Don’t be tricked into being a long-term renter.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen a wave of YouTube videos—mostly by Africans in the diaspora and second-gen immigrants—trashing mortgages as a "scam," a financial ball-and-chain, or just plain not worth it because they "trap" you into working non-stop to keep up with payments.

While I get where they’re coming from, this take is dangerously oversimplified. It ignores key nuances that could cost our community serious wealth over time.
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Let’s debunk this 'renting is better than buying' narrative.

If you don’t own, you rent. Simple.

And in the UK, for most of the last 20–30 years, mortgage payments have often been the same or much lower than rent. That’s right—lower. And rents have been rising at lightning speed. Why? Because the housing stock is barely growing, and demand is rising—not just due to immigration but also because people are moving out of parental homes and needing their own space and staying single for longer. The supposed house-building boom? Nowhere to be seen.
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Yes, interest rates have risen since 2022, but even at around 5%, they’re still historically reasonable.

I’m happy to agree that renting can be the better option in a few scenarios:

1. Short-term living
If you’ve just moved to a new city and don’t know the lay of the land, renting gives you flexibility while you explore. That said, if you’re confident and have the deposit, buying can still make sense, even short term, in the UK, I've done it before myself.

2. You’re new to the country
Navigating a foreign mortgage system when you’ve just arrived can be overwhelming. Renting is a smart, temporary move while you find your feet.

3. You already own elsewhere
If you’ve got other properties and are building equity and rental income, renting your primary residence could be just fine. Just make sure you’ve got a plan to be mortgage- and rent-free by retirement to reduce financial stress.

4. You plan to move around
​Maybe your job takes you from place to place. In that case, renting makes sense. But if you can afford to, consider buying somewhere stable and renting it out—you’ll lock in today’s prices and start building equity.

Let’s be clear: this perspective is UK-specific. The UK and US might share a language, but their property markets are night and day. Don’t conflate the two.

Here’s why buying wins in the UK:

1. You’ll eventually own your home outright—no rent, no mortgage.
2. Every mortgage payment builds equity—you’re paying yourself, not your landlord.
3. You benefit from rising property values—though this is the least important of the three.

​Let’s take each argument in turn.

This is a game-changer in retirement.

The UK state pension is around £1,000 a month per person. If you're a couple, that’s £2,000. That can cover all basic bills and even leave room for a holiday--but only if you're not paying rent or a mortgage.

If you have other income like a defined benefit pension or strong investments, great—but owning your home gives you serious peace of mind.

And even if you retire with a small mortgage, it’s not the end of the world, provided you can manage the payments comfortably and perhaps earn a little income from hobbies.

Now, let’s address an argument from Paula Pant of the Afford Anything show: she says most early mortgage payments go to interest, so you’re not building equity. I think that’s the wrong lens.

Instead, compare your mortgage interest to what you’d be paying in rent. If the mortgage interest is the same, lower, or just slightly higher, then buying makes complete sense.

Example 1: My First Property Purchase (2006)

• Purchase price: £250,000
• Mortgage: £237,500, 35-year term at 5.99%
• Monthly payment: £1,350 (£1,190 interest)
• Rental value: £1,100

Instead of buying a 1-bed, I went for a 2-bed so I could rent out the second room—what people now call house hacking. I called it cutting costs and avoiding loneliness.

I rented the spare room for £450/month. After adding a £30 increase in utilities, my effective cost was £770—much cheaper than renting the same home for £1,100.

I had three lovely flatmates over time—all friends, two of whom are still close to this day.

Two years later, rates dropped, and I was paying just £285 in interest. Meanwhile, I was renting the place out and the rental value quickly rose to £1,450/month. Not bad, right?

Paula Pant’s rent vs. buy formula says you shouldn't buy if the price/rent ratio is over 15 (250/13.2 = 19 in this case), but I say the maths mathed! For 15 years, I had just one week of vacancy.
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The key question isn’t whether to rent or buy—it’s how to make a purchase work for you.

UK Mortgage Flexibility: A Bonus

Mortgages here are fixed for just 2–5 years, not the entire term like in the US. So even if you’re paying mostly interest upfront, you may find yourself refinancing at a lower rate and suddenly repaying much more capital at some point during the mortgage life. Flexibility = opportunity.

What About Opportunity Cost?

Some argue you should invest your deposit in the stock market instead.
Here’s why that doesn’t hold up:

a. Leverage works in your favour.
My £18,000 upfront cost (deposit + fees + minor refurb) turned into £480,000 in profit—£330k in capital gains (the house sold in March 2025) and £150k in rental profit. Compare that to a projected £108k return if I’d invested in the same £18,000 in the stock market.

b. Most Brits don’t invest in equities. Some wouldn't even if their life depended on it.
Only 20% do—compared to two-thirds of Americans. Most of that deposit money would have gone into cash ISAs (basically earning nothing) or been spent.
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c. Deposits often come from parents.
A study found that over a third (37%) of first-time buyers received the deposit to buy a home from their parents. And let’s be honest, parents will help you buy a home, not invest in stocks. Use that help wisely.

