A 68-year-old named Kerrie Boylett made the news today in an ABC article by Nassim Khadem (#FanGirlAlert – I love Khadem’s work).

Boylett is quoted in a way that suggests she’s telling young people they just need to sacrificemore if they want to own a home, like she did as a single mum with a 19% mortgage in 1995.

First up: she’s wrong.

The evidence is clear.

Housing affordability is declining...

Affordability is measured by the ratio of average house price to average wage, and Australia’s has been getting worse for a long time.

We have the dubious honour of being among the least affordable housing markets in the world.

There are many causal factors, such as slow wage growth, stricter lending laws and favourable tax concessions, but the bottom line is the same: home ownership has become a harder goal for a young person to achieve over the past few decades.

Frankly, it’s out of reach for some and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Systemic solutions are essential to the housing crisis.

Our society cannot take its eyes off the goal of making housing more affordable and accessible for one single minute if we still believe that the Great Australian Dream includes owning your home.

(And this leaves aside the debate about whether home ownership should even be part of the Great Australian Dream …we’ll leave that for another day).

…but that’s not an excuse.

This is the uncomfortable bit.

Declining housing affordability doesn’t mean you, as an individual, can throw your hands in the air and give up on taking personal responsibility with your cash while we wait for systemic changes.

Ugh, I know.

Just what you need right now. A lecture on not spending wastefully.

I’m a little bit sorry about that, but not sorry enough to hold back on publishing this blog 😉

Here’s why…

Possible success over guaranteed failure

If home ownership is your goal...

....and you feel so miserable about your prospects of ever achieving it that you give up on any of the strategies that might get you there

...you’re sealing your fate.

You are guaranteeing it won’t happen.

For example: a housing correction will arrive, but you’ll have no deposit. Therefore, you’ll have little to no chance of getting a loan.

You diligently start saving again, since it’s more likely you can achieve home ownership with lower prices.

But while you’re amassing your deposit, the prices rise and you’re back to ‘no chance’ territory.

No matter how improbable the chances of success, if you don’t act like it’s possible, you cannot get there.

You have to act as if you have a modicum of control over the outcome in case conditions change.

In case those obstacles are – temporarily or permanently – diminished.

…and that doesn’t make the ‘it’s all about your mindset’ folks right either.

I am not saying you should subscribe to the ‘Not where you want to be? YOUR FAULT’ brigade.

It is disingenuous to suggest that your outcomes are 100% the result of your actions and/or mindset.

Luck, timing and a bunch of other things beyond your control will play a part in your financial outcomes, such as:

• Where you were born.

• Who your parents were.

• Your gender.

• Your ethnicity.

• The wealth of your peers.

• Whether you've felt safe and loved your whole life.

• Whether you've had traumatic experiences.

You didn’t choose those things, but sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, they’ll affect the financial options available to you at least to some degree.

So, what to do?

The balance between systemic issues and personal responsibility is a fine one.

You’ve got the Kerrie Boyletts of the world telling you to stop buying iPhones and the bleeding hearts saying it’s all the government’s fault so don’t blame yourself.

Neither are entirely correct, or even helpful, in the long term.

Here’s how I suggest you think about your individual strategy when trying for a financial goal that seems out of reach but is important to you:

1. Do what’s in your power to work towards that goal without hurting others, negatively affecting your health, breaching your ethics, or breaking the law.

2. Watch closely for signs that conditions are turning in your favour so you can opportunistically pounce if things change.

3. Do not beat yourself up if you don’t achieve the goal because systemic conditions do not change in your favour (which they may not).

4. Stop listening to anyone who tells you that not reaching your goal is 100% your fault if you’re doing what you can (because it almost never is).

5. …but don’t use those systemic issues as an excuse to act carelessly or in direct opposition to the goal you have.

The last point is the uncomfortable one.

Buying something you consider indulgent* might be a quick way to get some of those feel-good chemicals flowing to overcome the existential turmoil of living in a society that doesn’t have a Housing First policy, but it’s not helping you.

Which sucks, because capitalism today is working against you - it's about trying to part you from your cash with as little friction as possible.

Add the IQ-reducing outcome of financial stress, a.k.a. poverty brain, and it may feel like I am asking you to do the impossible.

Only you know what will work for you.

You're the best person to judge what's best for you, right now, with the resources you have available.

You’ve got to decide if you’re willing to give it a go.

But remember: even if you can’t face it today, one day things will change.

You'll get a promotion, or the government will abolish negative gearing, or your startup will take off, or you'll get some cash the old-fashioned way - via inheritance.

You can change your mind when you’ve got more resources available.

Just don’t let your autopilot function fool you into missing the chance to make that conscious choice when you can.

And don’t forget to fight for those systemic changes – even that’s just about how you vote!

* Basic food, shelter, clothing, transport and communication tools that allow you to participate in society are not indulgences. They are necessary for survival. Just don’t fall into the trap of buying $700 shoes by convincing yourself they’re ‘basic essentials’ unless they are safety boots and/or required for your job!

About Money School

If you’re new here, welcome! Delighted to have you 😁

This is the blog for Money School, an Australian financial education company.

The main site is at https://www.moneyschool.org.au, but I keep our articles over here on beehiiv.

Everything on the main site and this blog is for educational purposes only. I’m not a financial adviser, nor do I play one on Netflix. I aim to help you learn about money so you can ‘choose your own adventure’.

Money School was co-founded in 2010 by me (Lacey Filipich) and my mother, Fran White. Money School offers workshops, online courses and have an international award-winning book, published with Penguin Life in 2020.

I’m also a regular media commentator on all things personal finance. If you’ve got 16 minutes to spare, you might like to check out my TEDx talk (over 1m views!) on financial independence and mini-retirements.