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Quick question to posters, are you saving to buy a pension, should we be excluding pension pots from this discussion?
I think pensions should be excluded from the discussion.
If we take pensions into account i'm doing OK.... If we take savings, i'm doing badly... But a pension is only 'savings' when it becomes accessible.
Had some crippling debts following a divorce a few years ago. Credit cards, mortgage up to the hilt. Worked it all off in the last few years. Now have no debt at all other than a rapidly falling mortgage. Live in a modest semi which does me fine and earn an average wage. I'm just not extravagant. Kids have grown up and will be working soon which was a massive drain. I dont have savings per se, but do have a decent pension pot and the mortgage will be gone soon.
The very word Debt now makes me break out in cold sweats. Never again.
Savings??? Yes - enough to cover Christmas!
However, I do have a reasonable pension i.e. not huge but enough, and have recently paid off the mortgage so looking to change this. But the mortgage payments weren't huge, so the difference isn't as much as some people. The extra money has so far paid off credit cards and meant that this Summer's holidays, weekends away and festivals were all covered.
We both work, and yes could spend more evenings and weekends just sat in front the tele, but a daughter at Uni means that we have pretty much always lived month-to-month.
I'm not overly bothered about money, but I dream of having a bit left over at the end of each month.
I have paid off my mortgage, have several cars, could retire tomorrow but I love my job caring for ill children and driving old ladies to church visits, I have enough savings to cover me until the age of 150, my children all have iPhones and iPads and my dog has an iWatch so I can track her daily steps. And I wipe my arse on fivers.
But I am still saving for a short break during school holidays at Centre Parcs.
Nope, nope and nope. The last people you want working in care are people who do not want to work in care.
A good point.
There's always cleaning and cooking to be getting on with - yes, you do get people applying who'd be dangerous around vulnerable people.
To answer the question, 'Why save?'
For my wife and I, there's a few reasons:
We've both been made redundant during the past 20 years. And while the payouts have been good, it's always a worry.
We've got about 10 years before the pensions kick in. By saving over the last 20 years, my wife has been able to give up work, and I could if I wanted to. I haven't because I enjoy it.
Saving means we paid off the house years ago, so whatever happens, we'll have a roof.
The savings are helping our son at university.
Quick question to posters, are you saving to buy a pension, should we be excluding pension pots from this discussion?
Nope. Pension is completely separate. Because I can't access it until I retire, I don't think of my pension as 'savings'.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Savings for me are (currently) money that I can get to quickly if the boiler packs up.</span>
Saving means we paid off the house years ago, so whatever happens, we’ll have a roof.
Ah, but what if that roof develops a catastrophic leak that takes £'000's to repair....... which is kind of where we came in.
The savings are helping our son at university.
This is a good point as I think that we don't have any savings but we do - we have been saving for our girls' further/higher ed. since they were toddlers which is growing nicely into a pretty substantial pot. My only fall-back we have is the fact we have around £350k equity in our house (after allowing for sale costs) so if we ever needed to, we could buy a smaller place outright and at least be mortgage-free.
No in a word got enough equity in my house to pay more than the mortgage off on my rental and that's got 30odd k equity in it too.
No real debt as such 500 on a C.v card and that's it no car finance or shit like that.
What scares me is I've no inheritance and my mum's not got a lot too piss in.... and rents and us currently off with a osteoporosis fracture on the sick I've nowt to offer.
Pensions about 1500pa on today's rates but I've no kids n we ain't having any so it's flog the houses buy a van and tour round till the money has gone then I'm gonna go missing. Not ending up in a care home if they even exist in 35 years...
Though looking at bikes on the never never.....🤔
To put living costs with a young family into perspective in the south east.. I live in a london-commutable village.
3 bed semis are £500k. £450k mortgage is £2k a month
Season ticket to zone 1 is £500/month
Childcare for 2 kids is £2k a month
Council tax is £250 a month
Tv/phone/internet/gas/elec/water is £250 a month
And you're through £5k/month before you've gone for a single latte.
