Where does all the money go?
Discussion
Mr Whippy said:
What?
I generally agree with most of what you have to say but this is utter nonsense.
Strength of character?
The entire system has worked fine without qualifying borrowers on ‘strength of character’ assessed via ability to “save up”.
Why not just say save up for the entire house then?
Ah, we still want to lend to people, but we need them to prove just enough that they’ve “got what it takes” to save for a bit, then let them through the doors to become a 25-30yr borrower/debt slave?
It’s a non-sensical juxtaposition of proof.
Prove you’re able to become a debt slave by not being a debt slave
Why not just fix the market supply and demand side, strip out all this b
ks, and let the market figure it out using good old market forces.
If it crashes in the meantime, let the pieces lay where they will.
The home market isn’t the economy.
It’s a utility, an essential. It’s value stability shouldn’t override its need as a utility.
Ie, stop monetising utilities.
Just look at Thames Water as another example.
Utterly borked by crony capitalism.
What has one's deposit requirements for a loan got to do with Thames Water?I generally agree with most of what you have to say but this is utter nonsense.
Strength of character?
The entire system has worked fine without qualifying borrowers on ‘strength of character’ assessed via ability to “save up”.
Why not just say save up for the entire house then?
Ah, we still want to lend to people, but we need them to prove just enough that they’ve “got what it takes” to save for a bit, then let them through the doors to become a 25-30yr borrower/debt slave?
It’s a non-sensical juxtaposition of proof.
Prove you’re able to become a debt slave by not being a debt slave
Why not just fix the market supply and demand side, strip out all this b
ks, and let the market figure it out using good old market forces.If it crashes in the meantime, let the pieces lay where they will.
The home market isn’t the economy.
It’s a utility, an essential. It’s value stability shouldn’t override its need as a utility.
Ie, stop monetising utilities.
Just look at Thames Water as another example.
Utterly borked by crony capitalism.
Let's remain focussed.
The purpose of a deposit in simple terms is to cover the lender's risk of default. That is achieved in two ways, first by making the deposit large enough that any default doesn't lead to a loss. The second is that it shows the diligence of the borrower. If they can save the deposit then they are very likely to be able to keep paying on the loan.
What do you think a 5% deposit on a property where that deposit is paid by a third party achieves? Nothing. It's worthless as collateral and it's worthless as evidence that your customer isn't a loser.
So why ask for a deposit? Why not just filter your clients not based on who can randomly be given a chunk of money that does next to nothing to lower your credit risk but instead by something of genuine value and merit, whether the punter is a winner or a loser which is easily done by just by looking at their current account history, garnering their salary of the money agreed by both parties to be put aside to create a proper deposit and by not allowing them to go on a princesses' shopathon with Wonga?
You're normal, responsible borrower isn't going to care that the money they were always going to put aside each month to create a secure equity in their home comes out of their current account a nanosecond earlier than it was otherwise going to do. Nor are they going to care that someone won't allow them to open a credit line with a Wonga type entity as they were never going to do that. It's only going to p
s off the feckless and dim but you want them to ps off before even filling out the forms ideally. Personally, I wouldn't have a deposit requirement for FTBs at all just criteria filters to exclude adult babies and losers. The initial deposit was meant to do that but now doesn't work so why persist with it. Meanwhile, I'd reduce leverage multiples based on higher incomes as that derisks the market while limiting the gulf between property types.
Oh my
How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: Oh my
How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
The real benefit of opting to save up for a non essential is that by the time you've saved up the money you invariably no longer want that object and you also no longer consider it worth the money you have worked to obtain. The downside risk for the apex consumer is that this 'saving up' is merely a gateway to suddenly being able to borrow even more and live an even better lifestyle for a fleeting moment before it brings it all down sooner than it was going to. How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
I think that a previous poster summer it up for me with the phrase "I deserve". My 2 daughters are both in their late 20's. Both are highly educated and have well paying jobs. Their partners likewise, both have 1 child. While I love them all dearly any financial common sense that I've tried to pass onto them has fallen on deaf ears.
