Careers That Pay Well In The UK ie enough to support a family

how do people buy homes?

Oh, there are a LOT of folks asking that these days.  In fact, less than 30% of home sales were to first-time buyers last year.  They're becoming rarer and rarer these days.

It's been the trend for the last 15 years to get alot of help from parents.  Sadly, it's very difficult to buy a home now.  The housing market is just ridiculous.  That I'll agree with. 

my family lives in the southeast, the bournemouth area, which is actually now more expensive than London, but salaries are lower

I'd consider Bournemouth the South West, not the South East.  There's a lot of retirement types that have traditionally moved to Bournemouth (think Florida). So I guess it depends on what lifestyle you want to live.

Granted, London is a big place made up of lots of widely varying areas each with their own costs of living.  If you're talking Central London (average house probably about £600,000) then I'd find it very hard to believe that Bournemouth (average house probably no more than £250,000)  is more expensive.

Anyway, I know IT jobs were in a bit of a dire state a few years back, I could barely find much in the South East and nothing anywhere else in England.  Nowadays, perhaps the market is a bit better?  You'd do well up North with a good programming job, even though you could earn a fair bit less the cost of living would probably outweigh that.

Good luck in whatever you end up doing.

Matt

I'm getting a sense of deja vu here. 

Deja vu, but with different facts - a neat trick. Anway,  I'm thinking of moving to Utah. I hear the salary progression is excellent.

is everyone is Britain pretty poor these days?

Yes, everyone in Britain is pretty poor. Anyone earning less than £100k has to live in a one-bedroom council flat in Brixton. (Not in Bournemouth, thankfully, which is a frickin' ghetto).

500,000 for a home up north!?

A three bed semi-detached in the Leeds suburbs will set you back about £190,000 - 220,000.  £500,000 could buy you something pretty nice in a commutable village.

It's been the trend for the last 15 years to get alot of help from parents. Sadly, it's very difficult to buy a home now. The housing market is just ridiculous. That I'll agree with.

Jon and I are wanting to buy a home in the next few years. With the way things are now, we won't be able to. As you said, most people have to get help from family. All my friends who own houses have recieved money from their parents. It's a bit sad for those who want a home.

That's true - my bf lived at home for about 8 years (so saved a ton) and then also got some help from his family to buy his 2 br flat in Cricklewood.  And he earns quite a decent salary.

Jon and I are wanting to buy a home in the next few years. With the way things are now, we won't be able to. As you said, most people have to get help from family. All my friends who own houses have recieved money from their parents. It's a bit sad for those who want a home.

We play Lotto on Saturdays   

We play Lotto on Saturdays

LOL - I might have to give that a try.

I know exactly what I'm going to do when I win the lottery. The only problem is, I never rememeber to buy a ticket!

I know exactly what I'm going to do when I win the lottery.

I'm going to tell our downstairs neighbour what a chav he is and let him know that I'll pay the rent for a herd of elephants to move into our flat after we're gone and have speakers routed through the floor so he can listen to our music all the time - and I hope he likes Baroque classical 

hubs and i say we're not greedy when we play the lotto-we'd settle for a couple million!!!!!  i don't need to win the 25 million prizes!!!

I'm going to tell our downstairs neighbour what a chav he is and let him know that I'll pay the rent for a herd of elephants to move into our flat after we're gone and have speakers routed through the floor so he can listen to our  music all the time - and I hope he likes Baroque classical

ROFL!

well, thanks for the advice. on that basis i'm gonna stay here till 2008 and see if i can remain indefinitely in the US.

it's hard to swallow that utah is so much more prosperous than the entire UK!

i know early twentysomethings with no post highs school education who earn more in small utah towns than london based commercial lawyers, who have nice homes, transport, and save money too.

someone said nobody can save 500-1000 UKP per month, but i'm saving $700 per month right now??

what's wrong with the UK economy anyway? perhaps they need to slash taxes across the board and deregulate most of their businesses and industries. it's called the american way and i love it, even though i'm a brit.

That's probably a good plan for you, all things considered.  Maybe the $ will have strengthened against the £ by then too.