5lab
Serious question (as your figures make scary reading) do many people go from nothing (which I am assuming from your figures otherwise they would have equity) to buying a 3 bed semi if they only have two children? I was 41 and on my second house when our two girls were born - and that was a 2 bed terrace with a garden barely bigger than a children's climbing frame. We only managed to get somewhere bigger due to an inheritance otherwise we'd still be in it now.
As a slight alternative to the above, I'm 32 and I also live in a London commutable village in the South East.
- Our 3-bed terrace isn't selling at £350k, so it's not worth that! Mortgage is £750 a month on the £220k we've got outstanding
- I cycle to work and WFH a bit meaning I 'only' spend £2-300 a month on train tickets
- my 1 y/o goes to nursery 2 days a week because my wife works part time (we have the luxury of parental daycare on the other day), that's still £580 a month.
- Council tax is £170 a month
- TV/phone etc is about £250 yep
Still only £2k a month though! Plenty left over for lattes.
I've got a bit of savings, some for 'us' plus a pot for my son when he's older. Not a huge amount (c£15k), and we're looking to move house (see point 1) which will wipe 'our' bit out. I spend far too much money frankly, but I could realise a significant sum quite quickly through selling some assets (which are appreciating) if need be.
someone with a young family as in the post above, likely to be mid thirties max. If they are really lucky with jobs or rich parents, maybe they will have been on the housing ladder for five years. If they had, they will have likely been on a 30 year mortgage with 5 % deposit, and been 5 years into paying it.
5labs figures aren't unusual
we've skipped rungs on the property ladder to avoid the significant costs and disruption of moving every 5 years or so many of our friends seemed to do as they went from flat to terrace to semi to detached.
a friend currently has their 4 bed semi up for sale for £500k and apparently half the viewings have been first time buyers!
people are taking on massive mortgages.
we were very well set and basically mortgage free in our mid 30s due to relatively frugal living. then we had 2 kids and bought a doerupper forever home and we are skint. decent pension though if the stress doesn't kill me before I get thwre
someone with a young family as in the post above, likely to be mid thirties max. If they are really lucky with jobs or rich parents, maybe they will have been on the housing ladder for five years. If they had, they will have likely been on a 30 year mortgage with 5 % deposit, and been 5 years into paying it.
We bought with a 5% deposit on a 40 year mortgage aged 26! I'd do it again all day long though.
Quick question to posters, are you saving to buy a pension, should we be excluding pension pots from this discussion?
I pay into a pension as much as I can reasonably afford. No, I don't consider this as part of my savings, but I know it's there and I'm glad I have it.
This is a really insightful discussion - one thing that I see here is the comparison between "labour" jobs where you sweat for 40 hours per week, and clerical jobs where you sit at a desk all day and possibly get paid a lot more too. Some people would say that the clerical job is easier and, on most weeks, I'm sure they'd be right...
...but when it's 2am, you have a major system outage and you are the one (and perhaps the only one too) on the hook for getting it back up and running before people start working in the morning, the stress levels can be astronomical. Walking away isn't an option. Getting some sleep certainly isn't. There's noone to help you, except the internet and, if you're lucky, a disinterested supplier on the phone in California - you have to be able to focus and stay focused until the job is done. Those that have done it will recognise the stress and pressure that such situations bring and while it's not digging a hole in the rain, there hasn't been a single such occasion where I wouldn't have exchanged places with the man with the shovel in an instant.
We IT types earn our money when the chips are down 🙂
"do many people go from nothing (which I am assuming from your figures otherwise they would have equity) to buying a 3 bed "
Well we did as I absolutely refused to get saddled with a flat that either doesn't sell or is in *negative* equity.
To many of my friends became accidental landlords through inability to sell their flat without giving it away.
We rented a pokey little studio cottage out of town for a year and I worked in Africa for a majority of that year and put every penny asside to avoid buying a flat ....
Many other family members did similar did similar when They were young with the merchant navy and on the fishing etc. <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> </span>
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">They were conscious life choices though rather than luck. </span>
Long term we’re probably okay because - as a few in this thread - we run our own company and any profits we can spare go to pensions. I’m hoping to retire early 😉
Short term we’re okay-ish as we paid the house off, and the plan is to sell it once the kids have gone. We’ll move somewhere smaller (and hopefully next to a great trail and a pub!). We’re supporting one kid through Uni next year and going to try and help the other one get a (tiny) house locally.