As long as you’re not on an interest-only mortgage, every payment chips away at your loan.
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Example 2: Our 2021 Home

• Home value (after renovations): £1 million
• Mortgage: £505,000 over 23 years at 1%
• Monthly payment: £2,050 (£420 interest)
• Rental value: £3,000

We set payments slightly above rent to build equity fast. Within three years, rent in the area jumped to £4,000–£5,000. We’d never afford that as renters, but upping payments to this level just means we'll be outright owners sooner rather than later. So, we’ve upped our mortgage payments to match the new rental range—ramping up the equity faster.

This 23-year mortgage? It’ll be paid off in just 10 years at this rate.
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According to Paula Pant’s formula again (1,000/36 = 28), we shouldn’t have bought. But once again, UK conditions make her formula irrelevant here.

Is Homeownership More Expensive?
People often say owning is pricier than renting because landlords cover repairs. But landlords only fix what’s absolutely necessary, and UK homes are solid—they don’t break down as much as people fear.

Here’s what I spent maintaining that £250,000 house over 18 years:

• Buildings insurance: < £200/year
• British Gas Homecare: £25–40/month for plumbing, electric and boiler fixes
• Major costs including on-going maintenance (e.g. appliance replacement): New bathroom, kitchen floor, roof clean, window painting—nothing outrageous - I make the total as under £6,000 over the entire rental period of 15 years. Honestly, I barely felt it against years of rental profit.

Some tenants even improved the house at their own cost (I was lucky, I know - however, it's not uncommon for UK tenants to do some decorative work to make the house feel like their own especially if they are staying long-term). And I found that kindness pays—I didn’t raise one tenant’s rent for six years! 

This isn’t the main reason to buy, but it’s a nice bonus.
Still, I’d prefer property prices simply kept up with inflation—making homes affordable for the next generation. But if prices are going to rise, you want to be on the owning side of that equation.

Final Thoughts: Let’s Normalise Homeownership

​Renting long-term in a market like the UK leads to financial insecurity and slower wealth building—especially when:

• Property prices tend to rise
• Rents go up quickly
• Interest rates are moderate (sub-7% is moderate; sub-4% is low)

Only 20% of Black Africans in the UK own their homes, compared to 74% of Indians. We’re the least represented group in property ownership and, unsurprisingly, among the least wealthy.

That can change.

​Let’s talk more. Let’s share knowledge. Let’s normalise property ownership in our communities.

The following books have strongly influenced my thinking on this topic:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (Amazon UK, Amazon US);
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley and William D Danko (Amazon UK, Amazon US);
• The Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason (Amazon UK, Amazon US);
• The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton (Amazon UK, Amazon US);

Hi Heather,
 
I want to earn extra income, however I work as a nurse in the NHS which takes up my time, do you have any suggestions on any investment that can make money. I am also interested in the stock market but don’t know where to start.
 
I am interested in both generating extra monthly cash flow now and increasing the amount of money I have in retirement.
 
Denise.
 
Hi Denise,
 
Thanks for this question. I love it because I have two nurses in my immediate family, my mother-in-law was a nurse for a long time and my cousin is still one now.

​The, “how can I make a little extra cash now” question is one I asked myself quite recently because I wanted to put extra cash into our household ISAs. There are a few things you can do to boost your cash now:

1. Work a few more shifts every month (and look for higher paid jobs).
2. Do some extra work in another field.
3. Invest in or produce products that make cash.
4. Teach
5. Invest in property.

1. Working extra shifts / locum shifts  

My mother-in-law says this is not a great idea because being a nurse is hard enough work, as it is. I agree that it is very demanding work but one of the great features of working at the front line of medical services is that you can actually make more money by working more hours, even temporarily. Some jobs don’t offer opportunities to earn more by working more, you’re paid a fixed annual salary and that’s it - no overtime. Overtime either goes uncompensated or is compensated as time back in lieu.
 
You can sign up to a locum agency and do the same type of work for higher pay on your free days.
 
If you want to really juice up your income you can even look at things like working a 4-day week in your regular NHS job (your NHS pension would therefore be lower) and work for a locum agency on the 5th  day. The advantage with this strategy is that you will boost your income without working more hours because the hourly rate is higher as a locum nurse. If the extra income is invested wisely it could more than make up for the lower NHS pension.
 
Also, keep your eyes open for higher paying promotions.

2. Do some extra work in another field.  

If you have another skill that you can monetise you can look into doing extra work in that field. So ask yourself, "what other skills do I have?" I'll give you an example from my own life:
 
In my early 20s when I worked in banking the bonuses were not good one year and to make some extra money I slipped flyers into doors offering massages (for women only) at my house for £25/half-hour. I had someone sign up that very day. I had done a course in therapeutic massage at London College of Massage for fun and when I needed it, that skill helped me boost my income. I didn’t do it for long but it showed me that if I wanted to earn more money I could monetise other skills in my free time.
 
