When needs and wants clash and cause lifestyle creep

What is interesting is that we've spent quite a lot, myself included, on takeaways.

And that was never part of the deal, especially for me growing up.

We knew that we would get maybe once a month of eating out.

But now, every single Friday, sometimes even during the week when you don't know what to make at home.

Exactly.

And that's what we heard from the comments was, yeah, it's not often actually that we're cooking at home anymore.

We're actually eating out.

And to what extent is that hitting our budgets? And I also just love the one comment from one of the Vox Pops people to saying that, you know, it's not a lot of money to invest.

It's only maybe 500 or 1,000 rand.

And yet people are not investing.

And I think, you know, that's the message we've been giving over and over again.

But really, the reason for this discussion was some research that came out from John Luce.

He was an economist and he was looking at the cost of buying property today than 30 years ago.

And he was saying, has it actually really become that expensive? So, you know, a lot of young people are saying, I can't afford to buy a home.

And he was saying, why? Let me ask the question, why? So he looked at, obviously, at the property index nationally.

So we may not be able to comment on Cape Town property prices.

But even if you look at Johannesburg, for example, just across the country, he said, yes, property prices have gone up by inflation or whatever over 30 years.

But interest rates are so much lower than they were 30 years ago.

Now let me tell you, when I bought my home in 1998, my first home, interest rates were 25%.

25%.

So what he was saying is that the monthly mortgage repayment, because of the lower interest rates, is actually pretty much similar, inflation adjusted, to what it was 30 years ago.

So he said, okay, if it's not the price of property and the affordability on a monthly basis to pay your mortgage, then what is it that's making it so unaffordable?

Yeah, so it's not just the bond.

It's not just the utilities, but it's all the things, lifestyle creep, that are non-essentials but are essentials to us.

But

What is interesting is that we've spent quite a lot, myself included, on takeaways.

And that was never part of the deal, especially for me growing up.

We knew that we would get maybe once a month of eating out.

But now, every single Friday, sometimes even during the week when you don't know what to make at home.

Exactly.

And that's what we heard from the comments was, yeah, it's not often actually that we're cooking at home anymore.

We're actually eating out.

And to what extent is that hitting our budgets? And I also just love the one comment from one of the Vox Pops people to saying that, you know, it's not a lot of money to invest.

It's only maybe 500 or 1,000 rand.

And yet people are not investing.

And I think, you know, that's the message we've been giving over and over again.

But really, the reason for this discussion was some research that came out from John Luce.

He was an economist and he was looking at the cost of buying property today than 30 years ago.

And he was saying, has it actually really become that expensive? So, you know, a lot of young people are saying, I can't afford to buy a home.

And he was saying, why? Let me ask the question, why? So he looked at, obviously, at the property index nationally.

So we may not be able to comment on Cape Town property prices.

But even if you look at Johannesburg, for example, just across the country, he said, yes, property prices have gone up by inflation or whatever over 30 years.

But interest rates are so much lower than they were 30 years ago.

Now let me tell you, when I bought my home in 1998, my first home, interest rates were 25%.

25%.

So what he was saying is that the monthly mortgage repayment, because of the lower interest rates, is actually pretty much similar, inflation adjusted, to what it was 30 years ago.

So he said, okay, if it's not the price of property and the affordability on a monthly basis to pay your mortgage, then what is it that's making it so unaffordable?

Yeah, so it's not just the bond.

It's not just the utilities, but it's all the things, lifestyle creep, that are non-essentials but are essentials to us.

But