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Kenny Buckey, co-founder of The Pivot Place
Courtesy of Kenny Buckey
One millennial managed to save enough money to buy her own property under the age of 25, despite the bleak economic landscape facing young people.
Kenny Buckey, a UK-based professional in his early 30s, is a compliance officer who has worked for firms such as KPMG and Visa.
By the time she was 25, she had managed to save £50,000 (about $63,000) and take out a mortgage on her first home. Her savings and mortgage were audited by CNBC Make It.
Buki explained that she received no financial help from her parents and instead had to be extremely financially savvy as inflation, the high cost of living and skyrocketing housing prices continued lack of people younger than 30 years old.
In fact, only 36.5% of adults say they are better off financially than their parents, while 42.8% say they are worse off, according to CNBC International Investigating the financial security of your money in April 2024.
And as many young people feel out of place in adulthood, some feel increasingly so condemned costs deal with stress because they don’t believe they’ll ever be able to own a house or start a family.
Buki said that after graduating in 2017, these issues were at the forefront of her mind.
“I came from an environment where we had to be careful with money, and money was not always plentiful. There was always a scarcity around money and my upbringing,” Bucky told CNBC Make It.
“I never had any money lessons or anything from my parents…I hated the idea of being restricted by money, and I learned from an early age that if you save money, you have the freedom to do whatever you want. with this money.”
Here’s how Bucky, who chose to withhold her legal name and age for privacy reasons, managed to save five figures in her 20s.
“I was obsessed with saving”
Bucky felt that her degree in forensics did not have enough earning potential, so she moved into the finance industry, starting as an analyst at banking firm RBS, earning £28,000. Even then she was committed to saving money.
One of the ways that Bucky has managed to save despite the high cost of living is to continue living with his parents as long as possible – increasingly general trend in recent years, when the cost of rent has soared.
That meant a two-hour commute to and from the office most days, but she said the savings were worth the pain.
“I was obsessed with saving at least 50% of my salary,” Bookey said. “So I could have easily moved out, but I preferred to save that money so that I could invest and build financial freedom and financial independence. I lived at home as long as I could, even though it was not the best setup.”
She added that saving money while making less money created a savings habit that she still maintains. And this led to her savings increasing as she was able to put away even more money.
After Bucky saved her first £50,000, she used around half as a deposit on her first home in 2022 and invested the rest in the stock market.
They live frugally
Bucky combined saving money with frugal living, including only shopping for clothes during sales.
However, growing up in the age of social media means it’s easy for young people to buy into a culture of comparison and force them to live beyond their means.
“I just realized the ultimate goal for myself. I know what kind of future I wanted for myself. I don’t want a future where I’m struggling for money or limited by money. It was much more important than any luxurious life,” Buki said.
Still, she said she still managed to have fun and budgeted for cheap vacations with friends and dinner outings.
She also admitted she got carried away when she first started earning around £40,000 and buying BMWs.
“I fell into that trap temporarily, and then I looked at it and thought: Actually, it’s not all there is to it. I need to focus on my goal. So I owned the BMW for a few months and then I just sold it because I thought, well, this isn’t all I’ve tried, let me just go back to my Ford or something.”
Savvy millennials now earn over £100,000 a year. She has invested more than £30,000 in the stock market, converted her first home into a buy-to-let property and is about to buy a second property.
Even so, Buki said she still likes minimalism.
“There are some things I wouldn’t do right now, like I just don’t think it’s time for me to buy a fancy car, even though I can totally afford it,” she said.
“I need the assets to pay for it, not out of pocket, because I think that’s how you get into the rat race, just buying all these luxury things, because then it’s tied to your income. For me, it is a form of slavery, binding myself with these obligations.”
