Hi all! I’ve been thinking about this topic/ these issues for a while and am so glad I finally got around to creating this video. Please share your experience and knowledge in the comments. ❤
The only way I could keep the math mathing back in 2012 was by sleeping in hostels! A British freelance web developer with a bachelors degree - but sleeping in hostels with homeless people! I moved to Thailand in 2014 and I've never returned. The UK is a dump.
Yes. A hostel just about possible if small wages or if not easily 'employable' in those better paid agency positions and ads - who gets those!? Perhaps a room in a houseshare so far it is a job just to get in. I had to leave. Not happy to go not happy now away. I am living better abroad, however! England can get anyone to work for peanuts and has no idea how hard it is for those who are regular boring workers.
Minimum wage is now £25k. What is significant is that the salary for many jobs that historically paid more than minimum wage have stagnated. There is very little point on spending £50k - £100k on university loans if you only expect to earn £5k a year more than minimum wage once you graduate. The 40% tax (plus NI) on earnings above £50k is another trap to keep us poor. £50k is still a poverty wage in London, and the government takes over half of anything extra you happen to earn. This makes it impossible to save for your future on job income alone. It is also a direct disincentive against working harder by doing overtime or getting a second job, as the higher rate will apply to all extra earnings. There is also no such thing as a London premium any more, so you may as well look outside of London for work. You will still struggle, but not as much. There is a default assumption that your parents will help you, but that doesn’t apply to those whose parents can't or won't help their children.
I'm not sure how minimum wage is calculated in terms of salary, but I was on a £23k annual salary in london working full-time. Could you tell me how you got £26k? When national minimum wage went up recently it went up to around £22.3k. This actually meant I was worse off as my max pension contribution and match were putting me under min wage. Had to lower my salary sacrifice - calculated I was £4k worse off...
@@budgetwithluce 40 hours a week is full time. Anything less is part time. A common scam employers like to pull is to claim a job is full-time then only pay you for 35 hours a week, even if you end up working more hours.
London was tough to live in 1990 up to 2002 when I left. Salary has never been good there despite rent being cheaper than NYC where I am from. I was always skint. So glad I left to move back to America. London is for the rich or ones living on benefits and handouts. Not for those living in between.
Agree London is not for people on average salaries. I live in an outer London suburb which is relatively affordable by London standards but it still tough. I imagine the same applies in parts of the US like NYC?
@ Yes, it applies here in NYC, the world over. With inflation rising faster than salaries it’s fast becoming a world for the wealthy. Salaries are a bit better here in NYC but not by much. Live frugally.
Come to Seattle. Minimum wage is $20/hr. 2 bedroom apartment is $2000-2500, one bed is $1500+ in good areas . You would get about $34k after taxes. Food and services are slightly more expensive than in London but the same order of magnitude. Plenty of work. If you are willing to live slightly to the south , rents are cheaper 20%. low crime by American standards. And we have a light rail now to quickly get to downtown. Weather is very similar to London and likely drier . I enjoy coming to London since ethnic food you get in London is much better for the same money you get in Seattle :). Government managing your well being makes the worst job ever - you will pay high taxes and don’t get much in return. Most of the taxes will be pocketed by countless government bureaucrats.
Median household income in Seattle is 121k though. Seattle has better salaries than NYC, no state income tax, and has a way lower cost of living. NYC salaries are not even top 5 in the U.S. Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco, D.C, Boston etc all pay better.
I remember when University courses were £3k per year, then all of a sudden they raised the price to £9k, it is just greed. I have a friend who rents one room in a house for £650, and still has to pay towards gas & electric. Never has the saying "The rich are getting rich, and the poor are getting poorer," been more real than todays times.
@@MelanieJosephine1998 was the first year of student fees in the UK. Introduced by Labour before then the courses were free. I was lucky to start uni in the year before so all of my time at uni was free, just had a normal student loan. My friends below me all had to pay. It wasn't fair and students did protest against the change but we were ignored as we knew it get worst later on.
@@missc4079 No! The decision to end university grants was passed through by John Major's govt in 1994. The process was to be incremental over preceding years, which is why it didn't start to be more publicly recognised until Blair's tenure. Blair simply decided to look the other way and let the policy through when he could have sought to stop it. But it was the tories that abolished grants. Get your facts right before you post.
Dont get shared ownership! I did and it made me financially and physically stuck in a flat i didnt want for 10 years! They doubled the service charge shortly after i moved in as they made an error on the calulations at 1st! The flat didnt increase in valie at all in a time when other properties sky rocketted. I bought it as a step up when it actially did the opposite and set me behind. Should have just moved up notth and bought a normal property!
Im glad you were able to get out of this in the end!! Wow! Thank you for sharing this! It is outrageous that they made you pay for something that was their fault in the first place!!!
@@degenerates1971 oh no thats really horrible situation. I hope she is able to resolve her living situation soon. With my flat after years of trying to sell I reduced the price by 20k and then said to the estate agent if you find a sale and it completes within 4 months of now- i will give you double commission. Sounds counter intuitive but it worked! I was lucky in that id bèen able to staircase to 100% ownership so i was able to sell to a landlord who happened to prefer housing association flats despite the high service charges! Its crazy as i saw on right move recently a flat in the block i was in for sale for £105k (south coast) but when i bought it in 2003 it was also valued at £105k. Its bananas!
The population of London has nearly doubled in 25 years. Elsewhere the increase has also been significant. The pressure on housing as well as public services, infrastructure, the road network etc has obviously caused huge problems for everyone. But the rich have got much richer and they have huge political influence.
Good luck with London. In Louisville Kentucky ( a city that has an international airport, the global headquarters of KFC and Pizzahut, Ford factories makingthe F 150 etc), i bought a 2 bed house with a front and back yard etc for $9,500 (needed renovation). Borrowed and spent 50,000 in renovations. Now I have a brand new house for $60,000 with new everything, including central heating and cooling. So, why do people live in places like London is beyond me.
I moved out of London and the UK altogether a few months ago because I was literally scraping by on 33.5k. I cannot get my head around living on 23k...🤯 I miss the UK but I think I made the right decision by leaving...
@@imapadlock I moved back home (Spain). Things are awful here too but I saw no alternative for the time being... I really needed a break from paying extortionate rent and the stress of living in London.
@@c3pno I also had the feeling a recession was on its way, plus they put my rent up by a ridiculous amount, salary remained the same, etc Northern Spain is cold in winter but definitely warmer than the UK from Springtime till the Autumn.
I left the UK in 2016 and moved to Germany. Germany certainly has problems as well, but it is much better than the UK. I have a much better-paid job now, own my own house (not a flat), and the living costs are much lower.
Transport in Germany is a lot cheaper, you can get a travel card to travel all over Germany for €40-60 a month. In the UK traveling to Newcastle or Scotland by rail costs £150 alone
I left London after 40yrs since birth Im so happy now Sad to see so many youngsters in London cant afford to move.out.from parents house The system is designed exactly to keep you struggling Buy a house stamp.duty Sell a house capital gains tax Have a vehicle MOT road tax insurance Council tax .,. Utilities.... Broadband.... 😢
This is the same the UK over - not just London (because, for eg, your wage will probably be lower). The UK keeps its subjects poor. End of. Only the upper classes and wealthy property owners who keep it in the family will ever have a chance of a decent life.
@@MelanieJosephine I don't think it ever will because Britain is a class-based society: class divisions and status hierarchies have always been in place - rigid, unbending and totally recognisable to those brought up here. It's easy to tell who is in the club and who isn't (language for instance is a huge signifier) and those that aren't (the masses) are given enough crumbs to keep going but in the long run get shafted.
@@MelanieJosephine It's very hard to "get on" in the UK; to make a good, decent life for yourself - particularly in comparison with similar western European countries. We have a low standard of living: costs are high and wages/pensions are low. You can work as hard as you like.... I see many people on YT realising this and leaving for a better life.
Immigration supplies the low paid workers. They get given council houses so the rent is low. 87% of social housing in London is occupied by non British/ Not even European people. This has tipped the balance in the rental market. You can Google these figures where it will list by nationality who occupies social housing, it has been in the Telegraph and can be found on .gov website.
It is horrible everywhere in the UK now days , a skilled jobs people are not able to earn more than £30k , all the skilled jobs are underpaid and they are literally close to minimum wage. Companies are making big profit and giving their workers shit wages.
You are absolutely right, society is geared to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, it started back in the dark days of Thatcher, who sold off the council houses without building any replacements for the next generation, leaving a giant vacuum of affordable rental accommodation. 10:34
I lived in Kew during 90s and it was an ex-council one-bed flat for £500/pm including all the utility bills. That took about quarter of my income and my first job started at 25k. After couple years, I moved out of London but it was the most insane fun time in my career to this day. Now I won't go back even double my salary.
