The recession, benefits, the safety net, and the learning curve

dopester

andygb wrote: »

You are very "employable", unfortunately other people of your age or younger have been responsible for my wife's and my own recent employment situations.

Been where... renting all my life yes. Done a lot, including save hard as house price rocketed. Decided not to waste money on buying T-shirts (jumble-saler, car-booter and ebayer for selective stuff I need.)

Yes... "no mortgage," so "no-ties" - no magic equity-gain riches over the years which could be sold and realised... just the sweetest life where house prices are stupidly unaffordable, even for well-qualified young people (22+) who do have employment - and much harder times for many younger people who are well-qualified looking for work.

I'd guess many of those younger people you blame somewhat may also have difficult situations of their own you might want to consider. Negative equity or forced to rent as house prices so unaffordable, whilst golden others feel hard-done-by.

On a practical level, I do sympathise a bit with your situation. Could you go to interest-only mortgage? Do you have a private pension, and if so when can you draw on it? Ruled out STR to downsize.. release capital, have 100% ownership or rent as values fall?

WorzelG

andygb wrote: »

The last reply to a job application which I received, told me that there were 73 applicants for the position (I didn't even get an interview), and this was for a position paying bang on the average wage, and looking for specific skills (which matched my own experience and qualifications perfectly).

What sort of jobs are you applying for Andy? I would have thought an accountant could find work as very few people have the knowledge of qualifications to do that job.

Can you not get any temp work?

andygb

WorzelG wrote: »

What sort of jobs are you applying for Andy? I would have thought an accountant could find work as very few people have the knowledge of qualifications to do that job.

Can you not get any temp work?

Hi Worzel,

I have been looking for any work (temp contract or permanent), and since 2003, I have not had a permanent job (not through lack of trying). It seems that once you take a temporary job, just to pay the mortgage (which according to Dopester, is probably a stupid thing to have anyway), then potential employers see you as someone who lacks stability. I did say that the last job which I applied for had 73 applicants, all with the same or better qualifications than myself.

Broken_hearted

Dopester is a very young 33, they can't seem to grasp the concept that selling your house to release equity won't help in the long run.
On the other point. Having a mortgage is great if you can afford to pay it, by the time I am 35 I will own my home outright while they will still be throwing money away in rent.

andygb

dopester wrote: »

Been where... renting all my life yes. Done a lot, including save hard as house price rocketed. Decided not to waste money on buying T-shirts (jumble-saler, car-booter and ebayer for selective stuff I need.)

Yes... "no mortgage," so "no-ties" - no magic equity-gain riches over the years which could be sold and realised... just the sweetest life where house prices are stupidly unaffordable, even for well-qualified young people (22+) who do have employment - and much harder times for many younger people who are well-qualified looking for work.

I'd guess many of those younger people you blame somewhat may also have difficult situations of their own you might want to consider. Negative equity or forced to rent as house prices so unaffordable, whilst golden others feel hard-done-by.

On a practical level, I do sympathise a bit with your situation. Could you go to interest-only mortgage? Do you have a private pension, and if so when can you draw on it? Ruled out STR to downsize.. release capital, have 100% ownership or rent as values fall?

Who are these "Golden others"?
Why would I want to take out an interest only mortgage (I changed from an endowment to repayment in 2004, because it would never have paid up)?
Neither of us have ever had expensive holidays, or flash cars, and we have never bought designer clothes.
I do not blame young people for the mess which I am in, but would say that as you get older, you start to notice ageism in the workplace, it exists, it is very nasty, and it can cost you your job.
My pension - what a laugh:mad:
I contributed to a pension right up to 2002, and I receive regular statements. At one point between 1997 and 2002, I was putting in nearly £350 a month, and it is worth peanuts.
I am not alone, people who were told to save, to act prudently and provide for their future - I am one of those people. Our savings and pensions are now worth next to nothing.
For what it is worth, I do not agree with the falsely inflated property market, and I do not think that people who have studied hard, got a decent job, should then have to "sell their soul" to get on the housing ladder - it is immoral.
On the other hand, I have little sympathy for people who have shedloads of negative equity, have totally overstretched themselves, and have maxxed out on their credit cards, because we the prudent ones, are now paying for their culture of greed which has prevailed for the last two decades.

dopester

When I suggest STR, it is like suggesting you cash your winning lottery jackpot ticket.