I know that we live in different times and that my priorities at their age was different to what theirs is I do try and remind them that for a lot of their childhood my wife and I had very little but we got by. Only as they got into their early teens did things start to get better financially until we got to the point where we are now very comfortable indeed and looking forward to, health willing, a long and happy retirement.
The difference is that because they are in well paid employment that they have gotten into the mode of thinking that they deserve to have whatever they want immediately, be it a house, cars, clothes, jewellery, holidays, furniture, the list is endless and as a consequence they are always pleading poverty. The concept of cutting ones cloth to suit is alien to them.
I may be old fashioned but my parents taught me that you earn the right to have nice things and if you can't afford it then you don't buy it.
I know that we live in different times and that my priorities at their age was different to what theirs is I do try and remind them that for a lot of their childhood my wife and I had very little but we got by. Only as they got into their early teens did things start to get better financially until we got to the point where we are now very comfortable indeed and looking forward to, health willing, a long and happy retirement.
The difference is that because they are in well paid employment that they have gotten into the mode of thinking that they deserve to have whatever they want immediately, be it a house, cars, clothes, jewellery, holidays, furniture, the list is endless and as a consequence they are always pleading poverty. The concept of cutting ones cloth to suit is alien to them.
I may be old fashioned but my parents taught me that you earn the right to have nice things and if you can't afford it then you don't buy it.
Edited by Gordon Hill on Saturday 6th April 12:55
Gordon Hill said:
I think that a previous poster summer it up for me with the phrase "I deserve". My 2 daughters are both in their late 20's. Both are highly educated and have well paying jobs. Their partners likewise, both have 1 child. While I love them all dearly any financial common sense that I've tried to pass onto them has fallen on deaf ears.
I know that we live in different times and that my priorities at their age was different to what theirs is I do try and remind them that for a lot of their childhood my wife and I had very little but we got by. Only as they got into their early teens did things start to get better financially until we got to the point where we are now very comfortable indeed and looking forward to, health willing, a long and happy retirement.
The difference is that because they are in well paid employment that they have gotten into the mode of thinking that they deserve to have whatever they want immediately, be it a house, cars, clothes, jewellery, holidays, furniture, the list is endless and as a consequence they are always pleading poverty. The concept of cutting ones cloth to suit is alien to them.
I may be old fashioned but my parents taught me that you earn the right to have nice things and if you can't afford it then you don't buy it.
Times and attitude to money has changed, simple. I know that we live in different times and that my priorities at their age was different to what theirs is I do try and remind them that for a lot of their childhood my wife and I had very little but we got by. Only as they got into their early teens did things start to get better financially until we got to the point where we are now very comfortable indeed and looking forward to, health willing, a long and happy retirement.
The difference is that because they are in well paid employment that they have gotten into the mode of thinking that they deserve to have whatever they want immediately, be it a house, cars, clothes, jewellery, holidays, furniture, the list is endless and as a consequence they are always pleading poverty. The concept of cutting ones cloth to suit is alien to them.
I may be old fashioned but my parents taught me that you earn the right to have nice things and if you can't afford it then you don't buy it.
Edited by Gordon Hill on Saturday 6th April 12:55
I do kinda get the 'YOLO' attitude though (even as a tight fisted Yorkshireman). You never know what is around the corner so you may as well have it now, as opposed to saving for X years. Klarna / PayPal etc has completely changed how people 'pay' for things - a monthly payment for a watch, sofa, jacket isn't as ridiculous as it sounds in 2024.
Pleading poverty at month end isn't great though, especially when they've got a Child to look after.
Gordon Hill said:
The difference is that because they are in well paid employment that they have gotten into the mode of thinking that they deserve to have whatever they want immediately, be it a house, cars, clothes, jewellery, holidays, furniture, the list is endless and as a consequence they are always pleading poverty. The concept of cutting ones cloth to suit is alien to them.
