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.

@bigthunder

**** ’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 f**ked 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 🙂

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.