Brain recalibration - a cost of living/modern life thread
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Less than 2 miles from Severn Tunnel Junction where less than £11 gets you a return ticket for the 15 minute trip to Bristol. It’s not an isolated example either. Newport will give you much more housing choice and more local facilities for a slightly longer, more expensive train journey. Not sure why you opted to look at houses only in Bristol itself when you commute from Cambridge to London.
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How do you all know how much everyone earns? It's not something I ever discuss.
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How many times do people have to tell you that getting help does not necessarily mean inheritance? The link you are posting says Bank of Mum and Dad that is not an inheritance. Once again you're taking your close circle as being representative of the population at large when it simply isn't the case.
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Can be good value at Tesco and there is a Tesco Metro not far from the office, but I eat lots and one meal deal isn't enough, so ends up quite pricey. I often make my own lunch and bring it in.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
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Small house, tiny garden. 45 minutes to 1hr 20 to central Bristol at rush hour. There's a reason it costs less than living in Bristol.
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
To be fair to me I did say "It may be for some, in some areas, ..."
That's why I referred to bubbles not being nationally representative.
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 -
Statistics making a far broader point than the one you are making, inheritance may make up 50% of the 63%, we don't know. But it's probably not the 80% you'd need to get to 50% of the total.
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I mean, does it really matter if it's inheritance or just a gift from your parents? It's still getting help by luck, and it still demonstrates coming from wealth is more important than having a good income, or perhaps to be clearer, a good income is a poor substitute for coming from wealth.
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The point being that you have suggested that unless a doctor or lawyer you can't earn north of £100k pa living outside the SE which is patently bollocks. Lots of emploees in all sorts of careers as well as small business owners will have those sorts of earnings, even out in the stciks away from civilization.
You could probably better better off if you stopped working in London and did something similar in a provincial city. Afterall you need no professional qualifications to do what you do, and your skills will be pretty transferable. Better off and a better quality of life.
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Nah. Looked into it. A lot. For all the reasons above. Just aren't enough people earning the big bucks to justify the kind of recruitment I do outside of London.
It's more straightforward to just keep at it and earn a lot more, but I need the f*cking market to not be tanking like it has been since I stepped up to run my own stuff. Not exaggerating, first year I was responsible fully for my own P&L, it was the worst year in 30 years expect for 2008. Company let 30% of staff go. I still beat my (modest) target.
I just need to stick at it and make hay when the market finally turns.
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Did i miss the part where it says how much they are getting?
I could give my kids a couple of grand towards a house deposit and it would include them in the 63% but hardly proves that they are 'coming from wealth'.
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As above, there is a big difference between coming from wealth and a helping hand from parents. I suspect the majority of those receiving financial help are in the realms of a few grand from parents/grandparents to get them over the line for a deposit.
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No, i don't at all, that is the point I am making (although logically there must be a point where you are £2k short of the deposit you need)
Your 'statistics' will include people who have received amounts of money that ultimately won't make that big of a difference to the their ability to buy a house.
See MidlandsGrimpeur2's post above - your 63% includes the people who bought a house with their own earnings plus small cash gifts and you're using it to prove you need a wealthy family to buy a house.
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I mean, given £100k puts you in what, the top 3% of earners, and the average house price is £330k, let me know how else you think first time buyers get on the ladder without help - they have to wait a loooong time.
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Again, you are looking at this from your own very myopic point of view. Many people across the UK are not buying expensive houses that require six figure deposits. A lot of people will be getting together modest deposits of less than £20k to get on the property ladder, where £3-5k from a parent/relative will save them a year or 2 extra saving time and get them on the property ladder more quickly.
For a supposed left leaning Labour voter Rick, you don't really seem to understand much about people on lower incomes or the economic issues at stake for the majority of the non uber wealthy!
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That is entirely the point. If I'm not remotely well off on £100+k a year, what do you think it's like for those on much less?
That's the point. I should be in the land of milk and honey on that pay. So if I'm not, imagine what it's like for everyone else.
And given the average price of houses is £330k - plenty of deposits are north of £50k. Start moving into towns and cities, where most young people live and where the jobs are, and it quickly gets north of £500k.
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The problem with those meal deals is the choice hardly passes as proper food. Usually a sandwich, chocolate bar or a bag of crisps and a soft drink. Lots of sugar, lots of saturated fat and close to 0 nutritional value.
Things in my local Asda's peasant corner can be already a little off at times, but these two are still perfectly fresh. That is a proper meal deal.
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It could be the same bun I bought times 6 last night in a Co-op in town centre for 50p altogether. Artisan my arse, it is still the same ultra-processed, empty calories junk.
One slight inconvenience is these price reductions happen half hour before the store closing time at 10pm.
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Your "reward" here Rick is you being able to pass on your hard earned cash / assets to your kids*, their reward is the cash / assets themselves which may at some point be passed on to your grandchildren
I found it very rewarding to be able to help my daughter out with some of her deposit recently
*Although some of your posts would suggest you would do this somewhat grudgingly
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
They are only using a selection of first time buyers as clearly they are not in position to ask everyone. So its no more relevant than my poll. As for statistics the only way you can guarantee they are anything like accurate is to repeat the exercise. Having used then at work you can make them fit the answer you want.
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Looks like the average level of parental/family contribution, while relatively widespread, is hardly life changing - according to this article it averages around £30k in London and £20k in some of the regions around £20k. Not exactly huge amounts (although clearly there may be some large ones in there, they cannot be that common or else the average would be higher).
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
£20k if you are buying a £200k house is pretty significant. Almost the entire deposit.
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They don't buy average or above average priced houses I guess? I'm not saying it's easy but you are making out that it's impossible without independent wealth, it simply isn't (speaking as someone without independent wealth, no inheritance and bought my first flat in my early thirties)
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Outer Bristol is probably 45 minutes to the centre on a good day and you wouldn’t get anything bigger.
My original point was I could have got a job close to £100k and lived where I do at present. The commute wouldn’t be a major issue, I did it daily for 12 years by car and then regularly for another 3 or 4 by train. Rick suggested that you wouldn’t get a job with a £100k salary anywhere where you can buy a house for £250k unless you worked as a doctor or solicitor which is plainly bollox.
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Race to the bottomers - you with your top 3% earnings should buy a below average priced house, but don't complain about it, because you're a top 3% earner.
Classic.
Hunt is right, unfortunately. Britain is basically a middle income country with a high earning megacapital.
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Yes my youngest daughter is a vet student and of her friends there is only one other went to state school. In my life I think I've known two people I'd call friends who went to private school - both from new money - one whose dad owned an ironmongers and the other whose dad developed seaside amusements/rides in Ryde.
[Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0
