Where did I go wrong financially?

Is this a joke post?
you sound pretty stable financially to me. Particularly since you are own and have managed to buy own house, finance a car and put some savings aside!

How is it possible to be an accountant on £68k and not be able to afford a car outright? My first car cost £3k (basic) I saved to buy it. I then put aside money each month so that when it wasn’t functional anymore i had enough in car fund for the next one. Current car is 2015 (old) no plans to change it anytime soon. Never bought a new car, always buy at least 3 years old.

We lived quite frugally and hence paid down a lot of mortgage, kids at state schools even though could have afforded private, didn’t spend a lot on holidays. Careful with going out.

Is this a joke? i have about 5k in a mortgage on a shared ownership flat as that’s all I could afford and I’m currently on 13k a year before overtime, about 18k after and my DP is on 33k. I’m in mid 30s. He has a car on finance, I own a car, I’m no where near paying off my measley 52k mortgage…. Please op, I only assume you are in a separate world to me. Millions of people are scraping by renting in debt and can’t afford cars, me and my DP count ourselves fortunate even though we are desperate for a home with a garden for our DC.

First off the equity in your house doesn't really matter unless you can downsize massively or move to a much cheaper area.

Never buy anything you can't afford - car included 🤷‍♀️

Much better to have a £2k car paid than £10k on finance - the biggest trap is 'it's only £xxx a month.

Same goes for mobile contracts etc - I still have a PAYG phone - £10 a month.

At the end of the day you have everything you need, be more mindful now and also be grateful.

Never ever compare yourself to others - lots of people lie about what they have and what they've paid off.

You haven’t gone wrong anywhere. It’s more likely these other people you have spoken to either have debts they’re not including as debt, student loans maybe or other loans they pay every month and don’t count and/or they had more help from family when they bought their homes. Often people who brag about doing things like being mortgage free in their 30s have done nothing different they just had a massive leg up from rich parents. That being said your mortgage does sound quite expensive for a single person who bought years ago in the midlands. We’re in Yorkshire and bought a 4 bed in a quiet area last year for less than 200k.

Nearly everyone you know has paid off their mortgage at 38? Seems hugely unlikely tbh

This! The only people I know with paid off mortgages are 60+

Who cares. You have a house a car and a good lifestyle by the sounds of it. Honestly money is just that as long as you have a roof over your head and can feed yourself your doing fine.

Sounds difficult. Why not set up a Go Fund Me?

Right. Be very practical.

29.7% of people in your age bracket have bought a house. Only 3.3% of those are mortgage free by 45 (source is Statista.com).

I am 30 and earn almost 65k in a professional job. I live in the South, have 1 dependent and dont have a single asset to my name (life insurance and pension aside). I can't even afford to rent in my area anymore; I live with a partner rent free. A mortgage for me is a pipe dream.

So not to sound crappy, but count your blessings. You are already ahead of 70% of the UK population. The fact you have any savings at all probably means you are even further ahead. Don't let "keeping up with the Jones's" make you bitter. You are fiscally successful by many key metrics.

I didn't even get a mortgage until my mid thirties!

You earn well in a safe profession and own your own house. You have gone wrong anywhere

There’s no point comparing as everyone’s financial situation is different.
Maybe they bought a cheaper property as you are in the midlands, maybe they got inheritance money. Everyone has a different financial situation.
As others said comparison is the thief of joy.
As a couple you’ll be able to save more esp if you don’t have kids and are frugal with money and of course earn a good amount of money. As a single person it’s harder but you also earn an above average salary esp based in the midlands as a property in the south could be a £1m.
Both my husband and I do well and I’m 39 years old and he’s 44 however he’s the one that earns the bigger share and we are mortgage free now. It really depends on your situation as we are looking at buying a bigger place but would then need to get a mortgage even if we both make well above average salaries.

How much did you buy your house for and what is it worth now? Maybe you’ve got a really expensive house that is more than you need

If you Google debt and average salary etc you're probably doing alot better than that.

I'm 33 and don't have any friends who have paid off or nearly paid off their mortgages. Most of us are only just being able to get onto the ladder.

I also know alot of my friends have stuff on tic or credit cards.

So your friends all earn less than you, have bought expensive cars for cash and will be mortgage free by the time they’re 40? I smell bullshit!

OP I'm late 30s and I don't know anyone who is remotely close to paying off their mortgage (and all my friends are in good jobs). Are all of your friends bankers?! I also don't know anyone who owns an expensive car outright. Most people either pay for a second hand cheap car outright or pay monthly for a new car that they trade in every 3-5 years. It's actually very poor financial sense to buy a new car outright as they depreciate a lot in a very short time one you drive them off the forecourt.

You sound like you're doing just fine to me! Are you paying into a pension? That's the most important consideration at our age, I think.

£4k a month take home is hardly loads. There’s nothing wrong in not wanting to own an old car, and if she’s an accountant visiting clients, it would look pretty bad if she turned up in a 20-year-old Micra.