Would you really have regretted doing it 12 months ago, going in to even a fancy rented place costing you £9K a year, when average house price has crashed in value by £30K+ over the same time period? Or taken measures to cut your rent further still.

You don't think this crash in values is set to continue?

SingleSue

andygb wrote: »

Dopester, I think you revealed in an earlier post, that you are 33 (forgive me if I am wrong), if that is so, then you have the invincibility of youth on your side, you are young enough, and presumable have no ties (no mortgage?). You are very "employable", unfortunately other people of your age or younger have been responsible for my wife's and my own recent employment situations. Last year, my wife was three months into a six month contract, and two weeks after a mid term assessment (where she was praised), she was called into the manager's office, and told that due to her standard of work, she would not be required any more. She was working in an office where the other people were in their twenties, and did not talk to her, or even co-operate in the workplace. One of the criticisms from the manager, was that she did not "mix" with the other members of staff, and that they needed to encourage a "team" spirit.
Dopester, having read some of your posts, I get the feeling that you are one of those people who has "been there, done that, got the T shirt". We have eight years to go, to pay off our mortgage, and nothing would please me more than having a job at the moment, not to support some imagined previously lavish lifestyle, but to simply be able to keep a roof over my head.

Although I have sympathy for your situation, I just cannot see why others would have responsibility for the situation you now find yourself. I am neither an old or young chicken anymore (I am one of those awkward ages where you are not middle aged but then you aren't young either) and find I can just as easily relate to the teens as I can the older generation..maybe because I have had to.

I'm not a social butterfly, never really have been and I have always been seen as a bit of a loner/weird one at work usually because my interests were seen as a little weird for a female (like sports, motorbikes and rock music) but I was always seen as a team player in the work place..far more than those who sat and talked about the latest soap (which bores me to tears) or who went out clubbing together at the weekend and one who would stay extra time to help out a colleague so that he/she could also leave work at a decent time instead of working on her own for ages after everyone else had left.

My colleagues knew that they could depend on me when it came to work but just that our interests were not the same outside of it....it didn't harm our team spirit and in fact, I was always the leader in bringing the team spirit due to my working ethic of we are in this together.

Max_Headroom_3

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Dopester is a very young 33, they can't seem to grasp the concept that selling your house to release equity won't help in the long run.
.

Aint that the truth.

Dopester seems to have this wacky idea that if you're fortunate enough to have plenty of equity, but for whatever reason struggling financially, your best move is to take your home and one and only asset, flog it, and gamble with the cash.

A very young 33 indeed...

dopester

andygb wrote: »

I do not blame young people for the mess which I am in, but would say that as you get older, you start to notice ageism in the workplace, it exists, it is very nasty, and it can cost you your job.

It doesn't surprise me. The golden-lot who've seen their homes massively rise in value, now seem to fall back on a default position of blaming those who've played the system and single mothers. The wrath is on them.

It is rare they spare a thought for the majority of honest hard-working people from younger generations who are totally priced out... and they rarely consider the values of their homes anything to do with the matter.

And when they do find the young took on crippling mortgages - well that is their own idiotic fault. They are not suffering at all, despite being in negative equity, some with very young children, and now made unemployed.

If I'd been stupid and also took out a mega-mortgage I'd have been one of the people you'd be blaming for the collapse - and tough economic times.

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/276626.aspx

Sorry... you only partially have my sympathy. It is reserved for younger people who are priced out, have tough economic conditions themselves for getting employment, and don't have a home of their own - nor one which has gained so much through HPI.

Max_Headroom_3

dopester wrote: »

It doesn't surprise me. The golden-lot who've seen their homes massively rise in value, now seem to fall back on a default position of blaming those who've played the system and single mothers. The wrath is on them.

Wrong!

It is rare they spare a thought for the majority of honest hard-working people from younger generations who are totally priced out... and they rarely consider the values of their homes anything to do with the matter.

Wrong.

And when they do find the young took on crippling mortgages - well that is their own idiotic fault. They are not suffering at all, despite being in negative equity, some with very young children, and now made unemployed.

Wrong.

If I'd been stupid and also took out a mega-mortgage I'd have been one of the people you'd be blaming for the collapse - and tough economic times.

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/276626.aspx

Sorry... you only partially have my sympathy. It is reserved for younger people who are priced out, have tough economic conditions themselves for getting employment, and don't have a home of their own - nor one which has gained so much through HPI.

Sympathy just for yourself basically. Fear not, that shines through pretty much all of your posts so we're well aware.