I was on 23k in Manchester recently until i got this new job and it was nearly impossible and i only survived because of luck and having no life. If i was in london i would have been dead or ended up in jail 100% It's a manufactured problem. Its on purpose. They want us all on benefits, in prison, in debt, so they can control our accounts and our entire spending lives and never leave so we can be tax cows. So glad i got a better job, im never going to london ever again. Even visiting it just once a year puts me under drastic financial stress. Get the hell out of london, its a life or death decision
To live in London on a below 30k salary, you need to either live in a houseshare, live with parents, or get lucky with a long-term housesit. However, rent in many other cities across England is not necessarily much cheaper.
I was living on £23k, now lucky enough to have had a £3k bump, but I can confidently say that the only way I can afford living in London, is because I rent a one bedroom with my partner. When I was living alone, I was a lodger paying £675 to live in a 10 sq m room in a family's home and commuted in. I think my commuting costs were 30% of my budget at the time. I think I barely spent money on anything else and saved around £250 a month. £23k really isn't much especially if one has a family to provide for, heck it isn't enough for someone with no dependants these days.
Hi Melanie, I live in a city in the Midwest in the USA. Living in our city used to be much more affordable with rents and buying a first home. However, in the last five years costs have gone up dramatically for anyone who is middle or low income while salaries haven’t increased. The hustle culture is booming here with people taking on multiple jobs out of necessity just to get by month-to-month We also have extremely lengthy waiting lists for subsidized housing. It could easily take 6 to 10 years of waiting even if you qualify. Social services help is minimal limited mostly to Food banks so if you don’t have family to live with and share expenses, life is very difficult if you are single here.
re shared ownership... they are usually offered by Housing Associations, who are supposed to be 'not for profit' ... however, if you investigate the wages of the directors of the housing associations, some are earning over £500k p/a after bonuses! That's more than double what the PM earns!
I left London many years ago but recently wanted to return following the death of my partner - to be close to friends. I was shocked to see that my salary in Belfast for Education Admin was actually higher than for similar jobs in London. Property prices are lower here, cost of living is better too I think. I had to give up the dream to return 'home'.
@@MelanieJosephine no the salary is not enough - in Belfast on £25k I can live well enough but it wouldn't work in most other UK cities and definitely not London. I'm going to be staying here and seeing how things go. Thanks though, an interesting vlog. 🙂
Completely agree with you it's a disgrace. The wages are deliberately not kept up with inflation. In the year 2000 i as a web designer could easily earn £40k and prices for rent, food, bills, transport were relatively low. Then things started to got worse in 2007 salary for web manager was £40k and prices for cost of living started to go up. And now salary for any mangarial role in 2025 is still around £40-50k mark but costs for everything else has gone up exponentially . The uk capitalist bankster interest debt based usury run pyrimid scheme political system clearly is designed to drain wealth from middle class and working class and get the mega rich even richer.
London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Living in London is not a realistic option for an ordinary working person unless you are okay with extreme hardship. This is the same for many global cities in the world. Maybe if you are a young person living with your parents in the London area you can manage on the lower salary. But anyone else with common sense will soon realise it is very foolish to think you can live in London and have a reasonable standard of living. Not all of the UK has this very extreme situation (although most of the UK now has challenges with the availability and cost of accommodation). Having lived in London for 15 years before moving out, I learnt the hard way and wish I'd moved away sooner and got myself on the property ladder elsewhere in the UK.
@@MelanieJosephine I had a shared ownership house and would never do again. The selling is also a nightmare with having to pay the housing association £1000 for a piece of paper consenting to the sale. Some leases require them to approve your buyer and try to sell it via them, to sell at a lower price than it is worth, to people that they select.
@@MelanieJosephine Yes, Everytime you want to staircase you have to get a solicitor or conveyancer all over again. If the property increased in price, you have to pay more for the new shares :( Also watch out for the leases in leasehold properties. Shared ownership is not home ownership.
I have heard Poland is a far better option then the UK to live in. It's set to become richer then the UK by 2030, it's universities are free, the way it's universal healthcare is set up is far better then the british NHS and both food and rent is a lot cheaper even in the capital.
Quick way to boost the economy is to build loads of housing. The government and business doesn’t do this because scarcity increases the prices of rent and property ownership. Thus increasing wallet size of incumbent property/land owners. Game is rigged.
All the new build properties popping up overnight and hardly any are social housing is bad - plus why the government sold off large amounts of the housing stock, privatised everything like gas, electric, water, all the basics for living to corporations who charge whatever bills they see fit has added to the problem. It's nice to see this issue being talked about 👍
I have two adult children who are still living at home with us, we live on the London/Essex border and they cannot afford to leave home. They are both on minimum wage and even though they are both qualified they just can’t get a higher wage. It has got to the point that my daughter is looking to move up North as she can get so much more for her money. Where we are, a one bedroom flat to buy is £200000, however up north she can get a three bedroom house for that! She will be buying with a close friend of hers. It’s the only way they can move out and get independence. How can people be expected to manage on £25000 a year!
My advice, take it or leave it, never buy a house with anyone else. If you're in a relationship with someone then get some kind of prenup contract drawn up.
I think the problem is housing and it’s lack of, quality and cost. I spent years living on benefits of £ 70 a week after housing. I had to pay my bills out of that leaving me with £35 a week to live on
Yes, but I’m not planning on doing so atm. But i was thinking of rent control the other day. Why has the uk government never thought of that? We need to write letters to our mps! I think not enough people speak up.
Guys, I'm from Brazil, and it's very difficult to live here. So, I wanna live in UK, I was thinking about Manchester, because I think London isn't the best choice, but idk yet.
Manchester is great, it's a fun friendly city and easy to travel to other places in the UK from there. The rent prices are definitely going up in Manchester too unfortunately, but it's not as bad as London! Its more chilled out too, London can be kinda stressful.
I have been to Brazil many times and have some very good friends there. I am also from Manchester. Don't just think about the salary you could earn here, please think about the quality of life. Manchester is a miserable city.
Sorry slightly off topic here but I love your accent! It's so soothing to listen to 😊 Perhaps you should join the ASMR community on here 😊 Great video too ❤
This is what happens when the Government only invests in one city. it becomes too expensive to live because all the jobs and opportunities are there so naturally more people from across the country and world will want to live there to benefit from the opportunities available. The government need to invest in other areas of the UK so people don't have to move to London. I used to live in Manchester so theres a similar problem as too many people were moving there which was affecting the house prices, rents etc. good video by the way
With so many m.p. Landlords we are not going to see rent control anytime soon. The UK.is wealthy enough to make sure that everyone has a roof of some sort over their heads.
That is living in a city for you... You cannot live in or near the centre on close to minimum wage. It is the same for many other countries too eg. USA New York. You are forced to travel in to work from the suburbs and the lower your income, the further out you have to go. Also true, if you are close to minumum wage and single, you will be saving a super long time to have your own property. Everything is set up for couples, or renting.
Thanks Melanie, very interesting. Sadly the UK has deteriorated hugely in the past few decades. I lived in London in the 1980's - we were not earning much and living in multi shared accommodation then i.e. no lounge just all rooms used as 'bedrooms'. My mortgage interest rate (when I attempted to buy a flat) in the 1980s was 17% so I part owned a 2 bed flat with a friend and lost it all after 2 years. Nothing has improved. I'm in my 60's still working (no pension yet) and earn about £11,000 a year - awful. Better to live in a more caring equitable country if you have the option.
i got lucky i got a council house so rent is 590 a month i use to be a labouer but i look everyday and the number of jobs shows i wont have any securty i am on disabilty atm at nearly 2k a month with all my benfits its not work me working unless they pay 14.50 ph or more
I did not live well on £40k in Watford (North West London) in 08 so I left. 23k now would be living in poverty even if you lived rent free with the folks. UK average is £30k+ so £23k in London you daffy ducked.
The way people live in Lon 10:41 don on low income is by relying on housing benefit. However in order to get a meaningful amount you need to have kids.
As many already, why choose to live/work within M25/London?? To reduce housing costs, Isn't it possible to 'buddy up' with 2 others? - 1 bedroom place is £1000 pm say? - 3 bedroom place isn't necessarily £3000, maybe £2000? Is this possible in reality ?? ❤
I came here as an international student and I had up and downs while studying and working parttime and the accommodation cost is around 600 pound and groceries 120 something it’s so depressing while in uk like wtf student can work only 20hrs per week idk what I am doing here it’s so depressing while I am searching for my field job still didn’t got one had many rejection due to sponsorship and all stuff it do depressing after giving my all I couldn’t hold a field job😢. Uk was dream for me but after coming here I got to know people are depressed and just surviving themselves 😢
I had the same issue when I was a student, and I am from the UK, and I was on the maximum loan and financial help. The costs for doing a stem degree with rent being arbitrarily high in the area because of the rich Eton boys raising the prices. I dropped out. And I improved my life. I would suggest you consider your options.
@@ommanomnom I think after my visa expires I am goonn go back to my home country and create some sort of business over there Idk what UK people’s are doing just surviving that doesn’t make sense even cost of food is too much over here. I have a gut feeling I wouldn’t like to stay longer here now. Tax is too much init. I kind off regretting my decision comin in Uk.
