‘I will never be able to retire’

Caller Chris tells James O’Brien that retirement is now too expensive for most people in the UK. #jamesobrien #money #costofliving #inequality #wealth #economy #uknews #ukpolitics #genz #capitalism #lbc

[BlaizeV]

If you are in your mid 30s upto your 40s you've had to survive through a global crash you didn't cause, a housing shortage you didn't cause, a Brexit that you didn't cause and Covid which you didn't cause. Absolutely crippling finacial events every few years since you started work and the rich got not just richer but exponentially richer. Tax them and tax them hard.

[barrysteven]

I bought my house in 1983. It was £22, 000. My wages as a newly qualified teacher was about £8, 000 pa. I bought it with my girlfriend, later my wife, who was earning the same. The same house is now worth £260, 000. Teacher's starting salary is £31, 000. So the house price has increased by nearly 12 times and the wages by only 4.

[nikaa]

Gary Stevenson is so right about returing to Victorian times where most people lived in poverty with the wealthy few.

[sparkymark]

The house my ex-wife and I bought as a firefighter and a copper in the mid 90's is now utterly unaffordable for a couple in the same professions.
Something has to change.
I can't see how my 19year son will get on the housing ladder. Housing is utterly broken.

[ChequeTwice]

Yet the rich have multiple houses, cars, you name it. Everything they could want in life and they still want more.

[donnalomax]

Gary's economics has the answer. Tax Wealth not work. He's the only one addressing inequality. It's only going to get worse 😢

[Mr.Clingclong]

If I hadn't bought my house in 2001 I would never have gotten one. In the twenty-five years since, my wages have doubled, but my house has gone from £62k in '01 to around £200k today, so that's over 3 times. Seeing I only just qualified in '01 for a mortgage (construction job and I'm single) there is no way I could afford my house now, and it's just a poxy 2 bed house in a 'down-at-heel' town in mid-Cornwall. I despair for the 20 year olds now, unless they get a massive lump from gheir parents, then they are stuck in disgusting rental properties for ever. It doesn't surprise me that some youngsters have given up, I feel for them.

[Wotsit]

41 now, and had my first job delivering papers at 14. I've worked hard, I've been resilient but I've still got next to nothing to show for it. Life hasn't been kind and the rug keeps getting pulled out from under me. Recession, austerity, brexit, pandemic, more recession, more austerity. Every time I get a bit of cash behind me, bills go up and it's taken away. What's the point?

[godfreemorals]

I'm 46, I have a professional job (that required a degree at the time, except they've decided it doesn't need it anymore) I've worked since I was 17 but have also suffered severe mental health problems. I'm now stuck in a rental property that I'm slowly becoming unable to afford as costs increase faster than my wage. I can't just move because I have dependents. I can barely afford my monthly outgoings and no chance of saving a deposit. At this rate all my children will inherit from me is my debt.

[MightyJosh]

I'm an Australian. I turn 40 in October. I work full-time Make a decent living. I got divorced in 2019. Since then I have lived with family. I have saved and accumulated mid 5 figures in my savings. I cannot afford a home. I keep getting told by the older (boomer) generation that I am lazy. That I just want everything now. Well 6 years later, I still have nothing,
In 1980 in Australia it was 3-4 years wages to for a home, at the worst 20% of your wages on rent. It is now 8-16 years to own a home and 45-60% of you wages on rent.
So where am I lazy?

[leosphilosophy]

The facts are these:
*The Consumer Price Index* (What we usually call 'inflation' even though it doesn't take asset prices like housing into account) has increased by 12.5 times since 1968.

*The Housing Price Index* has increased by 78.8 times as much since 1968.


The average house price in the UK in the early 70s was around £3, 600. and the average yearly wage was £1900.

Now the average wage is £30, 000, and the house is £250, 000


What are we told? Work harder.

Literally need to work six times harder. There isn't enough time in the day, and there isn't enough belief in the system to contribute so much time to it.

The whole thing is a mockery of human happiness, and we want no part of such an endeavour.

[pfk]

the clock has been set back to 18 something. and we let them do it.

[vargrprincess]

The working and middle classes dwindle and slip below the poverty line as wealth inequality grows. Tax wealth, not work. Hold corporations accountable and beholden to customers and employees instead of stockholders. Only then will this dream of an owned home and quiet life be within reach for this and future generations.

[miketaggard]

I can’t think too much about this, I get flooded with feelings of hopelessness and despair.

[simclaren]

I am a 43 year old bus driver, have worked with no gaps since leaving education and I will never own my own home or be able to retire. Rent is so high saving is not really possible more than £50 a month. At that rate it would take well over 100years to save a deposit. My worry is my wages are not keeping pace with rent so soon I won't have a home at all.

[thetruth]

Im 38 and everyone I know has come to terms that they'll be perpetually poor and working full time until death😔

[juliewilliams]

We are all still slaves to the rich, the people who ‘made it’ off of OUR hard work. Sick of it!!

[jeffskillman]

The problem is successive governments have allowed the housing market to explode due to not controlling lending multipliers linked to salaries, not controlling landlords snapping up prooerty and allowing non UK residents to purchase property.

[northbriton]

Get the wealth tax brought in now, how much money does one person need in their life?

[thomasdesalle]

I'm 41 and that is where i am. Single with a son. House, electricity, council tax = 1000£/month. That before buying food, paying car insurance, hoping for a holiday. I earn 11.97£/h and have 0 saving, no idea what i'll do when my 20 year old van will finally give up, only buy second hand goods and clothes. Apparently in the 70's someone with a job like mine could buy a house and support a familly.