So I'm mid 30's in the uk. I worked hard everyday of my life until I was 30, I fought to keep my house and pay my mortgage, my wages went down, my mortgage went up and then the housing market crashed, my house ended up in £20k negative equity. I was single and has little work, every penny I had I spent trying to keep my worthless expensive house until one day I woke up and I thought 'nah, forget this I'm not paying my mortgage anymore'

So I just stopped. I kept my money for me. I started going out and quickly met a great girl. Moved in with her, my house was repossessed, but it was like te mist had cleared I didn't have to worry anymore

Now we have 2 young kids, we get our rent paid, I rarely work more than 3 days a week, my girl works 2

My point is, I tried hard work for 15 years, I worked hard, it got me NO WHERE

There is no point for your average man to work hard in this country, there is no gain, there are no jobs, housing is unaffordable and it gets you no where in the end as I have found out

Where does it go from here ? Where will this struggle end ? Kids will never own property unless there parents can help them.

Meanwhile I just lie here and chill, the state keeps me, I got Internet, food, beer and heating, why go to work for little gain

why go to work for little gain

Pride?

as industry downsized...i have too...a flow between us was learned
more money and things meant less happiness and clutter
i narrowed to needs and learned to be broke and happy
my life means more
then bankster's dreams

Originally posted by TFCJay

why go to work for little gain

Pride?

I have enough pride in bringing up my kids now. I'm a talented tradesman, I know what I can do and have done in the past.

If it become worthwhile then I'd go back to full time work, but its not worth it and there is no work in the construction industry

You even need a years experience to get a driving job as a delivery driver and last one I called said they had 200 applicants

I hear what you're saying. I love and recommend the book "Cash Flow Quadrant". Best book on financial education anyone can get. Tptb don't want people reading this book as it sheds light on the idea that they're working in the slave class, and that they'll never get ahead running that rat race. Mind you, truth be told you make a bunch of money and then they send the IRS after you, so they have all bases covered already to keep the common man down and slaving away. But at least if you can get out of the 9 to 5 grind then you'll have a chance at a decent and early retirment.

i'm with ya mate! things are the same in canada.
one member replied with pride.
that doesn't cut it any more. pride is a tool the system uses to keep you in slavery for THEM!
if it was the 1800's,and you built your own house,and worked your own land,then you can have pride.
working for 40-60 hours a week (if you can!) for someone else,while getting pay cuts,and your bills keep costing more --- and you keep doing it,well,thats not pride.
that just means your spirit is broken!
if you can get by with out the newest smartphone,the latest fashions,the new car etc....
and you only need to work 3 days a week.
well, i'd say go for it!
think of all the free time you have to 'spend' with your self,and your family! thats priceless.
pride indeed! the word pride in our modern politically correct society is translated into SLAVE!
keep it up mate. if your ok with it,and you can hold your own,then your doing ok!
cheers

I have worked since I was 16 and have never stopped. I have had to work weekends, holidays, and days off.
We as workers are like slaves who work for little bits of freedom. The freedom to have a roof over my head, food, and maybe a few useless toys. Money is the mark of the beast. A work horse will bust his hump to earn those carrots, like this is a natural way for the horse... At the end of it all, is it really worth it?

My hands have been tied since I was born. I have to work to earn a living and I can see its all bull.
Did someone force this way of things on us ?

That's not really right you work so much and still ended up losing your home but it was a blessing in the long run.

I enjoy working but I do not enjoy having to work to survive.

I work too hard for the money I recieve but I carry on anyway because I have to.

If we all stopped working then who will pay your rent?
I understand that you have worked and it got you nowhere so now you sit back and let the tax payers cover your backside? I don't undestand that.

I would love to be able to work much less hours but I wouldn't feel comfortable letting others pay for me. I would rather come up with an idea to get more money or try and get a better job but until then we have to fight the system from within.

I read a statistic about the uk the other week it was 54% of uk households now receive more in benefits than they pay in tax.