I increasingly think to myself, how much of that stuff do you actually need? I think a lot of people have/want/buy way too much "stuff". Edited by Gordon Hill on Saturday 6th April 12:55
Not saying you have to live like a monk, but you can have a good standard of living without ridiculous expenditure levels. Spending also keeps you working longer, which many people don't seem to take into account.
The average person may want a £1075 item, but I wonder if they'd view it differently if they realised it took around 80 hours worth of work on average pay after tax/NI to pay for it (more if student loan/pension is taken into account)?
It's the lack of planning and accountability, especially with a little one to think about. I'm not saying that you need to be ultra frugal and have myself bought many big ticket items, but I always give it some thought.
When it goes t#ts up as it sometimes does it's head in hands time, until the next time. Seen it, want it, buy it, I'll think about whether or not I have the funds later.
When it goes t#ts up as it sometimes does it's head in hands time, until the next time. Seen it, want it, buy it, I'll think about whether or not I have the funds later.
As long as the pension pot is getting loaded as yolo means living to mid 80s now and the work place is binning off labour any time past 55 so there is much more need for pension savings for a good yolo today than in the past and as long as a nice solid savings pot has been created to smooth out the variables during yolo then peeing everything else away on sts and giggles every month is absolutely fine. Proper yolo is taking care of A and B ahead of C. The problem of getting yolo wrong and worse, buying into the marketing sales pitch of the false yolo crops up when someone skips A and B and goes straight to C, the blowing everything left over on fun.
I think what gets overlooked sometimes is that a lot of folk have set their pension plan correctly and put a block of savings aside and are then blowing everything else on renting cars, funding holidays and going shopping and give the impression minimum wage yolo when in reality all is good. Of course, there's no shortage of others who haven't understood what yolo actually is and end up hitting 55 unemployed, skint and with 30 bleak years ahead of them. The worst downside of intelligent yolo is that you die early and leave more than you planned to your children. Hardly a big blow.
ts and giggles every month is absolutely fine. Proper yolo is taking care of A and B ahead of C. The problem of getting yolo wrong and worse, buying into the marketing sales pitch of the false yolo crops up when someone skips A and B and goes straight to C, the blowing everything left over on fun. I think what gets overlooked sometimes is that a lot of folk have set their pension plan correctly and put a block of savings aside and are then blowing everything else on renting cars, funding holidays and going shopping and give the impression minimum wage yolo when in reality all is good. Of course, there's no shortage of others who haven't understood what yolo actually is and end up hitting 55 unemployed, skint and with 30 bleak years ahead of them. The worst downside of intelligent yolo is that you die early and leave more than you planned to your children. Hardly a big blow.
Gordon Hill said:
It's the lack of planning and accountability, especially with a little one to think about. I'm not saying that you need to be ultra frugal and have myself bought many big ticket items, but I always give it some thought.
When it goes t#ts up as it sometimes does it's head in hands time, until the next time. Seen it, want it, buy it, I'll think about whether or not I have the funds later.
Yep, get that.When it goes t#ts up as it sometimes does it's head in hands time, until the next time. Seen it, want it, buy it, I'll think about whether or not I have the funds later.
Gordon Hill said:
It's the lack of planning and accountability, especially with a little one to think about. I'm not saying that you need to be ultra frugal and have myself bought many big ticket items, but I always give it some thought.
When it goes t#ts up as it sometimes does it's head in hands time, until the next time. Seen it, want it, buy it, I'll think about whether or not I have the funds later.
Yeah I've found this helps a lot.When it goes t#ts up as it sometimes does it's head in hands time, until the next time. Seen it, want it, buy it, I'll think about whether or not I have the funds later.
Don't get me wrong I'm not a compulsive spender or anything weird but I like to do my homework even on low ticket items and I often find that by the time I've done that homework I've either changed my mind or just realised I don't really need it.
