Are things harder for millennials?

[squidwid]

Many of my friends don't own houses and they're in their 30s. They did everything that society asked of them and still they're not making headway.

I know so many elderly people that live in 4 bedroom homes worth £400k plus. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that but families should be able to afford those houses so things can move on. No one can afford to buy them...

Agree with all this. This generation have well and truly been shafted, I worry for my kids 😢

It may not be their fault personally (although let's not pretend we aren't paying for thier pensions), but I think there is a lack of understanding for the life and prospects of later generations for some. My FIL was a few years ago telling me very proundly how his pensions (armed forces mainly I think, but not active duty or anything, he maintained buildings mainly as far as I could gather) made him way better off than me and DH (two university educated, at the time 30 year olds, with professional well paying jobs), while we were grappling with childcare costs and high newish mortgage. I mean great for you FIL - and certianly we are privileged and well off compare to many - but also an annoying and smug thing to sit and go on about, when we will work our entire lives, working for years longer than you and will come out far worse. Not to mention our children and the challenges they face. All while looking at tax hikes to sub your final salary pension pot, and trying to put some away for our future.

I am generally (and genuinely) not bitter about this sort of thing. But I do think a but of situational consideration for how their position is really quite different to what ours will be would be handy.

I am a xennial with no family wealth (my dad rents and I spent some of my twenties financially supporting HIM) in the SE of England.

TBH we were the canary in the coalmine. When I was in my twenties in London, my friends and I had enough money to rent shared flats in grotty areas (the personal highlight was the one oppsote the crack den) with shitty disinterested landlords and most spare monney went in to paying back student loans (£134 a month for most of my twenties).

But things were still doable - we did manage to save a bit as rents were cheaper on those grotty flats, we got payrises and climnbed the career ladder, those student loans weren't massive - so most of us bought flats with partners in our mid thirties (I was lucky that Mr Monkey, a Gen Xer managed to buy his (very samlla nd pretty grotty) flat in his mid twenties and do sold it and got us a pretty heft deposit).

A lot of us now a stuck in flats as we cannot afford trade any further up - the only ones that can are those who are inheriting (some friends recently bought a house as they inherited £100k from the husband's gandfather). For my social circle (generally mid earnign professionals in London and the SE) gen Xers commonly owned a flat in their twenties, met their partner, then both sold their flats and use the money made to fund buying a house in their early thirties. My generation (xennials/older millennials) you rented in your twenties and just about managed to buy a flat together in your thirties. The generation below me - people are struggling to afford to buy anything until their late thirties and early forties, if at all.

One of the big unspoken issues is stagnating wages - for many ordinary people wages haven't got up much for the last ten years or more but costs have risen and risen. This impacts more on people who rent or are trying to save for a property.

Gen X - I didn’t own my own home until I was 42, stop whining about being a hard done by generation 🙄

I think the push to get 50% of youngsters to Unis has caused a lot of the house price problem. Uni Towns are typically now very expensive/difficult for housing as so many houses have been converted to student flats and so many "plots" have had student blocks built on them. That's taking away housing from the locals. All financed on the back of the taxpayer as it's student loans which are paying the landlords/developers. If we really needed 50% to Uni, then there should have been plans in place to encourage students to go to their local Uni so they could continue living at home and thus not burden the already tight housing market. We have huge amounts of housing left empty outside term time which is crazy when we have a housing shortage.

Most boomers own a portfolio of 3/4 houses/flats that they rent to millennials for exorbitant sums. 😂

I agree that is it harder now to get on the property ladder then it was for previous generations. But it really isn't impossible for most. I'm in the middle of the millennial age group and we bought a small two bed terrace when we were in our twenties with no family help in the Southeast. Mid-thirties and we now have a 4 bed. All our circle of friends have houses now too and there are a range of jobs and income levels.

I do think some people need to adjust their expectations and priorities if they want to own houses. It's all very well saying a Netflix subscription won't pay for a deposit, of course it won't. But it's not just Netflix is it, and it all adds up. There's a couple of coffees a week, a couple of subscription services, a cafe lunch or brunch out, a smartphone on monthly payment plans, a weeks holiday abroad to save for, maybe a car on PCP payments, a new dress, hair cut and nails. Suddenly that one thing that's not going to pay for a deposit turns into a few hundred of expenses a month that really aren't essential and if there's two people that's actually a large amount that could be added to monthly savings each month to build up a decent deposit.

Each generation has its challenges. I am older and I dont know how to do online gaming, which is a big thing with millennials. Plus I doubt I will live beyond 90, wheres you lot will probably live way beyond 100. Plenty of time to get on the property ladder.😃

I also think a lot of people don't prioritise careers they can make enough money in.

Of course not everyone can do that and there are so many jobs that should pay a lot more- nurses, doctors, teachers etc etc.

However in m my group ( I'm a millennial ), most people went for careers centred around what they ' love ' and ' care about ' - think photography, film, music..

Everyone is still not making much money and completely unable to meet demands/ afford homes.

