Bank of mum and dad

[MontyVeda]

I've always rented and will... but the cost of getting somewhere is getting prohibitively expensive... one months rent in advance, plus one month for the deposit, plus agency fees adds up to about a grand or more. I currently pay rent in arrears, so putting my hands on the cash needed to move into somewhere else is going to be tricky without parental assistance. I'm not planning on moving though.

 

[Globalti]

How well I remember those uncertain months between graduation and my first proper job. I stayed on in the town of my Uni because the alternative was to go home to my warring parents and a horrible atmosphere. I signed up with an industrial staff agency and realised quite soon that on temp's wages you can't make a living and will be in a slow downward spiral into poverty as things wear out and need replacing. After a couple of false starts I got a proper job; I'll never forget the joy of the first salary and being able to start paying off my credit card.

 

[Dan B]

Since I joined the big bad World at 18 I've heard people complain about the difficulty of saving for a deposit while renting. It was nothing new then, it certainly isn't new now, and while property prices related to earnings have undoubtedly risen, so has the cost of other sizzle they waste money on.

Next time someone makes that complaint, ask them how much their iPhone cost them.

Carphone Warehouse says about £35/month for an Iphone 6, which is about £20 more than the equivalent SIM-only plan. For context, the last time our landlord wanted to put our rent up[*], it was by about £400/month - that's about the price of a new phone every month.

[*] in the end he served notice on us instead.

 

[Dan B]

That's if you're lucky enough to be able to get a mortgage with only a 5% deposit. A lot of mortgages these days are looking for a 10% or higher deposit.

I have a mortgage with a 5% deposit (needs must). There was a choice of two. The interest rate on either was higher than I can get on an unsecured personal loan.

 

[marknotgeorge]

I think I'll step away from this thread. It doesn't feel very nice at all.

 

[bikingdad90]

I took a slightly alternative route to a lot of people my age (25now). I had a paper round all through school and used the money to pay for treats for me. When I turned 16, I got myself an apprenticeship and started saving for a house from the excess between my earnings and outgoings (lunch, bus fares, study materials, driving lessons) on the understanding that as my brother was supported all through university I could live at home lodge free.

I moved out at 21 and progressed in my job and got my professional qualification (which I paid for out my own pocket from savings) and rented for three years. I bought somewhere in 2014 with a 10% deposit all saved up, no handouts.

The last couple of years we have managed to save and pay for holidays/repairs and still have enough to cover a rainy day. I take immense pride in standing on my own two feet but I do feel old when with my friends as I am the only one married, two children, house, car and a relatively senior position of employment for my age.

 

[Drago]

Carphone Warehouse says about £35/month for an Iphone 6, which is about £20 more than the equivalent SIM-only plan. For context, the last time our landlord wanted to put our rent up[*], it was by about £400/month - that's about the price of a new phone every month.

[*] in the end he served notice on us instead.

Or save £35 a month by showing some restraint and not having one at all. Multiple these non essential expenditures up, and suddenly each month you're talking real money. The examples the BBC wrote about achieved their house purchases by eliminating such nonessential lifestyle rubbish from their lives.

Of course, when I was 18 we never had iPhones, gym memberships, Netflix, and other such rubbish to waste money on, We now have a young generation that by and large are incapable of surviving without such fripperies, and then have they cheek to moan they can't afford more important purchases as a result.

 

[Drago]

Rubbish. Few people even had them before the late nineties. Theres no physiological or social reason why they are essential, and if you're that hooked then a £10 handset and eek out your credit completely undermines that argument - if you feel it's "essential" to stay in touch then it can be done for insignificant cost.

I'm a full time carer and survive weeks without even switching mine on, and even then only when i'm on call for SAR. How many of these young adults can say they're category 2 responders and it's therefore "essential" to have one?

The real reason is that most people are fashion gullible, and must have the latest handset. It's that simple. In virtually every single case it is simply not a necessity.

 

[Pale Rider]

Or save £35 a month by showing some restraint and not having one at all. Multiple these non essential expenditures up, and suddenly each month you're talking real money. The examples the BBC wrote about achieved their house purchases by eliminating such nonessential lifestyle rubbish from their lives.

Of course, when I was 18 we never had iPhones, gym memberships, Netflix, and other such rubbish to waste money on, We now have a young generation that by and large are incapable of surviving without such fripperies, and then have they cheek to moan they can't afford more important purchases as a result.

I agree the relatively small 'nice to haves' mount up.

I'm glad I missed out on those spending opportunities as a teenager, because at that age I lacked the self-discipline not to waste what little money I did have.

I could probably have bankrupted myself on iTunes, let alone all the rest.

 

[PK99]

I took a slightly alternative route to a lot of people my age (25now). I had a paper round all through school and used the money to pay for treats for me. When I turned 16, I got myself an apprenticeship and started saving for a house from the excess between my earnings and outgoings (lunch, bus fares, study materials, driving lessons) on the understanding that as my brother was supported all through university I could live at home lodge free.

