Angela Mollard: Why you should beware of ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘lazy girl jobs’

One of my daughters returned from visiting well-off family friends and virtually the first thing she said to me is: “I want to buy a property”. This was my advice to her, writes Angela Mollard.

One of my daughters has just returned from visiting some old family friends and virtually the first thing she said to me is: “I want to buy a property”.

There’s nothing like hanging out with a fit retired couple in their early 50s to make a 20-something committed café bruncher sit up and take notice of her spending habits.

As my mates explained to my daughter over a glass of champagne – French, because that’s what they can afford – some solid house buying decisions in their 20s led them to where they are now.

Which is basically owning nine rental properties, swanning around on their boat, going to festivals and travelling whenever they like.

One doesn’t like to remind one’s offspring that you have been giving them unsolicited financial advice from the second they emerged from the school gates but nevertheless it’s gratifying when someone they respect models the very decisions you’ve been banging on about.

‘Lazy girl jobs’ are about prioritising mental health and lifestyle - but these benefits can be gained through hard work and wealth-building too.

Because the fact is despite what their friends or TikTok or the media is telling them, most young people can buy a property.

Like anything though, you have to want to. Here’s how it works. First, stay living at home if you can. City life is expensive and we’re not talking forever – just until you are 22.

Your parents may charge you board but if you present them with this plan they may just want to support your saving.

OK, if you’re at university you’ll know that lectures and tutorials rarely take more than 15 hours a week. That leaves 25 hours to work and the weekend free to study and socialise.

If you’re earning $25 an hour that’s $500 a week or $25,000 a year on which you’ll pay tax of $1469.

Set aside $100 a week for expenses (you’ll be stretched if you own a car) which leaves $350 in savings.

Multiply that by 52 weeks a year and you’ve saved $18,200.

Eating at home with friends rather than eating out is a simply way of saving money.

Deduct $1200 for a cheap holiday with your mates and you’re left with $17,000.

Now times that by three years and you have $51,000 aka your house deposit.

If you work full-time in your university breaks or you go straight from school to full-time work you’ll likely be earning much more.

If you can save $700 a week, for instance, you’ll have $109,200 in three years which is a very healthy deposit.

By the time you’re 21 you’re either well on your way in your career or you’ve just finished university and nabbed a full-time job.

You’ll have to work full-time for a year to have pay slips to get a mortgage but on today’s settings you should be able to borrow around five times your income.

It won’t buy you a palace in your desired suburb or even city but you’ll be able to buy something, somewhere even if it’s a studio flat in Darwin.

Research growth areas, talk to experts and calculate rental returns using the various tools available and then rent your property out so someone else is paying off your mortgage (if you’re savvy you could live in it for six months first to be exempt from capital gains tax for up to six years).

Bingo – property ownership aged 22.

A little bit of delayed gratification when you are young can mean more money to spend later in life.

And that’s before you get all the extras thrown in like First Home Owners’ Grants or the government or your parents acting as guarantor.

Of course, there’s a catch. You won’t be able to holiday in Europe or afford a luxury gym membership or eyelash extensions.

Likewise, online shopping habits and massive nights out will need to be curbed.

One guy I know who followed this formula tells of how he’d have friends over for Sunday brunch.

With everyone chipping in one item – eggs, avocado, bacon or bread – they could get together for $5-$6 a head rather than the $30 you’d pay in a café for breakfast and coffee.

Having bought his first place, he could have enjoyed a more indulgent lifestyle but he continued to save and, at 28, has amassed more properties.

With social media advocating “quiet quitting” and “lazy girl jobs” — basically roles which demand little from you so you can focus on your personal life — it’s becoming counter cultural to suggest an alternative route, namely hard work, saving and delayed gratification.

It’s not like you have to go without forever. Indeed, three frugal youth years can equal decades of financial ease.

When I heard a journalist in his 30s complaining on the radio about how he couldn’t buy a property because the Baby Boomers were hoovering up investment properties I was shouting at the host to ask him the question: “So what have you spent your money on instead?”

Of course, if home ownership is not your thing, all power to you. There are plenty of ways to live a life.

But if you’re still beguiled by the great Australian dream of owning a home — as so charmingly evoked in The Castle — then ignore the prevailing dialogue and persevere.

You won’t just gain a home but the happiness that comes through self-determination.