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Just been reading quite a bit on the bbc pages and money saving expert about financial planning and debt etc etc and it got me wondering am i in a bad way or really just average or actually quite healthy debt wise...
so how good / bad is your debt world and financial out look
I'll start
mortgage 90,000ish
credit card debt 2000ish
overdraft 500 quid
so single male under 30 approx £92500
stable job but no savings as have just renovated a house so just started to build them back up
you better or worse??
Couple - stable jobs
15k in student debt between us at a silly low rate
No other debt
a full years wages in the bank ( saving for a house deposit)
Living at parents still with my partner. £12,000 in savings but still no hope of getting our own morgage yet 🙁
Single female, owe £7k, have a job. Was in minor debt at the beginning of this year, then my car got stolen and my back worsened dramatically. Replace car + not getting paid for time off sick due to back = massive debt.
Edit: no assets, no savings
I would say your financial status largely depends on how much your house is now worth, and how much it may increase by in the future.
Me, I'm 29 single male, I have zero debt, credit card is paid off every month (only really use it for security and I get cashback) and about £3K in savings, however I don't own any property.
Not bad after 9 months out of work, however the savings account had over £10k in before i lost my job 🙁
mortgage none (house paid for)
credit card debt none
overdraft none
No debt, self employed.
I really feel for people loosing their jobs right now with big overheads, i count my blessings every day.
I'm assuming you're talking about this article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15197860
I'm fairly certain "Kate & Jai" are up to a bit of tax evasion, probably on behalf of Jai.
She's s nurse
He's an electrician
They have a combined income of £40k
They have a £300,000 house
They buy a new car every 2 years
Something doesn't add up for me. If the bloke's self employed, he must be doing a shed load of cash in hand jobs...
Family of 5
2 working - eldest daughter and me
2 still in education [just]
1 looks after the house - wife
Mortgage paid off
No debt to speak of
Feels OK now but we had some very hard times in the 80s
Or the business owns the house and the cars ?
Building house in Spain with no loans.
Last savings dwindling and house no where near comfortable to live in.
Refuse to borrow any money though so it's work like a dog when I can in London until life levels out. At least I will owe money to noone at the end.
In the maen time.
No new road bike.
No upgrading HT MTB.
Having to try to sell the full susser. (2005 Giant Reign anyone?)
Feeling very skint indeed, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.
Couple + 1 toddler + 1 dog
£180k mortgage debt
£100k mortgage debt
£25k student loans
£2k credit card (currently)
zero overdraft
£13k car loan
But thats only half the story though isnt it.
£130k ish equity in houses (after debt paid)
£1k ish in car after debt paid.
£5k in the bank for a rainy day.
mortgage none (house paid for)
credit card debt none
overdraft none
Main liability - 17 month old son 😉
My job will probably go at the end of 2012 but i've known this for a while so i've been saving to make sure i'm ok if (when) it does.
Mortgage £124k but currently on 0.98% deal so payments silly low. By my reckoning i should have enough savings to allow me to 'exist' for around 2 years with no additional income whatsoever so in reality a bit longer even if i picked up a minimum wage job in desperation. Wife works in local government in a stable (ish) job which would allow for the household costs to be covered. No kids as yet which makes the situation simpler but that may change. Have some equity in the property as well if things got really bad.
No credit card debts (paid off every month) and no other debts either. I'm a firm believer in only buying something if i can afford it (house aside).
under 30 male - got a gf but financially single
mortgauge about £155k left (started with 200k)
credit card - about £500 (mostly paid off monthly so no interest to pay)
other debt - none
savings - none
currently moving out of my 5 year mortgauge in the middle of the term to move to a cheaper deal - going to cost me 5k up front but will be cheaper in the long run. Getting that fix was a dumb move but at the time I thought rates were going to sky rocket.
With xmas coming up, just bought flights to Vietnam for my first holiday next year and buying some shiney parts for a road frame i'm building next year, I'm broke in the short term, but financially stable long term
worse on the unsecured front, don't get made redundant. I have a job and am trying to dig myself out of the hole, but it will take time.
Bit pointless listing figures without taking income into account?
Our pre-tax household income is 47.5% of our total debt (mortgage, bank loan, student loan) which will increase to about 51% once the loan is paid off in March
I'm assuming you're talking about this articlehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15197860
I'm fairly certain "Kate & Jai" are up to a bit of tax evasion, probably on behalf of Jai.
She's s nurse
He's an electrician
They have a combined income of £40k
They have a £300,000 house
They buy a new car every 2 years
Something doesn't add up for me. If the bloke's self employed, he must be doing a shed load of cash in hand jobs...
They don't know how much their house is worth unless someone buys it off them.
