I was a trainee solicitor in the mid-90s. I graduated and walked straight into a job in the City from university, debt-free, thanks to a student grant.
Soon after qualifying as a lawyer, I made a career pivot into journalism. Looking back, leaving a stable career seems rash, especially in the harsh glare of the current cost of living crisis, but it was all within the realms of possibility at the time.
By my late twenties, in 1999, at the age of 29, I was earning enough to get on the property ladder and buy my first flat in London’s Zone 2 for just over £100,000 with a 10 per cent deposit. I remember the elation I felt that first morning waking up in my own flat, after years of renting.