Kennie Bukky, co-founder of The Pivot Place
Courtesy of Kennie Bukky
One millennial managed to save enough money to buy her own property by the age of 25, despite the bleak economic landscape facing young people.
Kennie Bukky, a UK professional under 30, is a compliance officer who has worked at companies including KPMG and Visa.
By the time she was 25, she had managed to save £50,000 (about $63,000) and secured a mortgage on her first home. Her savings and mortgage were confirmed by CNBC Make It.
Bukky explained that she had no financial help from her parents and instead had to be extremely financially savvy as inflation, the high cost of living and skyrocketing house prices continued put people under 30 in a disadvantageous position.
In fact, only 36.5% of adults say they’re better off financially than their parents, while 42.8% say they’re worse off, according to CNBC International Survey on the financial security of your money in April 2024.
And as many young people feel overwhelmed in adulthood, some are increasingly so ruin spending deal with stress because they don’t believe they’ll ever be able to own a home or start a family.
Bukky said those concerns were at the forefront of her mind after she graduated in 2017.
“I came from a background where we had to be careful with money, and money wasn’t always plentiful. There was always a scarcity mindset around money and my upbringing,” Bukky said in an interview with CNBC Make It.
“I never really had any money lessons or anything from my parents… I hated the idea of being restricted because of money and I started learning from an early age that if you save money, you have the freedom to do whatever you want with that money.”
Here’s how Bukky, who chose to keep her real name and age secret for privacy reasons, managed to save five figures in her 20s.
‘I was obsessed with saving’
Bukky felt her forensic science degree lacked earning potential — so she turned to the finance industry, starting as an entry-level analyst at banking firm RBS earning £28,000. Even then, she was committed to saving money.
One of the ways Bukky has managed to save despite the high cost of living is to continue living with her parents as long as possible – increasingly common trend in recent years as rental prices have soared.
That meant she had 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,” Bukky said. “So I could have easily moved out, but my priority was saving that money so I could invest and build towards financial freedom and financial independence. I lived at home as long as I could, even though it wasn’t the best.”
She added that saving with a lower salary created a savings habit that she has kept even now. And that caused her savings to snowball, as she was able to put even more money aside.
After Bukky 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.
Living modestly
Bukky combined saving money with frugal living, including only buying clothes during sales.
However, growing up in the age of social media means that it’s easy for young people to fall prey to a culture of comparison and feel pressured 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. That was much more important than living a lavish life,” Bukky said.
However, she said she still managed to enjoy herself and budgeted for cheap vacations with friends and dinner out.
She also admitted she got carried away when she started earning around £40,000 – and buying BMWs.
“I temporarily fell into that trap, and then I looked at it and thought: actually, this is not all it should be. I have to focus on my goal. So I owned a BMW for a few months, and then I just sold it myself because I thought, well, that’s not all, I tried it now, just to get back to my Ford or something.”
The savvy millennial now earns more than £100,000 a year. She has invested more than £30,000 in the stock market, converted her first home into a rental property and is on her way to buying another property.
Despite this, Bukky said that minimalism still appeals to her.
“There are certain things I still wouldn’t do now, for example, I just don’t think it’s time to buy a fancy car, even though I can totally afford it,” she said.
“I need assets to pay for it, not out of pocket, because in my opinion, that’s how you get stuck in the rat race, just acquiring all these fancy things, because then it’s tied to your income. To me, that’s a form of slavery , to be bound by these obligations.”