Maybe the mortgage they have on the house is a lie to buy...and they have been extending the mortagage every few years to buy a new car.
Something doesn't add up for me.
lots of debt.
yeah bob that the article i agree seems a bit off to me either that or she is just plain fibbing!!
looks like from the above reading that the STW massive are loaded with cash all those folk with no mortgages!!
I would like to pay off the credit card debt asap but things like xmas keep getting in the way!! have managed not to actually add anything to them tho as its a 0% balance transfer card
I would have thought a nurse and an electrician would have earned more than £40k?
On the bread line here.
Time rich and money poor.
couple
£60k joint income
3yrs left on mortgage @ £300 per month
no other debt.
I never understand people who wont have debt. I know its each to their own etc, but our cc debt is on 0% so we get the thing we want now (ie in part my current bike 🙂 ) and pay for it over the next 12 months, rather than saving for 12 months and then being able to buy the bike.
Bit pointless listing figures without taking income into account?Our pre-tax household income is 47.5% of our total debt (mortgage, bank loan, student loan) which will increase to about 51% once the loan is paid off in March
OK then - our pre-tax household income is 0% of our total debt
under 25 (just)
9k savings
14k student debt
no CC debt
accomm comes with job
currently earn enough to cover immediate costs, but not to save
shareholder in a business which may or may not be successful within the next year.
happy for now, but will be looking for more financial security within a year.
I'm assuming you're talking about this articlehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15197860
I'm fairly certain "Kate & Jai" are up to a bit of tax evasion, probably on behalf of Jai.
I think that the house is fully paid off (inheritance??) as they don't mention any payments towards it. In addition a newish car (say 10k) every 2 years isn't that much money if you get, say, 6k for hte old one - 2k per year would be 5% of their pay
25 years old and married-don't own a house yet and have no kids.
Between us we earn quite abit more than we spend on bills/general living, and excluding my 8k of student loan debt have no debts or savings......starting to save for a deposit on a house after xmas, but with me being self employed I'll be amazed if we can get a mortgage on house that we'd want to buy before I'm 30 🙁
Just a mortgage for about 25% of the value of my house and no other debt.
It amuses me that they say they own a £300000 house, yet have a £360000 mortgage on it.
The banks owns the house, then some.
The only deby between my girlfriend and I is our mortgage. Which is small and more than affordable.
Bit pointless listing figures without taking income into account?
I've no debt, i earn enough to pay the bills and buy stuff.
Time rich and money poor.
I am really considering this becoming my aim in life.
I am really considering this becoming my aim in life
A happy middle ground is probably a better thing to aim for.
Work/Life balance.
Equity : debt ratio 4.5. Actual debt level would scare most people.
No credit card debt, no overdraft
Piss poor. No mortgage(council house),about 9grand in debt and no leeway to save. No pension and no foreign holiday ever. Im qualified and experienced and work 6x13hr days and we are getting nowhere fast. To be honest I dont really see the point of working anymore - Id be better off doing nowt and signing on. At least Id get a bit life to myself. Edit getting geared up for christmas/birthday hammering. Just glad that we both like the free things in life like walking the dog and riding my bike. Still makes me very sad at times though.
Wrote off a crazy amount of money last year when my business folded.
Lost everything.
A period of unemployment, while not entitled to a penny in benefits, as I was still listed as a company director. And therefore technically 'employed'. Despite having no income
Racked up massive further debts just to live and feed my kids etc
Found a job eventually earning 30% less than I was 10 years ago.
Servicing said massive debts now takes a huge wedge of my reduced salary
My only possessions are my bikes. No car or owt
So to summarise: MAHOOOSIVE debts! No assets at all.
On paper - well and truly ****ed!!! In reality: Happier and more content than I've been in a long time
Its all just 'stuff' innit? Strangely liberating to be without it 😀
Where did I go wrong?
Couple, both working, reasonable income from employment plus rental income from a property.
130k mortgage on home
25k mortgage on rental property
50k mortgage on my mums flat (my sister and I bought it between us as my dad died and left her a bit skint)
Enough equity in one property to clear the last two mortgages plus most of the first.
No car loans
No other loans
a couple of k in interest free credit cards
son at private school which costs a bit
er I think thats it.
But yes we are financially stable.
Fine thanks, but then I didn't get mortgaged to the hilt to buy myself a tiny little 1-bed flat in my 20s like many of my peers. Flats that most of them are either trying to sell or renting (often at a loss) as they have kids and need somewhere bigger.
No debt beyond what goes on the CC every month and gets paid off in full via DD (do it that way for the 1% cashback). Car and motorbike both bought from savings, and I wouldn't consider doing it any other way unless some 0% deal came along. No fancy £4k+ carbon pushbikes, just a Brompton, a steel road bike and a steel hardtail. Not spent more than a grand on a bike and not planning to start just yet.
