[Closed] how financially stable / screwed are you?

Would it all come tumbling down if you lost your job?

I'm the sole bread winner but we have no debts
So not tumbling down but losing 90% of our income would start to hurt our lifestyle hard a few months in, maybe 6
Sort of depends how well we could switch to survival mode only

We're probably stable and having no debt and savings means we could exist for a year or two without income (or selling body parts). This would eat away our savings which would obviously put us in a much less comfortable position. Both of us are in transferable roles so we should be able to get going again if we needed to.

We've (well me really) deliberately cut back on expenditure over the past couple of years and I'm not nearly as much of a spend thrift as I was. Any excess now goes into cash savings. I have a bit in the stock market and my pension is obviously tied to that but performance is pi$$ poor so we'll be relying on property and cash come the day....

At the moment since we have no house and have small out goings we could live for 3 years on our savings alone without finding other jobs

I have a varied skill set and can work hard so dont think id find it hard to get a paying job - it wont be what i do now but i could get work .

With respect to my current job im trying to stay in ops for a while despite my boss pushing me towards middle management because as an ops man im versatile across alot of product lines in the offshore industry - as a middlemanager im a drain on resources where ever i go. Long as i am willing to travel i might as well stay in ops

My mrs is a teacher on the other hand - none are safe !

Which is why im loathe to go out and get a sizable mortgage despite being able to "afford " it

Ton - why though? 15 years ago I nearly lost my home when I was made redundant and didnt have a penny to my name. Mrs FD was in a similar stuation 10 years ago (we only got together 6 years ago).

So both of us in the last 15 years have been absoltuely broke. We have both worked dam hard since to get to where we are now where we have a nice comfortable home, nice cars etc. Yes we use credit, but we use credit we can afford. As I said above credit/debt is only bad when you can not afford it. We know their is a risk if tomorrow we both loose our jobs, but the risk is minimised in our opinion and would still leave us with cash if we had to sell everything up.

"So that's assunmong you could sell your current property then?"

Yes agreed dependant on us selling our houses, but one currently has over £100k equity in it based on current market value in the area, so we could sell way below market value, and the houses are selling in our area.

We could never afford to but the house we live in..nice area, great schools etc, so we rent instead (£1000 a month unfortunately), but i also put over £1000 a month into my pension as well. 2 (oldish) cars paid for, 3 bikes paid for, trying to save for a house deposit but lif e aint cheap, so it isnt going that well!

£1000 a month to rent a house, that would serioulsy stick in my throat.

No kids, no car, no mortgage, no loans or CC bills.
Very secure public sector job which gives me 'key worker' status for low rent property plus two small but growing businesses whose running costs are just a website plus my own time and expertise.

Never been more secure or financially stable and hope to be able to expand my businesses next year - may even take early retirement and cash in my public sector pension if my plans comes good 😀

Own our house.
Wife in work.
I'm not, been looking for 9 months.
Very lucky to have been the saving sort over the years and have 6 figure savings otherwise we'd be sunk.

£1000 a month to rent a house, that would serioulsy stick in my throat.

It's all relative. We pay just over that to rent a 2-bed flat. Similar one in our block is up for sale at 370k - that would cost me £1700+ to mortgage and wipe out my savings in the process, assuming I could find someone willing to lend to me in the first place. Just interest only is nearly as much as our rent, but we're not liable for service charges, fixing the boiler, etc. Plus we would lose a load of money upfront in taxes and fees to buy, and more again when we came to sell.

Who'd buy in this sort of market? Either you give a grand a month to a landlord to provide a roof over your head or give the same to the bank for lending you the money to be lumbered with some bricks and mortar.

