Brain recalibration - a cost of living/modern life thread
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No, Durham is just notoriously posh.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
A contract mechanical design engineer is £400 a day. Company located in Crewe, but working from home. A minimum of 5 yrs relevant experience to qualify. Usually a degree in mechanical engineering is an advantage, but I have had colleagues in the past with no degree.
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It's more, I am one of the highest earners amongst my friends, by quite a long way, because they've chosen largely public sector work. That's all fine, only I live a considerably less luxurious lifestyle because they have all been given help and I haven't.
Again, that's not jealously, I'm genuinely happy for them. It's more frustration that earning well isn't enough - you need to get lucky with who your parents are. However hard I try, I can't bridge that gap. They work shorter hours, less pressure etc.
I don't know about you, but I want to live in a society that rewards hard work and success, not who your parents were/are.
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You need to be lucky to earn well to a certain extent as well.
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I get where you are coming from RC, but your are focussed on very specific careers i.e. finance jobs in the city and people choosing to live close to London as a result.
I know multiple people that are high earners (or as couples that have a joint income over £100k) that live in houses they paid between £250-350k for. These include self employed tradesmen (gardeners, plumbers, sparkies), Head Teachers, senior positions in charities, civil servants etc. My mate is a self employed landscape gardener, he earns more than you a year and paid off his mortgage in under 5 years on a £300k house. That was his personal choice, just as you choose to work in a high paying job and live close to London.
There are also people that have high earning jobs who choose to live miles away and commute. Again, I know several people who have high earning jobs and commute around 4 hrs a day to them. The fact is, they all make a choice to do so.
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You've not looked at houses in Bristol recently then?
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono1 -
Looks quality.
Anyway, you lot are ilustrating the point. If you have to live in a bit of a dump on £100k - it's not that much.
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No, but it is the way many people manage to achieve early retirement
left the forum March 20230 -
Those are exceptions to the average though, I am originally from Lancashire and now live in Surrey commuter belt. My cousin still lives in Lancashire, earns more than me and as a result has a very nice big house.
However, if I moved back home and did my current job, i would earn probably 30-40% less assuming I could find work, I'd probably end up living in a similar house to the one I have in surrey. Average household income down here is about double what it is back home.
Also, Rick doesn't live close to London, which is half of the problem for him - ask him about his commute 😄
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Well we've done our bit to address that!
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How would you address the issue of unequal distribution of financial help from parents?
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All fair points mm. I just disagree with the routinely peddled statement that it is near impossible to be a relatively high earner and live a relatively modest life, I know a fair few people that do.
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how to resolve the house crisis in London.
1) If you are resident or domiciled abroad, you cannot buy or own a property in London. If you inherit one, you have to sell it or move into it as a permanent address.
2) Only individuals can acquire residential properties, not companies or other outfits.
3) There should be a city tax on buy to let mortgages for residential properties, to avoid the sprawling of these so called developers, who just exploit their ability to borrow large sums to gather even more wealth.
4) Residential addresses cannot be turned into commercial premises or offices, other than major Government backed development schemes.
left the forum March 20230 -
I doubt it, as the average age gap between parents and kids and the average age of buying a first home doesn't stack up and I'm sure there can't be that many grannies passing the cash to their grandkids. Would have thought that more will get help from the Bank of Mum & Dad (if not an outright purchase).
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Except that it really isn't for the vast majority of people. It may be for some, in some areas, but not most.
Bubbles are why we keep going round in circles.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
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It's a bit like uni fees but without the ability to stick to cost into a loan by the pupil. Although judging by the estimated number who might be priced out of private education by Labour's VAT policy on schools, I get the idea that lots of families stretch their finances to do this.
I'll be rather glad when I stop funding junior through uni next year.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
In the time I have lived in my house, inflation has gone up by 70%, but house prices here by 140%. Being able to buy and live in a house on a given salary is obviously about when you bought. Or whether you aren't paying for the whole thing yourself.
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I guess you move in different circles. See my point above about choosing your friends carefully, as that may make you a bit happier 😉
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
It's why I am so pro inheritance tax. I want people to be rewarded for what they do, not what their parents did.
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Would your view be different if you had benefitted from inheritance?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
To be fair to Jeremy Hunt (which is not my natural tendency) - he was talking about a specific (relatively expensive) area.
I am in the ball park of what he is talking about financially and geographically and he isn't wrong, I am not complaining about my earnings but it doesn't feel like i am especially well off. If i was earning the same in Grimsby then I could afford an entirely different lifestyle.
It's like saying people in North Yorkshire have it easier because houses are so cheap - they aren't cheap if you live and work there in an average job.
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My daughter has managed to buy without inheritance, so have my 3 nephews and my niece. Also my mates 2 sons have also bought without it, they also seems to have set their own property development business buying and renovating student flats. Do you need any more examples or are going to continue to believe what your limited experience tells you.
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He'd be horrified to hear of my friend who lives just outside Leicester, works for a Belfast company, earns £170k pa and is about to get a 100k bonus.
Shirley that's not possible outside the south east bubble!
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I'll post the link again. 63% of first time buyers get help from family members.
More than half (63 per cent) of all mortgaged first-time buyers are expected to receive assistance from family to secure their purchase this year, highlighting the importance of this support in helping buyers get onto the housing ladder for the first time.
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No, why would I need to? You don’t have to live in exactly the same place as you work do you? I specifically said that I’ve worked half my career in Bristol from my current home (where average house prices are under £250k). The commute is shorter than the one Rick does and, apparently, far more reliable.
This morning I saw a job in a related discipline to my own work based in Merthyr with a salary of £90k. I was slightly shocked - £250k up there gets you a lot of house.
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It doesn't say what the help is though Rick.
If my daughters were buying a house (unlikely as they are 10 & 7), I would undoubtedly want to help them but probably not in a way that would have a massive impact on their mortgage - parents naturally want to help their kids.
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Is it that new a phenomenon? My gran actually provided the 'mortgage' (£2000) for my parents' home when they married in 1960, and they paid her back in instalments.
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My parents did the same with my grandparents I think, back in the early 80s. Not the whole mortgage but a good chunk of deposit.
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