Correct me if I’m wrong, but..

[WoodYouLike]

Last night I watched this new program on the Beeb: Would you buy a house with a stranger.

It could be just me, but I was flabbergasted by the attitude of the persons involved. Imagine earning £ 26.000 a year (person searching was called a ‘party-girl’) and not being able to save enough for a large deposit, so she’s looking for other single persons to try to get on the property ladder together.
Can’t remember what candidate one earned, but must be around 24 – 26K, the second earned 25k and the third a whopping (well, in my eyes) 36K a year.
All single, all renting and all not being able to save from their (high) earnings. My overall feeling about this program was: are they pathetic or am I missing something, don’t I understand them?

Over to you

 

[mlb3c]

it's just a curiosity question really....but were you being sarcastic or is this considered high or low earnings....where were they from...what country? and were they thinking of "flipping" a property in which you buy it, fix it up and resell it for a higher price...for the profit? If it is for the latter...then it is pretty normal...at least here in states...just wondering.

 

[hermes]

It's amazing, people get into high-spending patterns and can't save. They spend money on luxuries before necessities and sometimes borrow to do it. A young guy I know earns £15k, his wife doesn't earn and he just spent £50 on professional photos of their baby (he got 4 prints) and £400 on a telly. As soon as his wages go into the bank his wife draws it all out to pay the bills and store accounts etc.
Higher earners get into just the same situation, often taking out sizeable loans for cars and holidays.

 

[WoodYouLike]

it's just a curiosity question really....but were you being sarcastic

Hi Mlb
Sarcastic is not really the word, just amazed that someone with rather (in my eyes) higher earnings can't be 'bothered' to save enough if they want to get on the property ladder here in the U.K. I know many, many families with much lower earnings just about getting through the month.
I felt a bit angry about these four persons: earning a lot, spending a lot on (could you call it) frivolities and now they realise they have to be on the property ladder (or so they think) and take the easy way out (IMHO)

Could be that I'm not from here myself, buying/selling houses where I come from is rather different

 

[mlb3c]

so would you say...that the incomes that you mentioned are considered to be on the high side...the individual incomes, not the collective....??

 

[hermes]

i think the average here is about £21k.

 

[WoodYouLike]

i think the average here is about £21k.

Isn't that much lower? Per person I mean, not family income?
I thought the great majority earns around 15 - 18K?

O.k. great majority is of course different than 'average' but average includes incomes of 250 - 600k and over for a minority.

 

[Diyisfun]

I didnt watch this program but £26k is not a lot if you are working & living in London.
Its all very well talking about averages, but its reality that counts. £200k in London gets you nothing, But move out & you can get a decent property & have some change, but then you might struggle to earn £26k. Thes programmes have to be watched as entertainment a bit like EastEnders & Corry.

 

[Richardp]

I would have to make some major changes in my lifestyle to be able to live on £ 26.000 a year

 

[WoodYouLike]

I would have to make some major changes in my lifestyle to be able to live on £ 26.000 a year

so do I, but the other way you mean

 

[empip]

Borrowing has never been easier ... May the borrower never be encumbered with 15% interest rates again .... Yeah right ! They said that prior to the three times I have seen it !!

Office for National Statistics ...
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285

Median weekly pay for full-time employees in the UK grew by 2.8 per cent in April 2005 to reach £431. (£22,412 pa.)
Median earnings of full-time male employees were £471 per week in April 2005; for women the median was £372. (£24,492 and £19,344 respectively)
The median is the value below which 50 per cent of employees fall.

I guess the 'average' will be higher than the median.

Suppose 19 paupers and one billionaire are in a room. Everyone removes all money from their pockets and puts it on a table. Each pauper puts $5 on the table; the billionaire places $1 billion there. The total is then $1,000,000,095. If that money is divided equally among the 20 persons, each gets $50,000,004.75. That amount is the mean (or "average") amount of money that the 20 persons brought into the room. But the median amount is $5, since one may divide the group into two groups of 10 persons each, and say that everyone in the first group brought in no more than $5, and each person in the second group brought in no less than $5. In a sense, the median is the amount that the typical person brought in. By contrast, the mean (or "average") is not at all typical, since no one present - pauper or billionaire - brought in an amount approximating $50,000,004.75.

Nothing is as simple as being skint .. so they say !

 

[Nige F]

Borrowing has never been easier ... May the borrower never be encumbered with 15% interest rates again .... Yeah right ! They said that prior to the three times I have seen it !!

Median weekly pay for full-time employees in the UK grew by 2.8 per cent in April 2005 to reach £431. (£22,412 pa.)
Median earnings of full-time male employees were £471 per week in April 2005;

I guess the 'average' will be higher than the median.

[ Nothing is as simple as being skint .. so they say !

Not in Sussex.......... GROSS Average is HALF the friggin Median and the houses start@ £130k........ Bleedin` Londoners retiring