A 31-year-old woman saved for five years and was told she is $50,000 (£36,650) short of a home. The figure is accurate. What it measures is not what most people assume. She is not short of a house at all. She is short of the deposit size that avoids one monthly fee, and the difference between those two things is the story.
Her case is described online by a man who says he is her cousin, and none of it has been confirmed independently. She put away $600 (£440) every month for five years without missing one. She skipped holidays. She kept the same car past 130,000 miles and cooked every meal at home rather than eating out. Her cousin sets out the whole five years below.
