Gas & Electric

I actually got a £60.07 rebate from Eon..

 

Whatever happened to North Sea gas ?

 

Err...Electricity has just gone up 40% here and further rises to follow and the last time I looked Italy was still in the EU. For once nothing to do with brexit and much to do with converting to environmental green generation and other global factors

 

This and the Irish Sea field still provide 44% of our needs.

 

Greedy producers blaming enviromental green generation factors. It costs no more today to extract than it did last y

Or simply greed on the part of the producers. It costs no more today to extract it than it did this time last year.

 

According to my 1987 P60, I was paid £7,396.
After deductions, approx £5,300k, or £440 a month.
So the mortgage of £100 was 23% of my pay to begin with, then went up to 34% when interest rates peaked.

Plus £24 per month for the associated endowment policy. So factoring that in, my total mortgage/endowment cost started at 28% of my pay, then rose to 40%. It was another two years before interest rates fell back to our start point, though thankfully they eventually settled down at around 5-7% for some years.

As to the house value. We sold the property after 7 years (1994) and by then the value had doubled from £15k to £30k. Didn't really help us, though, because the house we were buying had also gone up and we paid £60k for a house that might have been £30k when we started out. It's now worth £240k, so assuming similar increases, the original terrace house is probably worth around £120k. Mind you, it was within spitting distance of Oakwell, so could be worth a hell of a lot more now.

I've no idea how any of that compares to current house buyers experiences. Might be interesting if someone could provide the current equivalent. Just to add, though, that when we bought in 87, the building society based it's lending limits solely on my wage. My wife-to-be's wage was completely excluded.

 

House value inflation is never about what it costs you to buy something else, it's all about how much of your income is sucked up by housing costs. And that's the same whether renting or buying.

And whilst 'we' may have suffered somewhat re interest rates, that £15k house that was twice your salary is now worth £120-£140k according to a quick RightMove search which is about 5x the average income in Barnsley now. So more or less fits in with my first house in Donny.

 

My lot Avro energy went bust 2 months ago I’m getting changed to octopus. I’ve not laid a direct debit for 2 months so I’m either quids in or £250 in debt!

 

Thread Entertainment Index: 67
Accuracy Index: 65
Depression Index: 88
TOTAL SCORE: 220

 

When April comes next year my estimate bills increase is like well over 100. My wages are not gonna barely cover this soon. Its a joke.

We will be living to work not working to live.

 

Pompey, please see my post at #17 on Page 1 above.

 

how did you pay your broadband subscription,your smart phone subscription and the Netflix and the amazon prime and the gym membership

 

Just think back to the posts by another member about how ‘easy’ it is to live on a low wage.
He has no debt other than a mortgage, and manages a small ‘saving’ float. And he’d argue he’s done exactly as we did in our youth (he actually has it a lot tougher but he won’t recognise that).

The twin threats of massive energy prices and an interest rate rise will knock him sideways or possibly worse. That’s not down to him having massive debts or choosing a wasteful lifestyle.

You really are repeating a common narrative that shows you long ago swallowed the Thatcherite koolade (that people who suffer from financial crisis brought it on themselves). It ought to be obvious to everyone with an IQ above 30 that we’ve seen the balance of the country’s wealth move upwards over the last 40+ years. They’ve built a world that’s designed to pay ‘ordinary’ folk just enough to continue to put money into the hands of the rich. The housing market is just the biggest example of it.

 

Boomers really do love the "b-b-b-b-but smartphones" argument don't they? I've seen it plenty of times on here.

 

It was the telly and video rental, the blockbuster membership and if we were lucky, the Sky subscription back then

 

The smartphone that’s considered to be a necessity for claiming benefit.

I think it’d be hard to find something more ‘fundamental’ than what you ‘need’ in order to claim benefit or look for work.

 

what the hell are you going on about, I was just saying that anybody who takes on and adopts a lifestyle that stretches their finances to the limit when interest rates are so low has to be culpable in their own financial struggles! That’s sod all to do with political doctrines, it’s what used to be known as common sense.
I was brought up to live within my means and be sensible with money, any sensible person must know that it wasn’t possible that interest rates would stay so low.
Congratulations on getting Thatcher in there though!

 

Good for you. You lived in a time when people could buy a house without stretching their finances. Many of those people wouldn't be able to do it today.

 

It was never easy starting out , houses may have been cheaper but wages were way lower.
Whatever you are making out I am only saying if you can’t afford it don’t buy it, that includes everything.
Just because you want it doesn’t mean you can afford it.We gave up a lot to get on the housing ladder, foreign holidays and nights out and stuff.
And the point remains true interest rates were always going to go up at sometime.

 

thanks! they’ve sent a couple of emails but don’t seem in any hurry at all right now