In my 30s and in London - what do I do?

Retireby40

[Deleted User] said:

Retireby40 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Retireby40 said:

wildbilljones said:

Retireby40 said:

sheramber said:

[Deleted User] said:

sheramber said:

[Deleted User] said:

sheramber said:

It is not a new situation.

20 years ago a colleagues daughter and son in law moved from London to Edinburgh when she became pregnant,  as , despite having two salaries, , they could only afford a small 1 bedroom flat.

House prices have risen over 140% in most UK cities in the last 20 years. Salaries haven't. So, respectfully, I think you're very wrong.  

How can I be wrong about a statement of fact.

This is the kind of stuff I hear from my parents. "It was hard when we first bought a house too". Their first house cost 40k in 1991. Unless they were earning about 4k a year (they weren't), it's entirely incomparable to the situation first-time buyers face now. 

But the scenario is the same.  

A young couple with two salaries- one was a teacher-  could not afford anything bigger but were able to buy a two bedroom house in Edinburgh, which is not a chap place to buy.

The bottom line is the OP has a few options. Upskill to earn more than 30-32k a year in London, take on a second job for a year or two at the weekends and sacrifice hanging out with mates for the long term good, or move out of London. 

Asia most definitely isn't the answer if Norwich is too far.

I earn 36k a year. I don't believe I ever said I earn 32k. 

32-40k is roughly an executive salary (i.e not entry level and not managerial). I'm talking about public and charity sector, publishing, arts etc. 

I find it ridiculous that it doesn't get you somewhere to live. 

The majority of adults in London won't earn over 40k. 

You didn't say 32k but you said you take home just over 2k a month. So I worked out around £2100-£2200 after tax and when you add your 20% tax works out around 32k a year.

Maybe you have other deductions student loans or whatever to come out and pension contributions.


It can buy you somewhere just not where you want.

Yes, it can buy me somewhere hundreds of miles from my friends and family in a place I've never wanted to be. 

So instead of living 1 to 1hr 30 minutes away from your friends and family and owning your own house you would rather:

-flatshare all your life
-move to Asia 

You see where people are coming from. Your mentality is....if I can't live in the street where my friends and family live well life is dealing me a !!!!!! hand.

Most people in life have to make some compromise or sacrifice. Whether that be a smaller house. A house further away. Taking a better paid job somewhere else or a lower paid job in a cheaper area further from home. 

Maybe being in your 30s you still like your weekends out with friends and your Fifa nights with the lads on a Thursday evening but that isn't going to last forever. What will be important until the day you die is having a roof over your head and preferably one you own that when your 60 you can sell for more money than you paid and then you can go to Asia, I recommend Thailand, and live like a king.

Hoping to not be forced to live 100 miles from your family is not insisting on living on the same street.

Thanks for your condescending, useless advice. 

Take it bad if you like. Most people have given you solid advice.

-Upskill 
- Move 1-1.5 hours away and get yourself on the property ladder.

This whole friends and family stuff is a load of rubbish sorry but it is. Hop on the train 9am Saturday morning get the 9pm train back 12 hours with friends and family. Do the same Sunday. Not difficult and most definitely not a huge sacrifice to get on the property ladder and start doing something that your 60 year old self will thank you for.

Retireby40

wildbilljones said:

Retireby40 said:

wildbilljones said:

Retireby40 said:

wildbilljones said:

Retireby40 said:

wildbilljones said:

Retireby40 said:

sheramber said:

wildbilljones said:

sheramber said:

wildbilljones said:

sheramber said:

It is not a new situation.

20 years ago a colleagues daughter and son in law moved from London to Edinburgh when she became pregnant,  as , despite having two salaries, , they could only afford a small 1 bedroom flat.

House prices have risen over 140% in most UK cities in the last 20 years. Salaries haven't. So, respectfully, I think you're very wrong.  

How can I be wrong about a statement of fact.

This is the kind of stuff I hear from my parents. "It was hard when we first bought a house too". Their first house cost 40k in 1991. Unless they were earning about 4k a year (they weren't), it's entirely incomparable to the situation first-time buyers face now. 

But the scenario is the same.  

A young couple with two salaries- one was a teacher-  could not afford anything bigger but were able to buy a two bedroom house in Edinburgh, which is not a chap place to buy.

The bottom line is the OP has a few options. Upskill to earn more than 30-32k a year in London, take on a second job for a year or two at the weekends and sacrifice hanging out with mates for the long term good, or move out of London. 

Asia most definitely isn't the answer if Norwich is too far.

I earn 36k a year. I don't believe I ever said I earn 32k. 

32-40k is roughly an executive salary (i.e not entry level and not managerial). I'm talking about public and charity sector, publishing, arts etc. 

I find it ridiculous that it doesn't get you somewhere to live. 

The majority of adults in London won't earn over 40k. 

You didn't say 32k but you said you take home just over 2k a month. So I worked out around £2100-£2200 after tax and when you add your 20% tax works out around 32k a year.

Maybe you have other deductions student loans or whatever to come out and pension contributions.


It can buy you somewhere just not where you want.

Yes, it can buy me somewhere hundreds of miles from my friends and family in a place I've never wanted to be. 

So instead of living 1 to 1hr 30 minutes away from your friends and family and owning your own house you would rather:

-flatshare all your life
-move to Asia 

You see where people are coming from. Your mentality is....if I can't live in the street where my friends and family live well life is dealing me a !!!!!! hand.

Most people in life have to make some compromise or sacrifice. Whether that be a smaller house. A house further away. Taking a better paid job somewhere else or a lower paid job in a cheaper area further from home. 

