I’m 26, and I’m not saving for a house or planning to move out

[WeCouldBeNice]

And apparently that’s a very unpopular decision amongst certain family members.

I have grown up always listening to my mum and grandmother saying that they regretted not travelling more in their youth. So I’m doing it, before I can have any regrets.

i work a job that pays just under £25k. Moving out would be miserable. I’d exist to pay my bills and nothing more. I am unable to borrow enough to even purchase a flat in my local area. So I’m spending all my money on travelling instead. Short trips. Weekends away and longer European trips next year.

my older brothers are horrified by this (despite both doing it themselves). They think I should be moved out and renting by now.

my dad turned round to them yesterday and asked if they wanted to ever see their daughters struggling and unhappy. They obviously said no, so he asked why they expected that of me. They couldn’t really answer.

theoretically I could take the money I’m putting into my travel savings each month and use it to save for a house. But I’d never get a big enough deposit to allow me to buy anything even anywhere near decent to live in. And I’d then be bound to a mortgage and never be able to do anything other than sit at home.

is it really that bad to do this?

I think you can travel and save. You’re young, you could work a second job or extra shifts to save. When you’re living at home is the time to save, or you’ll never have enough for a deposit. Are your parents happy for you to stay at home forever.

I’d have an eye on future plans tbh. Even an NHS pension won’t do you any good if you’re still paying a mortgage into retirement.

I did the "right thing", I bought a property with my then husband 23 years ago. Silly me, it was leasehold. Then I got divorced! It has now got a short lease so I have to now auction it because the open market didn't take to it. Moving into a rental property in a cheaper part of the country. My portion of the equity is going to be small going forward so buying again at my age is highly unlikely.

I don't know what things are like in your area but most young people in SE England get caught in the same leasehold trap because what they can afford is only a flat of some description to start with.

I feel like I've wasted my money. I slso wish I could have travelled more. I wish I'd learnt to drive, bought a camper, and gone exploring, rather than spent my wages on something that has almost turned out to be nothing for me.

FFS you are only 26 once and you know the limits of your income won't get you on the housing ladder. Even if you have to rent for the rest of your days, sod it, go and see the world. I'm 48 and this is my lived experience, and I say, do it.

I bought my first house at your age (10ish years ago and a LOT easier then due to house prices), the years leading up to that involved being tight with money and saving as much as I could and then the years after were also very tight, I.e. working just to pay a mortgage and bills, worried about extra expenses etc. etc, feeling like I couldn’t buy the things I wanted etc etc. It wasn’t as fun as travelling and life was a bit difficult.

But am I glad I did that now? Oh yes definitely! Am I in a much better position now because I did that? Yes! Do I have more disposable income now to do travelling as well as owning a house because I’m not throwing money away on rent? Absolutely!

I think maybe it’s a balance between investing in the enjoyment of your future self and investing in enjoying today! I would therefore put some money in a LISA and also travel.

Times are changing here. We last moved just over a decade ago. Our property is currently valued at nearly double what we paid. That kind of market is not sustainable and it makes it impossible for young folks. When I was your age I'd been living independently for 8 years. They were dives, but they were available and it's what we did. We were still able to afford traveling and save towards better accommodation. We've got a cultural shift going on here as a result of it no longer being possible to do it all. It sounds like you have a nice family op, enjoy your youth!

There’s no point in me locking my money away in a LISA, because it’s just going to sit there.

Not to sound like an old fart but it sitting there is entirely the point, and it can go towards retirement, not only a house so it’s definitely useful. It would certainly do no harm at your age to squirrel even a little bit away in one, I opened one just before turning 40 and wish I’d done it sooner.

Keep travelling by all means, but you never know how your priorities might change over the years.

Not “extremely” wealthy. They’re comfortable, they have assets they can use if they need to pay for care etc. but touch wood they’re ageing very well, still relatively healthy and enjoying travelling etc themselves! I don’t expect to inherit anything because I know you can’t rely on that.

I think it’s fine, but I think you may regret not maximising earnings when you’re older… you’re on a very low wage. £10k+ less than the national average and £7k+ less than the average for your age. You don’t need to move out but I would put more effort into improving your salary… if you want children especially.

I think this is my main bugbear. My brothers grew up when it was totally possible to rent, save for a house and travel. Now you have to choose one of the three. I just can’t imagine hitting 40, and regretting everything. I watched my mum and my nan do it and I just can’t bear it.

Could you do a working holiday abroad like working on a cruise ship, summer camp in America or take a sabbatical from work and do the rail journey around Europe. Then once you've done a big trip once back start saving and looking to move out.

I think it's fine if everyone is happy. I guess the only issue would be that if you suddenly craved your own place in a few years and couldn't do it. But it would be very hard on minimum wage anyway - I don't get much more and have a mortgage less than half what it would be now, and still struggle.
Do the travelling and aim for a better paid job in the near future. If my adult child wanted to come back to live at home I would be happy with that.

That’s unusual. We bought out last place 8 years ago and sold last year making a huge loss.

Assuming you’ve been working since you were 18, you could have saved 100k by now. That’s a huge deposit on a starter flat.

So, what do your brothers say when you say “but this is exactly what you did until you were xx”?

yeah, I could have.

or I could have had some incredible experiences like I have done!

That times were different, they still saved, they eventually moved out. I think they’re just jealous, to be honest, because they’re not in this phase of life anymore.

So extend the lease…

Yeah while I’m going on these trips etc., I’m also looking at promotions etc. my manager is very keen to get me promoted, so that’s happening in the background.

I could, but I don’t want to. I think putting a limit on it is just pointless

Sounds great to me. But for goodness sake take your mum on an adventure!

Agree
Very immature and not a wise decision IMHO @WeCouldBeNice

I have a colleague who did this and is now in rented crappy accommodation in his late 40s ,scraping by.
He deeply regrets not saving for his own property.

If your parents are on board, and you are sure you have thought this through, I would say live your life and travel. It would be different if they were making heavy hints about getting your own place.

I’d really love to!! I have some ideas but it would take a shed load of planning!

I totally agree, which is why it was nice to hear my dad say what he said last night. Like a really nice confirmation that they’re on board if that makes sense 😂

Yes. This. Enjoy!