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AIBU?

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Original poster

Teenage reality hitting home

137 replies

Globules · 23/05/2024 07:09

My teenagers will be voting their first GE.

We had a chat last night about it, and the conclusion they've come to is that their age group is screwed.

Uni loans, house prices, single life.

DS actually held his head in his hands recognising that his £30k house deposit is pointless until his salary is at a ridiculously high level to service a mortgage.

DD pointed out all of the parties are being silent on policies around their age group.

Whilst they have every right to feel negative about it all, they're optimistic beans. I was listening to them talking and feeling so despondent that life ahead looks so tough for them.

I was married aged 22. Bought our first house aged 24 on just my basic teacher salary (he was self employed, so he was a dependent). They just don't have the same outlook, do they?

I really feel for our under 25s. Just me?

OP posts:
pinkstripeycat · 23/05/2024 07:11

I remember my DN saying the same and she’s now 28. Can’t afford to buy a house but living in a nice rental and has money to enjoy life

ChefsKisser · 23/05/2024 07:13

I agree it’s dreadful. It feels like young people are completely forgotten while everyone squabbles over pensions and the brackets for the highest tax payers. I’m not as young as them (33) but feel completely hopeless for the future for us and our children. My parents have pensions double my salary despite working similar jobs and have just had a massive increase with inflation. I meanwhile as a public sector worker have had a pay cut in real times every year since qualifying. I don’t have any advice but I sympathise with them. And I’m glad you’re sympathetic rather than self righteous and going on about how difficult life’s actually been for you- someone with insight hurrah!

MissyB1 · 23/05/2024 07:14

This is why my 29 year old ds is looking to take his health care qualification abroad. He just can't afford to buy a property here and just about affords his rent and bills.

qwertyqwertyqwertyqwerty · 23/05/2024 07:14

Yes it is really difficult for them. But they absolutely must engage with the political process or the votes of older people get even stronger in relative terms.

JustFrustrated · 23/05/2024 07:18

Well, to be fair a £30k deposit will go very far in many places outside of the south....

I would actually like to know policies around that age group though as mine hit that by the next GE and they're right, all parties are very quiet on that front

Mademetoxic · 23/05/2024 07:27

He is lucky he has 30k saved! I am in my early 30s and have no where near that amount....

Katemax82 · 23/05/2024 07:31

This is why I've resigned myself to my kids not leaving home for a looong time

Original poster
Globules · 23/05/2024 07:33

JustFrustrated · 23/05/2024 07:18

Well, to be fair a £30k deposit will go very far in many places outside of the south....

I would actually like to know policies around that age group though as mine hit that by the next GE and they're right, all parties are very quiet on that front

The deposit is not the problem. It's the £18k salary he's on and the amount it will need to be to get a mortgage to buy the rest of the property.

The builder paid the deposit on our £63k first property. We never even had to have a deposit.

OP posts:
ElephantsDontReadFantasy · 23/05/2024 07:34

Mine aren’t quite teenage yet and we’ve got house renovations planned that allow enough space for them to live with us a while as adults if needed as we feel the same @Katemax82

There is so much more disparity right now. It feels like the wealth gap is growing. I follow Gary’s Economics and he talks about wealth inequality being the biggest factor in loss of living standards.

RandomButtons · 23/05/2024 07:35

Your teenager has 30k saved? I think he’s doing alright. Couple years on graduate income saving hard he’ll be launghing.

Theres places you can buy reasonable houses for £150k still. Some for £80k not far from me so long as you don’t mind a 3 bed not fancy terrace. Just not the South East.

Original poster
Globules · 23/05/2024 07:39

RandomButtons · 23/05/2024 07:35

Your teenager has 30k saved? I think he’s doing alright. Couple years on graduate income saving hard he’ll be launghing.

Theres places you can buy reasonable houses for £150k still. Some for £80k not far from me so long as you don’t mind a 3 bed not fancy terrace. Just not the South East.

He's not a graduate.

He's a teenager working in a shop on £18k pa

His salary is unlikely to get to mortgage levels for a long time.

OP posts:
Createausername1970 · 23/05/2024 07:42

I agree. Bought first house in 1980 when we got married. £18k. 100% mortgage. We both earned about £9k. So our combined salaries as two youngsters came to pretty much the same as the cost of the property. You can't get a similar property today where we live for under £200k.

I can't see my DS moving out any time soon.

Dottiespotty · 23/05/2024 07:42

thats an impressive deposit for a teenager and would go far in many areas. My kids will be massively in debt with no deposits by the time they finish uni.
you are however NBU.

aplthtoa · 23/05/2024 07:47

DD pointed out all of the parties are being silent on policies around their age group.

