How wealthy?

[First Aspect]

I know that PB and I are cut from similar cloth - I've never earned much (started on about 14k pa on leaving university, as I chose not to climb any greasy polls, and never been over £30k pa), but have consistently still lived on less than I've earned. Old habits, inherited from my wartime parents, of being a tightwad who uses 'stuff' (be it cars or trainers) till it falls apart, and eating cheaply at home, not taking expensive holidays etc all add up over 40 years.

I think you'd find that a great deal harder to achieve now with rent or mortgage payments north of £1k a month for somewhere like you live now. Which was pretty much RCs gripe.

 

[Pblakeney]

I think you'd find that a great deal harder to achieve now with rent or mortgage payments north of £1k a month for somewhere like you live now. Which was pretty much RCs gripe.

I did point out last year that my 20 year old grandson is already on the property market, without any help.
It all depends on where you choose to live, and a choice of lifestyle.

 

[briantrumpet]

I think you'd find that a great deal harder to achieve now with rent or mortgage payments north of £1k a month for somewhere like you live now. Which was pretty much RCs gripe.

Indeed. I'm not saying all of RC's gripes were unfounded, and I don't deny my fortune to have been born in the boomer generation. That said, one still had choices about whether to spend anything left over at the end of the month on entertainment and consumables, or to put a few shillings away for a rainy day.

 

[All uphill]

I know that PB and I are cut from similar cloth - I've never earned much (started on about £14k pa on leaving university, as I chose not to climb any greasy polls, and never been over £30k pa), but have consistently still lived on less than I've earned. Old habits, inherited from my wartime parents, of being a tightwad who uses 'stuff' (be it cars or trainers) till it falls apart, and eating cheaply at home, not taking expensive holidays etc all add up over 40 years.

Same here. Slowly improving my understanding of saving, investments and pensions has also helped.

I've benefitted from property price increases and inheritance too, but not as much as from managing money once I had it.

 

[BoldonLad]

I don’t consider myself wealthy, and find myself amongst the upper deciles. And, I don’t live in the SE.

How does that work? Do we somehow become immune to our privilege. Or, do we surround ourselves with peers and thus, don’t feel we stand out.

It is not difficult to understand, "the poor" start at you, and, go down, anyone "above" you (in money/asset terms) is rich/wealthy. The thin sliver consisting of yourself, are "comfortable".

 

[briantrumpet]

Same here. Slowly improving my understanding of saving, investments and pensions has also helped.

I've benefitted from property price increases and inheritance too, but not as much as from managing money once I had it.

FWIW, the (French) house I'm posting from at the moment was from accumulated savings from modest earnings over about 25 years. But, as FA says, I had the fortune to have been born in an era when all costs, especially housing, were low enough to put me in that lucky situation.

The property price increases have not benefited me at all yet, but might well do if and when I get old and need care, or will benefit charity when I'm deaded.

 

[First Aspect]

Same here. Slowly improving my understanding of saving, investments and pensions has also helped.

I've benefitted from property price increases and inheritance too, but not as much as from managing money once I had it.

I've never met anyone who did benefit from inheritances or gifts from family who also acknowledged how much further ahead it got them. Given I'm only now in my early 50s I think it depends very much on when they arrived in ones bank account - i.e. I will largely have been speaking to people around my age and younger.

Makes much less difference when you are already retired and mortgage free.

 

[All uphill]

FWIW, the (French) house I'm posting from at the moment was from accumulated savings from modest earnings over about 25 years. But, as FA says, I had the fortune to have been born in an era when all costs, especially housing, were low enough to put me in that lucky situation.

The property price increases have not benefited me at all yet, but might well do if and when I get old and need care, or will benefit charity when I'm deaded.

I do wonder about the truism that houses used to be cheap. My memory of the mid to late 1970s is that jobs were hard to find, mortgages were difficult to get and houses seemed out of reach. Sure it would have been easier if I had had a profession at that stage, but for people like me they weren't golden times.

 

[BoldonLad]

I know that PB and I are cut from similar cloth - I've never earned much (started on about £14k pa on leaving university, as I chose not to climb any greasy polls, and never been over £30k pa), but have consistently still lived on less than I've earned. Old habits, inherited from my wartime parents, of being a tightwad who uses 'stuff' (be it cars or trainers) till it falls apart, and eating cheaply at home, not taking expensive holidays etc all add up over 40 years.