RayDonovan said:
Times and attitude to money has changed, simple.
I do kinda get the 'YOLO' attitude though (even as a tight fisted Yorkshireman). You never know what is around the corner so you may as well have it now, as opposed to saving for X years. Klarna / PayPal etc has completely changed how people 'pay' for things - a monthly payment for a watch, sofa, jacket isn't as ridiculous as it sounds in 2024.
Pleading poverty at month end isn't great though, especially when they've got a Child to look after.
I misinterpreted that over the years. I do kinda get the 'YOLO' attitude though (even as a tight fisted Yorkshireman). You never know what is around the corner so you may as well have it now, as opposed to saving for X years. Klarna / PayPal etc has completely changed how people 'pay' for things - a monthly payment for a watch, sofa, jacket isn't as ridiculous as it sounds in 2024.
Pleading poverty at month end isn't great though, especially when they've got a Child to look after.
I thought, I only live once meaning I only have one life so I better look after it. So I saved harder to be financially secure in the future.
You don't know what's round the corner so I saved harder ready for rainy days.
Now I'm retired early so can't complain
DonkeyApple said:
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: Oh my
How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
The real benefit of opting to save up for a non essential is that by the time you've saved up the money you invariably no longer want that object and you also no longer consider it worth the money you have worked to obtain. The downside risk for the apex consumer is that this 'saving up' is merely a gateway to suddenly being able to borrow even more and live an even better lifestyle for a fleeting moment before it brings it all down sooner than it was going to. How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
One where everyone is suddenly money wise, but the subsequent massive contraction in consumption wouldn’t send the UK into a massive depression, worse than any simple housing crash would cause.
Yay, everyone has saved up £500 pcm rather than blowing it on junk… the very junk that gives half of them a job in the first place!
Just so they can then look good for their expensive mortgage as an FTBer under the new lending criteria DA suggests, which is not looking like a heavy consumer/loser, and a good bet for the debt.
The debt which apparently makes you a loser because you can’t save up.
Your point would make sense if it were consistent.
We want to prop up housing because we’re terrified of a property price crash.
So buyers need to step up and sacrifice, but in doing so would crash the economy instead.
I’d go with the capitalist fix, which is to stop juicing markets.
If socialism is the fix we supposedly want we’d be better building hundreds of thousands of public owned property to rent at cheap prices.
Jeez, in this day and age I think a basic house with a garage and a bit of garden should be free.
What kind of lame f
king society makes a few bricks and bits of wood so bloody expensive?A lame f
ked one!Mr Whippy said:
DonkeyApple said:
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: Oh my
How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
The real benefit of opting to save up for a non essential is that by the time you've saved up the money you invariably no longer want that object and you also no longer consider it worth the money you have worked to obtain. The downside risk for the apex consumer is that this 'saving up' is merely a gateway to suddenly being able to borrow even more and live an even better lifestyle for a fleeting moment before it brings it all down sooner than it was going to. How can I buy a Range Rover carrying CC debt? Not even wrong
I read the Telegraph article at the time and was slightly incredulous but this sums it up.
One where everyone is suddenly money wise, but the subsequent massive contraction in consumption wouldn’t send the UK into a massive depression, worse than any simple housing crash would cause.
Yay, everyone has saved up £500 pcm rather than blowing it on junk… the very junk that gives half of them a job in the first place!
Just so they can then look good for their expensive mortgage as an FTBer under the new lending criteria DA suggests, which is not looking like a heavy consumer/loser, and a good bet for the debt.
The debt which apparently makes you a loser because you can’t save up.
Your point would make sense if it were consistent.
We want to prop up housing because we’re terrified of a property price crash.
So buyers need to step up and sacrifice, but in doing so would crash the economy instead.
I’d go with the capitalist fix, which is to stop juicing markets.
If socialism is the fix we supposedly want we’d be better building hundreds of thousands of public owned property to rent at cheap prices.
Jeez, in this day and age I think a basic house with a garage and a bit of garden should be free.
