- Joined
- Jun 22, 2016
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It's fine to be hacked off that times are a bit tough. And sure an ageing population loves sticking it to the youth, which is really disappointing. But setting it against the context of human history, it's still a comparatively great time to be alive in a democratic nation with a developed economy. It'll take more than a temporary rise in inflation and a period of economic stagnation to change that.
[Stereotypical Scotsman]
There are huge savings to be made if you shop around. I get my broadband for £19 per month, phone for £4 per month (with levels of data, calls and text I'd never use) and I've never desired satellite or streaming services. Whereas many will routinely pay £30, £20 & £40 per month for the same. Which is £67 more per month or £810 more per annum than me. Stuff like that adds up quickly.
Most I've spent on a car was under £7k for a 4 year old twin turbo Skoda VRS - (a car so fun that when the engine died from me thrashing it all the time a guy still drove up from Coventry to buy my dead car for over £1k). My first house was incredibly basic in an area of deprivation (but it had a huge garden with fruit trees and I worked out it was on a safe stretch of the street that people wouldn't cut through to go to and from the shops and pubs and the homeless shelter around the corner had just closed - so I only ever had to pick one used syringe out of my garden hedge in all my years there and never personally saw anyone physically attacked in my street (unless you count an alcoholic sending a ladder through his also alcoholic brother's living room window, but that was more comedic than anything else).
Everyone is unwittingly so ultra consumerist and conformist these days, buying crap they don't need, spending over the odds, keeping monthly subscriptions going for stuff they don't really use, obsessing about location, location, location of where they live and making all sorts of renovations that are non-essential. Just do your research and learn to appreciate and enjoy life while living within your means rather than fretting about 'keeping up with the Joneses'.
[/stereotypical Scotsman]
Sure I had lucky breaks like free Uni and a maximum bursary (a pittance) and being able to live at the parental home while getting to a decent Uni. During Covid I decided to become a part time worker (already thinking of cutting back my hours more) because I've put myself in a position where I don't need to work 5 days a week (and free time has always been my number 1 priority in life). I don't think I've ever earnt above UK average earnings and I've never had any sort of significant inheritance, but I was a debt free home owner by the age of 30. This is nothing financially extraordinary if you think about your long term priorities and work towards it.
I admit it'd be harder for me to pull this off if I was in my mid-20s now, but I'm pretty sure I'd still make it, maybe a few years later. If you young turks spend an afternoon identifying what is truly essential to you, what you can happily make compromises on and planning a financial route towards what you want in life then you'll give yourself every chance. You don't have to be as non-materialistic as me (I appreciate I'm a bit of an extreme example). As long as unemployment is low there is always hope and with the slump in immigration its probably never been easier in human history to safely experiment and change your location and/or occupation in a way that benefits you. There are so many jobs in so many sectors that simply cant be filled that you can also end up skipping a step on the promotion ladder. At my work one young guy was due to start with the organisation in a fortnight's time and he has already been offered a promotion to a different job at my level before his first day working with us.
If I was in my late teens or twenties and didn't have ties I'd be seeing if I could get a job where I could work remotely in somewhere nice but affordable like Portugal. Home ownership is a lot more cost effective but is a bit of an albatross around the neck. That's the only thing I regret about not having been born a bit later. You didn't really have globetrotting freelancers back in my day.
*goes off rambling to himself for another 3 hours until the nurse comes to change his bedpan*
[Stereotypical Scotsman]
There are huge savings to be made if you shop around. I get my broadband for £19 per month, phone for £4 per month (with levels of data, calls and text I'd never use) and I've never desired satellite or streaming services. Whereas many will routinely pay £30, £20 & £40 per month for the same. Which is £67 more per month or £810 more per annum than me. Stuff like that adds up quickly.
Most I've spent on a car was under £7k for a 4 year old twin turbo Skoda VRS - (a car so fun that when the engine died from me thrashing it all the time a guy still drove up from Coventry to buy my dead car for over £1k). My first house was incredibly basic in an area of deprivation (but it had a huge garden with fruit trees and I worked out it was on a safe stretch of the street that people wouldn't cut through to go to and from the shops and pubs and the homeless shelter around the corner had just closed - so I only ever had to pick one used syringe out of my garden hedge in all my years there and never personally saw anyone physically attacked in my street (unless you count an alcoholic sending a ladder through his also alcoholic brother's living room window, but that was more comedic than anything else).
Everyone is unwittingly so ultra consumerist and conformist these days, buying crap they don't need, spending over the odds, keeping monthly subscriptions going for stuff they don't really use, obsessing about location, location, location of where they live and making all sorts of renovations that are non-essential. Just do your research and learn to appreciate and enjoy life while living within your means rather than fretting about 'keeping up with the Joneses'.
[/stereotypical Scotsman]
Sure I had lucky breaks like free Uni and a maximum bursary (a pittance) and being able to live at the parental home while getting to a decent Uni. During Covid I decided to become a part time worker (already thinking of cutting back my hours more) because I've put myself in a position where I don't need to work 5 days a week (and free time has always been my number 1 priority in life). I don't think I've ever earnt above UK average earnings and I've never had any sort of significant inheritance, but I was a debt free home owner by the age of 30. This is nothing financially extraordinary if you think about your long term priorities and work towards it.
I admit it'd be harder for me to pull this off if I was in my mid-20s now, but I'm pretty sure I'd still make it, maybe a few years later. If you young turks spend an afternoon identifying what is truly essential to you, what you can happily make compromises on and planning a financial route towards what you want in life then you'll give yourself every chance. You don't have to be as non-materialistic as me (I appreciate I'm a bit of an extreme example). As long as unemployment is low there is always hope and with the slump in immigration its probably never been easier in human history to safely experiment and change your location and/or occupation in a way that benefits you. There are so many jobs in so many sectors that simply cant be filled that you can also end up skipping a step on the promotion ladder. At my work one young guy was due to start with the organisation in a fortnight's time and he has already been offered a promotion to a different job at my level before his first day working with us.
If I was in my late teens or twenties and didn't have ties I'd be seeing if I could get a job where I could work remotely in somewhere nice but affordable like Portugal. Home ownership is a lot more cost effective but is a bit of an albatross around the neck. That's the only thing I regret about not having been born a bit later. You didn't really have globetrotting freelancers back in my day.
*goes off rambling to himself for another 3 hours until the nurse comes to change his bedpan*
