Expensive cities are a problem in themselves. Housing and general living costs can be considerably higher. Living in “high cost of living” places only makes sense if you are a high earner. Low earners in expensive cities are going to struggle to get ahead. People with family ties in places like London are at a disadvantage since they can’t easily move to somewhere cheaper.

The easiest answer is to move somewhere cheaper, if you can do so without hurting your earning power. Some people never resolve this during their working life, and remain relatively light on productive assets whilst paying to own a home in London, and then move in retirement to somewhere cheaper to free up their capital for investment.