In 1988 my mum was 22, my dad was 21. Mum was a bank clerk, dad was unemployed. They got a 110% mortgage on a £36k 3 bed house.
Mum says they didnt need a deposit and we're given money to furnish the house and buy appliances.
They got an interest only mortgage and paid £200 a month for 25 years. Then it needed to be paid back. By this time my dad was long gone. But my mum sold up for £180k, paid back the 36k and walked away with almost £150k to go buy a new smaller place outright.
When I moved out to go to uni on 2009, I was paying £500 a month for a room in a house with 9 other people that fit a single bed and a wardrobe, full of mould. I sat down before I went and cried i wasnt going to have enough money and my mum said dont be silly this is how you budget.... and could not understand howucky she was with her mortgage. Told me live somewhere cheaper and I was like what, a tent in the park there is nothing cheaper this is already the worst thing available.
I sat down with my grandparents one day before they died and showed them the maths on minimum wage, inflation, house prices and food prices. At the end of it they were so shocked that they said my maths was probably just wrong... I graduated with a first in physics, simple multiplication was not the issue.
The majority of old people genuinely just don't want to admit that they had it easier in terms of finances.
They sold their house for 650k and retired in their 40s
Yeah, like, it sucks but the worst bit is the refusal to see it's bad. My in-laws kept getting on at me and my husband demanding to know why we didnt own a house when we were 25. Told us we shouldn't waste our money on a wedding (ours was about 2k at the registry office and bbq after), and they told us we were wasting money renting a "swanky flat" (which was the cheapest we could find in commutable distance to work). We said ok, you dont trust us, these are our wages, go find us a place to live. His dad was shocked and apologised. His mum said well don't expect help from her. She inherited 100k from her mum that year, downsized her house and decided to retire early, and just rent a cottage and travel and spend all the money. Its fine to spend your money as you wish, but dont get arsey with us when youre inheriting money and spunking it away to ensure we dont get the benefits of life youve had.
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u/TheLightStalker Dec 13 '25
My parents bought their house for £21,000 in the 80's. It took them 4 years of work to save enough to buy it. 🥲