@BhaveshN1 good to see you have a head on you and you haven't fallen for the university propaganda like I did. It was almost too late for me. I'm doing moderately fine now. But your family and life is important
Do not fall for the shared ownership scam. I did unfortunately. The rent and service charge has gone up considerably, and continues to at a minimum rate of 8% annually, coupled with the massive hikes in bank interest rates, I am barely able to cover the costs. I don't even live in a nice area.The building is run down & poorly maintained. Repairs to communal areas are shoddy, and most reports for repairs get ignored. Don't even mention the cladding issues...
If I understood correctly, you said pensioners get properties for cheaper? That’s incorrect. Those advertisements for houses are a kind of deal aimed at pensioners: they get the house for cheaper but they have to pay a large share of equity to the company when they die. It would only benefit pensioners who don’t have anybody they want to leave an inheritance to. Also, in general, the situation does seem hopeless for people on low earnings. But don’t be too logical as unexpected events can happen that make house ownership possible. For example, you could meet someone who helps you. Just keep saving and doing what you can towards your goal of home ownership, even if logically it seems impossible.
Thank you so much! This was such a helpful comment! And about the pension and home owning- I did not know that!!! So pensioners are better off buying a „normal“ property if they have relatives? Wow! Why I is that? I must look it up!!
Hi. I am originally from south London. Moved away around 20 years ago. I saw the writing on the wall back then. Anyhow, You can not make it on a basic wage in London anymore. The only way is to move away ( which I did) or start a business with a lot of promise and luck. I sympathise, it is tough living nowadays. I don't know where you are from (Germany, perhaps) I imagine it would be easier living back home for you. I am 50 years old (Gen X) and I could not get on the housing ladder on my wage. So I am saving and plan to try to retire abroad. A cheap place in Sweden or Portugal perhaps. Good luck, all the best.
Thank you so much for your comment! I love how you say „I saw the writing on the wall“ 😂 where do you live now? I think it’s great that you are open to opportunities elsewhere!
@@MelanieJosephine Hi. thankyou. I live in Hastings now. Rents are a bit cheaper but then not that much cheaper. I like living near the sea, so suits me. I have lived in Brighton, Bristol, Wales and all over London. I recently visited the peak district, beautiful part of England - I noticed you can still pick up some more affordable properties there. That's what I would consider, Moving up North perhaps. Places like Hull, you can buy a one bed for £70 K. My dad use to say "I have burnt out my brain, thinking of ways to make extra money or savings" - that's how I feel sometimes trying to find a place you can call home. I have considered, narrow boats, agricultural land self build, living abroad, motorhomes, crofts etc.. Some of these are still viable options perhaps. You gotta have a dream. Where there's a will there's a way. If it's hard, be hard with it.
@@grayhalf1854 Yeah, probably. But then I think I can live quite frugally on food. Grow your own perhaps. Houses out in the sticks are quite cheap and Sweden has a lot of wide open spaces. I have heard a lot of UK family's are going there.
I worked somewhere in London recently that employed some of the top economists in the world and yet they insisted on paying their admin staff £24 k and their PAs £27k thats a full £13k below the average bottom end market rate for a Personal Assistant.They insisted you work at least 40 to 50 per cent of your time in office at a cost for travel and sustanance of approx £20 to £30 a day. Pretty much the only way ppl could work in Business Support there was if you were either very young and living with your parents or a middleaged married woman working as a second income, All the while there were staff in their early twenties on 70k... make it make sense PS there is a lot more to the story and circumstances of the Winns in The Salt Path than you are taking into account. They had family they could have lived with etc... a HUGE part of this was an active choice.Also take into account the constant lies in that book about her husband being at deaths door when yrs later he is still alove and healthy enough to go on several huge hikes regularly. PLease do not be taken in by that story.
£24k is about right for an admin role, it's not a skilled professional role and AI will soon take it. £27k for a PA on the other hand is potentially theft, it depends who they are working for and the extent of the work they need to do.
London state schools are closing down because normal families can’t afford to live there anymore, so yes, teachers can move out! Public service jobs come with London weighting so a newly qualified nurse earns about 30 grand a year - not enough for the work really but more than the 23 grand talked about in the video. I moved from London to Manchester in 2007 because it was obvious then that London was untenable if I wanted to have a family/own a modest property (despite my entire family being from London and south Herts for as long as peasants have been recorded). Manchester isn’t the bargain it was before the TV studios relocated up here so if I were contemplating the same sort of move in 2024 I would probably choose Sheffield. I used to think life ceased beyond the M25 but I would never move back to London now.
If you're working in a creative industry or something else like hospitality, you'll be lucky to make £26k. And guess what -london has the highest concentration of jobs in the UK so it's really tough if you want to get ahead in your career. Most companies aren't interested in WFH anymore, expecting 2-3 days in the office. I have no idea how it's even possible to intern let alone be a regular professional without some serious sacrifices (living in a dump or unsafe area). Even then prospects are bleak and there's no guarantee you'll make more money or save as rents keep going up so it's a debt trap. Really depressing and sad state of affairs with a few getting rich due to parental privileges..they buy properties and become landlords so the vicious cycle continues. There should also be contol on homeownership, only one property per person/couple/family.
All the companies should be fined for paying their workers underpaid, if its skilled work and required degree or qualification fhose jobs should be paid £35k plus. If government keeps on letting the companies pay peanuts they will see more and more youngsters not study and which means they lose out on universities and have less skilled peoppe in the UK. No one from abroad will come to UK to study or settle here due to lack of skilled work paying enough. The companies should be highly monitored by goverment about this and the more people earn more money that will give back to the economy means people will gain spending power and you will see people put more money into essentials and also non essentials and live better life style meaning better mental health and less pressure on people going on benefits also higher wages mean the country will get more tax which can go to NHS and all other things. The goverment is clearly stupid and want to let the rich get richer and keep us slaving away even after spending more then years into studying from nursery to university without having break then into shit paid jobs where you cannot progress into higher salary no matter how much you level up.
We appear to be in a (death) spiral where much here does not work or work well and costs an arm and a leg. Too many past policy decisions have come back to bite us where it hurts which includes Brexit. Despite wanting to remain the EU, Brexit has at least shone a light on much that is rotten in the UK. None of us would be fully aware as to the extent of poverty or the effects of mass immigration were it not for Brexit. Putting any of it right will take a lot of imagination, which is in short supply in our parliament.
Elderly people get more help because they are more vulnerable. They are more likely to have health problems, and can't move around to keep warm When you get old, it will be your turn to get priority
Also she doesnt give them credit for the yrs they have paid into the UK economy. I think many of her points here seem selfish and inconsiderate of other citizens of the country she has chosen to live in. I was shocked to her her speak of senior citizens with such a cold and harsh tone with overtones of disrespect.
@vanessaouyang1220 yes you do. You can inherit and the government provides benefits for the child. The point is Elderly people aren't the most vulnerable neither are they the most cost effective to keep providing financial services. That would be children.
You can’t buy in central london only lease, and you want equality but it seems you want supremacy. Many of the people deemed rich to live in central london have worked hard to get where they are and some have rich parents who have worked hard. If you move out of London the cheaper it gets. Move to Scotland you can get a massive property for £100k. In Spain you can a 3 bed flat near the sea.
It blows mind how people don't lead the correction - if you keep wanting to live in London and keep paying the prices then why wouldn't that demand cause the prices to keep going up? And taking a wider view, those same people needing government handouts could much easier afford to live elsewhere in the UK but choose to stick with London and all the good stuff it offers. Meanwhile others in the UK are still on £23k and just getting by in towns with much less to offer and which receive way less government investment to improve them, but paying tax on that £23k to fund less well off people to live somewhere costing up to £1,600 a month in London 🤷🏼♂️ Those Londoners have it so good 😉
That's why HMOs have been so popular. I would much rather pay £700 for a single room with my own bathroom than without waiting for a toilet & sharing with strangers. It's certainly not easy. I am married now but i was never able to rent by myself because i wasn't earning enough
Ja, aber wenigstens hat man einen Job. Da kann man nicht wirklich viel beschweren. Es gibt viele Leute die haben keine Arbeit und die müssen jede Monat über die Runde kommen. Dieses cost of living in der UK ist zu viel. Aber was kann man machen. Vielleicht ist es besser ein eigenes Business zu gründen vor allem Online Business.
Become a nurse or teacher. They still plead poverty despite earning a very very very good good good wage. When the rest of us starve and struggle to SURVIVE. Are these o cupatiobs the only jobs are availabe???
Do we have any need for a class system? Can we live out of somewhere more conscious than our egos need to be bigger and better?, to be important, a 'senior authority'? Or on the other end of the spectrum, do we need to feel like the lowest of the low? Surely we can offer the children something far more productive for everyone and far less childish? The whole system is well past it's sell by date. My daughter and all her friends have always worked together and shared, they never had any need to be better than each other, even when running their own market stall. Thank God, they will be showing the way for my local neighbourhood. Your absolutely right, the whole situation is a complete joke, and the joke is on us.