Am I to blame for this situation I'm in ? The government have made it so. They destroyed British engineering industry and construction, and are doing nothing to rebuild these key industry's

Hey, I'm not lazy guys, I do stuff at home, I fix our cars and build my truck, but there's no point in working hard as its better to work less and play the system

OP makes a good point, life isn't always a ratrace but if you are barely scraping by and are killing yourself for something that scammers will just end up scamming from you there really is no point taking part in that ratrace.

There are ways out of the ratrace, but some aren't easy, you have to find out the hard way sometimes. Somehow I manage to pay my bills & debt from selling my possessions, when they run out perhaps I will need to take part in the race again but I'm not attempting to fall into the pit of neverending work which ends up only benefiting those using you, to most in this world you are just a number, there is a way to make them just a number and free yourself from their game of numbers.

Originally posted by stinka
There is no point for your average man to work hard in this country, there is no gain, there are no jobs, housing is unaffordable and it gets you no where in the end as I have found out

Where does it go from here ? Where will this struggle end ? Kids will never own property unless there parents can help them.

I pretty much agree with you, but I choose to work.

There are other options, you don't have to work for someone else. There are ways to earn a living providing services to others in whatever it is you are skilled in. Or, there are ways to earn from home via the internet.

The problem a lot of people have IMO is they they stop developing. People get into a job and stay there when they should be always looking for new experiences and new possibilities. In my last employment there was nowhere for me to move upward, I would have been stagnant in the same position earning the same for decades, and I didn't want that.

In the end my hand was forced by a health problem. I could have looked for another job (not plausible) or claimed disability benefits instead. But I chose to push myself into starting my own business from home and I now earn in four hours Mon - Fri what I was earning working a 5 on 2 off with 8 - 12 hour shifts - nights and days.

I'm totally with you on the housing situation too. If I risk everything I could maybe get a mortgage for a 30% share of a poxy little shoebox somewhere in my town, but that would be risking everything. It's not worth it. So I have to waste more money renting instead.

The housing situation in the UK is at crisis point. Our local authority cannot house people who need it, because they sold off so many of their stock to landlords who rent out rooms to immigrants and unemployed people (nothing against either). I need upwards of £5k to put down a deposit on a shared ownership flat somewhere and I cannot afford to risk that. And even if I did risk it the most I would get is a glorified bedsit.

My plan right now is to work as much as possible in developing web properties and then sell off one or two in a couple of years for a chunk of cash. I want to buy a home outright.

The way I see it is, others pay a mortgage until they're 60, so I could be on track to be able to buy a place straight off by the time I'm 40. It means living as a renter until then and wasting more money than I would be, but I could be better off in the long run.

You're too young to give up. Use the time you have to develop something. Don't stop working just because it's not worthwhile to carry on doing something you hate. You have the world at your fingertips and you should use this time constructively to build something.

Anyone can do it, they just need perseverance, some common sense and a good idea. Find a niche out there and fill it!

/ranton

I'm sorry to be the one to say it OP, but it's people like you who won't work that make it harder for those of us who can't work to get the help we need!

Like you, I worked for the majority of my life (mostly in the 40% tax bracket) but over the years I have suffered from rapid cycling bipolar and PTSD (the latter of which causes me to have nasty nightmares and flashbacks every single day/night) and then, a few years back things got so bad that I had to give up the job I loved because I could no longer stand to be around people (and many other things that make being a productive member of society an impossibility) and dealing with the stress of that and the stress of being my disabled wife's carer was driving me to despair and almost drove me to suicide.

We'd give anything to be well enough to be able to go out and work and be less of a parasite on society. We actually feel guilty about the strain we put on the system and we actually turn down some of the help we're offered because we know that there are people out there who need it more than we do. Not once have we ever thought or felt that we are entitled to anything and even though we would love to have children at some point we would be ashamed and embarrassed to have children and have the "system" pay for them.

It saddens me that anyone would choose to live a life paid for by the UK Tax payers. It also saddens me that you think that this is an acceptable lesson to teach your children. After all, without a good work ethic, what kind of life will they have?

Sorry to rant at you, but choosing to live of the state just isn't cool, no matter how much you've paid in over your working life.

/rantoff

Rev