It's all relative. We pay just over that to [b]rent[/b] a 2-bed flat. Similar one in our block is up for sale at [b]370k[/b]

£370,000 for a flat??? Whereabouts, Kensington? 😯

Paying 700 including electricity for a recently refurbed to modern regs for efficency 2 bed cottage in the country near services

A similar property in a similar area on deeside would be 900-1300 and need refurbed to be as efficient and as nice frankly at the moment i think it makes sense to stay put ! - doesnt mean im not looking for that break though

Depends largely on your area though

Also means that why my boss presents such oportunities such as last week " how would you feel about moving to perth austrailia for a couple of years" are fiesable

Very lucky to have been the saving sort over the years and have 6 figure savings otherwise we'd be sunk.

What sre your outgoings 😯

Of those that are 'financially stable' how secure are you in your job?

Would it all come tumbling down if you lost your job?

if i lost my job I'd get a reasonable (~50% of salery) payout (tax free). I could drop the mortgauge to interest only and cover it comfortably for a good few years before that money ran out, and the OH (teacher) could probably cover it with her wages anyway. It'd obviously mean a change in lifestyle, but it'd not be game ending

for those of you who think £1k/month is a lot in rent - you can pay over a million for a flat here (brighton)

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-20934831.html

Financially OK
Single bloke. Employed C£25k pa.
Mtg paid off on my flat.
£90k on a second Buy to Let 1.6 X cover on std variable so room for rate swing.
Over £10k in bank.
No CC , tiny overdraft coz I have several accounts and loose track.
3 pensions , started 1st at 17.
Multiple inheritances in a short timeline helped me out massively.
Very lucky I guess , am risk averse so wouldnt ever get out of my depth.

What sre your outgoings

Not that much. Don't have big holidays. The house is pretty cheap to run.
Don't drink or smoke or go to restaurants. Just like to ride my bike.
My wife's earnings and the interest from our savings in total are probably around the average wage, don't need any more tbh, that said I would very much like to be working and contributing to the economy.

Mrs stopped working 10yrs ago, been part time for the last couple of years, about to go back to work on a good salary. I earn less than I used to but am happier. Zero job security but thats part of the deal.

Mortgage down to 8% now and only paying 2.5% so thats fine.

No other debt

but....3 kids in private school = £40k a year for the next 10yrs then will drop off after that. Thats a chunk of change.

I am surprised how many people here have paid off their mortgages. That for me is the biggest monthly outgoing and I thought that having 60% ish equity in our property was doing ok.............

Seems it's not 🙁

I thought that having 60% ish equity in our property was doing ok.............

It's not a race fella, nothing wrong with having some debt if you have the income and stability that can service it without putting your sanity at risk. 60% equity is great.

Mcboo- I understand that, though of course it would be more desirable to not have the outgoing. I am just surprised how many people are saying they have paid/cleared their mortgage debt.......

Mind you I suppose the majority that have it all upside down are probably working too hard to post stuff on this forum at 17:25 on a week day !!

This is the Internet therefor some may be lies.

Debt free and stable apart from mortgages ~ £700k.

consider myself to be 'on the fence'

total debt £100k
house worth around £150k - mortgage got another 11 years to go
stable job, but still 25 years till i retire
£5k in savings, no real assets
couple of pensions
single (again) and no kids

like 'UK Plc' its not the total debt i worry about but the monthly deficit - always go over and use the overdraft

i won't consider myself fully secure until the house is actually mine

often feel guilty about thinking about my potential future inheritance in 20-30 years time, never considered it - once I had a small mortgage and a great final pay pension and everything was rosey until my plc employer screwed that out of us and now my pension will be largely my risk and I guarantee not worth half the valuation being quoted

sadly i'm worth much much more dead than alive

can't help but feel that 95% of the population has been royally ****ed over big style, but no i don't agree with the strike having got caught in the traffic in manchester this afternoon 😉

I am surprised how many people here have paid off their mortgages. That for me is the biggest monthly outgoing and I thought that having 60% ish equity in our property was doing ok.............

