Is anyone else's full wage just going on living expenses?!

[maria2bela1]

My partner and I both work, have 3 young children. We crunched some numbers yesterday and my partners whole wage (which is a decent one, over 50k) goes on outgoings! I just can't believe it, we pay high rent in London (2k) then our gas/elec bill is sky high at £230 a month. Sorry having a rant but this is insanity. How are we ever supposed to save for a house? I honestly feel like the only way around this is to leave London, but our family and friends are here so not nice for the kids.

DH & I are Gen X, both high rate tax payers (for now, life long medical condition is nudging me into part time work in the next few weeks), we fall into the top 3% of earners. And yet, if we were starting out today, with the deposit that we did have when we purchased our current home, we almost certainly would struggle to afford the home we live in, despite our healthy salaries.

Life is unbelievably tough at the moment, I don't know how young families are managing today. Yes, houses are cheaper in other parts of the country than in London and the South East. However, for any family starting out today with a modest house deposit, every where must seem expensive. Plus it's not easy to uproot lives in the quest for a cheaper home.

We have just one child, now a teen, and I remember the eye watering full time nursery costs, there was just £96 difference in our monthly mortgage payments and our childcare expenses. However, it still felt doable. I no longer think that is the case.

Austerity has eroded public services and Brexit has severely damaged exports. Our standard of living has been gradually deteriorating. Add in the very real impact of climate change and things are tough for Gen Y and millennials. They can't even reliably expect a state pension! I feel we have failed future generations.

You do have choices as you’re both working but you have to be realistic as on your current income you presumably can’t afford to buy a property in the area you’re currently living in?

So either stay where you are or change something.

We moved when DS was 4 and sold our small house and used the equity to buy a bigger modern house with no mortgage. We left behind friends and family and started from scratch knowing no-one.

Property prices have risen a lot here in the last ten years, so I’m very happy with our decision. Equally, they could have fallen but without a crystal ball, you have to take some risks in life.

That very much depends on if they had bank of mum and dad deposits and where in the country they lived.

I have worked in professional jobs since graduation and my income went largely on rent, which even in the era of low interest rates were very high in London. The later on childcare (which due to my industry means some evenings and weekends so more expensive). I did choose to have children, but due to health situations never had the option of delaying. The different is my parents had similar jobs and had children at a similar time and bought in their mid 20s. I’ll probably be mid 40s. But I live in London and haven’t had any inheritance, a deposit given or regular free childcare. For those in my situation, I’d say that’s a pretty average time to buy. Last time I checked the average age of a first time buyer in London was still 40s.

Give us all the details, all your salary and all your outgoings and mn will advise what cuts you can make. There are 1000's of threads like this. You say taking kids out for day trips, fear about changing that to free activities or very low cost ones.

@Zippidydoodah “I’m assuming you don’t work”

@YouMustBeTheWeasleys “Agree with this”

Erm, read the first six words of the OP.

My partner and I both work

I think you're in a fairly good position if one of your salary covers all living costs and you have a whole salary for 'other things'

If you said that both of your salaries were needed to cover living costs leaving nothing at all for 'extras - days out/savings etc' then I would be more sympathetic.

You do realise there are many many people with absolutely nothing left over after living costs and that you are in a much better financial position.

You can easily cut down on your extras and save, or move out of London. You have choices that other do no have.

Never understood this.

The classic "I want kids, we'll find a way to make it work" mentality.

It's never the "we both make a good living, we save £1000 a month, ok, NOW we can afford kids and have stuff left over for holidays, etc"...

It’ll only be the very youngest millennials who won’t have been able to buy because of their age. Millennials are from 1981 to 1996. I’m mid way and most my age have been fine buying houses as long as we made his choices.

Er no, you just need to look at average age of FTBs.... I'm an older millennial and only bought with help, 6 figure help...

Plus many millennials suffered from wage stagnation which really stepped up a notch after the 08 crash.

Honestly, some people need to get off their high horses. As if it's that easy to completely uproot an established family and relocate to the opposite end of the country.

I don't think anyone is suggesting it's easy, but if you're not a high-earning family, you often don't have a choice. DH and I had to buy in a rural coastal town because we couldn't afford anything else - we prioritised getting on the property ladder over other things. Other people make different choices because they'd rather be closer to family or amenities.

Low interest rates were around from 2009 so those of us now in our mid thirties did have many years with the low rates and had the whole of our working lives with these rates until they rose again a couple of years ago. Property prices were lower too than they are now.

In order for this to be true people had to be buying their first property in their 20s at a time where lending criteria really tightened up and when the best rates were not necessarily available to those with high LTV.

"Over 50% of UK ‘Baby Boomers’ owned property by age 30, however, this figure has plummeted as less than 30% of millennials"

The majority of millennials aren't on the housing ladder before 30...

Well yes lots of us did. I’m in my mid thirties now and most of us in my circle are on to our next houses now, having bought small houses or flats in our twenties. No one I knew got any help, we certainly didn’t for our first house. We saved in our twenties, bought houses, chose to have kids after buying and are now able to go on holidays and days out with our kids as we got on the property ladder first before doing these things. Not possible for everyone but in lots of cases it is the choices people make that can make the difference.

We couldn't afford the lifestyle we would want so we don't live in London. Same with DCs, we only have 1.

i relate to this. it's despiriting. my wages have nearly doubled in the past 10 years but i'm struggling just as much as i did 10 years ago!

Well yes lots of us did. I’m in my mid thirties now and most of us in my circle are on to our next houses now, having bought small houses or flats in our twenties

But I am referring to statistics, you understand how that is a little wider than your own experiences?

I’m also wondering what their joint income is and why OP doesn’t mention her salary. Maybe she works part-time.

I’m in my mid thirties now and most of us in my circle are on to our next houses now, having bought small houses or flats in our twenties. No one I knew got any help, we certainly didn’t for our first house. We saved in our twenties, bought houses

The reason so many 20 somethings struggle to get on the housing ladder is because of high renting costs & deposit size. You obviously had a high salary & cheaper rent if you could save up a big enough deposit in a few years. I'm not sure how much of it is just choice...

Choosing to have three children on a moderate wage in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Not sure why you are so shocked. Did you not run the numbers beforehand?

Shared ownership could be something worth exploring. The deposit would be relatively small and give OP and her family the security they don’t currently have.

Oops! Sorry op.

That's a lot - not including groceries my total household outgoings are half your mortgage and we have the heating on 24 C all the time in winter and the aircon on in summer and have a higher household income.

It sounds like you're torturing yourselves by living in London.

Having three children isn’t affordable on this kind of income in London, nor is buying a house tbh

Sadly, London (and many European cities) are no longer affordable for many people. It is just mostly for the very rich, those with inheritances and social housing. I know young people on 40k salaries in London who house share so the idea of a family house and supporting 3 children would just be a far away dream.

Inheritances are enabling many people to get on the housing ladder plus super rich people from outside the UK. I'm not sure what the answer is as with an increasing population housing will continue to increase.

If I was the poster I would seriously consider moving away from London, it's what people have had to do and their are lots of other places in the UK that can offer a lovely lifestyle.

'Over 50K' in london is not a high wage particularly when you have 3 children.

Tbh i think is partly because many young people want to skip out the step of buying a flat. They all seem to go straight to buying a 3-bed house as a first property whereas I'd bet a lot of people in their 50's now who bought in their 20's did so by buying a small flat eg 1 or 2 bed, then selling it to upgrade to a house in early 30's. Some of it is choices people make now.