Wasn't that advice given by the well known Financial Advisor, Mr Micawber, in a Charles Dickens novel, David Copperfield?

 

[BoldonLad]

I do wonder about the truism that houses used to be cheap. My memory of the mid to late 1970s is that jobs were hard to find, mortgages were difficult to get and houses seemed out of reach. Sure it would have been easier if I had had a profession at that stage, but for people like me they weren't golden times.

A view I share. I bought my first house 1967/68 (can't quite remember exactly), I was earning (gross) £18/week, my then wife was earning (gross) £12/week. The house was a three-bed semi (built about ten years earlier), it cost £3,800. We saved the deposit (£400), and Mortgage was therefore £3,400. I think mortgage interest levels were about 5%, and, our monthly payments were £28/month (on a 25 year mortgage). We did have the advantage of MIRAS for a few years, can't recall how many.

This was all funded without inheritances, or, parental contribution.

By chance, when Daughter No2 fell out with her husband, recently, and was house hunting, the same house was up for sale (asking price £140,000).

She didn't buy it, so, I dont know the actual selling price, or, indeed, if it sold.

Not sure how this would all work out, considering wage inflation, average UK salary, interest rates, expectation of car ownership, furnishings etc.

 

[briantrumpet]

Wasn't that advice given by the well known Financial Advisor, Mr Micawber, in a Charles Dickens novel, David Copperfield?

It was indeed.

My parents never bought anything on HP, never had credit cards, and the only borrowing was the £2000 they borrowed from my gran to buy their only house, in 1960. As a consequence, they had absolutely no credit reference till the day they died.

It was only in retrospect I realised how tight the household budget was, and how far Mum made the food go: it was essentially a post-WW2 menu. Only one chocolate biscuit per day... rationing didn't really end in the 1950s 🤣

 

[BoldonLad]

It was indeed.

My parents never bought anything on HP, never had credit cards, and the only borrowing was the £2000 they borrowed from my gran to buy their only house, in 1960. As a consequence, they had absolutely no credit reference till the day they died.

It was only in retrospect I realised how tight the household budget was, and how far Mum made the food go: it was essentially a post-WW2 menu. Only one chocolate biscuit per day... rationing didn't really end in the 1950s 🤣

I remember it well. Rationing was still in force in my childhood, even once it ended, 'sweets" were a luxury, if my Father had a "half shift"* in, he would arrive home on a Friday evening (pay day) with a quarter pound of sweets for me.

*For those not familiar with the term "half shift" meant working overtime, at the end of the working day. From memory, it typically happened on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and meant finishing work at 20:00 instead of 17:00. Those 3 hours work were paid a t a premium rate (time and a half), so, 3 hours extra earned you 4.5 hours pay.

 

[First Aspect]

Snore. We used to live in a corridor.

Sweep aside your anecdotes, and you will find that housing is now more expensive than it was when you wut lads, whether you are renting or buying.

E.g. https://mojomortgages.com/mortgage-news/homeownership-50-year-analysis-house-prices-salaries

And a myriad of other sources

 

[First Aspect]

I remember it well. Rationing was still in force in my childhood, even once it ended, 'sweets" were a luxury, if my Father had a "half shift"* in, he would arrive home on a Friday evening (pay day) with a quarter pound of sweets for me.

*For those not familiar with the term "half shift" meant working overtime, at the end of the working day. From memory, it typically happened on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and meant finishing work at 20:00 instead of 17:00. Those 3 hours work were paid a t a premium rate (time and a half), so, 3 hours extra earned you 4.5 hours pay.

What is overtime? It's a concept alien to 99% of workers now, I think.

 

[briantrumpet]

Snore. We used to live in a corridor.

Sweep aside your anecdotes, and you will find that housing is now more expensive than it was when you wut lads, whether you are renting or buying.

E.g. https://mojomortgages.com/mortgage-news/homeownership-50-year-analysis-house-prices-salaries

And a myriad of other sources

Indeed. Even if food has got relatively considerably cheaper as a proportion of household income. (I've no idea what that's got to do with it, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.)