Have a fair amount squirrelled away for a house deposit but nothing out there that represents any kind of value for money. Happy to rent (my half of our flat inc bills is about a third of my take-home), keep saving and let prices keep on declining.
So, what sort of ratio of income and assets to debt would be the most reasonable (I know zero debt would be the ideal).
What would be considered a level of debt relative to income which you should not exceed?
ok so taking into consideration all the debts and what my fixed asset (i.e house) is worth
equity is positive by 20% or so
33, and missus 37, expecting first kiddy in 8 weeks - only debt we have is the mortgage (£140k). All student loans, overdrafts and credit cards paid off.
Have about £15k in savings. Looking to pay off a large chunk of the mortgage when our fixed term is up next year.
**** 'em mate
Go bust, hand everything back to creditors or whatever you can do to get a fresh start
They wouldn't think twice about screwing you so do it first
Decent income, more debt than I want less than I've had but more than I had until a few years ago. I spend too much and don't save enough but I live a good life.
As long as I've got a job i'm fine. And if this place does go tits up(which is a possibility in a few months), well i'm pretty confindent i'll find something to keep me going, i'm a grafter. But if the worst happens and I can't even find a minimum wage job(to keep me going till something better comes along) well I'm ****ed to be honest, doubt that'll happen though.
Financially wise, I get by, I've a 7k loan that costs me 148 quid a month, and the usual rent, gas, leccy council tax etc. after all that is paid I've generally got about 5-600 quid a month to spend on food and what ever else I like. 33, Single with no commitments.
prezet - look into whether you can pay off some of the mortgage early without penalty - a lot of mortagages let you do it - the difference between 4% mortgage rate and your 2% savings rate is quite a lot
I'm 38 and single with no kids.
Earn between £32-35,000.
Mortgage paid off
No other debt
Have a few thousand in the bank for emergencies.
Also have a non-contributory work pension, although I don't expect that to last for ever.
I feel fortunate. I know from the 'canteen chat' at work that even on a decent wage it's difficult with a family, even up here in Cumbria.
5lab - we've looked into it. No go, we'll be penalised if we wanted to. Hence it all sitting in savings until the term is up. Good ol' Santander.
I have planned for the worst and happy that I can provide well for my wife and kids in the event of my death or redundancy.
I have £0 debt outside of a 35% LTV mortgage, but if I left London I could make this £0 pretty quickly I think.
As someone said above, I feel for those being made redundant in these times of little opportunity. I don't take my good fortune to date for granted.
@jota 180 - not that easy mate. Ive worked hard since I was 15. I held down 2 f/t jobs for 2years and no matter what I do its never enough. I just dont have good fortune in life. Cant see anyway to improve or better our situation so now I just accept it. Kids are all ok though and thats all that matters to me.
What would be considered a level of debt relative to income which you should not exceed?
For me, 2.5 x joint earnings. We're comfortably below that, and could always sell assets to cover if either of us had a prolonged period of 'resting'.
Mortgage - 80% ish.
No other debts.
Modest savings.
Secure job.
Nothing to complain about.
I owe £50k on my mortgage - property apparently worth £180k
Joint income £45k
2 kids
2 dogs
No credit cards or HP
Age 41
feels like a flippin struggle at this so god knows how people with a mortgage bigger than mine manage
26 years old
No mortgage
Earn between £22k/26k
£1k savings
£20k Student debt
£2800 Bank loan for car
Credit card with a limit of £500 that i pay off every month (bought to improve credit rating)
£400 left on some finance i took out on my Mac (again, only taken to improve my credit rating)
I dont feel stretched. Only recently started saving any money, which will eventually be used for a house 10 or so years down the line.
What would be considered a level of debt relative to income which you should not exceed?
depends on personal circumstances - if you've a wife and kids to support, quite low. if you're a batchelor with no other outgoings, quite high. Also depends on interest rates. I currently assign approx 65% of my take home income to servicing my debts (but I could reduce that if I wanted)
@jota 180 - not that easy mate
No, it's not easy, that's for sure
It's where we found ourselves in the 80s but in retrospect starting again was the best thing we ever did
When it got to the point where we had £12.50/week to live on, we gave in
39, wife and 2 kids.
no debt, no property, tiny income, loads of time!
The most vauble things we have are my 2 cheap bikes 😯
I consider myself screwed...
Yeah cider me too. Big debts,low income no property. Not much hope either Im afraid. Got a funny feeling theres a lot of people in Britain like that.
im 24 and earn 37.5k
Have a 90K mortgage and some student loans outstanding and a couple of months pay in savings.
