Discontent #14 food, energy, transport, cost of living, society etc

[rainbowlemon]

In March, investment-management firm BlackRock released its annual letter to the company's investors. Its CEO Larry Fink sounded a warning for workers hoping to retire – comfortably and financially secure – in their 60s. As global life expectancy grows, social safety nets fray and cost of living spikes, Fink warned that retirement at age 65 won't be possible for many, even most, people.

"[Retirement] is a much harder proposition than it was 30 years ago," wrote Fink. "And it'll be a much harder proposition 30 years from now."

Retiring in your 60s is becoming an impossible goal. Is 75 the new 65?

People are living longer, and daily life is getting more expensive. It may be time to rethink the timeline for leaving the workforce.

www.bbc.com

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You and Yours - Call You and Yours: Can You Afford to Retire? - Call You and Yours: Can You Afford to Retire? - BBC Sounds

Can you afford to retire?

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Blonde_moment]

I don't think I'll shop in fatface again. Got a gorgeous dress last year, washed it at 20 and it shrank at least 2 sizes. Not like it was cheap

Was it viscose? That’s a pain for shrinking, I always do it in a cold wash as even 20 can shrink it. I really like fatface, but do find it a bit pricey sometimes so try to get things on offer.

 

[Chocolategoggler]

Was watching the clips from This Morning and this one was good for money saving ideas.

 

[Jc456]

Was it viscose? That’s a pain for shrinking, I always do it in a cold wash as even 20 can shrink it. I really like fatface, but do find it a bit pricey sometimes so try to get things on offer.

Yes it looks like it was
50% LENZING™ ECOVERO™ viscose 50% viscose filament

Yea I only really buy in the sale. Dress is online in the sale for £35 and my coat was £75, that's ripped already

 

[instasham13]

Mortgage recently went from 2
4% to 3.8%. ALOT better than it could have been but I log in each day and see the amount we owe rise daily and it's soul destroying. Really regret not making overpauments for the 1st 5 years when we could afford to.
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Mortgage recently went from 2
4% to 3.8%. ALOT better than it could have been but I log in each day and see the amount we owe rise daily and it's soul destroying. Really regret not making overpauments for the 1st 5 years when we could afford to.

Should say 2.4% to 3.8%.

 

[JTsFringe]

I am fortunate enough to live in social housing but I want to move out of the area and I could search for years on the mutual exchange groups but I'm too impulsive and impatient for that so was looking at other ways to move. I could private rent but to me that is dead money - some landlords dont even let you paint the walls or hang a photo. Or I could save for a deposit to get a mortgage... but then when I really looked into mortgages... The amount of money you end up paying back when you include the interest, you could have bought 2 houses for the price of 1!

Having a roof over your head is a basic human right. There isnt enough social housing for everyone and the banks have taken full advantage of the fact that if you cant afford 250k cash - then you can end up paying over 500k. WILD! Also the fact that someone could be paying £1500 a month in private renting, but then when they go the bank to apply for a mortgage, they tell them that they don't think they can afford to pay £1000 a month. Like, make it make sense.

I'll never be able to save enough money to buy a house outright unless I win the lottery or marry a millionaire (all very unlikely). I also don't want to pay a landlord £1400+ a month for a 3 bed semi because how do people live? Paying that much a month? With the cost of living, etc. Its insane.

So I guess I've no choice but to stay here, or fish through the timewasters on mutual exchange sites.

 

[Blond3g1rl]

I am fortunate enough to live in social housing but I want to move out of the area and I could search for years on the mutual exchange groups but I'm too impulsive and impatient for that so was looking at other ways to move. I could private rent but to me that is dead money - some landlords dont even let you paint the walls or hang a photo. Or I could save for a deposit to get a mortgage... but then when I really looked into mortgages... The amount of money you end up paying back when you include the interest, you could have bought 2 houses for the price of 1!

Having a roof over your head is a basic human right. There isnt enough social housing for everyone and the banks have taken full advantage of the fact that if you cant afford 250k cash - then you can end up paying over 500k. WILD! Also the fact that someone could be paying £1500 a month in private renting, but then when they go the bank to apply for a mortgage, they tell them that they don't think they can afford to pay £1000 a month. Like, make it make sense.

I'll never be able to save enough money to buy a house outright unless I win the lottery or marry a millionaire (all very unlikely). I also don't want to pay a landlord £1400+ a month for a 3 bed semi because how do people live? Paying that much a month? With the cost of living, etc. Its insane.

So I guess I've no choice but to stay here, or fish through the timewasters on mutual exchange sites.

Because when you own you pay a lot more than £1000 a month. Boiler goes bang, you pay for it. You need a new bathroom, you pay for it. Washing machine breaks, you pay for it. Water system needs power flushing, you pay for it.
Yes you might be able to afford £1500 a month in rent with your landlord paying for a new appliances and emergencies but when it’s you and only you who has to pay for everything when you own, the bank can say you can’t afford £1000 a month.

 

[BaxterBillions]

Boiler goes bang, you pay for it. You need a new bathroom, you pay for it. Washing machine breaks, you pay for it. Water system needs power flushing, you pay for it.

