Right. Apologies if this comes off as moany and more of a cry for help rather than a genuine question. But here we are. I'm not entirely sure where or how to start this or where this even ends up, but I'll try. Perhaps someone with shared or relevant experiences can offer advice. Of which, I'm sure there are many.
Right, formalities out of the way. I am a 31 year old former software engineer, recently made redundant. I say former, because over the years I realised I actually didn't like any aspect of the job, other than the people. So I have no desire to return to that role. Come to think of it, I didn't enjoy the college course either, but a decade ago jobs were plentiful, relatively low barrier of entry and decent money. So I don't regret it. Plus, 18 year old me had no idea what they actually wanted to do. Software sounded cool. It is, I completely understand and respect those who find their passion in it, but while I loved working with the people there everyday, I got bored of the subject matter pretty quickly.
So, redundancy was a positive outcome. Paid to leave a job I grew to hate. So a somewhat privileged position.
31 year old me is thrust into unemployment for the first time and no idea what they actually want to do.
But no rush right. Decent pay out and relatively low expenses. Not married, no kids, no mortgage. (Due to previous circumstances / events / divine interventions), I found myself living back in my parents house for the first time since I was 18, a few months before redundancy. Renting for 11 or 12 years prior to that.
So redundancy + no expenses + lots of free time in the summer = somewhat privileged position.
(Disclaimer before I continue: I understand that there are loads of people in far worse situations than I. But that's not the point of this post. Everyone's situation is unique to them, and I sympathise with those worse off. This is not an oh woe is me post. Or maybe it is. Sure let's see where it goes)
And yes. It was great. But, winter is coming. The Boys of Summer have gone and I'm trudging toward the abyss. Along with taking a break to decompress, I reevaluated what I want to persue career wise (rejected from Springboard courses due to not meeting certain unemployment duration criteria) but that's just one set back. Grand, there are other routes to reskilling and changing roles. But that route has grinded to a bit of a halt recently. Quite annoyed that I want to help the system by getting off jobseekers and furthering my education but constantly met by barriers, but that's another rant.
Now, my parents house is in the sticks. 45 minutes drive from a less than desirable city to live or work in (in my opinion). For 6 months plus, my significant other and I have looked for rental options, casting a pretty wide net with a high tolerance for pretty poor quality abodes. No need to get into specifics to complicate this diatribe further, but regarding my significant other, copy and paste my scenario minus the redundancy and you have theirs.
2 to 3 hundred daft emails, a handful of replies. 2 viewings. And yes, I understand a person on jobseekers is perceived as a less than desirable tenant, but our potential landlord(s) and I had not had the fortune to even come to that shocking revelation. Complete and utter disillusionment. Rental crisis ranting is a well travelled road so no need to expand here.
So, what about buying maybe? People love to do that. I did give it a solid bit of thought and put in some research. An undertaking not fit for a gloomy Monday morning. Even if we could come up with a substantial deposit to reduce the mortgage, I just cannot make sense of a 1 bed apartment costing upwards of 300k. I like to think I have a very basic, often tested, more so tenuous understanding of supply / demand, economics, money. Whatever you want to refer to. And again housing is a well travelled topic of discussion, so no need to elaborate here. I would need a job to get mortgage approval, save for a house ( commit to living at home for years!) Sure, would be good for my mental state to get out of home eventually, but terrible to have to commit to staying here currently. (Oh did i mention I absolutely hate living at home? Again, reasons we don't need to discuss here) But for the rest of your life you pay for the privilege of owning an asset that, while it reflects the markets, does not reflect the quality of asset. And living just to pay that off and cut costs every where I can... that doesn't sound like a life I want to pursue.
So no. Buying is not the current ideal solution. If one was to present me with 300k in the morning, I would buy. Don't get me wrong. But that cash balance does not exist in our corner in the vaults of our fine Irish Banking System for us to use at our will currently.
A light dabble in crypto is a bit of a pipe dream, but willing to invest a small % of my eroding-via-inflation cash balance to, at best, have an alternative means of raising money for a significant deposit. (I happened to read one book on Bitcoin so I can claim to be an expert now) But that's an aside. It's only worth this much real estate on this post, as I am finding it increasingly more difficult to be positive about many aspects of life at the minute, and the volatile nature of Bitcoin and its divine nature are not a light at the end of the psychological tunnel I find myself in.
So we come to the end of my diatribe. And this is the part where I don't know what comes next. Both in life and in this post. The easy, maybe even lazy solution is to leave Ireland. Fair enough. I have been lucky enough to have taken career breaks, done quite a bit of travelling, so I like to think I'm not a sheltered individual and can see the benefits / drawbacks of that option.
But ideally, due to circumstances not discussed here, Ireland would be the destination of choice. Ireland is great craic. The people, the nightlife, events, countryside, mountains, a variety of things to see and do. There is a good life to be had here. But the barrier to renting a property, the barriers to buying a property, the slight speedbump in returning to education.
They all compound the disillusionment, frustration, hopelessness. On a daily basis.
Do I even want to move into the role I researched extensively, oh no. "Hello Doubt. Forgot you were there. Tell existential crisis I said hello. Wait, where do I look for a job? Do I hope I get rent in a location I want to live in and look there? Do I commit to being stranded at home and work near there?"
The only option I can see in this country is to suffer it out. But that's not life. Surely there's better than this. Why do I feel like I'm asking too much to have a decent quality of life in a country that prides itself on how much taxes it hauls in from it's diligent citizens and corporations, how much of that is actually used to impact us positively. Let's not go there either
How dare I expect to have a healthy work life balance. How dare I expect to have a decent place to live. How dare I expect this from Ireland in 2024.
Anyway, pint anyone?
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