Millennial finance woes

[JennaGrace]

Not sure what I’m trying to achieve by posting this, maybe just an understanding that I’m not the only person that feels this way…
Do any other millennials feel like you’re constantly behind? Growing up in the 90’s and 00’s in a low to middle household I was always told to go to university and I will get a good job. Now at 33 I feel stuck at the middle management level whilst people that learnt a trade and didn’t even get GCSE’s have their own companies, houses and multiple children.
The anxiety I feel about not having enough savings, learning to invest, a pension is exhausting and my parents aren’t getting any younger. They also have no savings and I know I will either have to look after them or at least fund them in some capacity, team that with cost of living I don’t think my partner and I will ever be able to afford children and we take home what should be a decent income (£100k combined, but live in London).
It’s exhausting! Sorry for the rant, does anyone else feel like this at all?

There's definitely a sense of not being able to achieve what our parents did. I think I'm probably the first generation to have been worse off than the one before, despite a great career.

Classic case of comparison is the thief of joy. There's so many variables, also you don't know anyone else's situation. They may look successful but they might be drowning in debt. Or they've probably had parental help/an inheritance, so it's not your age that's the factor, it's your family background.

It also takes a lot to start and run a successful business, many fail and cause a lot of financial heartache. It's not necessarily an easy option compared to university/graduate jobs.

You just have to make the best of your situation. Do you have to live in London? If not, you'd have a lot better chance of saving for a house and affording children in other places and might not earn that much, £100k between you for 'middle management' doesn't seem particularly well paid, assuming you're both on around £50k each, people on here talk about that being easily achievable after a couple of years in a graduate role, not after over a decade of experience and a couple of promotions.

Don't assume you need to support your parents either. It sounds like they're 50/60s so still working and will have state pension and should have some workplace pension too, so don't need 'savings' to live on, they'll have their pensions, which is sufficient for the basics.

It is interesting to compare myself to others in my school year, I’m from a very rural area where lots of the boys went into trades or family farms. They were cheeky chaps that didn’t achieve a whole lot in school and now have very nice homes and lifestyles! I moved to London and what’s really interesting is just how much more “grown up” people from my home town appear to be compared to my city colleagues of the same age; marriages, children and home ownership much younger. Almost like we saw in previous generations really. I know on MN these things too young are frowned upon, but my friends that went down that route all seem happy enough.

Just observations really, no right or wrong but I think the millennial experience varies essentially.

Yep, me too. I feel like I’ll never own a home.

I’m a millennial too, a few years older than you and I don’t really feel like this. We live in the south east so not a cheap area, have 2 DCs, a 4 bed house with reasonable mortgage and savings. Our income isn’t dissimilar to yours, a little higher, and we haven’t had any financial help from family. We could easily commute to London from where we are. I know things are expensive, but you’re on a very good income and a lot of it’s about choices. You don’t have to live in London. If you’re in jobs that have to be in London move to a commuter area where the houses are a lot cheaper, on your salaries you’d easily be able to afford a starter house. Where does the rest of your money go now? Even with high London rents you should have been able to save a decent amount for a deposit. Nursery fees are a lot cheaper outside of London too.

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