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This is the age society expects to you have kids and settle down by

How many of these milestones have you checked off your "life CV"?

This is the age society expects to you have kids and settle down by
18 November 2016

What does success in your late twenties look like to you?

A weekend of beer, burgers, and plenty of time in front of the box? A sizzling volley at five-a-side perhaps? Or how about opening night tickets for the new Stars Wars movie?

All seem perfectly fine examples to us, but according to new research we should be setting our sights a little higher – or at least, an alarming number of Brits feel internal pressure to have met “the one”, had kids, taken a gap year, bought a car and house, and even got a pet by 32.

The research by Privilege Home Insurance – which surveyed 2,000 people – says 68 per cent Brits need to have checked certain milestones off their “life CV” by a certain age, or they feel like they’ve failed to meet their own (possibly self-defeating) expectations.

The top milestone was buying your own home, which 37 per cent people said they defined success in life – and 19 per cent said they’d be disappointed if they hadn’t bought a place by 31 – a target age set for themselves.

Next was meeting “the one” and having children, which 27 per cent said they felt they should have achieved by 29 and 31-years-old respectively.

See the top ten life CV milestones, ranked by the percentage of people who cited them as the top thing they felt they should achieve – and the age by which they thought they should do it.

  • Buy first home by 31 - 37 per cent
  • Meet long term partner by 29 - 27 per cent
  • Have children by 30 - 27 per cent
  • Have a long term career by 32 - 26 per cent
  • Reach target wage/salary by 41 - 21 per cent
  • Own a car by 25 - 20 per cent
  • Move in with long term partner by 30 - 19 per cent
  • Reach savings goal by 48 - 17 per cent
  • Afford two holidays a year by 41 - 17 per cent
  • Being able to drive by 23 - 12 per cent

It’s interesting to see that even now, young people feel like they have to put themselves under pressure to check these things off the – or that there’s a stigma attached to not achieving such traditional ideals by a certain age.

Also interesting is the fact us Brits put relationships and family above financial security. Nevertheless, the average target salary to reach by 41 was £35,165, while savings Brits wanted to have put away by 48 was £26,775.

Still, there’s no need to feel pressurised into anything, no matter close to (or far past) 32 you are. A weekend of beer, burgers, and plenty of time in front of the box still sounds like success to us.