Some of us have been paying them for a long time
got mine in 90, finished it last year

am surprised how many people here have paid off their mortgages. That for me is the biggest monthly outgoing and I thought that having 60% ish equity in our property was doing ok.............

you also don't know how old everyone is. Mortgage paid off at 30 is impressive. Mortgage paid off at 60 is less so 🙂

38, no job, no pension, huge student debt, lots of other debt and terrible credit rating, house has 26 years of mortgage left to run, pretty darn big too.

But I'm pretty happy in my life, don't really care about accruing material and financial wealth, I find it all rather distasteful. Main targets are to get back into work, get rid of debt (although not in the slightest bit bothered about the student debt and it looks like it's going to get a significant hike anyhow) and at least pay something towards a pension.

Married with 2 & 6 year old girls.

I didn't work and was pretty comfortable financially for much of my 20s & early 30s so I guess I've already had my retirement...

Just applied to go back and do teaching as it looks like I'm gonna be working for a, while to come.

Married two kids half the house is mine half is the banks!! Our biggest worry is we spend 200 every month over our income v outgoings figure! We thankfully have savings but they are slowly and surely being eaten away!! I accredit it all to the cost of living just going up and up!!!

.

Remaining Mortgage of say £75k against a property value of £300k. No other debt. High salary. Shed loads in the bank. Very little job security but I would receive a very generous pay off owing to the length of my notice period and length of service. No dependents.

So in theory on paper I am financially secure, but do I feel financially secure then no I do not.

39, just separated / dumped

2 children

paying £700 mortgage

renting a £650 a month 2 bed terrace

£320 a month for my children

£3000 on credit cards

£7000 loan with 36 mth to run.

£6000 on a new catering trailer delivered in the next 28 days.

CSA want more money.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Trafford council have put double yellow lines on my pitch, but taken my money to trade there.

So now entering a legal battle with the licensing officer/ department.

But my best mates dad has just been diagnosed with spinal cancer, and Christie's have told him there is nothing they can do.

1 of my other mates has just lost their first child to cot death.

My brother in laws Brother, has just committed suicide at the age of 24.

so in some respect im glad my problems are only financial,

Because in the last 14 days ive experienced every human emotion possible, and am just about at the end of my tether.

Todays happy go lucky post was brought to you in association with "Chin Up" productions

MB

😉

[img] [/img]

Extremely stable for now, but on short term contracts so no guarantee I'll be working past February. TBH I've cut my fixed outgoings to the bone and I could keep myself going for a couple of years before I ran out of savings though. So let's say weak, but stable.

how do you all think you will be if interest rates return to a historical norm of 6% in a few years time and your fixed has run out?

Retired on company pension, buy-to-let income and interest on savings added together is close to national average wage, and good for East Mids.

52 and single, Mrs B lives separate life 125 miles away, mortgages paid and put my daughter through university. So done ok but I have probably always been a bit careful and saved a bit. Always balanced saving between risky and safe - some have worked and others not.

Absolutely fine. Currently pay 2k a month, of which £300/month is interest. If the interest doubled it'd annoy me but that's it.

Absolutely fine. Currently pay 2k a month, of which £300/month is interest. If the interest doubled it'd annoy me but that's it.

I own everything I really want, Madame's income exceeds our expenditure, there's money in the banks for many rainy years.

I've just asked Madame if she has everything she wants and she said she'd quite like a camper (we had (lived in) a T2 when we were poor). I guess that'll be whatever a foul polluting camper caosts less in the bank then.

Oh no!!! What have you lot started? Madame is now looking at campers on Le Bon Coin.

Looking to buy a little retirement bungalow and room for a camper van is on the check list. Already turned one down due to a low car port.

Just passed the 30 mark

income 300 a month as I took of for a year from work.

Own a shack with no electricity and one working tap(source fed) that I am doing up currently in France.

No debts

had about 100 k when my year off started(after purchase off house) not sure where I am now hope 2012 brings me electricty, heating and a bathroom. Probably end up with a house and a no or small debt then.