Just got engaged to my girlfriend who's phd finishes soon so i might have to support us for a bit but will be fine. Once she has a job too i think we will be a very succesful professional young couple.
I realise how lucky i am but i do feel very little connection with leftytrackworld on here.
Titus, I was much like you until I split up with my missus earlier this year, paying a mortgage meant for two single handed sucks!
No (real) job.
No (real) assets.
21 years old.
Around £15k debt.
Why have I been tagged?
You're on now 🙂
Not as financially stable as we were before been laid off 3 years ago...
Luckily though, unlike the government, we hadn't blown the good times - and while we've a mortgage (its at 0.6% for life), everything else had been paid for.
Trouble is, I'm earning now what I was 10 years ago - and I can't see it improving quickly, if at all.
Married with two kids, £14k in combined debt, which was racked up when we were both working, now I work part time and were both classed as full time students. We dont own property but get by with a slowly decreasing amount of debt.
Titus if I had been earning that much at 24 years of age I wouldnt have been getting engaged !
"When it got to the point where we had £12.50/week to live on, we gave in "
What do you mean by that? Did you declare bankrupt?
Why is that dunc ?
Open question
What % of your after tax were your first mortgage payments ?
Sorry Trail what are you asking?
Why you wouldnt get engaged if you earned that at 24 - why does money make a difference ?
Surely if your going to get engaged youd do it if you were on 10 or 40k surely ?
What do you mean by that? Did you declare bankrupt?
No - we sent everything back we had on HP, telly, washer, some furniture etc.
Then we just just lived day to day on what we had coming in
Ah I see - Yep each to their own and all. I had a fantastic time in my 20's travelling, buying nice cars etc etc, going to the pub etc etc. and I didnt earn any thing like that amount. With that kind of disposable income at 24 you can have lots of fun, and few commitments.
Jota - Thats a very brave and good thing to do. A lot of people would just declare bankrupt, which is a bit of a cop out really.
I suppose we're quite lucky being reasonably solvent (no debt, no kids, good jobs, reasonable savings) and in the context of some of the above, probably better to leave it at that.
Poor sods above who have to scrape around each month to make ends meet though.... 🙁
Of those that are 'financially stable' how secure are you in your job?
Would it all come tumbling down if you lost your job?
My mate lived the high life on tick age 18-21
Was 60-70in debt or there abouts on loans to cover loans when suddenly his flash car went and he was skint
Did wonder how he did it on his wages - just presumed that living with his parents rent free let him spend more
Fast forward to age 25 and his mrs tells my mrs they cant get a house as aberdeen houses are stupidly priced
Wonder if she knows they will have incredible trouble getting a mortgage...he went bankrupt
I have nothing but respect for familys who work and are living hand to mouth through circumstance. I have no time for folk that smoke/drink/fancy cars/ other luxary goods and claim poverty.
Fair enough dunc - each to their own ! If i didnt have my mrs id be skint but id have a power of bikes living in the spare room and a v8 landy .....would it make me any happier though ?
A lot of people would just declare bankrupt, which is a bit of a cop out really.
It is, but in effect pretty much what banks did to us without so much as an apology
Gary M - For me, no I dont think it would. If we both lost our jobs tomorrow, we would have to sell up, sell the car, etc etc. That would still leave us with cash in the bank to the go out and buy a small house.
The thing to do though is not kid yourself you can continue on with the same lifestyle and end up further and further in to debt.
As to stable employment, well both of us work for the NHS, Mrs FD will always be able to get work with her skill set, as there is a shortage of people in her market. I would perhaps struggle, but I would turn my hand to almost any thing if needs be.
Of those that are 'financially stable' how secure are you in your job?Would it all come tumbling down if you lost your job?
I'm sure the wife would find another job quickly. I work in a niche industry and wouldn't be guaranteed of finding a job that paid as well so cutbacks would be necessary in that situation. Luckily my job is secure so no immediate worries but we're saving a minimum of £1k a month at the moment with a view to clearing a £12k loan in a couple of months then it'll be a serious assault on reducing the mortgage to ensure that should the worst ever happen, we won't be stretched too thin.
[i]For me, no I dont think it would. If we both lost our jobs tomorrow, we would have to sell up, sell the car, etc etc. That would still leave us with cash in the bank to the go out and buy a small house.[/i]
So that's assunmong you could sell your current property then?
We are classed in the stable side. No mortgage, no cc debts (paid off each month) and money in the bank. Good income per year - but have one son at Uni and another about to start to eat into our savings. Biggest worry is that I am approaching 50 and my pension looks might small and a long way off - assuming that I ever get to retire!
I have no idea how my kids are ever going to be able to afford to buy or have a decent pension - but that is another discussion point!
with some of the debt people are saying they have, i would not be able to sleep.