Maybe being in your 30s you still like your weekends out with friends and your Fifa nights with the lads on a Thursday evening but that isn't going to last forever. What will be important until the day you die is having a roof over your head and preferably one you own that when your 60 you can sell for more money than you paid and then you can go to Asia, I recommend Thailand, and live like a king.

Hoping to not be forced to live 100 miles from your family is not insisting on living on the same street.

Thanks for your condescending, useless advice. 

Take it bad if you like. Most people have given you solid advice.

-Upskill 
- Move 1-1.5 hours away and get yourself on the property ladder.

This whole friends and family stuff is a load of rubbish sorry but it is. Hop on the train 9am Saturday morning get the 9pm train back 12 hours with friends and family. Do the same Sunday. Not difficult and most definitely not a huge sacrifice to get on the property ladder and start doing something that your 60 year old self will thank you for.

Most people have, I agree. 

No-one has ever wanted or needed your advice. 

You posted in an online forum full of strangers and asked for advice. So you did want my advice and everyone who uses the forum. And my advice has been the same as most people's so have a bit of respect. 

Take the advice you have been given. You will look back in 30 years and thank all of us and yourself that you are mortgage free living in somewhere like Norwich or Chelmsworth and not sharing a 4 bedroom house with 3 strangers in the middle of London, them in their 20s and 30s and you rocking a walking stick.

tooldle

Based on knowledge of the roles our students are accepting, I’d say a salary of mid thirties is typical for a first role in London. I’m in a different sector to you (Engineering) and appreciate qualification levels may also differ for what I’m terming an entry level professional post. 

[Deleted User]

theoretica said:

wildbilljones said:

The majority of adults in London won't earn over 40k. 

The median London salary a year ago was £39.7k  (with about an £8k male/female gap!) so given salary increases over the last year I think you may be out of date there. https://www.plumplot.co.uk/London-salary-and-unemployment.html 

And the majority of adults who stay in London do find some way of living there...

What increases? And in that time property prices increased by an average of 13%.

Helplesssheep

Hi op, as said I was in a fairly similar situation and have to say this advice is really lacking empathy.

people who have relatively senior jobs in charities and other comparable industries can’t really “upskill” to earn more money, unless they want to go corporate. And I assume you aren’t willing to let go off a fulfilling career in charity for a higher earning corporate job - that is a really valid decision! If everyone just went after the highest earning positions, we wouldn’t have people in charity, art etc jobs. 

I asked before what your budget to buy is, as I had wondered if Croydon and the like could work. Have you looked at such areas? If fully priced out of all outskirts,  then I would suggest you consider somewhere more fun than Norwich - Bristol is 1.5 hours from London. Property is expensive but a bit lower, albeit highly competitive. Margate another option? 

theoretica

rigolith said:

theoretica said:

wildbilljones said:

The majority of adults in London won't earn over 40k. 

The median London salary a year ago was £39.7k  (with about an £8k male/female gap!) so given salary increases over the last year I think you may be out of date there. https://www.plumplot.co.uk/London-salary-and-unemployment.html 

And the majority of adults who stay in London do find some way of living there...

What increases? And in that time property prices increased by an average of 13%.

"The rate of annual pay growth for total pay was 5.1%"  https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/latest

Which leads to an estimate of London median wage at around £42k

[Deleted User]

tooldle said:

Based on knowledge of the roles our students are accepting, I’d say a salary of mid thirties is typical for a first role in London. I’m in a different sector to you (Engineering) and appreciate qualification levels may also differ for what I’m terming an entry level professional post. 

Of course it's not typical of a first role in London. It's a bit ridiculous to pretend engineering is comparable to the public sector or charity sector or arts. 

Everyone can't be an engineer or a coder. The devaluing and dismissal of important careers in the UK is damning. 

tooldle

wildbilljones said:

tooldle said:

Based on knowledge of the roles our students are accepting, I’d say a salary of mid thirties is typical for a first role in London. I’m in a different sector to you (Engineering) and appreciate qualification levels may also differ for what I’m terming an entry level professional post. 

Of course it's not typical of a first role in London. It's a bit ridiculous to pretend engineering is comparable to the public sector or charity sector or arts. 

Everyone can't be an engineer or a coder. The devaluing and dismissal of important careers in the UK is damning. 

To be fair OP, all you’ve said is your role is executive level. Not much to go on. I’ve given a comparison of more junior post that i’m aware of. I have not dismissed or devalued your role (whatever it is), the interpretation is all yours. Not everyone can be a professional engineer, equally not everyone can be an accountant, a linguist, a tax professional, a legal professional, a lobbyist etc etc. Only you know what satisfaction your role brings and how comparable salaries would be in other cities. It’s easy to slip into negative behaviours and to feel the world is against you. It is worth remembering the only person stopping you, is you. If you wish to live in London then there are decisions and changes available. Or, you can stay as you are and adjust how you think of that situation. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Ramouth

I’ve read this whole thread and I do have a lot of sympathy for OP.  London prices are crazy!  From responses given, I don’t think there is much enthusiasm for the “start some hobbies, meet local people ideas” or moving to another big city which I feel is an indicator that what they really want is for us to say “yep, go live in Asia”.  In which case that is what they should do.  

Acknowledging which advice you are resistant to can be a good way to work out what you really want.  The downside is that it may be even harder to get on the property ladder if they come back a few years older having had a career break, but then they might feel happier to start again elsewhere in a cheaper city.

hazyjo

We had first jobbers starting on £30k+ in my last job, and I'm on around £50k as a secretary with tonnes of perks which save money! Also think it's worth looking around, see if you can earn more.

So what's your actual budget if you were to buy? You could prob borrow £160k. What deposit have you saved? Do you have debt/loans? We could recommend areas.