In the UK not even just London,1 person cannot live on minimum wage comfortably. Homes are a mess because many are exhausted by the 40 hour work week and 2 people can't even afford to start a family comfortably. I've luckily bought my first home ( 10 year fixed mortgage for 26 years)with my partner in the countryside but we can't afford a car! So a better job would be harder to find. Also we can't yet renovate because we would have to pay a fortune for the tradespeople due to the lack of them locally as the skills for physical work are lacking in the education.
The future of London will get more and more expensive it's not the ideal place but i feel sorry for the future generations rooms are now costing £800 to £1500 depending on the areas, 1 bedroom flats even in greater London areas are £1500 to £1900 a month and that is expected to be double by 2035 so basically renting a room, but it's not just London it's in many locations in the UK now, many people need to work 2 to 3 jobs and 7-days a week or you have a partner, social Housing is very rare now think yourself lucky if you live in a council property in London with the right band of rent you are very lucky becuase private rent will draw blood from your veins, and way to many dodgy landlords they love london the government need it's not decreasing it's always now increasing now the good old days of London is History, for example Dagenham 4 bedroom House whopping £3400 a month scary scary bringing up a family in greater london is a task now, and this is why no one want's to work anymore get pregnant go crazy mental health go universal credit claim PIP
Wow! Did you read that it will go up so much! I guess I never thought it could go even higher! That’s crazy! Yes I 100% agree that a lot of mental health issues come from these problems!
@@MelanieJosephine Yes it seems rents haven't come down in many years it's only increasing and not matching wages at all i feel sorry for the future generations of this country i agree only way out is getting some form of inheirtance or some how coming up with a magic plan to make money but we all know the government want people poorer not richer part of their plans
Whilst I agree that living in London on a small wage is difficult, most of us have choices. I understand some people are very restricted ( if they have a disability or are caring for young kids) but a lot of us do have choices. Its just reality that you can't expect to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world just because you like it or were born there. Neither do you have to accept earning 23k the rest of your life. Get some experience, qualifications and work towards earning more. Live somewhere cheaper. Its not easy but its certainly possible. We have to take responsibility for our own situation rather than expecting the government ( other tax payers) to help us out.
Oh wow, it's been a while since I’ve heard so much nonsense. First of all, if you’re earning £23k a year, why on earth would you choose to live in London? You know, one of the most expensive cities in the world? Here’s a thought-how about moving somewhere cheaper? Your point on shared ownership is completely false. As a shared owner, you’re responsible for upgrades, but if there are actual faults, the landlord takes care of those-provided you didn’t cause them. In case you didn’t already know, every major city in the world is grappling with economic challenges right now. But it's not the end of the world. There are plenty of options available for people if they actually take the time to explore them, rather than just throwing up their hands and acting like it's all over.
Regarding UK welfare benefits your content was not exactly accurate. In addition to the standard Universal Credit rate you quoted you would then also qualify for Housing Allowance that covers most if not all of your rent and all of your council tax. Where I agree is that unemployed single people without children would struggle anywhere in the UK to afford to live independently in their own home. Its only doable if you can get the additional sickness/disability benefits on top of your Universal Credit. My thoughts are this is why the UK has had a huge increase in people applying for these benefits. The benefits system incentivises people to be deemed sick/disabled. For example my sister, an unemployed single parent with one child in a private rented property, is on these additional benefits and receives the same net income as someone earning approx £35k pa. I dont blame her for taking this route as she would not be able to get a job earning anything like that. She is trapped in this system.
London is the one of the most expensive places to live in the country. You would have better living conditions is you moved somewhere cheaper (like the north)
@RabbitMask-c7v There are plenty of higher paying jobs up here. I suppose the point I wanted to make is that if you're going to be on near minimum wage, you might as well live somewhere where costs are lower and your money goes further
Absolutely no one is forcing you to live in London. And also, the national minimum wage is £23795. And to be honest, only temporary work agencies pay absolutely minimum wage.
@RabbitMask-c7v Your point being? Most workplaces, where I live in my area, pay around £25-26K. And houses are 3-4 times cheaper than London. Again: who forces you to live in London? 26K where I live, is like £40K in London. We also pay a lot less for fuel, services and eating out. Same lifestyle.
London and everywhere in the UK has ALWAYS been tough for below average earners. Get better skills that pay and/or emigrate if your skills are in greater demand elsewhere. To be honest, it's a bit rich being an immigrant and complaining. Just emigrate back if it's better there.
Having lived and worked in London from 2010 - 2018 I was quite enjoying your video until you started knocking the pensioners, maybe you can get a job as Rachel Reeves' special advisor to screw pensioners. I had a Freedom Pass for half my time in London, having worked all my life it was only a small benefit. London has always been an expensive place to live and always will be. Good luck Millennials and Gen Zs!
Hi all! I’ve been thinking about this topic/ these issues for a while and am so glad I finally got around to creating this video. Please share your experience and knowledge in the comments. ❤
The only way I could keep the math mathing back in 2012 was by sleeping in hostels! A British freelance web developer with a bachelors degree - but sleeping in hostels with homeless people! I moved to Thailand in 2014 and I've never returned. The UK is a dump.
Maths not math.
It is 'math' @@chrysalis4126
Glad you had the brains to make the move and it worked out.
Yes. A hostel just about possible if small wages or if not easily 'employable' in those better paid agency positions and ads - who gets those!? Perhaps a room in a houseshare so far it is a job just to get in. I had to leave. Not happy to go not happy now away. I am living better abroad, however! England can get anyone to work for peanuts and has no idea how hard it is for those who are regular boring workers.
Do you speak Thai?
Minimum wage is now £25k. What is significant is that the salary for many jobs that historically paid more than minimum wage have stagnated.
There is very little point on spending £50k - £100k on university loans if you only expect to earn £5k a year more than minimum wage once you graduate.
The 40% tax (plus NI) on earnings above £50k is another trap to keep us poor. £50k is still a poverty wage in London, and the government takes over half of anything extra you happen to earn. This makes it impossible to save for your future on job income alone. It is also a direct disincentive against working harder by doing overtime or getting a second job, as the higher rate will apply to all extra earnings.
There is also no such thing as a London premium any more, so you may as well look outside of London for work. You will still struggle, but not as much.
There is a default assumption that your parents will help you, but that doesn’t apply to those whose parents can't or won't help their children.
40% is not more than half.
@chrysalis4126 National Insurance (Employers and Employees) is more than 10%
@@MrEdrftgyuji consider working in your own LTD, then your taxes are flat rate and yiu can put socks, pencils and even electricity in costs.
I'm not sure how minimum wage is calculated in terms of salary, but I was on a £23k annual salary in london working full-time. Could you tell me how you got £26k?
When national minimum wage went up recently it went up to around £22.3k. This actually meant I was worse off as my max pension contribution and match were putting me under min wage. Had to lower my salary sacrifice - calculated I was £4k worse off...
@@budgetwithluce 40 hours a week is full time. Anything less is part time. A common scam employers like to pull is to claim a job is full-time then only pay you for 35 hours a week, even if you end up working more hours.
London was tough to live in 1990 up to 2002 when I left. Salary has never been good there despite rent being cheaper than NYC where I am from. I was always skint. So glad I left to move back to America. London is for the rich or ones living on benefits and handouts. Not for those living in between.
Agree London is not for people on average salaries. I live in an outer London suburb which is relatively affordable by London standards but it still tough. I imagine the same applies in parts of the US like NYC?
@ Yes, it applies here in NYC, the world over. With inflation rising faster than salaries it’s fast becoming a world for the wealthy. Salaries are a bit better here in NYC but not by much. Live frugally.
Come to Seattle. Minimum wage is $20/hr. 2 bedroom apartment is $2000-2500, one bed is $1500+ in good areas . You would get about $34k after taxes. Food and services are slightly more expensive than in London but the same order of magnitude. Plenty of work. If you are willing to live slightly to the south , rents are cheaper 20%. low crime by American standards. And we have a light rail now to quickly get to downtown. Weather is very similar to London and likely drier . I enjoy coming to London since ethnic food you get in London is much better for the same money you get in Seattle :). Government managing your well being makes the worst job ever - you will pay high taxes and don’t get much in return. Most of the taxes will be pocketed by countless government bureaucrats.
Median household income in Seattle is 121k though. Seattle has better salaries than NYC, no state income tax, and has a way lower cost of living. NYC salaries are not even top 5 in the U.S. Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco, D.C, Boston etc all pay better.
I remember when University courses were £3k per year, then all of a sudden they raised the price to £9k, it is just greed. I have a friend who rents one room in a house for £650, and still has to pay towards gas & electric. Never has the saying "The rich are getting rich, and the poor are getting poorer," been more real than todays times.
What year were they 3k?
The uni courses were free until Labour came to power in the late 1990s and decided to charge students instead.