What kind of lame f
king society makes a few bricks and bits of wood so bloody expensive?A lame f
ked one!As for free homes for the poorest, we have that. Arguably not enough but let's not go mad and start insisting all forms of means testing are removed.
The question people in their 40s and 50s who have higher income but don't own a home should be asking is how all of their peers have managed it if it's not supposed to be possible.
DonkeyApple said:
The real benefit of opting to save up for a non essential is that by the time you've saved up the money you invariably no longer want that object and you also no longer consider it worth the money you have worked to obtain. The downside risk for the apex consumer is that this 'saving up' is merely a gateway to suddenly being able to borrow even more and live an even better lifestyle for a fleeting moment before it brings it all down sooner than it was going to.
This is how i am right now.I could have a very very nice car but all i think of is itll take me ages to save it up again and itll cost me loads to run/ repair which will stop me saving up...
solution....
make MORE money.
realise im getting older...
Gordon Hill said:
I think that a previous poster summer it up for me with the phrase "I deserve". My 2 daughters are both in their late 20's. Both are highly educated and have well paying jobs. Their partners likewise, both have 1 child. While I love them all dearly any financial common sense that I've tried to pass onto them has fallen on deaf ears.
I know that we live in different times and that my priorities at their age was different to what theirs is I do try and remind them that for a lot of their childhood my wife and I had very little but we got by. Only as they got into their early teens did things start to get better financially until we got to the point where we are now very comfortable indeed and looking forward to, health willing, a long and happy retirement.
The difference is that because they are in well paid employment that they have gotten into the mode of thinking that they deserve to have whatever they want immediately, be it a house, cars, clothes, jewellery, holidays, furniture, the list is endless and as a consequence they are always pleading poverty. The concept of cutting ones cloth to suit is alien to them.
I may be old fashioned but my parents taught me that you earn the right to have nice things and if you can't afford it then you don't buy it.
I've got two daughters, ~10yrs older than yours, both married with young (at school) families, and they're not like you describe at all.I know that we live in different times and that my priorities at their age was different to what theirs is I do try and remind them that for a lot of their childhood my wife and I had very little but we got by. Only as they got into their early teens did things start to get better financially until we got to the point where we are now very comfortable indeed and looking forward to, health willing, a long and happy retirement.
The difference is that because they are in well paid employment that they have gotten into the mode of thinking that they deserve to have whatever they want immediately, be it a house, cars, clothes, jewellery, holidays, furniture, the list is endless and as a consequence they are always pleading poverty. The concept of cutting ones cloth to suit is alien to them.
I may be old fashioned but my parents taught me that you earn the right to have nice things and if you can't afford it then you don't buy it.
I don’t know what scale of income you’re talking about but I reckon they’ve got household incomes of around £120K gross (3 out of the 4 of them are public sector) but they live very modest lifestyles – they’re both still in the first house they bought (younger daughter’s was only £160K), don’t drive cars that in any way could be considered flash, and they’re not out every night or buying clothes / jewelery etc.
I sometimes wonder what they do spend their money on – a summer package holiday to Spain is about the only thing I could put my finger on. Apparenty bringing up a couple of kids is just very expensive these days. The younger one could do with taking a step up the housing ladder but she won’t hear of it.
asfault said:
This is how i am right now.
I could have a very very nice car but all i think of is itll take me ages to save it up again and itll cost me loads to run/ repair which will stop me saving up...
solution....
make MORE money.
realise im getting older...
The moment I started to be much less concerned about "stuff" was when the penny dropped that I wasn't getting any younger and every bit of stuff meant working longer to pay for it.I could have a very very nice car but all i think of is itll take me ages to save it up again and itll cost me loads to run/ repair which will stop me saving up...
solution....
make MORE money.
realise im getting older...
