Subj : Re: New to this To : Gamgee From : boraxman Date : Sat Apr 19 2025 12:05 pm On 18 Apr 2025 at 08:24a, Gamgee pondered and said... Ga> -=> boraxman wrote to Gamgee <=- Ga> Ga> Ga> Not sure what you mean by "get easier"... You mean as you get older? Ga> Ga> I'd say that depends on your planning and execution of financial goal Ga> Ga> and being careful. Prices go up everywhere, always, I think; but Ga> Ga> nothing new about that. Ga> Ga> bo> In Australia house prices have been pretty much going up steeply, Ga> bo> almost continuously for 20 years. Even on a managers salary, I could Ga> bo> not buy the house I grew up in, and neither of my parents finished Ga> bo> school. Ga> Ga> bo> I think prices in the US fell here and there, but here, it is hopeles Ga> bo> Our country is screwed. Ga> Ga> Well, that sucks. But.... I think housing prices have been going up Ga> steadily in every single country, for longer than 20 years. Inflation Ga> is universal. Ga> It's not inflation. Inflation everything goes up in tandem. This is specific to housing, and its deliberate. There were government policies put in place DELIBERATELY to inflate the cost. Ga> Ga> bo> I'm pretty sure our pollies are deliberately trying to make many Ga> Ga> bo> homeless. Ga> Ga> Ga> Could very well be true, and here too. The only defense is as I said Ga> Ga> above, planning carefully and managing finances to be where you need Ga> Ga> be when retirement arrives. I'm about two years from that, and feel Ga> Ga> pretty good about where I'm at. Ga> Ga> Well, I can't speak for conditions in Australia. I think it does cut Ga> it, here in the USA. The actual problem is that MOST young people do Ga> not do well with thinking/planning for their future, because they think Ga> they have all the time in the world. Ga> Understandable. When I compare my situation to my parents (Boomer Generation), its quite different. What worked for them won't work for me. You can't really plan for a future that is taken away from you. Imagine starting behind everyone else, and everyone in front of you is given advantages to run faster than you. You'll never catch up. That is young people today. There is no point me telling my children to "scrimp and save" because basically, the only way they'll get a house is to inherit mine. They may as well wait for me to die. They could take managerial roles in a multinational, profitable corporation which is the #1 brand, like me, and still not afford them. Ga> bo> That doesn't cut it anymore. Most people could not buy a house. Ga> bo> Period. The prices are so out of kilter for most, its not worth Ga> bo> scrimping and saving because unless they choose not to eat and not to Ga> bo> pay tax, housing is not an option. Ga> Ga> bo> The ONLY solution is for prices to fall. No major party here, no par Ga> bo> actually, would allow that to happen. Therefore the problem won't ge Ga> bo> fixed, and young people may as well just give up and fritter away the Ga> bo> money. Ga> Ga> Again, I can't really know or speak about how things are in Australia. Ga> I'm not saying it's *EASY* to buy a house here in the USA, but it can be Ga> done, obviously. I own two of them, and so do both of my kids. In each Ga> case the second one is an investment, and will eventually be sold, at Ga> good profit. Ga> Ga> Perhaps you should consider emmigrating to America? Legally, of course. Ga> :-) Ga> I have a friend who moved to Orlando, Florida. Things are a bit easier there in terms of affordability. I did discuss with the wife moving as well but all things considered, there are two issues 1: Running away doesn't fix things. Eventually you run out of places to run to. I'm a 'stand and fight' kind of guy. Why should I leave the city of my birth, where my family and friends and history is, to make way for others who just arrived? 2: There are other ways in which Australia is better off, so its kind of, well, maybe it might be a bit better, but worth the move? MY friend moved because a met a woman who is now his wife online, and she was in Florida. He moved to be with her. The thing with using housing as a profitable investment, is that in order for it to work, it has to become more unaffordable, thereby making the problem worse. Australians love property investment, which is why the market is shot. If this strategy worked, more and more people would be able to afford homes. Clearly it doesn't. --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64) * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101) .