is why freshly minted PhDs tend to move into industry where you can get more.

Struggling to understand why someone would choose to work in your industry and what it might be!

The shit thing is the recession we are heading into is probably going to push wages back again. I really feel for the young.

I had a retail job 20 years ago, the salary is virtually identical now.

Museum curation!

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128977808#/?channel=RES_LET

Have you looked into shared ownership? The quality can vary but mine was amazing (read the terms very very carefully!)

I was on under 35K in London and had a measly £4K deposit. My shared ownership meant I was effectively on rent control for years at under £600 (plus a small mortgage) and saved lots as my career progressed and earnings rose. Plus my flat went up a bit in value so I had some equity left when I sold my share. It was also a gorgeous flat in zone 2. I couldn't believe my luck! This was 7 years ago. You could live in a cheaper zone and it would be even cheaper. Buy resale rather than new build if you go down that route.

Lots of retail workers in london will be young people living in crowded hmo, possibly sharing rooms, or living at home with parents etc, financially reliant on a partner.

Ahh apologies, I'm very much in STEM so when you said "industry", museum curation was not in my mind!!

Top tip - look for studio flats in posh areas. People don’t tend to look for the tiny scruffy homes in the fancy areas so they can be surprisingly well priced. Bit outing but fuck it - I used to live in one of these: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128965220#/?channel=RES_LET and it’s bills included.

30K is not a low wage. Living in London it won't get you far but it's not a low wage when compared to other job roles already mentioned.
DH earns very well but if I hadn't of met him, I would still be at home with parents. It's much easier if you are in a couple. If you are single and on a low wage it is next to impossible. It's really tough out there which is why I still dont understand why adults are judged for living with parents. What other choice do they have ?

No worries! And yeah it is grim. Technically you don’t ‘need’ a PhD for most roles but it’s becoming increasingly rare for someone not to have one even at the assistant curator level (where salaries can be as low as 21k). Academia pays better than museums for similar jobs. Unfortunately though I bloody love my job so what can you do?!

When I lived in London I lived in a house with 4 other people and the room was 700 pounds a month. It was zone 4. Living in your own private rental is unlikely in London on that money. To be honest, even where I live in Ireland, you'd really struggle to rent on that money. A 3 bed house is 2000 euro a month rent and we're not even in a city. A one bed flat might be 1600. To live independently where I am, you'd need to be pulling in around 50 grand or else accessing some form of state help. Prices are high everywhere.