I moved out at 21 and progressed in my job and got my professional qualification (which I paid for out my own pocket from savings) and rented for three years. I bought somewhere in 2014 with a 10% deposit all saved up, no handouts.

The last couple of years we have managed to save and pay for holidays/repairs and still have enough to cover a rainy day. I take immense pride in standing on my own two feet but I do feel old when with my friends as I am the only one married, two children, house, car and a relatively senior position of employment for my age.

Awesome!

You are right to feel proud - you have a lot to be proud of.

 

[marinyork]

Some interesting stories but the BBC story I saw on 7th February which may or may not be the same, the couples both had beefy salaries for their ages, which I think is a tad unrealistic - I'm not even talking about the couple in Edinburgh on a combined salary of £66,000 both before the age of 25. I've had the deposit thing gone on about with family members loads of times and the moaners sometimes don't live in the real world. When you tell them the truth what you really earn and what other people earn their heads explode. Repetition and many conversations down the line they say things like well that's less than what I earned when I was 18/21/25/30. It's less than what your parents earned and I was disappointed with them. No ****. Then it defaults back into well I accept that on how much you earn you can't rent in location x/buy a house, but it must be your fault you're such a loser.

One lot of my cousins there is an 10+ year gap between them and all three of them have yo-yoed back to the parental home in their teens through to late 20s yet until the eldest had a baby it was the youngest who continually got stick for bad lifestyle choices. I seriously pissed off my Aunt and Uncle for saying the youngest was doing just fine when they would moan about it, in actual fact I said if you take into account the changes in those years I think the youngest is doing better than not only his much older sister and brother in the middle, but also his parents. They were always saying what changes? He achieved a job it took me years to get in his teens, had done all sorts of jobs and volunteering and had his own radio show. I think it's his parents and siblings that are the lazy feckless ****ards who had it easy if we're going to start on that game. The middle one spent getting on for a year back at home when a rental collapsed and very difficult finding anything else and the problem of much larger than expected rental deposits. I have heard this repeated many times for people in their 20s and 30s. I've had it happen myself.

 

[marinyork]

A free ride may not help but motivation is a subject which people react to in complex ways. Even with the best motivation in the world moving out may still not be achievable at certain times in a young person's life. Young people buy stupid things as do rich and poor. We focus on beating the poor too much. Young people do bum about but often the timescale is very exaggerated by parents and lessons learnt if one wants to view it through that prism.

My grandparents could easily outdo the nastiest people to ever grace this forum they were bigoted, racist, homophobic but in the very last years of their life they were stunned one of their two favourite grandchildren couldn't achieve flat ownership without massive help in her mid to late 20s even with her dream job. Reality broke and they changed their mind and decided they were as proud as punch.

 

[Chromatic]

Well I've read the thread, and I can't see a single instance of anyone taking any pleasure in young people finding life difficult! I just feel that giving them a free ride is actually making things even more difficult for them in the long run, when they might need to survive without free lodging, free meals, free laundry service, and free lifts to anywhere they need to go (including parents actually taking days off work to ferry them to interviews ...). Why not take some rent off them and stash it away without telling them, so that there's a lump sum for a deposit or a bailout when they eventually need one?

We were going to do this with the one that hasn't yet started taking responsibilty for herself a bit, I was even going to add to it, but unfortunately the promisd rent never materialised and when, or more likely and worringly if, she ever gets off her arse and sorts herself out there will be very little in the way of handouts forthcoming, which as far as I'm concerned is fair return for all the years of freeloading we have had to endure.

 

[Dan B]

Rubbish. Few people even had them before the late nineties.

Yes, well. I was in work before the late nineties, I do remember what it was like, and the flipside is that few people expected everyone to have a smartphone or 24/7 internet access back then. These days, if your employer Whatsapps you at 7am and your excuse for not seeing it is that your Ericsson T39 doesn't support Android, they're not exactly going to make special allowances for you

 

[cyberknight]

Moved put in rented when i was 19 as my parents decided to move to where my step mum came from, rented for a bit till me and my then girlfriend decided to buy a house .
Sold my car for the deposit , she had a car and we could manage with one , within 6 months she had fecked off with someone else when she realized house ownership wasnt all parties .
Left with a double mortgage on a single income, she signed the house over to me so i had to get a lodger then sold it seven years later for less than i bought it for as the market had crashed .Bought another house with my now wife and luckily made a profit which meant when the banks went boom and i was put on short time for 2 years we had to downsize and end up with a mortgage till im 65 for a house in a shitty area .
My kids ? i cant see them being able to afford to buy accommodation by the time they are an adult i 10-15 years time and i will be close to retirement and probably be looking at equity release in the property .