Teenage reality hitting home

[Globules]

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?

We insisted on making landlords lives so difficult that they left the business, taking all those properties with them.
Oh, sure. It’s landlords that are the real victims…
🤔

But then there are people like my Dad who was a postman and bought a large 3 bed house in London in the 70s. Mortgage taken on his income only

My DS who is going into this 3rd year in uni in Sept says none of them are worth voting for. He's planning to leave the UK asap after graduating anyway. Not in the slightest bit interested in buying houses etc

The "crisis" has been caused all the stupid fucking moronic, myopic, dickheads who wanted everything regulated and insisted on "standards" for everything.

You're wrong. Lack of regulation has caused massive inequalities.

No, I don't feel for teenagers.
Furthermore, I don't think they have the mental capacity to vote.
My generation had it damn difficult.
And before the hate starts, I'm 45,
born in a Communist country. No worries in life now, just thanks to sacrifices and careful planning.
Oh, and self discipline. Do they know what it means?

But in reality, he is likely to meet a partner and earn more.

Not saying that process is easy but the assumption that a) he'll always be single and b) will always be on minimum wage seems a very negative outlook.

He already has a good deposit and even in retail could work up to a higher salary.

Or while he is young and doesn't have a mortgage now is the time to consider a trade or other apprenticeship while he has low outgoings and meets age requirements.

I think this is the point for many where the reality that you have to make difficult choices and sacrifices for a different quality of life hits. The policy change I'd like to see is more support for retraining, especially for vital areas like healthcare. Bring in nursing apprenticeships etc.

I think many people need to experience life on minimum wage to understand they want something different but giving up all income to return to study is hard.

Very few people really know what they want from life at 16-18. Instead of the drive to put more and more through uni at 17, I think it would be more beneficial to open opportunities later in life.

Its a shift in society concept that the majority own a home. We rent in our 50s - its common in lots of countries.

It Is awful, no clear offer for young people, a lack of urgency on climate and no real policies to address increasing inequality, housing costs or higher education becoming increasingly inaccessible.

But most of those other countries gave secure tenancies and rent control!

Whilst I do recognise that it is incredibly hard for younger people to get on the housing ladder (I’m late 30s and our mortgage is giant), I’m not sure many single teens working in a shop would ever had had much chance of getting a mortgage and affording a house. Definitely not 20 years ago when I was a late teen anyway. A 30k deposit at his age is a lot more than many teens have.

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

Maybe not a single person but DH and I both had shop level salaries (he did work in a shop I had an admin job earning about the same) when we bought a zone 2 London flat in 2004. Not a chance someone could do the same now.

Someone needs to send this to Labour HQ as they seem determined that they are going to be able to magic up healthcare staff/teachers etc from somewhere . I’ve worked in schools for 20 years , it is pretty much impossible to recruit teachers in some subjects in our school, they don’t want the jobs for love nor money.

I agree with you in general OP but theres hope for your son yet, he's very young. I ended up bankrupt at 32 but tripled my wages in 4years and own a property now. Personally, I'd recommend becoming a tradie at this point - plumbing, electrics, gas, plastering. They earn well and can pick and choose the work!

I appreciate i am completely missing the point here - but I am interested in how your son has saved almost double his annual wage at 19?

Yes it's really shit for young people. I feel very sorry for them. They can work really hard and never afford a mortgage. I wouldn't be having kids now that's for sure

OP hasn't said anywhere he has saved for it, I assume it's been saved in his name, gifted or inherited.

It is hard but OTOH when I was teen/early 20s, in the early 80s no one expected to go straight from uni to owning their own home/being able to afford the same lifestyle as their parents.

Maybe an inheritance or savings that we're done for him throughout childhood

I agree it's tough. But then I point out that my grandmother was taken out of school and forced into a marriage with a stranger when she was 13. My mum was educated but not allowed to work.

And they realise they have it a lot better. Helps if you come from a tough cultural background.

I worked in a shop when I left school in the 70s - I was in management for a big chain but still couldn't afford to buy a terraced house until I got married. I lived at home until they transferred me to London where I couldn't afford anything other than renting a room in somebody's house as a lodger.

How exactly has lack of regulation made rents higher?

Yes but it's not necessarily cheaper (in the UK anyway) in fact it's often more expensive to rent. If we had very long term tenancies and /or some form of rent controls then it would work.

Just under 25s? I'm 34 and can't afford to buy!

Spot the BTL landlord

Thatcher started the problems by letting people buy the council houses.
The banks then made it far worse with BTL.

Having said that, when we bought our first house for £35k, our NHS salaries were £6k and £7k and interest rates were far higher than today and then went higher. We had no furniture except a bed at first and no parental help at all.

To rent that exact same house in 1990 cost £550 a month. Now it rents for £750. Rents are much cheaper now compared to incomes in large parts of the country.

Basically house prices have quadrupled since then but so have salaries in my part of the UK.

There is no single property market in the UK, often people have to move to a different part of the country to get on in life.

Kindly, I think your teenage son with 30k in the bank needs to give his head a little wobble. Things are tough for the younger generations, including mid 30s like me, no doubt, but it sounds like he has had a helping hand from somewhere with the 30k. That is a lot of money to have as a teenager.

He needs a plan. Does he live at home? Where is the 30k? Is he planning on looking at any other jobs with progression or training?

If I were him, I would open a fixed rate cash ISA (there are loads of good deals atm while interest rates are high) and put 16k in, then also open a lifetime cash ISA and put 4k in this year to get the maximum 1k bonus. I would put the remaining 10k into premium bonds for now, and transfer another 4k to the lifetime cash ISA next April to get another 1k bonus, and then another 4k again in April 2026.

If he did this, as well as saving £500 a month until April 2026, then he will have at least £44,000 by then. That's not a bad position for a 21 year old.