We’ve a chunk of savings but not easy to get at. Which is good as I’d spend it. Luckily my wife is the fiscally responsible member of the family, and makes sure we’re (well I’m) not chucking cash we don’t have at shiny things.
I’ve always been rubbish at saving. But I like the idea of savings! We could do about 18 months if I didn’t get any more work, but I’d hate to see that money drain away.
do many people go from nothing (which I am assuming from your figures otherwise they would have equity) to buying a 3 bed semi if they only have two children
Fair point. i guess not a huge number, but some do. Even if you'd owned a flat for 5 years and had £150k equity, that'd only drop the mortgage by £500 a month - probably less than most families spend on cars + food + holidays + savings + clothes etc.
It was more meant to illustrate the differences living a non-salubrious life in the south can make. Assuming that was a couple, compare to the north east (other extreme), then we have
3 bed semi @ £125k
Mortgage @ £500/month (£110k)
Childcare - free (1 partner not working)
Council tax £150
Other bills £250 (same)
petrol to get to work (in place of season ticket) - £50?
so what cost £5k/month in the south east is achievable on just £850 in the north east - even with other living costs that's not far off minimum wage once other benefits/assistance are added in. Obviously this is an extreme example, and most people will fall inbetween the two examples, but it goes to show what cost of living can do to an income
Well we did as I absolutely refused to get saddled with a flat that either doesn’t sell or is in *negative* equity.
To many of my friends became accidental landlords through inability to sell their flat without giving it away.
Round my way people are selling their 1 bed flats for £250k+ (neighbour has theirs at £270k). They don't sell though, but they don't drop the price. They just wait it out years until finally someone buys it, then within 6 months to a year or two it's up for sale again with another £50k on the price.
I guess most people outgrow a 1 bed fast (unlike me sitting on it for 20 years!), but few people can actually afford one starting out.
Oh and I see loads of sold, then back up for sale. They fall through time after time because the buyer can't get the mortgage.
My cousin is looking to move from his flat to a 2bed house so he can have a garden. He is looking at around 300k for this. Even with 2 salaries, equity from the flat etc he won’t meet the affordability criteria.
costs of owning and running cars plus all the other bits make him look like s high risk...
the numbers 5lab puts up are probably not too uncommon. If you are renting you might be below 2k on the rent but it’s not helping you get anywhere really.
as trail-rat says working in non ideal locations can help give you a boost that normal work won’t.
You london commutable families have nailed it. My first house was a 2 bed terrace in kingston which cost me 90k in 1989. 2 years work experience i was on 15k, interest rates were 13% so I was so skint i let a room and got a saturday job as well.
So now the same house was sold last year for 640k, first time buyer territory.
Rents are obscene, it's 1300 pcm for a 2 bed flat, 200 council tax, season ticket, utilities you are pretty much up to 2k pcm before you have eaten.
5labs figures aren’t unusual
Exactly my point 2 pages ago.
🤣
Interesting thread.
The millionaire next door is a good read. Amazing what some people can amass by consistently saving. On the flip side it is amazing what some can spend.
I try and create a habit of saving each month. Early contributions make the dough rise so I’m told.
someone with a young family as in the post above, likely to be mid thirties max.
I was 41 when my girls were born, I know others on here are in similar age brackets and i’m Not the oldest parent (mum or dad) at their school.
5lab
Serious question (as your figures make scary reading)
The numbers are realistic. The Northerners just don't get it.
The Northerners just don't give a hoot.
I earn £2.39 per day and own my own small town. It's so cheap up here they give houses away.
The whole episode has been a bit of a wake up call for me tbh. I have a tiny mortgage that is pretty much just over a tenth of my take home after tax, I have paid off 2 cars, and with no kids I pretty much have a very generous disposable income. I could easily save 1k a month, but I don't.. If I want something I buy it, have no need for a huge house for just me, and will have a decent pension when I retire.