Well let's wait for the manifestos to be published before we come to this conclusion.

PuttingDownRoots · 23/05/2024 07:51

You can blame the Tories for a lot of things...

But has a single teenage shop worker ever been able to afford to buy a house? They would live in a house share, lodgings or with their parents.

ExtraOnions · 23/05/2024 07:52

The policies of each party will be announced as the campaign goes on. I doubt there is any party that will ever have 100% of the policies you want, but, you just have to pick the one that you think most aligned to your way of thinking.

For housing I would like to see … Council Housing being built (with a caveat that stops them being bought), Rent caps based on the local average income, ban on foreign ownership of rental properties (especially when they use it to launder Dirty Money and properties stay empty), a tiered tax approach to Landlords (the more properties you have the more % tax you pay), more restrictions on second home ownership in areas where demand is highest, more prosecutions of landlords who have people live in sub-standard properties.

We need more affordable housing … though it seems every development is protested against by people who already own homes, and don’t seem to want anyone else to.

Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 23/05/2024 07:53

Yes, my son said “we are not the same as you. The earth is dying, there’s going to be a war, everything is hopeless, what do we have to live for.”

And he going to university and is just getting a student loan for nearly £80k.

It is pretty disgusting how the young are being let down.

Almostwelsh · 23/05/2024 07:53

Tbf there has never been a time when a single person working in a shop has found it easy to buy a house.

MavisPennies · 23/05/2024 07:55

Agree things are bleak but they could change both personally for your kids and politically.
Change doesn't happen by itself it needs concerted, collective effort and organisation.
Engage with your MP, join a union (and try to influence what it campaigns for), make efforts to change things within your sphere of influence would be my advice.

Livinghappy · 23/05/2024 07:55

@Globules is he 19 and managed to save 30k himself? It's very impressive. Agreed 18k isn't great but I don't know many 20 somethings on that amount. The chance to increase his salary is there for him.

However I agree, house prices have been used to fuel the economy plus there are people with vast amounts of investments in property (rather than invest in businesses). This is the switch we need.

Last 20 years it's been too easy for someone with cash to buy property, rent it out and watch yearly increases in capital value. I know someone who did this. They were fortunate to have spare cash from an inheritance and then bought lots of property, which raises the purchase and rental costs for everyone.

The governments over the last 20 years used migration to keep wages low but never built the infrastructure to support housing or NHS. It is a mess and caused by short term and quick wins

Hedonism · 23/05/2024 08:56

aplthtoa · 23/05/2024 07:47

DD pointed out all of the parties are being silent on policies around their age group.

Well let's wait for the manifestos to be published before we come to this conclusion.

This! It's not even been 24 hours since the GE was announced.

determinedtomakethiswork · 23/05/2024 09:03

What your builder did was inflate the price and give you the difference of the deposit.

Bazinga007 · 23/05/2024 09:07

It has pretty much been the case that it has been very difficult for a single income to be able to afford a mortgage on their own for about 29 years. People on minimum wage don't have a chance, your son needs to get a better job.

Hereyoume · 23/05/2024 09:46

Well.

Housing is a problem which could be sorted tomorrow. The "crisis" has been caused all the stupid fucking moronic, myopic, dickheads who wanted everything regulated and insisted on "standards" for everything.

Twenty years ago you could rent a converted garage for a few hundred quid a month. Or a dodgy flat for a little bit more. If you wanted to splash out and get a "naice" apartment in the bay, you could. You had choice.

But NO! that wasn't good enough was it!

We HAD to "improve" things, no flat could ever be damp, or cold, or have sketchy door locks.

We insisted on making landlords lives so difficult that they left the business, taking all those properties with them.

I lived in some sketchy places in my time, places with questionable electrics and rough decor. But it was an address, a roof over my head, and it gave me a start. But stupid do-gooders have taken that away from our children.

The moronic dickheads would prefer that our current crop of young people are homeless or depressed instead. Much better to have a 20 year old who can't afford a home of their own than "allow" them to live in a cheap dodgy flat that would give them autonomy and a sense of momentum.

PontiacFirebird · 23/05/2024 09:53

I get you OP. Those saying “oh you can get a house for 150k” have never tried to get a mortgage on a low salary… I only just managed to get a mortgage of less than that on a single salary that’s a lot more than min wage, and with a fatter deposit.
I really feel for young people. Jobs are few and far between, social mobility has stalled and those older and better off have pulled up the ladder behind them.