Should I save to buy or rent soon not knowing what the future will hold. Age 21

epthree

I wrote a big paragraph here which took 20 minutes regarding my situation and changed my mind on posting as after working out the sums and realising how ridiculous the three options were I decided that I must of been dreaming.

Looks like i'm living with my mother forever to even consider being anywhere close to having a decent standard of living if I was to move out (even with my girlfriend!) and we have close to £45k combined income before tax.

Apologies but after writing all that I felt like I had to share just to vent a little bit!
Thanks...

goodwithsaving

If you have a defeatist attitude you will never reach your goal.
I am single, have bought on my own with absolutely no input from elsewhere, have never been able to move back home and have bought in two of the most expensive parts of the country.
If you work hard, save hard and forgo any luxuries (holidays, phone contracts >£10/month etc), you will get there. And your salaries should go up over time.

Marvel1

epthree wrote: »

Looks like i'm living with my mother forever to even consider being anywhere close to having a decent standard of living if I was to move out (even with my girlfriend!) and we have close to £45k combined income before tax.

I'm on £19,500 before before tax, have my own home for the past 10 years and coping just fine.

That income is plenty!

I moved out when I was 25, so start saving, cut down on certain things, do you really need that latest mobile phone contract? For example.

Scoobs2006

Depends where your living on that income & how you were in a position to have a deposit to buy intially. The poster has no deposit and by the sounds of it lives in an expensive area. Its so tough to get on ladder with little to no head start

juniordoc

You're right it is harder these days for young people than it ever was, but if you can live with for parents that will put you in a really good position to start saving.
Get a help to buy ISA and start making monthly contributions, and cut down your outgoings as much as you can.
Yes it may take 5 years to raise a decent deposit in some areas in England, but if you never start then you'll never get there. Have a long term plan.

seashore22

My daughter lives in an expensive city, earns just over £20,000, rents a lovely 1 bed flat and still manages to put money into a savings account and have a social life. She is probably some way from owning her own place, but is doing all she can to make that happen.

Of course you should save.

I've just noticed that you mention a "decent standard of living" and that gives a clue to your thinking. Personally I put independent living as a high priority and so does my daughter. When my husband and I had our first home we had second hand furniture, lived on cheap, but healthy food and looked for cheap days out. We had one foreign holiday in 13 years, but certainly didn't consider our lives to be deprived in any way. Sometimes you have to do the grown up thing and forego short term pleasures for long term gain. Maybe you aren't at that stage yet.

Nothing wrong with saving for when you are ready though. I suspect some exaggeration when you mention living with mum forever, or at least I hope so.

Lauralou79

At 21 you've loads of time. Make the most of living with your parents now and save as much as you can. Giving yourself a little for treats otherwise you'll get bored of saving and not doing much and blow money. You have to decide what your end goal is and really want to achieve it
Things can be achieved with planning and forward thinking.
To be fair at 21 I was renting on a very low wage, wouldn't even have thought about buying, I was very much living in the moment.

chrisuk44

I'm 33 and only buying my first house with my partner.
If I could turn things back I would have got on the property ladder asap.

Start saving - use MSE as your guide to save, earn and conquer !!!!!

There's lots of books / websites on money saving, thrifty, earn extra.

Before you know it your'll have £10k in the bank just pushing for that extra £££

Government schemes change year to year so in 5 years there will be a new one made just for you.

Don't stay on the rental market for years, you will love having your own place

00ec25

epthree wrote: »

we have close to £45k combined income before tax.

which, depending on where you live, only goes to show that you must be excessive spenders because that is above average earnings for a family with children, but you are just 21 without (I assume) children and so need to adjust your lifestyle because it should be easy to live well on that sort of income as singletons

Mickygg

On £45k combined you should have take home pay of about £37k. For an average young couple that is a good amount of money to stash some away each month, even if you have a lavish lifestyle.
If you are not currently paying rent set a goal of say 50% of your take home pay to put into savings. You will save up a deposit easy.
I personally would stay with mum if it suits you all then buy when you can that much sooner.

tori.k

As I say to my kids you will never be as rich as you are now, so if your living at home and only having to pay a nominal rent if any, this is your head start start with the chance to save a considerable amount of money.
As for knowing what the future holds the only guarantee in life is death and taxes regardless of age but the earlier you get your finances in order the easier it is to dictate the life you want.