There are some things you can do that don’t even need a new skill such as babysitting. You could sign up at childcare.co.uk or sitters.co.uk and your credentials as a nurse would be very attractive to people that needed a babysitter for nights out or weekends. You haven’t said whether or not you have childcare responsibilities of your own so I don’t know if this is possible for you.
 
If you have skills that you can monetise online then list yourself on freelance websites like upwork or fiverr. There is a wide range of professions people hire for on these sites. I have used these sites myself to buy all manner of things including artwork, copy, copy editing and even voiceovers! Imagine that, all you’d need as a voice over artist is a microphone that records your voice clearly. Some people make serious money side-gigging on these sites.
 
These first two options are not completely aligned with your question as you asked for “investments that you can make” but I decided to add them to give a fuller answer.

3. Invest in or produce products that make cash.  

Investing in something necessarily involves parting with money in the hope that you’ll earn even more money. You haven’t said how much money you have to invest so here are a few options.
 
Can you make something that people would be interested in buying that you can sell on etsy, eBay, amazon or Facebook marketplace?
 
Make a few samples of what you want to sell and list them on all these sites. I ran a product business myself for almost 6 years mostly using Amazon so I would recommend that you:

1. Try several marketplaces to see where your product sells best – in my experience, eBay and Amazon seem to attract very different types of people – I haven’t tried any other marketplace. I personally sold most of my products on Amazon in the US and sent the products there so Amazon could fulfil them for me.
2. Have a look at my course on “Product: How To Start A Product-Based Business” – I have set it up to be completely free for the next three days only. This is enough time to go through all the videos.
3. Don’t produce too much before you see how well the product sells.
4. Avoid buying expensive machinery before you have seen evidence that your business has potential to make a decent return for you.

I would never discourage anyone from starting a business but having experienced it, I would tell you that it is very hard work. It involves a lot of long hours and is nothing like as glamorous as our culture makes being an “entrepreneur” sound. A business could consume absolutely every free moment you have – evenings and weekends. And all that time might not even produce a profit. Investing in a business comes with a lot of risk – stats vary depending on source, however, 80% to 90% of businesses fail in under 3 years.

4. Teach  

Could you make money teaching something online? You could create a course and list it on Udemy, Teachable or another similar site. This would take some time to produce well, in the first instance, then you would need to spend some money on marketing your course but you could keep the costs very low.

Alternatively if you want to teach a GCSE or A-Level subject (High school level) or even a university course level, you can sign up to places like tutorful (previously, tutora). 

5. Invest in property.  
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If you have enough for at least a 25% deposit then it may be worth looking into property investment. Because interest costs on buy-to-let property are no longer fully tax deductible, (that means, you can’t subtract the interest payment from the rent you receive before calculating your tax bill), property is not as attractive an investment as it used to be. That said, if you can buy a place with cash, or if the property produces a high enough profit to clear the mortgage within a reasonable amount of time (I personally target 10 to 15 years) then it could be worth doing.
 
Overall, the option you go for will depend on your risk tolerance and the amount of cash you have to invest. If you are relatively risk averse and don’t have cash to invest then working more to earn more will be more attractive. If you can tolerate some risk and do have some spare cash saved up, then investing in property will provide you with medium risk while investing in a business will be the higher risk option.

If you’re looking to boost future income then you have two main options:

1. You can invest in property or
2. You can invest in the stock market - and, of course, you can do a bit of both.

 
Property investing we've already talked about.
 
The stock market provides a good return over long periods of time; most investment advisors would suggest an investment horizon of 5 years or more. Putting money into the stock market in the hopes of a good return in a year or less is gambling rather than investing, that's why I didn't offer it as an option when we were thinking through how to "boost income now".

The most tax efficient options for investing the stock market are investing via an ISA or a SIPP. ISA are individual savings accounts and SIPPs are self-invest pension plans, they are a type of personal pension.
 
If you invest the money via a SIPP then you won’t have access to that money until you are between 55 and 58 years old. The exact age will depend on your age and has been set at the state retirement age minus 10 years.
 
The SIPP is a good option because for every £100 you put in, HMRC pay back £25 of tax and this saving is automatic. It is claimed by the SIPP provider and is shown on your investment account. The maximum you can put into a pension a year is £40,000 or your salary whichever is lower. So, if you earn £30,000/year you can put up to £30,000 into your pension without getting a tax charge. If you earn more than £40,000/year and haven’t reached the lifetime allowance of £1.055m, you can put up to £40,000 into your pension without getting a tax charge/penalty.

I will be writing several blogs on investing over the next few months that should hopefully build your confidence to make the move. In the meanwhile, you might find this useful: What platform should you use for investing and what should you invest in.

I hope this is helpful.

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