Is everybody broke?

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122333507#Comment_122333507

Your landlords mortgage won't pay itself you know. Won't anyone think of the poor landlords?

Quitelife

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122333558#Comment_122333558

Many landlords own their properties debt free and its paying for a 242 Jeep or cruise more likely

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122333574#Comment_122333574

Got to keep them in the lifestyle they're accustomed to.

tabby aspreme

We're all partying

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122333554#Comment_122333554

It's disgraceful that someone can pay 2k per month rent but the bank won't give them a mortgage for 1100 or 1200. That's just completely wrong.

Yep, this is a truly shocking state of affairs…. people getting refused a mortgage because the bank feel they can't make payments of €1200/pm, yet those same people are paying rents of €2k and above.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122333053#Comment_122333053

I'm not querying the earnings figures. I'm querying the disposable income figures, the subject of this thread. That after essential expenditure is taken care of, how much money is left as disposable income i.e. are people broke?

I don't believe there can be any reliable measure of this, just estimates. There is no systematic population wide collection of such data. My essential expenditure likely differs widely from yours and yours from others. Therefore disposable income can vary wildly.

Creamy Goodness

These threads are always fascinating. It's almost self-selecting people from both extremes (those that are fighting to survive, and those that are awash with cash earnings 6 figures).

The truth lies somewhere in the middle I think and really depends on your lifestyle and your outlook and how much value you put on things.

For example you'll have people who watch every penny and still be poor, or others that'll watch every penny and make sure every penny has a job to live and plan for the future.

On the other hand, Ireland has a super highly educated workforce (mainly tech/pharma/legal) where salaries are super competitive. And in this bracket again you'll have people who'll be poor due to lifestyle creep and those that spend frivolously but still plan for the future.

I'm in the latter portion here, I earn well but I'm frugal as feck. I'd pick a penny off the floor where others would walk over it. I'm smart when it comes to spending, every euro of my pay cheque has a job, I separate my outgoings into needs and wants and make sure that all my needs (housing/future/food/transport) are taken care of before a single euro is spent elsewhere). I have a buffer fund that anything unforeseen is taken out of and is topped up over the next few months (car needed new brake pads and a service, €800 came out of the buffer and was replenished over 3 months), this stops any unexpected cost to cripple me for a month and it's extremely liberating not having to worry about this on a weekly basis.

Living this way is quite tough to set up and took me years of investing in myself and my family to get to this point but I'm reaping the rewards of it now. It allows me to go on two/three holidays a year (did Indonesia and New York this year and maybe one European city break by year end). I know my family and peers are jealous of this lifestyle, but really don't like it when I point out that their 3 kids that are all teenagers cost roughly 11k per year until they hit college age ( https://www.layahealthcare.ie/pressandmedia/pressreleases/105321---the-cost-of-raising-a-child-from-cradle-to-college.html#:~:text=Irish%20households%20are%20spending%20an,every%20year%20on%20their%20children. ) (not a super valid article statistically but eye opening nonetheless). They've put their money into growing a family (totally fine), whereas I have not (also totally fine).

Gary_dunne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122333872#Comment_122333872

Just in case anyone comes on and says "They do take it into account in the application process".

While yes they will look at it as part of your application they don't factor it in terms of inability to save a meaningful deposit. Someone paying 2k a month in rent will not have the ability to save a large amount.

It should be common sense that if you can pay a 2k rent over a number of years then the repaying of a lesser mortgage should not be an issue.

drury..

They used to talk about the rat race years ago and it's still going on

Parents commuting and paying OTT rent and creche fees no time or money

It's hardly living at all