Are you worried about money right now?

[NevillesLeftNadger]

Obviously there's a lot of financial worry about, with rising rents and mortgage costs and the price of food and fuel and other commodities shooting up. Personally I'm scared that our savings are depleting to nothing and that the kids will just need more food/more expensive stuff etc as they get bigger. We don't take holidays, or get take aways or have day trips and I'm already scared about next winter's fuel costs and whether we'll be able to replace our old car when it does.

On the other hand we have a home we won't lose and it's insulated and (currently!) in good repair so that's a lot less to worry about.

But equally there must be lots of people insulated from all of the financial stress judging by how busy cafes and restaurants and theme parks and holiday cottages etc still presumably are.

So I'm just being nosy and wondering whether most mumsnetters are in a financial fret or feeling like they'll sail through it all. Are you worried about money currently?

I am worried as money is tight but I'm also fortunate I managed to get a five year fixed recently which is lucky as I know many on variable rates are struggling. Also I was fortunate enough to have have three children so knew it wouldn't be easy financially. The older two are getting near the age they can work so that will help a little too.

I feel most concern for young working couples and families, maintaining their own home or renting privately. Their positions are far less secure than the people - rightly or wrongly - on benefits, government pensions and state pensions who are protected by the government and thus taxpayers.

I would like to see an increased differential in the quality of life between workers and those on benefits. I'm sorry, but it must be really hard for those going to work on a dark winter's morning - seeing all those closed curtains in the houses they pass. Off they go to fund other people's benefits and pensions before they even get a chance to make their own ends meet.

Not worried, but keeping an eagle eye. Definitely noticed grocery shopping etc going up. In just over a year we'll have one child moving to secondary so will no longer be paying for ASC (but will begin to have teenager style expenses!), and we are both in good, secure jobs and have a very long fix on our mortgage rate.

I am generally being more conservative financially because of the general atmosphere at the moment, rather than any real need.

We're OK at the moment, both have well paid jobs and have a decent amount of savings in the bank. But we both work in finance, where redundancies are common - we've had 3 between the two of us over the last 10-15 yrs and we'll both almost certainly be made redundant again at some point. That worries me.

All we can do is try to save as much as possible to cushion the inevitable when it happens so we try to be relatively sensible with money. We still have a holiday once a year, get the occasional takeaway or meal out, but drive old cars and don't spend much on clothes, days out or even doing work on the house. We really need to replace the bathroom and do some work on the garden but putting it off for now to increase savings instead.

Yes really worried, every month I dip into my savings now which weren't a high amount to start with.
Trying to sell my house so I can move somewhere cheaper and smaller. The feeling of panic that it hadn't sold and my energy and mortgage costs are going up after the summer keeps me awake at night. I've got a good job but single parent so feels like it's all on me.

I am starting to worry. 5 year fix ends Nov 2024 so next year at the same time as youngest starts school. We wont go hungry but the increase in Mortgage will probably swallow up any reduction in our childcare costs. I was hoping that we’d use that to finally be able to build some decent savings
to get a safety blanket but not looking likely now. Got solar panels and a battery so were protected, to a degree, from rising energy. I think Thats passed the peak anyway?

Same.

I think there's a difference between worrying about money and being pissed off about about constant bill increases so having to cut cloth accordingly.

I do have a couple of public sector friends who retired on a good pension at 55 who are now worried the pension and savings won't last in the way they thought it would.

Yes and no. We are very lucky in that I have a well paid secure job and we have a very low loan to value mortgage. Only 1 dc and no childcare costs. Currently on a 5 year fix but can cope with a big rise in interest rates.

But all the food and utilities costs as well as large interest rise means that money that could have gone into savings and pensions is just gone. And this means we are less comfortable and confident in the future.

No, we have a fixed rate mortgage of just over 1% for the next 3 years and we have inherited some money. We can use that to pay a chunk of our mortgage so in 3 yrs time we will hopefully be paying the same mortgage amount as we are now.

To add - the one thing I am very glad of is that we have no other debt or finance commitments other than mortgage. No car finance or loan repayments, so if everything goes south we can quickly cut back outgoings to a minimum.

No money worries here at the moment mid 50's we've just retired early with no debt and a lot of disposable income for meals out, days out, holidays every month etc. We've a campervan and brand new motorcycles.
We haven't had money worries since our mid to late twenties when we never stopped worrying about money. We'd bought our first house, then the car died, we could barely afford food at one point. Then we started taking control and saving and putting into pensions, then later investing.
Now we are gradually starting to spend it instead of saving more and it feels weird.

Helpful and empathetic 🙄

Yes, but luckily not in the ‘how will we eat?’ Kind of way. We have very little savings, I worry about helping dc through university and how I will manage retirement. I work a fairly low wage but flexible job as have a child with SEN. Everything in our house is old or second hand and I worry about what would happen if the car broke down or the roof needed fixing.

No, not worried. Lucky to have highly paid secure jobs and enough assets and savings. It does feel like we're spending money all the time but that's the nature of having young dc and the summer holidays coming up. Surrounded by similar families.

No very fortunate in that I’m in a better situation now financially than I have been for many years , the main thing I’m glad about is that I took a five year fix for the last years of mortgage so my outgoings are static really and salary has increased

@Mojitosaremyfavourite

Should I lid then . Besides how is my post differing to every other person here reporting they are financially secure .

not at all

Lie

Helpful and empathetic

I’m never sure with threads like these whether or not posting anything other than a “Yes, I am worried” response is acceptable.

hattie43

Your post was helpful if anyone actually wants to help themselves these days. One of things that helped us when we were young was talking to older people in the family about finances. How had they retired early, invested, saved, budgeted and spent money etc.

I would add that it might look like we're one of those doing fine to outsiders, especially when you add in private school and all the extra curricular and private lessons. The difference is that family is helping. I don't share financial struggles in real life.
I'm still able to do my exercise hobby clubs as the associated costs are relatively inexpensive and I won't be adding health issues to my pile of concerns.

We’re ok, but it’s frustrating that we can’t make any progress forwards. I thought by now that we’d have paid enough of the mortgage off that we could start to think about remortgaging and tarting the house up a bit, but we can’t - it’s like we’re working really hard to just stand still. I know we’re in a very lucky position compared to many and I don’t grumble, but it is annoying. And especially when you know that this is the result of stupid decisions made by those in charge - it’s not just some act of god or whatever, this is Liz Truss and her merry band of fucking idiot enablers’ doing.

We're OK until our fixed rate mortgage expires next December. Estimate we'll need another 300-400. We'll survive but it'll be tight and no extras. I'm grateful we have the security of a home but I'll really need to work on getting a better paid job.

Yes, I am worried, especially when I think about pension and house (we rent and it won't change in another 5-7 years). We don't dip into our savings, in fact we are still able to save money, but it comes at cost (aka no holidays and 11 years old car) and if it wasn't for my husband's ambitions and his 2nd job (self employed apart from full time job), I don't think we would be able to save this much. He's earner, I am saver, I cook, I budget etc., so we make quite a good team, but I'm still worried.

Yes, terrified

Our outgoings are almost less than our income, our mortgage is now £2500 a month when it was £1400 before

We're not allowed to go interest only as our provider says you have to earn over £150,000 a year to do that !

I think we will have to sell unless something changes