A millennial who slammed Gen Y for ‘whinging and failing to make even a start’ to break into the property market has revealed she receives $200 in pocket money a week from her parents.
Melbourne woman Emily Power, 33, revealed she had handed control of her finances over to her parents because she didn’t trust herself with money.
Her parents had access to her bank account and give her $200 pocket money a week after all major expenses are paid.
Author Emily Power (pictured) says Gen Y need to stop trying to be like their parents because they will never likely make money from real estate in the manner of Baby Boomers
The property journalist outlined her plan in a column written inn 2016 titled ‘I am 33 and my parents give me pocket money’.
Ms Power said she was surprised to receive negative feedback to the column.
‘Some people called me a twit, I got trolled online. I wouldn’t call it abusive, but I was shocked by the strength of the negativity, she told The Daily Telegraph.
‘I think people were appalled that somebody who was working in the public eye, and who was a young woman of an age I could be married and have children, wasn’t able to handle her finances and needed her parents.
Ms Power says although the younger generation has been slammed for indulging in smashed avocado on toast instead of focusing on saving for a house deposit, she believes the real reason home ownership is becoming unattainable is because Gen Y are simply ‘whinging and failing to make even a start’.
Ms Power knows the difficulty of entering the market firsthand. Until recently she had a crippling debt problem – she ran down a $7000 credit card, twice
‘[They] will never likely make money from real estate in the manner of Baby Boomers, nor we will be able to start off on the property ladder by purchasing the sort of home we grew up in,’ she told FEMAIL this week.
‘Check your expectations at the door and accept that real estate investment is a long haul,’ she said.
‘Instead of feeling crushed by prices, embrace buying conservatively – and that might mean in a suburb that may not have been high on your wish – so you can more than comfortably manage the mortgage (and perhaps pay more than the monthly minimum) and build equity to leverage that into your next purchase.’
Ms Power knows the difficulty of entering the market firsthand. Until recently she had a crippling debt problem – she ran down a $7000 credit card, twice.
One day, late in 2015, she disclosed the extent of her spending problem to her parents and together they came up with a solution – her parents would take over control of her salary and give their 33-year-old daughter pocket money.
‘Check your expectations at the door and accept that real estate investment is a long haul,’ says Ms Power (stock image)
‘My mum and dad pass on a few hundred dollars every fortnight from my salary,’ she wrote for Domain, which she is now editor of.
‘My wages are paid into an account controlled by my parents and from that, they hand me $400 a fortnight to live on.’
The article made headlines but more than two years on, she’s almost saved $40,000 for a deposit on her first house.
She says she doesn’t have all the answers to Gen Y’s housing problems, but knows that they need to ‘walk, talk and act like a buyer, even if they’re broke’.
‘To afford a home, you might be saving for a deposit at least four-and-a-half years,’ she says. ‘And that’s if you are in a couple.
Ms Power advises to find suburbs with railway upgrades, public transport access to the city, money being spent on university campuses and job creation (stock image)
‘Single savers have to go without holidays, clothes and barista coffees for much longer to scrape together a suitable deposit for an average-priced property.
‘Like an athlete training for an Olympic gold medal, you need to have a specific ambition in order to stay motivated and disciplined for that long,’ she adds.
Ms Power says even if you have a few dollars in your savings account, it’s wise to start chatting to a bank manager about how much you could likely borrow.
‘It’s a healthy pastime and you’ll stay on target with your savings goal,’ she says.
‘Hand-in-hand with sitting idle and wallowing in defeat is not being a student of the market.
Ms Power says even if you have a few dollars in your savings account, it’s wise to start chatting to a bank manager about how much you could likely borrow (stock image)
‘There are markets within markets in real estate – reading up on the broader ‘Melbourne market’ isn’t an indicator necessarily of what, at a granular level, is happening price wise in a suburb you have your eye on, and you may have written off an area you thought you could not afford by failing to understand what opportunities exist.’
She says the suburbs Gen Y should be looking to buy in might not be that obvious.
‘In all capital cities, instead of always following the aroma of roasting beans in an hipster cafe, look also for high-vis vests,’ she says.
The Domain editor and property expert has written a book, How to Buy a Home (pictured)
‘It’s not cool and sexy but workman beavering away on infrastructure improvements are an indicator for affordable postcodes with the potential for capital growth (and the potential to rent it out to tenants, in the future, if you decide to keep it as an investment).
‘Find suburbs with railway upgrades, public transport access to the city, money being spent on university campuses and job creation.
‘The price boom has helped drag up once-humble postcodes, so set your car GPS wide, load up with a coffee (but only one, because you are saving) and spend some time exploring neighbourhoods that you have long been prejudicial against.
‘Bridesmaid suburbs are postcodes which are often a second choice, nestled next to happening neighbourhoods with a vibrant lifestyle. But bridesmaid suburbs are blossoming, thanks to the price boom, due to a spillover of buyers who are priced out of red hot suburbs’.