[batou]

It's a trade off.

I live in London, UK in a flat I rent for £950 pcm. This would cost me £379,000 to buy, at the very least as it's a relatively nice area.

I could scrape the deposit and get a £379,000 mortgage but the insurance, maintenance and other costs on top would result in zero disposable income.

Currently I have £1750 left over every month which is nothing but bags of freedom to do whatever I want.

If I was to drop dead on Monday, the last great event wouldn't be getting Magnet in to do my kitchen, painting the living room ceiling and sitting in all weekend eating Tesco Value food. It would be chilling next to Lake Geneva in Lausanne with my other half which is exactly what I'm doing.

Live life now before it's over.

Edit: This is based on the advice of my wife's grandparents who are just about hanging on at the age of 84 and 86 respectively. They had to cancel their cruise this year due to poor health and openly admit that they worked way too hard for a house. They have a nice £1m house in London and a pile of savings but it's worth nothing to them now because their health is gone. It's empty as the children have left and they realised the memories were more important than the bricks.

So, sod buying a house. I'll live an irresponsible yet fulfilling life now.

[erichmond]

Phenomenal comment. Hopefully people read this and contemplate it. I've gone through an intense period of my life with respect to life and death, and a couple of years ago I only thought about "doing the right thing", now I ensure I enjoy each day I have, because nothing is promised and possessions are ultimately useless.

[saiya-jin]

you know, some of us DO hangout around lake geneva (or any other pretty place), have most of weekends done like there's no tomorrow (mountains, adventures, traveling etc. practically every weekend) and still manage to invest into whatever they prefer (right now selling flat in Prague, and considering one in Chamonix). That's my sweet spot in life right now. We'll see how long life will keep me in it, before throwing into something wild, as usual :)

It's not irresponsible to spend money on traveling and adventures. You get back much more than nice time there and couple of photos and souvenirs - you are exposed to new environment, people, culture etc. and you'll grow inside in a subtle, yet steady way. On the other hand, usual "buying stuff you don't need to impress people you don't care about" is useless, and won't even bring any long term happiness.

[giulianob]

Not sure if it's a difference in location but where I live it would cost me more per month to rent a similar property than what I own. If I wanted to save, I'd have to rent a smaller place instead.

[batou]

You're probably right but will it in 5 years is the question you need to ask?

You always pay over the odds to rent initially but due to inflation and relative property prices it becomes good value rather quickly.

[giulianob]

It wasn't before the market crashed but it's been much cheaper to buy than to rent where I live at least.

[knodi123]

it's definitely a balancing act, where the balance point depends on your own personality and proclivities. However, I think we can all agree that a formula involving London home prices is not going to be very representative of the rest of the world! ;-)

[batou]

Actually in the tech sector the price vs salary ratio is pretty consistent all over the UK. The prices are high in London but you earn a pile of cash. The inverse is also true elsewhere.

London is one of those crazy places where a job jump can actually get a salary boost larger than the national average salary in its entirety which is where the short term advantage is if you know how to play the market.