My husbands group of friends all went for careers that pay, finance. Law etc.

I personally needed to make as much money as possible to survive and I chose to work to make as much money as I can. I don't love what I do, but it's afforded me a very comfortable life style. My husband is the same. We work solely because of the rewards we get from working. Not because we enjoy it.

A lot of people were not prepared to make that sacrifice and it shows.

You have to be so lucky to be able to make good money form work you're also passionate about.

Older people/boomers who like to blame daily Starbucks/avocado on toast, etc. are just either extremely stupid or wilfully ignorant of the fact that house prices have risen hugely relative to incomes.
I say this as a boomer myself.
Virtually everyone I know of the same sort of age, is all too aware of how much harder things are for their children, and have helped if they can.

Which is very unfair, I know, for those whose parents are unable to help.

If everyone worked only for money we'd be up shit creek
There are not that many well paying jobs
And we need dustbin men and nurses a lot more than we need a new ai or finance algorithm
And why should people spend their lives doing something that they hate ? Seems a stupid way to organise ourselves

I get that and I do think that all jobs should pay more.

However, a lot of people are not prepared to do a job they don't like to get on the housing ladder and have a good lifestyle.

I'm prepared to do that. So is my husband. We are millennials and we have a very nice lifestyle because we make that choice.

I realised early on that I would have to make that decision if I wanted the things I have in life.

Hardly anyone I know who earns a lot of money, loves their job.

No, life isn't just about a house. I think Millennials have so many more career options than generations before, more opportunity to travel, more inclusivity, more mobility.

I also see on here and in real life a lot of people don't want to compromise on their lifestyle and most of us can't afford everything we want. Some people choose to work part time and can't afford to work more as they will 'only' be £200 a month better off working after childcare costs. Well that £200 per month could be £2400 per year added to deposit savings plus more affordability for a mortgage plus pension benefits. Some don't want to move areas to get be able to be able to afford a house. All fine if that's what they are prioritising, but can't complain that they then can't afford a house too.

I got this off gov website

63% of households in England owned their own homes in the 2 years from 2016 to 2018.
68% of White British households owned their own homes, compared with 74% of Indian households.
Households in the Black African (20%) and Arab (17%) ethnic groups had the lowest rates of home ownership.

Most people own their own house, then.

They don’t. A few might but buy to let landlords cover a wide age range.

It's not even just house prices. Millennials are also going to be totally screwed when it comes to pensions. We're paying she'd loads of tax our whole lives to fund state pensions for boomers and gen X.

We'll likely be working til 70+ and the state pension will be a pittance by that point.

It's depressing

One thing I think has changed for the younger generation is the sheer lack of friction when it comes to spending. When I was in my early twenties I couldn't "waste" money on things like deliveroo or Uber as they did not exisit. Getting a taxi was a luxury to be planned and shared. Takeaway involved having to ensure you had the menu, phoned the local takeaway and more often than not going to pick it up. After all that faff you may as well have gone out.

I remember when Amazon was mainly about books and music I eagerly signed up, thinking this was an amazing thing to eb able to find and buy anythign I wanted with a few clicks of a button. After a few months I was appalled at just how easy it was for me to unthinkingly spend hundreds of pounds on my card. I deleted my Amazon account in 2004 and never went back.

We're paying she'd loads of tax our whole lives to fund state pensions for boomers and gen X.

We’re all paying shed loads of tax to fund educating the next generation and healthcare. Pensions are taxable income, if I live to be 80 - pretty much the average for someone my age, I’ll have been a taxpayer for 62 years.

nc13467
Life expectancy is increasing so you will all live to 100 plus and end up with a much longer retirement than boomers/xers. (First time I have ever used either term). Both my parents were evacuated as children during World War 2. My Mum's dad was sent to France to fight aged 17. They just got with it. We did have to put up with hearing how easy it was for us in the 1970s/80s.
So chin up, the best foot forward.

Yeah - but that applies to everyone though. And Pensioners don't pay NI.

Life expectancy is increasing so you will all live to 100 plus and end up with a much longer retirement than boomers/xers

Err Life expectancy is going backwards & healthy life expectancy hasn't made any gains in years!

Of course it's much harder for millenials. My parents bought their city centre house for about 48000 in 1988. It's now worth a million. My father has indicated he has no intention of sharing out his wealth before he dies, so it's of no benefit to me and my siblings. He gave me a 20 pound voucher for my last birthday. By the time I do inherit (if I inherit), I'll be too old for it to really benefit me. So I'm a millennial with the benefit of potential wealth and even I'm not benefitting. We bought a cheap house an hour's commute away because that's all we could afford. The millennials with zero inherited wealth are even more screwed. A lot of them have zero chance of ever buying a house. It's hard not to feel angry with boomers for creating this shit situation.

Yes but that's not unique. Everyone of us will do the same. Except younger people will do it in more expensive houses and with downgraded pensions.

And don't get me started on how we've been fucked over with pensions...