We paid off the mortgage on our last house when I was 35 but that was because of particular steps we took like moving to London, types of jobs etc.

I think 68K is a good salary in any one’s books. I’m not by any means a financial expert, but I’d say that with 4K pcm and no dependents you could be having quite a lot of fun. I don’t understand the obsession with being mortgage free. A ‘mort’gage is a lifetime loan. It’s even in the name and 25 years is the usual term. As long as it’s paid off by retirement why worry? Probably someone’s going to jump on me for that but you really don’t know what’s around the corner, so stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and live a little.

Not sure who all these people you know are but we didn’t get out mortgage til over 40! Kids in late 30s. Professional earners. Consider ourselves doing ok!

So I am 35, married with one child (3)- hubby doesn't work- on PIP... I earn £50,000- plus child benefit, plus rental income, plus PIP for hubby
We were gifted a house- so are mortgage free on main house, have a buy to let (mortgage payments have doubled in the last year)- house worth £160,000 have £70,000 of equity...
We have £5000 in savings- pay a hefty childcare bill every month and feel like we are doing well. Our aim is to have £10000 in savings... I have a pension- pay 10% in.
Just saying they could be like us- family money bought our 4 bed large house, the 2 bed rental isn't doing badly (and will do better when mortgage rates go down- it's costing us to run currently- but will either be another pension pot or our daughters and is a long term investment)
We feel like we are doing amazingly compared to our friends

Buy a cheaper car, I guess. My 2009 Astra cost me 3,5k and I have no plans to change it any time soon. My partner pays £300 a month for his car finance deal. So, effectively, my car costs a year worth of his repayments on the car he doesn't even own. This never seemed like a good deal to me.
If you want to have more assets, you have to start spending less. When I was overpaying on my mortgage (yes, I am mortgage free now), I stripped everything back to basics. No unused subscriptions, limited eating out budget, no unnecessary clothes and shoe spending, no extravagant travel. My focus was on mortgage alone for a very long time. And I was very lucky to have taken this decision at the time due to recent interest rates.
I earn about half of what you do and I was single until two years ago.
You are obviously spending your money somewhere and you are probably not willing to give up your lifestyle for the sake of paying off your mortgage. Which is fair enough. Some people make different choices. There is no right or wrong answer.

If 180 is 40% of your house value it sounds like you bought a house beyond your means. Downsize and get something more realistic and pay it off.

Buying a car on finance is a mug's game imho. If you can't afford to buy it outright then you can't afford to buy it.

Maybe stop comparing yourself to other people, though. If you're happy with your lot then keep at it.

So many factors!
But, being single has probably been main factor. 2 earners, no kids means paying down the mortgage fast. I was in that fortunate position in my early 30s, then split from partner and now in my 40s with a huge mortgage. Being out of the housing market for 3 years cost me dearly too. So it’s timing, and also what they bought and when. They may have bought in areas where housing equity has grown. I bought previously in an area that was stagnant as schools boundaries changed!

tbh the biggest thing you should compare is pension not house, as that is what will enable you to retire early with the lifestyle you want. As a high earner put all your income over 50k into pension as you get to keep the 40% you would otherwise pay in tax. Every time you get a payrise or bonus increase it. Aim to save 25x what you want to live on, so you can drawdown 4% pa. Eg £40k means saving £1m

To be in a position where your mortgage is paid off at 38 you need to have:

1. had a big deposit (gifted or saved like mad)
2. bought a very cheap house very young
3. made mortgage overpayments a massive priority in your budget.

My advice would be to really prioritise some cash savings. You need about 3 to 6 months salary ideally. You can then use this to avoid borrowing on necessary costs like a car, fees when remortgaging, home improvements etc. after that I’d go for the mortgage over payment

In the short term cut right back on your discretionary spend and get that buffer built. Money in the bank means choices.

What have I just read. Crumbs. If this is badly off financially, I think most people are royally screwed. Most people I know have debt, little in the way of savings, if nothing. Cars on finance. I'm in my mid 30s but many of my friends are early 40s.

I'm single, earn considerably less than you so my prospects are less wonderful. I'm 34, single. I have probably .... 25-30k equity in my house depending on what the housing market does. 9k of savings, but that's unused equity from the sale of my marital home when my marriage ended, and will likely be used to make my mortgage repayments vaguely affordable when my 5 year fixed runs out in 2 years, and I'm on the higher interest rate. I own my car outright, but it has 150k on the clock, and will need replacing at some point. I'd have to buy a new car outright because I couldn't afford the monthly repayments, so it would likely be a bit of a banger.

Everyone's circumstances are different. I have a daughter, and am divorced. I don't care what cars other people have, or how much bigger their house is/better their holidays are. In the midst of my divorce I learnt to appreciate the small things and live my life. I won't retire until I'm 98 mind so come back at me then to see how happy I am with my lot 🤣🤣