Yeah, but how often do those sort of events occur during the lifetime of a mortgage though? How often do you need a new bathroom?

 

[Yel]

Yes you might be able to afford £1500 a month in rent with your landlord paying for a new appliances and emergencies but when it’s you and only you who has to pay for everything when you own, the bank can say you can’t afford £1000 a month.

That ^ and people said the same thing when interest rates were so low that they should be able to buy because at the current low rates they're paying more in rent. But those mortgage payments very quickly increased. In many countries there is help for rent payments, but far less help for mortgage payments.

Banks will be glad to lend as long as the risk is worth the reward.

 

[Blond3g1rl]

Yeah, but how often do those sort of events occur during the lifetime of a mortgage though? How often do you need a new bathroom?

That’s beside the point. When you own everything is your responsibility and you have to pay for it

 

[Yel]

Yeah, but how often do those sort of events occur during the lifetime of a mortgage though? How often do you need a new bathroom?

I think there's often always something needing replacing or about to need replacing when you own. It's totally unpredictable and people need a buffer.

 

[HoGi]

Yeah, but how often do those sort of events occur during the lifetime of a mortgage though? How often do you need a new bathroom?

It depends on quality and maintenance.

I was at my friends recently. New build 3 years ago.

The flush plate is hanging off, the tap drips, tiles/grout looking rough. Probably only got a year or two without the whole room needing redoing.

If you fix problems as they occur they don't snowball. But if you haven't got the money, or you ignore it, they get worse.

My sister in the last month has had a plumber out three times and an electrician out once. She is left with a ceiling that need replastering and then redecorating. All £££

ETA and then there are things you just can't predict. Like boilers etc.

 

[Droosie123]

This is why I appreciate how fortunate I am to have a social housing landlord.

There is not enough social housing and I’m amazed at the local private rental prices.

One lady I’m working with works six days a week in two jobs and is a single parent to two children. Her private landlord sold up and she cannot afford anything locally . It’s going to mean her being housed out of area, her job going and her children pulled out of schools where they are settled. This is just plain wrong. There should be affordable housing for her.

 

[Codiaeum]

I think there's often always something needing replacing or about to need replacing when you own. It's totally unpredictable and people need a buffer.

So much of this. Even the more predictable stuff can easily rack up to thousands. In-laws replaced their roof, first time for the house, was built in the 70s. Spent near 30k € on it. Mind, it's not a small house so there's a lot of roof, but there is always something.
Of course nobody needs a new roof every year, but even with the newer builds, like @Droosie123 wrote, it all adds up. At least here in Germany, you also have to pay for a lot of insurances that you're not paying as a renter.
FIL said that with their house, they aim to set aside ~500€ monthly just for maintenance, not for any mortgage payments or water/gas/electricity bills, and he does a lot of stuff himself.

 

[Folkevermore]

Also, a landlord can just kick you out if you don’t pay.
The repossession process for a bank is a lot longer and has risk for them (they have to sell it etc). The landlords might take a risk on you, but the banks won’t.
The monthly payment doesn’t mean a lot either and can easily change depending on rates. the real limitation is the mortgage stress test. My mortgage is 4.5% but they stress tested our finances to 8.5% (which cost about double the 4.5%). Just because you can easily afford £1000 a month now, doesn’t mean you can afford £2000 if the rates go up

 

[NowIsGood]

I think there's often always something needing replacing or about to need replacing when you own. It's totally unpredictable and people need a buffer.

And things tend to go wrong all at once! A leak here, a faulty appliance there and it can feel a lot. Plus we've found finding decent plumbers/ builders so hard! We currently have 3 sets of taps that need fixing/replacing and no plumber wants to know as they only want big jobs

 

[Yel]

This is anecdotal but I think the hottest/wettest/driest/coldest weather on record that everywhere seems to keep getting maybe adding to the maintenance. For example I know someone who's wall collapsed onto the public highway after months record of dry weather then a downpour. They didn't want to say how much it cost to get fixed ASAP as it was too painful

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

If you fix problems as they occur they don't snowball. But if you haven't got the money, or you ignore it, they get worse.

This is exactly it, in the personal finance community they say you need to spend 1-3% of the property’s value a year in maintenance. Suspect this is more an Americanism and doesn’t consider that a flat in a city centre costs the same as a large property with land in a more rural area but with very different burdens of maintenance/fees, but it’s a good idea to ring fence roughly that as a safeguard.

 

[Merpedy]

There isnt enough social housing for everyone

Thing is the whole system seems to depend on people getting to a point where they can move out and afford to rent but private rents are so high that it very rarely happens

 

[JTsFringe]

Thing is the whole system seems to depend on people getting to a point where they can move out and afford to rent but private rents are so high that it very rarely happens

My friend didnt move out until she was late 20s and had to save 20k deposit to be able to buy a house. She was able to buy a house for 99k - 3 bed semi in the mids. But these days, you're just not finding a house (where we live anyway) for that price anymore. Where I live is pretty poop but it still costs £1400 for a 3 bed. My area used to be a massive council estate but many people bought the houses and now its landlords and new builds (some ha, most bought).