But it's come back to bite my ass as that's the reason I'm having to spend my savings to fix my flat. It's so urgent 2 surveyors have told me not to sleep in my bedroom as the ceiling is structurally unsafe! I'm in the very lucky position that I can afford to pay the 10k + it's going to cost.. But it's completely wiped me out. I would not have a shred of sympathy if it happened to anyone else in my position if I'm honest .
I think I'll be taking a more responsible approach to my finances from now on.. The etap group set I was planning on buying myself for Christmas won't be happening.. That's for sure!
£2.39 a day!? Jeez! That’s more than I earn in a month!
I have an ok amount in fairly quick access. But also 'save' into my workplace pension and share schemes. Which just gives other pots for at different times.
Like a few never used to save much, my partner on the other hand always saved quite a bit. So when we decided to buy a house I buckled down and put enough away for 5% of the deposit over the previous year.
Both earn quite well (doing the working away/crap conditions for good money thing). So between us 1 salary covers everything, so from the start of this year, with baby no.1 on the way i covered everything going into the joint account for mortgage/bills/shopping etc, and she put the same amount into a savings account. This meant we quickly amassed a good wedge which is being used as an overpayment now that we are re-mortgaging.
Modest mortgage/house. Despite the bank saying we could have twice what we wanted to borrow.
We put down a 15% deposit and chose a short 14 year mortgage, so initially had a high (1k) monthly payment, but this was done so we could pay it off as quick as possible while we could afford to, with the view to having kids at some point. 2 Years later and a 3 month old now here, we are lengthening the term, and halving the monthly mandatory payment to give us some flexibility. but with unlimited overpayments allowed we will still try to overpay on a regular basis.
Not one for spending regularly on posh clothing and keeping up with the Jones'. Though if/when either of us wants or needs something we do tend to just go and buy it.
Interesting thread.
We currently have about 3 months worth of our combined salaries saved I think, did have a fair bit more but we both "needed" new cars this year and treated ourselves. It's slowly growing again.
We've also been spending a fair bit on doing up the house, just finishing the last room after 3 years so from next year hope to be able to save a reasonable amount pretty quickly.
We're not massively extravagant spenders but do like a holiday or 2. I am a pretty bad saver (Mrs 5556 is better) but apart from our mortgage don't have any debt.
Ah, but what if that roof develops a catastrophic leak that takes £’000’s to repair……. which is kind of where we came in.
Isn't that what insurance is for?
Isn’t that what insurance is for?
Why pay insurance when you can put the money away in savings
If you have a mortgage you need insurance as the bank want the house maintained... Just in case you default on the loan and it gets repossessed. They don't want you to devalue their asset.
Isn’t that what insurance is for?
I mentioned it a couple of pages back,but building insurance typically won't cover a lack of maintenance or expected wear and tear,it will cover unforeseen events. The fact that your roof is leaking because you didn't maintain it is not an unforeseen event. It is predictable that if you don't maintain something it will degrade with time.
The fact your roof is leaking because a tree fell on it,is unforeseen and will hopefully be covered.
If you have a mortgage you need insurance as the bank want the house maintained…
Insurance doesn't pay for maintenance,it typically pays for unforeseen events, tree falling onto house, fire, etc
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">it typically won't pay for replacing the 100 year old lead flashing that has gone brittle and cracked with age, or the tiles that have cracked etc.</span>
If you have a mortgage you need insurance as the bank want the house maintained
And does that bank need evidence of your continued insurance each year? Clue - mine has never asked me for proof of insurance at any time
Back to the savings thing, up until just over 2 years ago I'd never lived in a double income household & neither had my wife (both in our 50's) I was single with 3 kids for 20yrs & my wife had suffered marriage to a serial debtor. Both being the bread winners and fairly frugal too, a double income is a frigging revelation I can tell you - even if our 5 kids do put a dent in it. Not more than 2 months savings as yet but have put massive dent into other things that we hadn't been able to pay down before - one of which was to pay for a new roof for my wife's house...
