As a late gen-X'er (I feel I have far more in common with millenials than my 12 years older brother, also gen-X), I think it actually is really interesting to see how some millenials and moreso gen Z see their financial problems as intractable.

The actual reality is that every generation has complained about crippling prices when they're in their 20s, especially property, only to find that as they get older their salaries eventually rise and then they start earning over the median salary, they find they're actually in a good place.

Personally, I couldn't afford to get on the property ladder until I was 28, and I've always been a big saver. Just before I actually bought my house, there was a massive property price boom in the UK - 18 months earlier I'd looked at a house on the same road as the house I eventually bought, with a loft conversion (extra room) and in better condition. The house I bought 18 months after viewing this one (and deciding I couldn't really afford it) was 50% more, and my salary was exactly the same 18 months later. In fact, I could only afford it because the bank was running an offer on its graduate accounts that allowed a 4x mortgage instead of the standard 3x. In that brief moment of eligibility for that mortgage, I went for it, despite knowing that it'd be even more financially burdensome than the much cheaper house I'd decided against on financial grounds.

As it turned out, I ended up buying at the peak of the market, and the value of the house remained stagnant for 10 years. Along the way, I had other setbacks, like getting a 5 year fixed rate mortgage for 5.5% three months before the Bank of England dropped rates down to 0.25%, but the exit penalties were so high I had no choice but to suck it up.

But the thing is, even though the value of the house didn't change for 10 years, my salary did. What seemed impossible right up to the point of stretching myself to the limit and committing to the mortgage, a few years later was tolerable (although I didn't change my spending habits, instead I overpaid my mortgage as much as I could because of the high interest rate and terrible savings rates), and after 10 years, everything was very comfortable because I'd had 10 years of inflation in my income, but my minimum mortgage payments were still roughly the same. Finally, after overpaying like crazy, I paid off my mortgage after 18 years into the 25 year term. Now it's all paid off, my life is definitely on easy mode, but I do feel somewhat aggrieved when a gen-Z'er says "oh, you're just the generation that had money", because I sure as hell didn't have any money at the start of my working life - it took ploughing everything I had into savings, and then into the mortgage for the house to make that happen.

So, what can a gen-Z'er take away from this? They could just say "yeah, it's too hard" and just give up. Sadly, I think a lot of them do think that way. Or they could think, "life is hard, I need to save hard". Sooner or later, the opportunity will come - house prices are cyclical, sometimes they go up in value at insane rates, other times they stay about the same for years. But to take the advantage of the opportunity when your salary is relatively high and the house prices are relatively low, you need to have made some savings in the meantime. If you give up too soon, you're guaranteed to hit the failure state. If you persevere saving, even a little, sooner or later, there will be an opportunity for you to seize.

I know for some people, it's going to be impossible - if you are genuinely living pay cheque to pay cheque, it's tough. The smallest thing can completely ruin you. That's why it's even more important to save what little you can, whenever you can. That £5 coffee, even as a once-a-week weekly treat, is £250 a year of missed savings opportunity. That £10 netflix subscription, £500 per year. That £50 on alcohol going out on a Friday night, £2500. I know these latter comments will sound ridiculous to people who are genuinely spending everything they earn just to get by, and I'm sorry if this sounds flippant, but equally there are gen-Z'ers complaining they will never afford a house who can afford to pay abroad for a "holiday experience" because they're "living in the now" or some nonsense. Those people could easily save up the deposit they need for a house if it was genuinely a priority for them. Maybe it'd take 5 years until the market conditions work in their favour, but the point is not to give up because you think life is unfair. It's been just as unfair to almost everyone in the past too. You need to just get on with it and press on through.

As an example of what it is to live a frugal lifestyle, I currently spend about £700 per month on council tax, utility bills, food and entertainment. In the last 2 years, I've spent about £4000 on travel and holidays. If I hadn't already paid off my mortgage, I could rent somewhere for about £700 per month. That comes in at about £1600 per month, so my equivalent income to sustain this lifestyle is £21000 per year. That's far below the median UK salary, but it's easily achievable because I choose not to go out drinking very often (around once a month, £15-£20 for the evening), I don't have lots of TV subscriptions, I just have a single subscription to a video-on-demand service that's £35 per year. I have the money to spend much more if I wanted, but my priority is still saving - only now it's for retirement.