Huge debt. No savings. No pension. Need some advice please

[nomoneyy]

I’ve been having a google recently about the above and just not sure what on Earth to do.
I worry about the long term and obviously short term

Debts are huge but are being sorted out (stepchange)
We have no pensions and can’t start one as stepchange payment doesn’t allow for that currently (I’m unsure if we can factor that in at renewal stage)
We cannot save as all money goes on bills and if we’ve managed to cut back and save a little we’ve ended up having to pay for school trips or something has broken and needed replacing you get the idea

I’m sorting things out to see if I can sell anything especially this time of year it may be more successful

If we could get pensions I dont even know what sort you’re meant to get (DH works full time plus overtime and I don’t work and can’t for the foreseeable future so assume we would need differing types?) but also unsure where I could get free advice about that ?

Post in Money Matters.

Getting out of debt needs to take much higher priority than pensions, especially if is at the level of needing debt management agencies.

What is your debt repayment plan? How much longer do you have left? What ages are you both?

I’m just worried about when we are older and I want to sort out the current financial situation whilst protecting our future finances I’m just so confused by it all.
I will see if I can get this moved

Debt management plan and if we carry on paying the same amount I think it estimated debt free in 2032

is your DH not auto enrolled in the workplace pension scheme? It applies to everyone who earns over £10k so I'd be surprised if he wasn't

We are both mid 30s

Right now any 'savings' (pension) are ruled out so to speak because you have debt, just concentrate on that right now and then you'll be in a position to think about the future, you cant do everything all the time and right now pension isn't priority x

No he does not have a pension as far as I’m aware and we have spoken about it and he doesn’t ? He earns over 10k as well ?? I will look that up and speak to him again about this

My concern is that by then we will be too old to get a pension ?

You need to carefully work out your incomings and outgoings. Do you own your own home/mortgage? If so, pay your debts but also could you afford to try to over pay on that? Even a tiny bit extra a month can save you years off the term and loads in interest plus means you will at least have a stable roof over your head.
Are there any jobs you can do OP?
You are right to be concerned, life is probably only going to get harder for all of us the state this country is in.
Hope things get better for you, well done for talking to step change, you have started to take control which is great.

Yes we did that with the help of stepchange they have some a budget so literally every penny is accounted for
We are renting but it’s LA housing so that’s not too expensive luckily
At the moment I can’t work but I’ve been trying to cut back everywhere I can and trying to sell things

Employers all need to contribute 2% to a pension scheme (sometimes referred to as a NEST scheme) once someone has been employed by them for 12 weeks (and earn over £10k etc). This is going up to 3% in April.

I'm pretty sure your DH will have some kind of pension through work. Well done for seeking help to deal with your debts. Things will only get easier once the debt starts reducing.

What sort of stuff are you thinking of selling?

Could you speak to someone from christians against poverty? I’ve heard good things about the organisation and I think they are free and give advice z

Anything really. I have lots of clothes adult and child (some new some used and in excellent condition)
Toys
Home stuff
Even have a couple of musical instruments

I think it estimated debt free in 2032
are you sure this is this correct?

Yes at the current rate we are paying it

They review it each year though previously when we paid approx £780 a month to stepchange I think it estimated about 5 years till debt free
As income went down a lot and the amount we could pay fell to approx £300 a month they did a new estimate

May I recommend a useful book? It’s called ‘Solving financial worries’ by Robin Banks.

🤣

are you absolutely sure you can’t work? If so have you made sure you are getting all the right benefits?

Can you look for a higher paid job or retrain for a better paid career to increase your income?

Short term you could take a seasonal job over Christmas and use the extra income to make over payments on your debt?

Go through all of your expenditure and cut unnecessary spends and switch to cheaper deals on utilities and mobiles etc.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Not at the moment it makes more sense financially for dh to do overtime than for me to work as even if I could childcare would be an issue

I've just seen your post that you can't work. Can your partner switch to a higher paid job instead? Can you work from home?

When my DC were small, I used to work nights whilst DH worked days - both work in healthcare. It's not ideal, but it was a short-term solution for us. We had two incomes and no childcare costs. Is there any way you could consider a night or two a week in a nursing home/residential home? It would make a bit of difference to your situation.