I don't live like a monk and I still buy the best quality I can when I do buy stuff but that change of mindset made a big difference to my outlook.
alphanumeric said:
I don't know what this post is other than perhaps a little bit of a self-important whinge, but it's the sort of subject I felt can't be discussed with mates or is hard to bring up without sounding like, well, having a self-important whinge.
But where does all the money go? And how on earth are people living the lives they seem to be?
Us? Mid-30s couple, no kids yet, both doing comfortably well for ourselves to the point that I know I can't discuss this with our circle of friends as the likelihood is it would come across as more than a little boastful, but I'm on mid-£50s and she gets just over £70k. After pension contributions, her student loan, tax etc we're left with around £6.5k combined per month. Even writing that makes me come back to my first question, but where the F does all that go every month?!
We live in a reasonable 4-bed place in the London-commuter side of Hampshire, smidge over £400k on mortgage with repayments currently just over 2% at about £1800/month. Knowing what rates are doing we've been over-paying this to the tune of £500/month in an attempt at damage limitation and to accustom ourselves to this new sum when it comes in summer '25. Council tax (£250), gas/electric (£200), water (£40), TV licence (£13) bring us down to £3700 or so.
Then we have to think about the car payment (£380) - Thankfully one is paid off and we told ourselves we'd do one car at a time, because two at that price would be crazy but it still feels like a huge sum for an average car and wouldn't buy us the same again today, so no doubt that will go up/we'll downgrade when the time comes and we're putting £150/month away for a larger deposit next time around in an attempt to get off the PCP treadmill.
Then you've got insurance; Two cars at £500 each per year, £150 for the house, £100 or so for the cat, £200 or so for a travel policy. We put away £150/month to cover these when they come up and to ensure there's a soft landing if any of them jump. Then we put away £300/month for a combination of rainy-day fund, car servicing, "oh st it broke fund", and holidays etc if we take them.
We're down to £2700 already and we haven't even been to the supermarket yet (~£500/month), put diesel in (~£300/month), paid for the internet (£43), or either of our phone plans, (£32 and £17.50, both sim-only despite being at figures that used to get you a new handset a few years ago). Two gym memberships (£86 at the council leisure centre with a pool), Apple family plan (£32), and then Netflix or Amazon Prime or Disney depending on which one has the show we want at any time (we never run multiples) is another £15 or so.
Nothing here feels out of the ordinary but we've already spent the average salary twice over and we've not eaten out yet, gone to the pub, taken a pet to the vet, had a haircut, bought a birthday present, serviced a car, had the windows cleaned... Or got married, or had a child, both of which just feel unfathomably expensive.
So how the hell is everyone else doing it? How are our neighbours ferrying their multiple kids around in fancier cars than ours? Paying for their gardens to be landscaped? Going on their trips to the Spanish islands every summer with the whole brood when our trip to Gran Canaria later this year has required dedicated planning and saving for just two of us?
Am I just completely detached from the reality of this country and living a lifestyle others could really only dream of? Is it skewed by living in such an expensive area (necessitated by commutes)?
A 4-bed semi and a 3 year old Hyundai don't feel very top-10%-of-earners but that's where we find ourselves. And I don't even feel like this is bitterness in the sense that I want the nicer car or anything, I just want to be able to live my life without worrying about the next big bill. I want to ask her to marry me and not worry about paying for the wedding. I want to have kids and not have to think twice about feeding and clothing them. And it just feels out of reach.
Your internet, phone and subscription fees all look pretty expensive tbh and you have a pretty big mortgage on a large house and a car each to maintain. If you inflate your lifestyle to match your income, your income will obviously all disappear. If you really want to know where it goes you need to budget, categorize every outgoing and you'll then be able to optimize where it makes sense. But where does all the money go? And how on earth are people living the lives they seem to be?
Us? Mid-30s couple, no kids yet, both doing comfortably well for ourselves to the point that I know I can't discuss this with our circle of friends as the likelihood is it would come across as more than a little boastful, but I'm on mid-£50s and she gets just over £70k. After pension contributions, her student loan, tax etc we're left with around £6.5k combined per month. Even writing that makes me come back to my first question, but where the F does all that go every month?!