@@MelanieJosephine1998 was the first year of student fees in the UK. Introduced by Labour before then the courses were free. I was lucky to start uni in the year before so all of my time at uni was free, just had a normal student loan. My friends below me all had to pay. It wasn't fair and students did protest against the change but we were ignored as we knew it get worst later on.
@@missc4079 No!
The decision to end university grants was passed through by John Major's govt in 1994. The process was to be incremental over preceding years, which is why it didn't start to be more publicly recognised until Blair's tenure.
Blair simply decided to look the other way and let the policy through when he could have sought to stop it. But it was the tories that abolished grants.
Get your facts right before you post.
My room in a six-person London house share is £800 per month. It's literally unsustainable on less than £40k per year.
Dont get shared ownership! I did and it made me financially and physically stuck in a flat i didnt want for 10 years! They doubled the service charge shortly after i moved in as they made an error on the calulations at 1st! The flat didnt increase in valie at all in a time when other properties sky rocketted. I bought it as a step up when it actially did the opposite and set me behind. Should have just moved up notth and bought a normal property!
Im glad you were able to get out of this in the end!! Wow! Thank you for sharing this! It is outrageous that they made you pay for something that was their fault in the first place!!!
my colleague is in the same predicament, the service charge has almost doubled and she's in a 1 bed and has a baby on the way...
@@degenerates1971 oh no thats really horrible situation. I hope she is able to resolve her living situation soon. With my flat after years of trying to sell I reduced the price by 20k and then said to the estate agent if you find a sale and it completes within 4 months of now- i will give you double commission. Sounds counter intuitive but it worked! I was lucky in that id bèen able to staircase to 100% ownership so i was able to sell to a landlord who happened to prefer housing association flats despite the high service charges! Its crazy as i saw on right move recently a flat in the block i was in for sale for £105k (south coast) but when i bought it in 2003 it was also valued at £105k. Its bananas!
the only way 23K would work in London is if you live rent free :D
That's why some people choose to stay at home and save as much money as possible .
A room in a shared house is minimum 700 or 800 pounds this is impossible
Honestly I had colleagues paying 1400 + so they could only have one other housemate. That's was most of their salary at the time
Thats at the lower end.
The population of London has nearly doubled in 25 years. Elsewhere the increase has also been significant. The pressure on housing as well as public services, infrastructure, the road network etc has obviously caused huge problems for everyone. But the rich have got much richer and they have huge political influence.
True but we need to do something about it. More people who speak for the people need to get into government
Good luck with London. In Louisville Kentucky ( a city that has an international airport, the global headquarters of KFC and Pizzahut, Ford factories makingthe F 150 etc), i bought a 2 bed house with a front and back yard etc for $9,500 (needed renovation). Borrowed and spent 50,000 in renovations. Now I have a brand new house for $60,000 with new everything, including central heating and cooling. So, why do people live in places like London is beyond me.
I love that you did that! Very brave! Yes it’s about finding the right opportunity for yourself
Anything under £35k a year in London or £30k a year in the south east is poverty pay
I moved out of London and the UK altogether a few months ago because I was literally scraping by on 33.5k. I cannot get my head around living on 23k...🤯 I miss the UK but I think I made the right decision by leaving...
You did it only gets worse here and I see a recession coming 2025 so well done enjoy yourself hopefully it's warm where you are 👍 🙏
Power to you! Where did you move to?
Where did you move to
@@imapadlock I moved back home (Spain). Things are awful here too but I saw no alternative for the time being... I really needed a break from paying extortionate rent and the stress of living in London.
@@c3pno I also had the feeling a recession was on its way, plus they put my rent up by a ridiculous amount, salary remained the same, etc
Northern Spain is cold in winter but definitely warmer than the UK from Springtime till the Autumn.
I left the UK in 2016 and moved to Germany. Germany certainly has problems as well, but it is much better than the UK. I have a much better-paid job now, own my own house (not a flat), and the living costs are much lower.
Transport in Germany is a lot cheaper, you can get a travel card to travel all over Germany for €40-60 a month. In the UK traveling to Newcastle or Scotland by rail costs £150 alone
I left London after 40yrs since birth
Im so happy now
Sad to see so many youngsters in London cant afford to move.out.from parents house
The system is designed exactly to keep you struggling
Buy a house stamp.duty
Sell a house capital gains tax
Have a vehicle MOT road tax insurance
Council tax .,.
Utilities....
Broadband....
😢
Im so glad to hear you’re happy now! I wouldn’t know where to move/ where to start…
This is the same the UK over - not just London (because, for eg, your wage will probably be lower). The UK keeps its subjects poor. End of. Only the upper classes and wealthy property owners who keep it in the family will ever have a chance of a decent life.
It has to change
@@MelanieJosephine I don't think it ever will because Britain is a class-based society: class divisions and status hierarchies have always been in place - rigid, unbending and totally recognisable to those brought up here. It's easy to tell who is in the club and who isn't (language for instance is a huge signifier) and those that aren't (the masses) are given enough crumbs to keep going but in the long run get shafted.
@ interesting. I wouldn’t be able to tell because I’m from Germany. I can’t tell apart the language differences
@@MelanieJosephine It's very hard to "get on" in the UK; to make a good, decent life for yourself - particularly in comparison with similar western European countries. We have a low standard of living: costs are high and wages/pensions are low. You can work as hard as you like.... I see many people on YT realising this and leaving for a better life.
So start a side hustle and slowly transfer to being your own boss.
I often wonder how London is going to get its low-paid work done.
I often wonder if some low paid workers simply live with family or share a room, even when they’re older
That's why they are taking many "refugees"
Illegal immigrants doing it, working for cash. Don't you know this? Others are UK people who claim benefits and do cash jobs on the side.
Immigration supplies the low paid workers. They get given council houses so the rent is low. 87% of social housing in London is occupied by non British/ Not even European people. This has tipped the balance in the rental market. You can Google these figures where it will list by nationality who occupies social housing, it has been in the Telegraph and can be found on .gov website.
It is horrible everywhere in the UK now days , a skilled jobs people are not able to earn more than £30k , all the skilled jobs are underpaid and they are literally close to minimum wage. Companies are making big profit and giving their workers shit wages.
You are absolutely right, society is geared to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, it started back in the dark days of Thatcher, who sold off the council houses without building any replacements for the next generation, leaving a giant vacuum of affordable rental accommodation. 10:34
I didn’t know that! I have to read up on that!
Yup. Neoliberalism has been a disaster and created an unequal society.
I lived in Kew during 90s and it was an ex-council one-bed flat for £500/pm including all the utility bills. That took about quarter of my income and my first job started at 25k. After couple years, I moved out of London but it was the most insane fun time in my career to this day.
Now I won't go back even double my salary.
I was on 23k in Manchester recently until i got this new job and it was nearly impossible and i only survived because of luck and having no life. If i was in london i would have been dead or ended up in jail 100%
It's a manufactured problem. Its on purpose. They want us all on benefits, in prison, in debt, so they can control our accounts and our entire spending lives and never leave so we can be tax cows.
So glad i got a better job, im never going to london ever again. Even visiting it just once a year puts me under drastic financial stress.
Get the hell out of london, its a life or death decision
Thank you 💛
To live in London on a below 30k salary, you need to either live in a houseshare, live with parents, or get lucky with a long-term housesit. However, rent in many other cities across England is not necessarily much cheaper.
Gross or net
@raymondkuipers8669 gross
I was living on £23k, now lucky enough to have had a £3k bump, but I can confidently say that the only way I can afford living in London, is because I rent a one bedroom with my partner.
When I was living alone, I was a lodger paying £675 to live in a 10 sq m room in a family's home and commuted in. I think my commuting costs were 30% of my budget at the time. I think I barely spent money on anything else and saved around £250 a month. £23k really isn't much especially if one has a family to provide for, heck it isn't enough for someone with no dependants these days.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Hi Melanie, I live in a city in the Midwest in the USA.
Living in our city used to be much more affordable with rents and buying a first home.
However, in the last five years costs have gone up dramatically for anyone who is middle or low income while salaries haven’t increased.
The hustle culture is booming here with people taking on multiple jobs out of necessity just to get by month-to-month
We also have extremely lengthy waiting lists for subsidized housing. It could easily take 6 to 10 years of waiting even if you qualify.
Social services help is minimal limited mostly to Food banks so if you don’t have family to live with and share expenses,
life is very difficult if you are single here.
Yes family help is so important now but not everyone has it
Same situation here Toronto 🇨🇦
true that. then why not move here
re shared ownership... they are usually offered by Housing Associations, who are supposed to be 'not for profit' ... however, if you investigate the wages of the directors of the housing associations, some are earning over £500k p/a after bonuses! That's more than double what the PM earns!
Omg!!!!
Strict rent controls are needed in the whole of the UK.
It is!
Buy the parking space and rent it out. The joke is you would make a fortune.