In case you mistake us for property tycoons - my wife's house is still in her & ex's name, has an interest only mortgage plus second mortgage @ 10% interest but is still way cheaper to pay that than for our kids to pay commericial rents and we don't pass affordability criteria to get a new mortgage 🤔
And does that bank need evidence of your continued insurance each year? Clue – mine has never asked me for proof of insurance at any time
It's at least as much for your benefit as theirs. Sure, you could save the premium and hope you've got enough of a pot to cover repairs if and when/ replace items burgled etc. But what if your house burns down? You're homeless, you've lost the equity you had, and you still owe the bank a few hundred thousand pounds. What's your plan then? Sell the plot to a developer, pay the bank back with the proceeds and use your "insurance pot" to buy a caravan?
Some types of insurance I get 'self insuring', buildings insurance isn't one of them. We pay £55 a year, it's a requirement of the mortgage, I don't really care that they don't check, why wouldn't you do it? Madness.
It’s at least as much for your benefit as theirs
Yes, I understand how insurance works and I pay £600 buildings insurance every year to cover my high risk building during down. The point was around the bank requiring it.
Why pay insurance when you can put the money away in savings
Insurance is about pooling the money of the many to spread their financial risk.
So you can 'self-insure' your heating system at home for example by having the cost of replacement in savings at all times - say £10k (that's a guess, I've never had the pleasure). Or you could pay British Gas £18 a month so if it dies, they fit a brand new one for you. That's only an example, I don't know the actually terms of their policies.
You could save that £18 a month, but with interest rates so low, it'll take you more than 8 years to save enough.
Insurance at all levels is one of the cornerstones of our economy.
Or you could pay British Gas £18 a month so if it dies, they fit a brand new one for you.
No they won’t. They will however keep fixing it as long as they can source parts for it and as soon as they deem it to be obsolete they’ll refuse to cover it at all.
Then they’ll quote you six grand for a two grand replacement.
Insurance is about pooling the money of the many to spread their financial risk.
I though my comment would be seen as an obvious joke in light of a thread about savings but clearly not.
Re: insurance
It's really for nasty things like windstorms and flooding. If you buy a house for £100 with a 90% mortgage and a big storm caused £50 of damage but you are not insured and can't pay to repair it, then it's a big problem
Worst case scenario is you lose the house and the bank are left with something worth considerably less than the £90 they lent to you.
It's sounds unlikely but it does happen and with economic problems, climate change leading to increased flooding, underinsurance, or lack of affordable insurance etc. It is likely to increase in the future.
No they won’t. They will however keep fixing it as long as they can source parts for it and as soon as they deem it to be obsolete they’ll refuse to cover it at all.
Then they’ll quote you six grand for a two grand replacement.
Yep. I had to get British Gas round 3 times to look at my boiler before they would change the part that fixed it. I had a good idea from googling the symptoms but they were not interested. They really didn't want to change the part in case it didn't fix it and it would have wasted their money. Plus it costs me much more than £18 a month.
Ah, but what if that roof develops a catastrophic leak that takes £’000’s to repair……. which is kind of where we came in.
Isn’t that what insurance is for?
No. That's the point.
say £10k (that’s a guess, I’ve never had the pleasure).
I just keep repairing ours, probably spent under £500 on it over the last 20 years, new Circuit Board (£120 IIRC), new pressure sensor (£15), two CH pumps at £100 ish each and a couple of solenoids at £50 each.
Reading this thread with interest...
I'm pretty careful with money to the point my wife regularly calls me tight - which means that we tend to keep the car at least 5-7 years, don't have Sky and don't have the flashiest phones etc.
For years I've recorded everything I've spent using a simple spreadsheet or budgeting app and when I'm "overspent" I bring the shutters down until I'm back in control. The by product of this is that I've almost always been able to save (albeit often only a little bit) and I've managed to avoid taking on any debt. This approach drives a certain behaviour that hopefully means I'll avoid the "panic" sensation when the next big unexpected bill comes in.
Speaking of which... after a really dreadful year in my current job, I'm planning on quitting without another job to go to and then taking 4-6 months off to re-charge, get fit, do some learning etc.
