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Those born post-war, but pre-punk have a lot to answer for.
I don't know exactly what the answer is, but something's amiss with a setup where graduates exit full-time education with (for many) a debt of the thick end of 1 year's starting salary before they've even done a day's work, if not more.
Traditionally a mortgage would be 3x - 3.5x your salary, as a maximum. 4x for some graduates was commonplace until a few months ago. So were 100% mortgages (nowt wrong with that in a stable housing market, for folk with decent employment prospects).
Take into account that student debt of 1 year's salary and affordability is effectively ratcheted down to around 2.5x - 3x times your starting salary. Saving's not a real option for the graduate of today, with debts like that.
So assuming you could wangle a 100% mortgage, and stretched to 3x your salary, that gives an average somewhere just shy of £68,000.
Factor in the (still historically high) UK house prices, and £68,000 won't get you very much at all, wherever you live in the UK.
So let's say that you're not single. You're a couple with two incomes. Perhaps, after earning your degree, getting a job, and wangling a mortgage for a modest flat... perhaps you might be in a position to think about having kids at the age of 30 or so, assuming you've ended up with a decent job after graduation and stuck with your career in order to get a decent year on year rise to be able to cover the childcare when one of you goes back to work. Or, if you're lucky, to be able to have anything other that two parents working two 37.5 hour+ weeks. And maybe, just maybe, after a couple of years, if things are still on track, you might be able to think about having another kid, moving out of your flat and into a small 3 bed house and getting on with something approaching what was once a traditional adult life....
Well done. Now, it's the year 2058. You're 70 years old and about to retire. You did remember to pay a decent' whack into a personal pension from the age of 30 at the very latest, didn't you? No? Oh dear. What do you mean "I was paying off my student debt and whacking great mortgage"...
Who'd be a graduate today? In fact, who'd be anyone under 30 today? I'm 30, and consider myself to have taken one for the team, but have only narrowly escaped alot of the burdens that today's young peeps face.
Let's be honest, personal credit history aside (well done you for always paying your credit card off in full every month - give yourself a pat on the back) over the last 20-30 years, this country has systematically delayed paying into the pensions pot. And it we now have a target of 50% of the population having university degree, but without wanting to pay for it.
As I said, I don't know exactly what the answer is, but something's amiss. And my eyes are on the 35-65 year olds.
Those born post-war, but pre-punk have a lot to answer for.