Love it 😂
I left London many years ago but recently wanted to return following the death of my partner - to be close to friends. I was shocked to see that my salary in Belfast for Education Admin was actually higher than for similar jobs in London. Property prices are lower here, cost of living is better too I think. I had to give up the dream to return 'home'.
Interesting. But if you would really like to come back maybe you can find another way? Or apply and insist in keeping your salary?
@@MelanieJosephine no the salary is not enough - in Belfast on £25k I can live well enough but it wouldn't work in most other UK cities and definitely not London. I'm going to be staying here and seeing how things go. Thanks though, an interesting vlog. 🙂
Don't live in London on a low salary. Go somewhere that works for you, and you can feel rich on less than you would expect.
Completely agree with you it's a disgrace. The wages are deliberately not kept up with inflation. In the year 2000 i as a web designer could easily earn £40k and prices for rent, food, bills, transport were relatively low. Then things started to got worse in 2007 salary for web manager was £40k and prices for cost of living started to go up. And now salary for any mangarial role in 2025 is still around £40-50k mark but costs for everything else has gone up exponentially .
The uk capitalist bankster interest debt based usury run pyrimid scheme political system clearly is designed to drain wealth from middle class and working class and get the mega rich even richer.
Thank you for this insight!
Accurately defined, anyone who's buying property 9x average wage are setting themselves in a slavery trap.
No way they lend x9 off your salary!!
@NMiller80666 try handing over the asking deposit, how much do you think the prices against the average wages are at the moment?
London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Living in London is not a realistic option for an ordinary working person unless you are okay with extreme hardship. This is the same for many global cities in the world. Maybe if you are a young person living with your parents in the London area you can manage on the lower salary. But anyone else with common sense will soon realise it is very foolish to think you can live in London and have a reasonable standard of living. Not all of the UK has this very extreme situation (although most of the UK now has challenges with the availability and cost of accommodation). Having lived in London for 15 years before moving out, I learnt the hard way and wish I'd moved away sooner and got myself on the property ladder elsewhere in the UK.
Do you have recommendations where to move though?
Shared ownership is a joke ,each time you waht to buy a bigger share you have to.go through the conveyancing again. No point. Well mentioned points.
Conveyencing again? I didn’t know that!
@@MelanieJosephine I had a shared ownership house and would never do again. The selling is also a nightmare with having to pay the housing association £1000 for a piece of paper consenting to the sale. Some leases require them to approve your buyer and try to sell it via them, to sell at a lower price than it is worth, to people that they select.
@@MelanieJosephine Yes, Everytime you want to staircase you have to get a solicitor or conveyancer all over again. If the property increased in price, you have to pay more for the new shares :(
Also watch out for the leases in leasehold properties.
Shared ownership is not home ownership.
I have heard Poland is a far better option then the UK to live in. It's set to become richer then the UK by 2030, it's universities are free, the way it's universal healthcare is set up is far better then the british NHS and both food and rent is a lot cheaper even in the capital.
If they collect so much tax, where that money go? One think is sure that money don't go back the English people.
Good question
Shine your light for all of us, and thank you xx
Thank you ❤
Quick way to boost the economy is to build loads of housing. The government and business doesn’t do this because scarcity increases the prices of rent and property ownership. Thus increasing wallet size of incumbent property/land owners. Game is rigged.
Yes. What I haven’t understood is- is the Labor government building more social housing? But I guess even if they do, it will take a while
@ doubt it. All talk usually to get elected.
All the new build properties popping up overnight and hardly any are social housing is bad - plus why the government sold off large amounts of the housing stock, privatised everything like gas, electric, water, all the basics for living to corporations who charge whatever bills they see fit has added to the problem. It's nice to see this issue being talked about 👍
Thank you!
I have two adult children who are still living at home with us, we live on the London/Essex border and they cannot afford to leave home. They are both on minimum wage and even though they are both qualified they just can’t get a higher wage. It has got to the point that my daughter is looking to move up North as she can get so much more for her money. Where we are, a one bedroom flat to buy is £200000, however up north she can get a three bedroom house for that! She will be buying with a close friend of hers. It’s the only way they can move out and get independence. How can people be expected to manage on £25000 a year!
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
My advice, take it or leave it, never buy a house with anyone else. If you're in a relationship with someone then get some kind of prenup contract drawn up.
Finally someone who has acknowledged this topic.
Thank you!
I think the problem is housing and it’s lack of, quality and cost. I spent years living on benefits of £ 70 a week after housing. I had to pay my bills out of that leaving me with £35 a week to live on
Wow! I hope you earn more now?
You could always go back to Germany where they have rent controls. People born in London have been shafted by domestic and foreign migration.
Yes, but I’m not planning on doing so atm. But i was thinking of rent control the other day. Why has the uk government never thought of that? We need to write letters to our mps! I think not enough people speak up.
You are very naive.@@MelanieJosephine
Guys, I'm from Brazil, and it's very difficult to live here. So, I wanna live in UK, I was thinking about Manchester, because I think London isn't the best choice, but idk yet.
Yeah, London, is way too expensive for anyone who is on a minimum wage. Better to move to up to the north for sure.
Manchester is great, it's a fun friendly city and easy to travel to other places in the UK from there. The rent prices are definitely going up in Manchester too unfortunately, but it's not as bad as London! Its more chilled out too, London can be kinda stressful.
I have been to Brazil many times and have some very good friends there. I am also from Manchester. Don't just think about the salary you could earn here, please think about the quality of life. Manchester is a miserable city.
Sorry slightly off topic here but I love your accent! It's so soothing to listen to 😊 Perhaps you should join the ASMR community on here 😊 Great video too ❤
Thank you 🙏
Try looking outside London for property that way you will definitely get on the property ladder with them figures 🤞
Thanks for the tip!
This is what happens when the Government only invests in one city. it becomes too expensive to live because all the jobs and opportunities are there so naturally more people from across the country and world will want to live there to benefit from the opportunities available. The government need to invest in other areas of the UK so people don't have to move to London. I used to live in Manchester so theres a similar problem as too many people were moving there which was affecting the house prices, rents etc. good video by the way
Thank you!!!
£30k is the lowest to survive, to cover rent, food & travel. £45k is the new £30k😢
With so many m.p. Landlords we are not going to see rent control anytime soon. The UK.is wealthy enough to make sure that everyone has a roof of some sort over their heads.
That is living in a city for you... You cannot live in or near the centre on close to minimum wage. It is the same for many other countries too eg. USA New York. You are forced to travel in to work from the suburbs and the lower your income, the further out you have to go. Also true, if you are close to minumum wage and single, you will be saving a super long time to have your own property. Everything is set up for couples, or renting.
Thanks Melanie, very interesting. Sadly the UK has deteriorated hugely in the past few decades. I lived in London in the 1980's - we were not earning much and living in multi shared accommodation then i.e. no lounge just all rooms used as 'bedrooms'. My mortgage interest rate (when I attempted to buy a flat) in the 1980s was 17% so I part owned a 2 bed flat with a friend and lost it all after 2 years. Nothing has improved. I'm in my 60's still working (no pension yet) and earn about £11,000 a year - awful. Better to live in a more caring equitable country if you have the option.
I’m really sorry to hear that!
I feel like it was worse in the 80’s than now. Also if you have a good family they should be fine with you living with them.
i got lucky i got a council house so rent is 590 a month i use to be a labouer but i look everyday and the number of jobs shows i wont have any securty i am on disabilty atm at nearly 2k a month with all my benfits its not work me working unless they pay 14.50 ph or more
I’m really glad you got a council house. how long were you on the waiting list?
It's a type of social housing called a housing co op I got it because my dad's a member and recommended me
I did not live well on £40k in Watford (North West London) in 08 so I left.
23k now would be living in poverty even if you lived rent free with the folks.
UK average is £30k+ so £23k in London you daffy ducked.
The way people live in Lon 10:41 don on low income is by relying on housing benefit. However in order to get a meaningful amount you need to have kids.
As many already, why choose to live/work within M25/London??
To reduce housing costs, Isn't it possible to 'buddy up' with 2 others?
- 1 bedroom place is £1000 pm say?
- 3 bedroom place isn't necessarily £3000, maybe £2000?
Is this possible in reality ?? ❤
Good idea! I’m not sure, would need to look into it!!!
MOVE out of London. Use your experience in other cities.
Im lucky i inhereted 2 houses from my late grandmother
So happy for you!
I came here as an international student and I had up and downs while studying and working parttime and the accommodation cost is around 600 pound and groceries 120 something it’s so depressing while in uk like wtf student can work only 20hrs per week idk what I am doing here it’s so depressing while I am searching for my field job still didn’t got one had many rejection due to sponsorship and all stuff it do depressing after giving my all I couldn’t hold a field job😢.
Uk was dream for me but after coming here I got to know people are depressed and just surviving themselves 😢
I had the same issue when I was a student, and I am from the UK, and I was on the maximum loan and financial help. The costs for doing a stem degree with rent being arbitrarily high in the area because of the rich Eton boys raising the prices.
I dropped out. And I improved my life. I would suggest you consider your options.