I'm at the point now where I know I'm almost certainly heading towards a breakdown (or worse) if I continue with the level of stress and frustration I've been dealing carrying for the last year.
The cumulative effect of c6 years of job insecurity, a "nightmare" job at present which means a 12 hour day every day including travel AND effectively working in a pressure cooker - combined with the challenges of a young family and literally months of no regular sleep has left me feeling like day to day life is just too much.
I'm very glad that my parents got me into the discipline of budgeting early on and I've been fortunate enough to be able to stash some cash away for the "rainy day" that is now arriving more quickly than I'd ever thought possible.
Or you could pay British Gas £18 a month so if it dies, they fit a brand new one for you.
Or they will declare it obsolete after 2 years, charge 4 times the price for a replacement, install it poorly and it will never work correctly until you have it ripped out and a new system installed by someone who is not British Gas...
Insurance is about pooling the money of the many to spread their financial risk.
I though my comment would be seen as an obvious joke in light of a thread about savings but clearly not.
Sorry, this thread is so full of opinion masquerading as fact I missed the joke.
I'm 45 and my wife 43.
We've both got decent jobs (me a bit over the 40% bracket, her just under) but we've got no savings.
I'm hoping to rectify this when we stop paying for childcare in 3.5 years time but until then i doubt anything will change. My Brother died a few years back at 36, since then i've been a bit 'live for the moment - tomorrow might never come'
It doesn't really stress me out - we'e got £250k equity in our house so the final solution if it all goes to sh*t would be sell up, downsize and start again.
It doesn’t really stress me out – we’e got £250k equity in our house so the final solution if it all goes to sh*t would be sell up, downsize and start again.
Of course, if the shit affects the country as a whole (e.g. Brexit), that equity could fast disappear.
Of course, if the shit affects the country as a whole (e.g. Brexit), that equity could fast disappear.
Any savings in GBP would probably be equally affected, now might be a good time to invest in Matagolian gumbo beads.
The government would never be stupid enough to let that happen.
Wait, what's that you say? Offshore trust funds?
Of course, if the shit affects the country as a whole (e.g. Brexit), that equity could fast disappear.
You're right. but if >50% gets wiped off the house prices in London and i find myself in negative equity then i'd say we've all got bigger issues to worry about.
You’re right. but if >50% gets wiped off the house prices in London and i find myself in negative equity then i’d say we’ve all got bigger issues to worry about.
Mark Carney recently suggested a 33% drop in values due to a 'bad Brexit', but it's okay because in the last 10 years the Banks have got their house in order and can survive it no problem at all.
I'd personally advise against thinking "safe as houses" is an absolute rule, the market has been propped up for a long, long time, but that time is coming to an end, Brexit or not.
Mark Carney recently suggested a 33% drop in values due to a ‘bad Brexit’,
It was a worst case scenario though and if that happens we'll have bigger problems to worry about than finding £10k to fix the roof.
It was a worst case scenario though and if that happens we’ll have bigger problems to worry about than finding £10k to fix the roof.
Exactly.
If there was a 33% drop in house prices, we wouldn't have to pay my wife's ex any equity and could afford to buy him out + my kids might be able to buy places of their own - every cloud & that 😉
Yes I do realise the economy would be buggered & those outcomes would be massively unlikely
"I’d personally advise against thinking “safe as houses” is an absolute rule, the market has been propped up for a long, long time, but that time is coming to an end, Brexit or not"
I've been hearing that for 20 years now and been no sign of it - I can see any real time drop in house prices. A stagnation of the market - absolutely possible but too large a proportion of the population, including the middle classes have such debt/asset levels that it would not be allowed to happen.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">TheTories know that if they allow that to happen and hurt their core voters so hard, they would never be elected again! </span></span>
I’m hoping to rectify this when we stop paying for childcare in 3.5 years time
LOLOLOLOL - for a long time I thought PerchyPanther was the funniest person on here but that easily tops anything he's said in the last 6 months.
