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What savings should I have?

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Comments

  • Buzzybee90
    Buzzybee90 Posts: 1,652 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    kidmugsy wrote: »
    Nope. I economised on cars by buying a secondhand motorbike.

    A mortgage in my area for a 2 bed house would be 8x my boyfriends salary, and 11 times mine. Yay.
  • Buzzybee90
    Buzzybee90 Posts: 1,652 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    I do understand that it's tough. However, each generation is faced with different challenges. When I was at uni, we also skimped on the heating and I remember an uncle telling me the same.
    My kids were lucky and received financial help. To work my passage through uni, I stacked shelves in the evenings at a local supermarket. That's just the way it was amd I'm not complaining.

    I know it has been tough for everyone, I'm just fed up of some of the older generations complaining about us for having TVs & phones, of course we do, almost everyone does! I didn't have electronics as a child but just look what the average 10 year old has, things change.
  • richbeth
    richbeth Posts: 154 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    This might come as a shock to some folks but life’s tough you just need to learn to get on and deal with it. It throws up problems for every generation and what is good for one generation is often bad for another, just look back over the last 40 or so years (off the top of my head)

    70’s – house prices jumped, inflation hits 20+%, UK had to be bailed out by the IMF, couldn’t keep a government, winter of discontent where everyone stocked up with candles and waited for the power to go off !
    80’s – unemployment over 10 %, lots of strikes, interest rates 10%+, house prices jumped everyone thought they were unaffordable
    90’s - house prices crashed, negative equity, another recession, stockmarket boom and bust
    2000’s house prices jump, banking crisis, deep recession
    2010’s interest rates at historic low, banking crisis hangover, then…

    and
    2020's – something else we never thought of plus a recession…


    I'd recommend Baz Luhrmann for some sound advice :-)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

    R
  • atush
    atush Posts: 18,731 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Buzzybee90 wrote: »
    I know it has been tough for everyone, I'm just fed up of some of the older generations complaining about us for having TVs & phones, of course we do, almost everyone does! I didn't have electronics as a child but just look what the average 10 year old has, things change.


    i completely agree things change.

    but I do see a cheaper phone, not the latest iphone, and a 32' tv, rather than a plasma that takes up half the wall are more than sufficient.

    Problem is, most younger dont agree. it is the largest TV that will fit, and the latest super smartphone.And take outs etc.

    It wasn't that many years ago (and we are comfortable now) that we limited take out to once every 2 months or even less. and I dont replace my phone til it dies (always use my renewal discount for a new phone for the boys- but as an xmas present!). We have internet, but not the fastest/most expensive. I basically penny pinch everywhere I can, and use the savings for luxuries.

    It really means you have to select what is the most improtant thing to you, and it usually isnt what you think it is.
  • Buzzybee90
    Buzzybee90 Posts: 1,652 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    atush wrote: »
    i completely agree things change.

    but I do see a cheaper phone, not the latest iphone, and a 32' tv, rather than a plasma that takes up half the wall are more than sufficient.

    Problem is, most younger dont agree. it is the largest TV that will fit, and the latest super smartphone.And take outs etc.

    It wasn't that many years ago (and we are comfortable now) that we limited take out to once every 2 months or even less. and I dont replace my phone til it dies (always use my renewal discount for a new phone for the boys- but as an xmas present!). We have internet, but not the fastest/most expensive. I basically penny pinch everywhere I can, and use the savings for luxuries.

    It really means you have to select what is the most improtant thing to you, and it usually isnt what you think it is.

    Why are you singling out young people though? A phone is not something you just have for contacting friends, it's essential for a lot of jobs (emails on the go, social networking, calendar, researching), this wouldn't really be achievable with a Nokia 3410. I do have a smart phone but it's an old model that does the job I need. Some people have the latest technology, it's not connected to age. You're acting like having a phone and a tv are ridiculous things, of course they're not.
  • Colin_Hunt
    Colin_Hunt Posts: 5,812 Forumite
    Buzzybee90 wrote: »
    I know it has been tough for everyone, I'm just fed up of some of the older generations complaining about us for having TVs & phones, of course we do, almost everyone does! I didn't have electronics as a child but just look what the average 10 year old has, things change.
    Spend your money how you choose.
    Buy TVs and phones, no-one cares what you do. Dont moan if you cant afford a property, after all you have your phone and TV.
    Look up "opportunity cost"
  • Buzzybee90
    Buzzybee90 Posts: 1,652 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    Colin_Hunt wrote: »
    Spend your money how you choose.
    Buy TVs and phones, no-one cares what you do. Dont moan if you cant afford a property, after all you have your phone and TV.
    Look up "opportunity cost"

    You're insane if you think that having an essential item (phone) means you shouldn't be able to be miffed at the property situation, not that I am.
  • guitarman001
    guitarman001 Posts: 1,052 Forumite
    edited 29 July 2014 at 8:21AM
    Colin_Hunt wrote: »
    Spend your money how you choose.
    Buy TVs and phones, no-one cares what you do. Dont moan if you cant afford a property, after all you have your phone and TV.
    Look up "opportunity cost"

    The most ridiculous thing I've ever heard considering the insane cost of homes these days. Absolutely mad! Typical boomer response probably intended to annoy!

    Seriously, let's look at this... my phone costs £10 a month. How much would a mortgage cost and at what insane multiple of my salary?

    Truly one of the more ridiculous arguments I've ever heard! You will hear every excuse under the sun because they don't want the "value" of their properties (I hate that word - and the fact that it's multiple for many) to drop. Again, I'm alright Jack.
  • kwmlondon
    kwmlondon Posts: 1,734 Forumite
    kwmlondon - too true! Unfortunately I'm riding out the wave waiting for housing to come crashing down as I don't want to pay way over the odds for an overpriced, tiny house in a street I don't like next to neighbours I don't like for so many years lol... I wish I could just buy at a reasonable price and not keep putting things off. Emigration does sound better by the day.

    I know - my partner keeps talking about moving to Canada! We've got friends who speak very highly of Toronto and Vancouver - a great mix of culture, educated people, creativity and cheap property means people can afford to live while taking risks - starting businesses, bands, projects etc. In London it's so expensive that nobody can afford to live unless earning, which makes it really hard to have startup companies. We had a whole glut of internet startups based in Hoxton because there was a lot of cheap office space - of the 100 or so companies that started a handful would make it big but boy did they make it big! You had designers, programmers, entrepreneurs, students, young artists. All gone now. Too expensive. All bankers. Dull, dull, dull. We're going like New York and that town's become a bit boring these days.
  • eviekins
    eviekins Posts: 187 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    How on earth can you possibly compare owning a smartphone and a tv vs a having the money for a house deposit!!?
    Even the cost of the latest smart phone and a humongous TV is pennies in relation to the amount young people now need for a deposit!
    What a load of rubbish once again from the bloody boomers! Can they seriously not see how ridiculous their posts are?
    Zzzzzzzzzz
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