@@ommanomnom I think after my visa expires I am goonn go back to my home country and create some sort of business over there Idk what UK people’s are doing just surviving that doesn’t make sense even cost of food is too much over here.
I have a gut feeling I wouldn’t like to stay longer here now.
Tax is too much init.
I kind off regretting my decision comin in Uk.
@BhaveshN1 good to see you have a head on you and you haven't fallen for the university propaganda like I did. It was almost too late for me.
I'm doing moderately fine now. But your family and life is important
Are you still here? Was your dream to stay?
@@ommanomnomI love that! I’m so happy you improved your life!
I am a carer for my autistic son, we are struggling tooo....we are in private rent. It is so hard to run day to day life...
have you tried applying for council housing
You’re a parent!
@@woofolliesmydog8628 parents can receive Carer's Allowance if their autistic children are in receipt of DLA
I never got to 23k. Would have been glad to. 😅
You can do it!
Buyng a properyy is the U.K. is nearly impossie and will become Impossible for most folk very very soon.
Im still hoping it won’t get worse
Uk is poor london is crazy will re develop its slums and poor houses they destroyed it...good video
Thank you!
Do not fall for the shared ownership scam. I did unfortunately. The rent and service charge has gone up considerably, and continues to at a minimum rate of 8% annually, coupled with the massive hikes in bank interest rates, I am barely able to cover the costs. I don't even live in a nice area.The building is run down & poorly maintained. Repairs to communal areas are shoddy, and most reports for repairs get ignored. Don't even mention the cladding issues...
I hope you find a way out of it
If I understood correctly, you said pensioners get properties for cheaper? That’s incorrect. Those advertisements for houses are a kind of deal aimed at pensioners: they get the house for cheaper but they have to pay a large share of equity to the company when they die. It would only benefit pensioners who don’t have anybody they want to leave an inheritance to. Also, in general, the situation does seem hopeless for people on low earnings. But don’t be too logical as unexpected events can happen that make house ownership possible. For example, you could meet someone who helps you. Just keep saving and doing what you can towards your goal of home ownership, even if logically it seems impossible.
Thank you so much! This was such a helpful comment! And about the pension and home owning- I did not know that!!! So pensioners are better off buying a „normal“ property if they have relatives? Wow! Why I is that? I must look it up!!
Hi. I am originally from south London. Moved away around 20 years ago. I saw the writing on the wall back then. Anyhow, You can not make it on a basic wage in London anymore. The only way is to move away ( which I did) or start a business with a lot of promise and luck. I sympathise, it is tough living nowadays. I don't know where you are from (Germany, perhaps) I imagine it would be easier living back home for you. I am 50 years old (Gen X) and I could not get on the housing ladder on my wage. So I am saving and plan to try to retire abroad. A cheap place in Sweden or Portugal perhaps. Good luck, all the best.
Portugal sounds more sensible... wouldn't the cost of living in Sweden be too much?
Thank you so much for your comment! I love how you say „I saw the writing on the wall“ 😂 where do you live now? I think it’s great that you are open to opportunities elsewhere!
@@MelanieJosephine Hi. thankyou. I live in Hastings now. Rents are a bit cheaper but then not that much cheaper. I like living near the sea, so suits me. I have lived in Brighton, Bristol, Wales and all over London. I recently visited the peak district, beautiful part of England - I noticed you can still pick up some more affordable properties there. That's what I would consider, Moving up North perhaps. Places like Hull, you can buy a one bed for £70 K. My dad use to say "I have burnt out my brain, thinking of ways to make extra money or savings" - that's how I feel sometimes trying to find a place you can call home. I have considered, narrow boats, agricultural land self build, living abroad, motorhomes, crofts etc.. Some of these are still viable options perhaps. You gotta have a dream. Where there's a will there's a way. If it's hard, be hard with it.
@@grayhalf1854 Yeah, probably. But then I think I can live quite frugally on food. Grow your own perhaps. Houses out in the sticks are quite cheap and Sweden has a lot of wide open spaces. I have heard a lot of UK family's are going there.
@@MrLeighmanInteresting. I lived in Denmark for a while and never even considered it as a more affordable place to live - quite the opposite in fact.
I worked somewhere in London recently that employed some of the top economists in the world and yet they insisted on paying their admin staff £24 k and their PAs £27k thats a full £13k below the average bottom end market rate for a Personal Assistant.They insisted you work at least 40 to 50 per cent of your time in office at a cost for travel and sustanance of approx £20 to £30 a day. Pretty much the only way ppl could work in Business Support there was if you were either very young and living with your parents or a middleaged married woman working as a second income, All the while there were staff in their early twenties on 70k... make it make sense
PS there is a lot more to the story and circumstances of the Winns in The Salt Path than you are taking into account. They had family they could have lived with etc... a HUGE part of this was an active choice.Also take into account the constant lies in that book about her husband being at deaths door when yrs later he is still alove and healthy enough to go on several huge hikes regularly. PLease do not be taken in by that story.
This is very interesting! Thank you so much for taking the time to go into so much detail!
£24k is about right for an admin role, it's not a skilled professional role and AI will soon take it.
£27k for a PA on the other hand is potentially theft, it depends who they are working for and the extent of the work they need to do.
Move out of London.
😂
Exactly my thoughts. You can get much more for your money with better quality of life in other places.
so all the teachers, nurses, bus drivers should move out?
@@dvs2024tvvget jobs outside London, thankfully those jobs exist.
London state schools are closing down because normal families can’t afford to live there anymore, so yes, teachers can move out!
Public service jobs come with London weighting so a newly qualified nurse earns about 30 grand a year - not enough for the work really but more than the 23 grand talked about in the video.
I moved from London to Manchester in 2007 because it was obvious then that London was untenable if I wanted to have a family/own a modest property (despite my entire family being from London and south Herts for as long as peasants have been recorded).
Manchester isn’t the bargain it was before the TV studios relocated up here so if I were contemplating the same sort of move in 2024 I would probably choose Sheffield.
I used to think life ceased beyond the M25 but I would never move back to London now.
You mention UC but not housing allowance which is a separate amount the government will pay you to cover most of the cost of renting a room.
Yes- you are right! I did not know that when I did the video
If you're working in a creative industry or something else like hospitality, you'll be lucky to make £26k. And guess what -london has the highest concentration of jobs in the UK so it's really tough if you want to get ahead in your career. Most companies aren't interested in WFH anymore, expecting 2-3 days in the office. I have no idea how it's even possible to intern let alone be a regular professional without some serious sacrifices (living in a dump or unsafe area). Even then prospects are bleak and there's no guarantee you'll make more money or save as rents keep going up so it's a debt trap. Really depressing and sad state of affairs with a few getting rich due to parental privileges..they buy properties and become landlords so the vicious cycle continues. There should also be contol on homeownership, only one property per person/couple/family.
Thank you for this comment! You have some really good ideas! There should be more control so that the greedy can’t carry on with their greed
All the companies should be fined for paying their workers underpaid, if its skilled work and required degree or qualification fhose jobs should be paid £35k plus. If government keeps on letting the companies pay peanuts they will see more and more youngsters not study and which means they lose out on universities and have less skilled peoppe in the UK. No one from abroad will come to UK to study or settle here due to lack of skilled work paying enough. The companies should be highly monitored by goverment about this and the more people earn more money that will give back to the economy means people will gain spending power and you will see people put more money into essentials and also non essentials and live better life style meaning better mental health and less pressure on people going on benefits also higher wages mean the country will get more tax which can go to NHS and all other things. The goverment is clearly stupid and want to let the rich get richer and keep us slaving away even after spending more then years into studying from nursery to university without having break then into shit paid jobs where you cannot progress into higher salary no matter how much you level up.
Thank you for this comment. You hit the nail on the head! The government has to see the bigger picture of this. I agree
We appear to be in a (death) spiral where much here does not work or work well and costs an arm and a leg.
Too many past policy decisions have come back to bite us where it hurts which includes Brexit.
Despite wanting to remain the EU, Brexit has at least shone a light on much that is rotten in the UK.
None of us would be fully aware as to the extent of poverty or the effects of mass immigration were it not for Brexit.
Putting any of it right will take a lot of imagination, which is in short supply in our parliament.
A lot to think about…
Elderly people get more help because they are more vulnerable. They are more likely to have health problems, and can't move around to keep warm
When you get old, it will be your turn to get priority
Yes of course I get it. It’s just when you’re at the other end it can feel unfair.
Also she doesnt give them credit for the yrs they have paid into the UK economy. I think many of her points here seem selfish and inconsiderate of other citizens of the country she has chosen to live in. I was shocked to her her speak of senior citizens with such a cold and harsh tone with overtones of disrespect.
The elderly get this as they vote and it shouldn't be that way. If you are 70 you had 70 years to save.
@ellieamissah3759 That's ridiculous. Nobody earns money, from the day they are born.
