Just a couple of thoughts on how to buy a house when you are planning to be a one income couple. Whatever happened to saving money beforehand? Instead of moving together and taking a huge mortgage, why can't young people stay with their parents longer and save their salaries for the down payment on the house? The law currently requires 10% of the price (I think, could be lower). Why not saving more?
Girls used to bring money into the family through dowry. Upper class girls got a sum from their parents, lower class girls often worked before marriage and saved up. Nowadays, they most probably will bring their student debts instead. With young men, it's not much better, unfortunately.
How much money is spent on clothes, vacations, video games and simply getting drunk in a bar regularly? All these things aren't cheap. I'd like especially to talk about the "vacations" some of these people are taking. They chiefly consist of going somewhere to Spain or thereabouts and spending nights in clubs where the entrance can cost anywhere from 50 euros and higher not counting the drinks; getting wasted, using drugs and hooking up. It's gone so bad some churches started organising missions to try and reach some of these vacation-goers.
I've also known guys who spent thousands of euros on the newest games. Again, as with everything, it's a free choice that you make. You can choose to practise thrift and live frugally and save or you can choose to blow it all up and take on a huge amount of debt for your dream home, to keep up with the Joneses. I'm not even going to point my finger at anyone. I'm just trying to show the alternative. Where's the will, there's a way:)
It is strange, isn't it, that young people seem to think that traveling is some sort of universal right? When I was yound and studying, we did not travel during that time. We tried to be as thrifty as possible. Well, we did go clubbing. But when I met my husband, I had worked for couple of years and had saved the down payment for our apartment, maybe 16 % of the price.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel that people nowadays don't really realize that loans have to be paid back.
People also seem to forget that 90 % of life is that everyday living. One should focus on making that everyday living as good as possible, instead of focusing on expensive vacations twice a year and being miserable in between.
Irresponsible spending is actually being encouraged as "being good for the economy". So I don't blame the young people exclusively, that's the way they are taught by schools and family, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that I think it's wrong to spend money on some luxuries, now and then, it's the fact that lower income people take tremendous amounts of debt to keep up appearances, little understanding that two working class incomes + a huge mortgage do not an upper class make. It would be much better for many of these families if they used social housing which was specially meant for families like this, but now going to migrants chiefly.