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Comment by AndyMcConachie | Hacker News Reader

The cost of living in London eats up any salary benefit. Once you factor in actually having to live in London, or a murderous commute, there is almost no benefit to living in London unless you're young or work in finance. If you're young there are opportunities in London you can't find elsewhere in English speaking Europe if you're willing to live like a pauper for a bit.

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> The cost of living in London eats up any salary benefit.

Does it actually though? Genuine question having grown up here. I live with my partner, our monthly outgoings living on the zone 1/2 border are ~£800 each for mortgage, bills, car insurance, etc. Last year I earned ~£90k before tax. I don't think I would have earned anything like that amount working in another part in the UK. Even if my cost of living was halved I'd only be saving around £5k a year.

I'm relatively young I suppose and I don't love everything about London, but I see lots of benefits to living here outside of the income, too. I can also be in the (proper) countryside in an hour or so drive at the weekends if I want a change of scenery.

> mortgage

When did you buy? I get the distinct impression from friends that even well off techies are struggling to get a big deposit together for a London property nowadays.

Late 2018. I got a big income bump in early 2017 and both my partner I and were able to save for a deposit by living frugally for a couple of years. I wouldn't have been able to do it alone though, I think you realistically need two incomes to buy in London.

Deposit it not the problem, it's the disappointing quality of the properties in London that stops me buying. Why spend £700-800k for a 2-3 bedroom place which has finishing like it's £250k flat.

If this COVID stuff has taught me anything it's that London can be made far less expensive if you want. The amount of money I've saved since March is astounding, purely from not buying coffees, lunches and pints, which are things I only really did because I had to commute to work.

The real benefit of living in London is that it'd be far easier to get another job if things truly went south.

> The cost of living in London eats up any salary benefit.

The cost of living in Dublin is not much different from London though.

> there is almost no benefit to living in London unless you're young or work in finance.

What is the benefit to living in Dublin?

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