How do young people cope?

[J R Hartley]

Well son, guess I am rumbled.....good thing you have me then...now just behave yourself and stop being abusive.......

Fair play

[Eric Cartman]

Good post

I appreciate it is tougher, being of a positive mindset I focus on how youngsters could avoid landing up in that situation, but I realise we are not all the same, and that some people are really struggling. How the hell do we deal with this mess, that is another matter!

It's not about 'avoiding being in the situation' at a societal level though is it? In fact thinking about it in those terms distracts from the overall point. Yeah an individual can likely improve their own circumstances and move on from their low paid job with enough effort/practice etc. But if that low paid job absolutely needs to exist (you could lump in lots of vital front line roles to this category) then whoever is in that role will be in the circumstances outlined above. Far too many vital jobs don't pay enough for that person to meet basic obligations, especially when you look at it at a local/regional level. If a job pays the same across the country (as is the case in most of the public sector), that job requires some in person delivery but living costs vary drastically across the country then you have a crisis.

[Eric Cartman]

On the other hand....I got my first house in 1972......these were the interest rates in the years following (mortgage rates near..)
Bank rate at year end (%)*
1972 7.38
1979 17
1980 14
1981 14.375
1982 10
1983 9.0625
1984 9.5
1985 11.375
1986 10.875
1987 8.375
1988 12.875
1989 14.875
1990 13.875
1991 10.375
1992 6.875
1993 5.375
1994 6.125
1995 6.375
1996 5.9375
1997 7.25
1998 6.25
1999 5.5

What proportion of your household income was taken up paying interest?

The average house price in the county I live in is north of 13x the median full time income.

You can have 'life was hard' but if you think that buying a house and maintaining payments on it then was harder than it is now then you are just plain bonkers.

[North Cardiff Blue]

My old man is still working at 71 hes never had so much money. Got his govenrment pension and his dirving job 40 hours a week, no mortgage since hes was 50, him and my mother go on 3/4 holidays abroad every year, twice as many weekends away in this country. They help me and my sister financially with their grandchildren so cant grumble but hes so out of touch with the pressures facing youngsters today, just because it doesnt really effect him, its frightening.

In fact, I cant say for definite but he could be posting on here as Maurice Swan.

[North Cardiff Blue]

On the other, other hand....

https://www.financialreporter.co.uk/...e-the-70s.html

House prices are currently sitting at 8.8 times the average earnings, more than doubling since the 1970s, according to new research from House Buyer Bureau.

The research shows that the average house price throughout the 1970s sat at just £9,277, the equivalent of £68,493 today after adjusting for inflation.

Although the average home may have been significantly more affordable when compared to the current market, the average earnings was also far lower at £2,265, or £16,723 after adjusting for inflation.

As a result, the average home during the 70s required 4.1 times income.

The 8.8 times average salary for an average house purchase today is UK wide. It is over 11x in London and nearer 6.5x in Wales.

Everything has changed a TV was a fortune back then the majority of houses were bought on one wage, hence most of the difference.

[North Cardiff Blue]

Get real, we all know that they would be buying that house right now if they cancelled their £7.99 subscription to netflix.

Netflix is nothing and mostly they use IPTV or their parent's accounts, it's the gap years, traveling, excess holidays, car finance, gym membership, tattoos, clothes, coke, dope, steroids, booze, fags, vapes, hair, brows, lashes, tans, nails and that's just the blokes

[Doucas]

Netflix is nothing and mostly they use IPTV or their parent's accounts, it's the gap years, traveling, excess holidays, car finance, gym membership, tattoos, clothes, coke, dope, steroids, booze, fags, vapes, hair, brows, lashes, tans, nails and that's just the blokes

You are clueless.

[Nobody's Rep]

Netflix is nothing and mostly they use IPTV or their parent's accounts, it's the gap years, traveling, excess holidays, car finance, gym membership, tattoos, clothes, coke, dope, steroids, booze, fags, vapes, hair, brows, lashes, tans, nails and that's just the blokes

That is no young adults I know - most I know are trying to find there way as decent people who want to work and live a decent life without the excess you describe in your post - not sure if it was a wind up or not

[North Cardiff Blue]

That is no young adults I know - most I know are trying to find there way as decent people who want to work and live a decent life without the excess you describe in your post - not sure if it was a wind up or not

Partly joking partly true, like oldies some are very sensible and switched on some are not.

My kids bought fairly easily in their early twenties, but some of their friends still can't with a similar start in life, there is no wrong or right everyone can do what suits them best.