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(I live in London) You didn't save til 40, now own multiple properties? Yeah our generation can't do that. While having a high paying job is great, it usually c

(I live in London) You didn't save til 40, now own multiple properties? Yeah our generation can't do that. While having a high paying job is great, it usually comes hand-in-hand with HCOL and obscene local property prices, meaning you have to either a) move to and live somewhere else (work remotely?), b) have to settle for living somewhere basic for a few years, c) rent forever. That decision really sucks. Previous generations didn't face this. Yes of course, we have to set our expectations accordingly. But some acknowledgement from people like yourself who got started in easier times, and didn't actually go through this, would be appreciated. https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-income-ratio/ https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-inco...

xyzelement 4y ago
Is it really true that previous generations didn't have to sacrifice to buy homes? That seems patently false to me. First, previous generations were significantly more thrifty which meant more cash on hand. Don't believe me? Let's say you save 30 bucks a day starting at 20 (most of us can easily do that by controlling how much we eat out) - that means you have 110k in your bank for a down payment on your 30th birthday (ignoring interest). How much of the current generation thinks that way and cares about saving 30 bucks a day? Second and perhaps more obviously - our parents generation and their parents traded off affordable housing for long commutes. They weren't buying 3 bedroom apartments on park avenue, they bought 3 bedroom houses in the burbs and commuted an hour+ each way every day. Compare to that, your options of working remote or living somewhere basic for a bit sound obviously better. If you aren't willing to trade off what you want long term for something you can give up now, you won't have anything. And neither would anyone in a previous generation.
- sweezyjeezy 4y ago
  $30 a day is almost $1000 per month, that's completely unrealistic for 90+% of under 25s, most people don't hit that kind of saving power til they are 30. And I don't see any evidence in your post that previous generations did that? My parents certainly didn't, they started saving at 30 on teacher's salaries and bought a house three years later. That house (in Cambridge, UK) is now worth £800k, I can't afford that, despite earning far more than their salaries at retirement put together.
  - xyzelement 4y ago
    We are not talking about "90%+" here. This thread is in response to someone who "can't afford a house on a tech salary." Tech comp has been over 100K/year out of college for a while now, and even on somewhat less you should either be saving a ton or have much fat to trim in your expenditure.
    - sweezyjeezy 4y ago
      OK well tech comp is very much not that high in the UK, so I guess we're not all in the same boat here. But the fact remains that things are objectively, numerically harder for us, and getting a lesson in life from those who had it easier is not very convincing.
      - xyzelement 4y ago
        // But the fact remains that things are objectively, numerically harder for us So I never dug into this before but I found this interesting chart from the US government [1] It does seem like a relatively smaller percentage of young people own homes today vs 40 years ago - but not as shocking as you'd imply: Percentage of people <35 who own a home: 1982: 41% 2021: 38.5% Percentage of 35-40 who own a home: 1982: 70% 2021: 62% So while the trend is down - it still seems like over a third of people under 35 own a home, and over 60% of those 35-40 do. That sounds very far from impossible. [1] https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/charts/fig07.pdf https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/charts/fig07.pdf
        TylerE 4y ago
        Small sample size, but many of the people that I know that are that age and own a home inherited it, they didn’t buy it.
        ipaddr 4y ago
        This happens in each generation
- crooked-v 4y ago
  > Is it really true that previous generations didn't have to sacrifice to buy homes? That seems patently false to me. Take a look at average home price by year: https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/average-house-price-state/ https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/average-house-price... Now compare that to average wages: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awidevelop.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awidevelop.html
  - Godel_unicode 4y ago
    Now look at the double digit interest rates they paid on those mortgages. You pay the monthly payment, the top line number is largely irrelevant. https://www.atlanticbay.com/knowledge-center/history-of-mortgage-rates/#:~:text=Thanks%20to%20their%20efforts%2C%20more,Freddie%20Mac's%20largest%20recorded%20figure https://www.atlanticbay.com/knowledge-center/history-of-mort....
    - TylerE 4y ago
      They didn’t have cellphone or internet bills. Financing cars wasn’t really a thing. Trade offs.
      - ericd 4y ago
        Those add up to <$100/mo if you do it right, and you generally shouldn’t finance cars.
        sweezyjeezy 4y ago
        Student loans though...
        Godel_unicode 4y ago
        State schools, not living on campus, and community college though. You are going to college to learn, not to party, right?