When the childcare stops, school starts. And with that comes clubs, and hobbies and sports, and the list goes on. We currently save £500 a month *just* to pay for the regular club fees for our girls - music (x2 piano, flute and drums), sports club, singing lessons, dancing, gymnastics, horse riding, art... And that's before the clothes, books, tech, bikes etc etc etc.
Basically what I am saying is *DO NOT* expect it to get any cheaper until they have stopped becoming dependent on you and that may well be well into their 20s...
I’m hoping it will get cheaper after nursery stops.
£500 a month *just* to pay for the regular club fees
you know how much nursery costs right? £500 for 2 sounds a bargain to me.
on the boiler cover subtopic...as I'm just looking into this, check out Aviva (I believe homeserve do the work). It's about £18 a month all singing/dancing cover (plumbing/electrics/CH etc) if your boiler is over 7 years old and needs replacing you pay £500 - unlikely other cover I've looked at. (wife is an employee so we get another 40% off)
As much as self insuring on things sounds a good idea, due to unluckyness I think overall we are 'up' quite a bit across our insurance payouts vs claims. Probably not much in it
If I had a brand new in warrenty bolier I wouldn't be paying for cover
Very little savings here. We are in the "pay off the huge mortgage early" school of thought so anything we have we throw at paying the house off.
"We currently save £500 a month *just* to pay for the regular club fees for our girls – music (x2 piano, flute and drums), sports club, singing lessons, dancing, gymnastics, horse riding, art… And that’s before the clothes, books, tech, bikes etc etc etc."
All of which are mandatory expenses unlike child care which is optional.
Oh no wait it's the other way round.
It’s refreshing to see some real world cash figures popping up in here, rather than the instant dismissal by those in the North that us Southerners have got it easy..
The reality has always been that is not the case, yet it’s still a preconception few understand or care to.
As for the Brexit “correction” that’s always been the case whether the U.K. was in or out of Europe. The U.K. has always had an odd way of property ownership, it’s always teetered on the edge of collapse and successive governments have always seemed to pop out of the hat yet another market correction tool to cool the negative equity the 90’s kids suffered.
Carney is the most successful BOE Chair the U.K. has ever had. His pragmatic approach has seen this country flat line in the boom/bust since the Banking Credit turmoil of 2008.. his steadfast and secular view has removed him from the previous generations governmental political piss poor decisions and an economic policy set in the dark ages.
Be thankful he’s remaining until 2021..
Carney is the most successful BOE Chair the U.K. has ever had. His pragmatic approach has seen this country flat line in the boom/bust since the Banking Credit turmoil of 2008..
Nothing against the man, but I think the global macro economic environment has had more to do with the recent stability than him personally. How he fares through the next global recession will be his true test of character.
Isn’t that what insurance is for?
Just to confirm, buildings insurance won't cover something like this as its happened over a period of time. It'll only cover sudden, unavoidable issues, ie neighbours pipes burst and your roof caves in. Worryingly however when I spoke to them they couldn't understand why dry rot was caused by damp.. They kept telling me it was wet rot that was caused by that!! 😬
As for house prices falling.. Well sure you will lose a ton of equity, but then so will all other houses. So in reality you won't be that worse off unless you are investing in buy to let.
you know how much nursery costs right? £500 for 2 sounds a bargain to me.
Yes - we have been there obvs.
All of which are mandatory expenses unlike child care which is optional.
Oh no wait it’s the other way round
trail-rat - neither are compulsory though. But if you need childcare for a pre-school then you’ll equally need to provide after school care if you needed to put the child into pre-school in the first place. Obvs.
When the childcare stops, school starts. And with that comes clubs, and hobbies and sports, and the list goes on. We currently save £500 a month *just* to pay for the regular club fees for our girls – music (x2 piano, flute and drums), sports club, singing lessons, dancing, gymnastics, horse riding, art…
Laughable, imo . ... Would be cheaper to buy each of them a bike.... Would be more fun, too.....plus, bikes have brakes and horses don't.