We live in a reasonable 4-bed place in the London-commuter side of Hampshire, smidge over £400k on mortgage with repayments currently just over 2% at about £1800/month. Knowing what rates are doing we've been over-paying this to the tune of £500/month in an attempt at damage limitation and to accustom ourselves to this new sum when it comes in summer '25. Council tax (£250), gas/electric (£200), water (£40), TV licence (£13) bring us down to £3700 or so.
Then we have to think about the car payment (£380) - Thankfully one is paid off and we told ourselves we'd do one car at a time, because two at that price would be crazy but it still feels like a huge sum for an average car and wouldn't buy us the same again today, so no doubt that will go up/we'll downgrade when the time comes and we're putting £150/month away for a larger deposit next time around in an attempt to get off the PCP treadmill.
Then you've got insurance; Two cars at £500 each per year, £150 for the house, £100 or so for the cat, £200 or so for a travel policy. We put away £150/month to cover these when they come up and to ensure there's a soft landing if any of them jump. Then we put away £300/month for a combination of rainy-day fund, car servicing, "oh s
t it broke fund", and holidays etc if we take them.We're down to £2700 already and we haven't even been to the supermarket yet (~£500/month), put diesel in (~£300/month), paid for the internet (£43), or either of our phone plans, (£32 and £17.50, both sim-only despite being at figures that used to get you a new handset a few years ago). Two gym memberships (£86 at the council leisure centre with a pool), Apple family plan (£32), and then Netflix or Amazon Prime or Disney depending on which one has the show we want at any time (we never run multiples) is another £15 or so.
Nothing here feels out of the ordinary but we've already spent the average salary twice over and we've not eaten out yet, gone to the pub, taken a pet to the vet, had a haircut, bought a birthday present, serviced a car, had the windows cleaned... Or got married, or had a child, both of which just feel unfathomably expensive.
So how the hell is everyone else doing it? How are our neighbours ferrying their multiple kids around in fancier cars than ours? Paying for their gardens to be landscaped? Going on their trips to the Spanish islands every summer with the whole brood when our trip to Gran Canaria later this year has required dedicated planning and saving for just two of us?
Am I just completely detached from the reality of this country and living a lifestyle others could really only dream of? Is it skewed by living in such an expensive area (necessitated by commutes)?
A 4-bed semi and a 3 year old Hyundai don't feel very top-10%-of-earners but that's where we find ourselves. And I don't even feel like this is bitterness in the sense that I want the nicer car or anything, I just want to be able to live my life without worrying about the next big bill. I want to ask her to marry me and not worry about paying for the wedding. I want to have kids and not have to think twice about feeding and clothing them. And it just feels out of reach.
I'd be disappointed in paying that much for a basic Hyundai too.
YNAB (before it became a monthly subscription product) is good if you follow the budgeting philosophy they taught (it's essentially the envelope method + living on last month's income).
Also if you put aside a % up front for saving/filling up a s+s ISA that you don't touch you'll learn to spend less if you are disciplined.
How are others paying for stuff? Inheritance, debt, early on the housing ladder and now a low mortgage payment.
Also overpaying a low interest rate loan early isn't getting value for your money - you'd earn double the interest in a normal savings account which you could dump into the mortgage at renewal time, current interest rates are still lower than average returns on funds.
Edited by Bryanwww on Sunday 7th April 12:53
asfault said:
This is how i am right now.
I could have a very very nice car but all i think of is itll take me ages to save it up again and itll cost me loads to run/ repair which will stop me saving up...
I maintain a float for big ticket items. If I want another one, then off goes a previous one. I always try to buy second hand and get rid while it has most of its value. I could have a very very nice car but all i think of is itll take me ages to save it up again and itll cost me loads to run/ repair which will stop me saving up...
Couldn't imagine stretching ever further outwards to keep gathering tat.
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