Working offshore and so related so virtually no expenses when I work.

Its all about what you spend excpet for my ten bikes some 50 quid others 3K and the occasional holiday I can't be arsed on any luxuries

Mr Smith, my fixed is at about 5.5% so it won't make too much difference 😉
Me, my wife and 6 month old daughter in a 2 bed flat.
100k mortgage, about 80% LTV.
No debts but no real savings either.
Combined household income maybe £35-40k depending on what hours my wife does.

We are currently saving 4-500 a month though so will aim to maintain that and cut the cloth accordingly. My wife and child fill me with joy so as long as we can pay the bills we are fine. If I lost my job we'd be in a bit of trouble, but we wouldn't go homeless or hungry. We can always move to Poland and live on cabbages 😉

I'm pretty solid. Single 32.
Mortgage has about 45k left on it but the house is worth at least 120k.
Job for as long as I want it and not impossible to find another by any means earning ~50k.
Enough in the bank to pay the mortgage off (which I'm going to do very soon) and have about 10k left.
No other debts.
Plan to buy myself a camper van again shortly but with other vehicle sales I'll still have no mortgage and 5-8k in the bank.

It's all in my long term plan not to work too much or too hard or too long.

how do you all think you will be if interest rates return to a historical norm of 6% in a few years time

Delighted.

[you also don't know how old everyone is. Mortgage paid off at 30 is impressive. Mortgage paid off at 60 is less so ]

Good point... I hadn't thought of the possible age range !! It's just that everyone on here SOUNDS[i] so young 😉

Very!

no income stability (self-employed), no investments/savings/backup (thanks to divorce), but great opportunities in my line of work and I have decent experience/skills and a shit load of tenacity

things could be much much worse

28, Single, 1 dependant (While we're using financial speak 😉

Have varying amounts of equity in 2 1/2 houses (2 are rented).

£5.5k student loan, but rightly or wrongly i dont consider this "real" debt.

Income is £30-34 depending on bonuses / rental yields.
Sneaked a final salary pension before it closed too, which is probably quite a feat for someone my age.

Modest amount of savings (mainly to cover void rent periods / house maintenace)

Probably borked if rates rise loads, but I really cant see them rising to historical levels (4-6%) for some time.

I don't consider myself cash rich (granted Im probably asset rich compared to most 28 yr olds) as maintenace / student loan repayments take alot of my monthly income. Therefore I like to manage my finances carefully.

2 months of car loan to go then we own that.

Only other debt is the mortgage (£112k on a £300k house) but unfortunate circumstances mean I will be largely paying that off once the legal side is sorted out.

Then I plan on not having any more large debt again in my life (I *may* consider a modest house move in a couple of years time though).

I have at least £18k of student loan debt that I'll probably never pay off unless I somehow come into a lot of money. Other than that I'm fine, the student loan isn't really anything to worry about.

£220k left on mortgage, 15% equity.
No loans.
Pay credit card off every month.
No savings (spent on car)and currently not paying into a pension.
Currently saving for wedding.
I'm concerned about not having a rainy day fund but figured it was better to spend savings on the car than having them sit in a bank earning less than inflation interest.
My fiancée has quite a bit of credit of loan debt and credit card debt but is paying them off (slowly).

If interest rates return to 6% It will be tough but I've done my sums and can afford it. Job security is more worrying.

When at college I racked up about £300 on a Visa card which sounds pathetic by today's standards, but was a student's upper limit in 1995. I watched in horror as it rose inexorably for a year before I could pay it off. I look back on that as a cheap lesson learned!

As such I'm very debt averse (aside from mortgage), but strangely not pro-savings? If my wife hadn't made me automatically funnel money off into pensions/savings it would never have occured to me.

PS; Job security (in the private sector at least) is an oxymoron, if you think you've got it you're deluding yourself.

MrSmith - Member
how do you all think you will be if interest rates return to a historical norm of 6% in a few years time