@vanessaouyang1220 yes you do. You can inherit and the government provides benefits for the child. The point is Elderly people aren't the most vulnerable neither are they the most cost effective to keep providing financial services. That would be children.
You can’t buy in central london only lease, and you want equality but it seems you want supremacy. Many of the people deemed rich to live in central london have worked hard to get where they are and some have rich parents who have worked hard. If you move out of London the cheaper it gets. Move to Scotland you can get a massive property for £100k. In Spain you can a 3 bed flat near the sea.
It blows mind how people don't lead the correction - if you keep wanting to live in London and keep paying the prices then why wouldn't that demand cause the prices to keep going up?
And taking a wider view, those same people needing government handouts could much easier afford to live elsewhere in the UK but choose to stick with London and all the good stuff it offers.
Meanwhile others in the UK are still on £23k and just getting by in towns with much less to offer and which receive way less government investment to improve them, but paying tax on that £23k to fund less well off people to live somewhere costing up to £1,600 a month in London 🤷🏼♂️
Those Londoners have it so good 😉
If you are adult person it is difficult to get mortgage because not many years left till pension age 😞
That's why HMOs have been so popular. I would much rather pay £700 for a single room with my own bathroom than without waiting for a toilet & sharing with strangers. It's certainly not easy. I am married now but i was never able to rent by myself because i wasn't earning enough
Did that worry you in the past?
£1500 on rent? That means a room in a house share at most.
Ja, aber wenigstens hat man einen Job. Da kann man nicht wirklich viel beschweren. Es gibt viele Leute die haben keine Arbeit und die müssen jede Monat über die Runde kommen.
Dieses cost of living in der UK ist zu viel. Aber was kann man machen. Vielleicht ist es besser ein eigenes Business zu gründen vor allem Online Business.
23k ??? What the hxlll? I am on 50k and barely surviving
😂
@MelanieJosephine 😆
How are you living on 23k? Thats below minimum wage isn't it?
Become a nurse or teacher. They still plead poverty despite earning a very very very good good good wage. When the rest of us starve and struggle to SURVIVE. Are these o cupatiobs the only jobs are availabe???
This lady is spot on
❤
London on that Salary is barely surviving. Beans and rice renting a room in a shared house
£1650 pcm in London? Completely pointless waste of life. Really decent single room in HMO in Southampton is much less than £500
Southampton is not a nice place but compared to London it's like heaven 😂
Yeah, it's Southampton - not really the centre of the universe.
@@stewartdahamman2472 Fair enough. Enjoy living in London on the salary easily achieveable by Sotonians working in Lidl . Knife crime all settled?
Less than 500£ wow
It's only £500 because you're sharing a bathroom with strangers. Horrible.
Do we have any need for a class system? Can we live out of somewhere more conscious than our egos need to be bigger and better?, to be important, a 'senior authority'? Or on the other end of the spectrum, do we need to feel like the lowest of the low? Surely we can offer the children something far more productive for everyone and far less childish? The whole system is well past it's sell by date. My daughter and all her friends have always worked together and shared, they never had any need to be better than each other, even when running their own market stall. Thank God, they will be showing the way for my local neighbourhood. Your absolutely right, the whole situation is a complete joke, and the joke is on us.
You are completely right when you say the system is outdated! Loved your comment!
In the UK not even just London,1 person cannot live on minimum wage comfortably. Homes are a mess because many are exhausted by the 40 hour work week and 2 people can't even afford to start a family comfortably. I've luckily bought my first home ( 10 year fixed mortgage for 26 years)with my partner in the countryside but we can't afford a car! So a better job would be harder to find. Also we can't yet renovate because we would have to pay a fortune for the tradespeople due to the lack of them locally as the skills for physical work are lacking in the education.
Yes a lot of people can’t start a family because of this. Which is something I want to talk about on this channel soon
The future of London will get more and more expensive it's not the ideal place but i feel sorry for the future generations rooms are now costing £800 to £1500 depending on the areas, 1 bedroom flats even in greater London areas are £1500 to £1900 a month and that is expected to be double by 2035 so basically renting a room, but it's not just London it's in many locations in the UK now, many people need to work 2 to 3 jobs and 7-days a week or you have a partner, social Housing is very rare now think yourself lucky if you live in a council property in London with the right band of rent you are very lucky becuase private rent will draw blood from your veins, and way to many dodgy landlords they love london the government need it's not decreasing it's always now increasing now the good old days of London is History, for example Dagenham 4 bedroom House whopping £3400 a month scary scary bringing up a family in greater london is a task now, and this is why no one want's to work anymore get pregnant go crazy mental health go universal credit claim PIP
Wow! Did you read that it will go up so much! I guess I never thought it could go even higher! That’s crazy! Yes I 100% agree that a lot of mental health issues come from these problems!
@@MelanieJosephine Yes it seems rents haven't come down in many years it's only increasing and not matching wages at all i feel sorry for the future generations of this country i agree only way out is getting some form of inheirtance or some how coming up with a magic plan to make money but we all know the government want people poorer not richer part of their plans
Whilst I agree that living in London on a small wage is difficult, most of us have choices. I understand some people are very restricted ( if they have a disability or are caring for young kids) but a lot of us do have choices. Its just reality that you can't expect to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world just because you like it or were born there. Neither do you have to accept earning 23k the rest of your life. Get some experience, qualifications and work towards earning more. Live somewhere cheaper. Its not easy but its certainly possible. We have to take responsibility for our own situation rather than expecting the government ( other tax payers) to help us out.
I lived like that until I was 24. It’s an ugly life.
Thank you for sharing!
Check wat the local people in quatar gets , u will be shocked, why uk government has so cheap behavior,
Oh wow, it's been a while since I’ve heard so much nonsense. First of all, if you’re earning £23k a year, why on earth would you choose to live in London? You know, one of the most expensive cities in the world? Here’s a thought-how about moving somewhere cheaper?
Your point on shared ownership is completely false. As a shared owner, you’re responsible for upgrades, but if there are actual faults, the landlord takes care of those-provided you didn’t cause them. In case you didn’t already know, every major city in the world is grappling with economic challenges right now. But it's not the end of the world. There are plenty of options available for people if they actually take the time to explore them, rather than just throwing up their hands and acting like it's all over.
Regarding UK welfare benefits your content was not exactly accurate. In addition to the standard Universal Credit rate you quoted you would then also qualify for Housing Allowance that covers most if not all of your rent and all of your council tax. Where I agree is that unemployed single people without children would struggle anywhere in the UK to afford to live independently in their own home. Its only doable if you can get the additional sickness/disability benefits on top of your Universal Credit. My thoughts are this is why the UK has had a huge increase in people applying for these benefits. The benefits system incentivises people to be deemed sick/disabled. For example my sister, an unemployed single parent with one child in a private rented property, is on these additional benefits and receives the same net income as someone earning approx £35k pa. I dont blame her for taking this route as she would not be able to get a job earning anything like that. She is trapped in this system.
Thank you for your comment! Because I wasn’t 100% sure if I missed something! That’s very interesting!
Living on 27k in Glasgow rent free is way better.
😊
London is the one of the most expensive places to live in the country. You would have better living conditions is you moved somewhere cheaper (like the north)
More like in the world, I don’t get why people choose to live there and earn a minimum wage
Issue is, a lack of higher tier employment opportunity in the north
@RabbitMask-c7v There are plenty of higher paying jobs up here. I suppose the point I wanted to make is that if you're going to be on near minimum wage, you might as well live somewhere where costs are lower and your money goes further
@@jamesdcuk There are not many good paying jobs in the north. There is lack of infrastructure and an unloved feeling there
Shock - living in a capital city on a low wage is difficult.
London centric thinking has damaged. (Wait for it) London.
Absolutely no one is forcing you to live in London. And also, the national minimum wage is £23795. And to be honest, only temporary work agencies pay absolutely minimum wage.
Yeah man, 80% of jobs pay £1 above min wage/hr!!!! :O so life changing!!
@RabbitMask-c7v Your point being? Most workplaces, where I live in my area, pay around £25-26K. And houses are 3-4 times cheaper than London. Again: who forces you to live in London? 26K where I live, is like £40K in London. We also pay a lot less for fuel, services and eating out. Same lifestyle.
@@ares23dcwhere do you live?
@@ares23dc You're still poor so what's your point?
@@MelanieJosephine Rotherham, Mansfield, Sheffield area.
London and everywhere in the UK has ALWAYS been tough for below average earners. Get better skills that pay and/or emigrate if your skills are in greater demand elsewhere.
To be honest, it's a bit rich being an immigrant and complaining. Just emigrate back if it's better there.
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There's no point living in London under 100k before tax. You'll feel fucking miserable
Is that a st Christopher
Having lived and worked in London from 2010 - 2018 I was quite enjoying your video until you started knocking the pensioners, maybe you can get a job as Rachel Reeves' special advisor to screw pensioners. I had a Freedom Pass for half my time in London, having worked all my life it was only a small benefit. London has always been an expensive place to live and always will be. Good luck Millennials and Gen Zs!