The GF and I have about 3 months safety. She certainly doesn't earn mega. I can earn alright when I knuckle down, but ultimately I'd rather not. My free time is worth more to me than the time spent working..... (and taxes being as they are in the Vaterland is rather take three weeks off and go ride my bike in Italy than work those three weeks and pay one weeks worth of wages to taxman).
I've 60k£ worth of pension at age 36.... No idea if that's good or bad, but I've only got that (plus a bit of accessible cash in d funds) thanks to a rather successful year of cash-is-king about ten years ago.....
With our outgoings now it's not easy to put much away. Our rent is high and the general cost of living is on a par with London. We don't want to live like paupers, but at the same time we are far from extravagant.
Laughable, imo . … Would be cheaper to buy each of them a bike…. Would be more fun, too…..plus, bikes have brakes and horses don’t.
Our girls have bikes but we choose to let them explore other activities than the ones we like. Each to their own ehh?
Oh and 5k take home is a shit load of cash regardless of where you live ....
I'd be working my arse off to earn that gross. And there is no way I could do it month on month out.
I'm from the Essex commuter belt and some house prices are ****ing stupid, but there are plenty of folks I know going in and out of London reach day on far less reach month.
It's all about choices.
Work less live more has been my motto since about I left school..... Maybe that should be "work smart, work less"....i don't know .... But **** debt.
Better things to spend my money on than interest and (perceived) stature.
Alpin - does your approach include not letting your children experience new things so you can work less because it would cost too much to pay for horse riding lessons as opposed to a bike for example?
This is a really interesting thread!
47 years old and I've just upped and moved to the other side of the world (kinda home for me), and that has chewed through a stack of what would otherwise have been savings. No kids and had a dual income until moving here - the mrs hasn't found anything yet; we don't really consume a lot: went car-free a year ago, but got rid of a 15 year old car that we'd had for 15 years and barely used any more. We do have 6 bikes between us (they're *still* on a ship, grrr!) but lived in a modest 2 bed Edinburgh "colony" flat (which we've kept - we're renting it out at *way* below market rates, but enough to pay the mortgage and maintenance). At the moment, we've got about £7k left in savings, but that is largely because of my redundancy payment and sale of the shares from ex-work - it's cost us a lot to move. There is probably also about £2k in a cash ISA and I think we've got about £5k in a stocks&shares ISA too.
We have, though, got a significant amount of overpayment in the mortgage and, because of the deal we're on, we can access it nearly instantly if necessary - that's about £50k. I've got a pretty good pension pot, but the mrs has less. Right now, we've got about £200k equity in the house (excluding the overpayments) but I'm expecting that to plummet when y'all realise exactly what Brexit means (that might take 3 years)
I work in IT, so that helps, and I'm on a good but not stellar salary over here - NZ$115k (I never really understand why folk are so careful about publishing their salaries - I think it should be transparent). For what it's worth, I do work hard but I don't credit that with getting me to where I am - I don't try to kid myself that it is much more than a result of blind luck and privilege.
We're renting now - house prices in Wellington are crazy and it's hard to find >80% mortgages. Even if we transferred all our overpayments and savings, we'd still need to find around $50-100k.
Just weighing-in on boilers. Best insurance is to buy a Worcester Bosch IMO. Probably not a better boiler than any of the others, but if it goes wrong, for 250 quid they will send an engineer who will throw parts at it again until it starts working. Includes parts and labour.
Found this out after a local heating engineer wanted to charge me a 60 quid call out fee for turning up and telling me he "didn't know anything about these ones" and, "lets just replace the PCB first as its probably that". He got sent away with a flea in his ear (as did his invoice) - Bosch chap came round, cleaned a furred-up filter..... fixed. God know how many visits/parts the other chap would have burned through before he got to that!
Bosch chap felt bad for me getting charged 250 quid for what was literally a 2 min job, so he then spent the next hour replacing some of the parts that were most likely to fail in future. But I figure that even without that, he saved me at least 250 quid of pointless work by the other chap.
Why pay insurance when you can put the money away in savings
Because as part of a bigger policy that includes bikes, accidental damage etc. It will only take one large claim to wipe out the money you have saved from not having insurance.
Besides 450 a year in savings will make bugger all.