xyzelement 4y ago

Is it really true that previous generations didn't have to sacrifice to buy homes? That seems patently false to me. First, previous generations were significantly more thrifty which meant more cash on hand. Don't believe me? Let's say you save 30 bucks a day starting at 20 (most of us can easily do that by controlling how much we eat out) - that means you have 110k in your bank for a down payment on your 30th birthday (ignoring interest). How much of the current generation thinks that way and cares about saving 30 bucks a day? Second and perhaps more obviously - our parents generation and their parents traded off affordable housing for long commutes. They weren't buying 3 bedroom apartments on park avenue, they bought 3 bedroom houses in the burbs and commuted an hour+ each way every day. Compare to that, your options of working remote or living somewhere basic for a bit sound obviously better. If you aren't willing to trade off what you want long term for something you can give up now, you won't have anything. And neither would anyone in a previous generation.

sweezyjeezy 4y ago
$30 a day is almost $1000 per month, that's completely unrealistic for 90+% of under 25s, most people don't hit that kind of saving power til they are 30. And I don't see any evidence in your post that previous generations did that? My parents certainly didn't, they started saving at 30 on teacher's salaries and bought a house three years later. That house (in Cambridge, UK) is now worth £800k, I can't afford that, despite earning far more than their salaries at retirement put together.
- xyzelement 4y ago
  We are not talking about "90%+" here. This thread is in response to someone who "can't afford a house on a tech salary." Tech comp has been over 100K/year out of college for a while now, and even on somewhat less you should either be saving a ton or have much fat to trim in your expenditure.
  - sweezyjeezy 4y ago
    OK well tech comp is very much not that high in the UK, so I guess we're not all in the same boat here. But the fact remains that things are objectively, numerically harder for us, and getting a lesson in life from those who had it easier is not very convincing.
    - xyzelement 4y ago
      // But the fact remains that things are objectively, numerically harder for us So I never dug into this before but I found this interesting chart from the US government [1] It does seem like a relatively smaller percentage of young people own homes today vs 40 years ago - but not as shocking as you'd imply: Percentage of people <35 who own a home: 1982: 41% 2021: 38.5% Percentage of 35-40 who own a home: 1982: 70% 2021: 62% So while the trend is down - it still seems like over a third of people under 35 own a home, and over 60% of those 35-40 do. That sounds very far from impossible. [1] https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/charts/fig07.pdf https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/charts/fig07.pdf
      - TylerE 4y ago
        Small sample size, but many of the people that I know that are that age and own a home inherited it, they didn’t buy it.
        ipaddr 4y ago
        This happens in each generation
crooked-v 4y ago
> Is it really true that previous generations didn't have to sacrifice to buy homes? That seems patently false to me. Take a look at average home price by year: https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/average-house-price-state/ https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/average-house-price... Now compare that to average wages: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awidevelop.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awidevelop.html
- Godel_unicode 4y ago
  Now look at the double digit interest rates they paid on those mortgages. You pay the monthly payment, the top line number is largely irrelevant. https://www.atlanticbay.com/knowledge-center/history-of-mortgage-rates/#:~:text=Thanks%20to%20their%20efforts%2C%20more,Freddie%20Mac's%20largest%20recorded%20figure https://www.atlanticbay.com/knowledge-center/history-of-mort....
  - TylerE 4y ago
    They didn’t have cellphone or internet bills. Financing cars wasn’t really a thing. Trade offs.
    - ericd 4y ago
      Those add up to <$100/mo if you do it right, and you generally shouldn’t finance cars.
      - sweezyjeezy 4y ago
        Student loans though...
        Godel_unicode 4y ago
        State schools, not living on campus, and community college though. You are going to college to learn, not to party, right?