To ask if any of you feel financially secure, and if so, what does it look like...?

[Sugarbeach]

Is it even possible? Is it a realistic hope/goal?

[RussiansOnTheSpree]

The thing which separates the sheep from the goats, financially, is inherited money (or big gifts). Without that, even if you earn a great salary, you are always going to be at a disadvantage.

[LieInsAreRarerThanTigers]

I have felt 'comfortably off' for about 18 months of my life, when everything was going quite well financially, but never long-term 'secure' as dh was self-employed and I always knew there was a risk everything could go wrong.
Guess what? It did! Financial security for me now depends on who dies in which order, and whether or not and when I go for a divorce...

[Bumblequeen]

To me relying on an income to live is not full stability. If you were to lose your job, life would be very different.

However, I would feel more secure if we;
Had no debts
Had savings of £20k plus
Had a buffer in case of job loss- minimum of a year

I hate living from pay cheque to pay cheque and often think of how we can 'make' our money work for us.

My family and the many generations before had very little money. Nobody has received an inheritance (money or house) when a parent has passed away.
This makes all the difference.

[Bumblequeen]

To me relying on an income to live is not full stability. If you were to lose your job, life would be very different.

However, I would feel more secure if we;
Had no debts
Had savings of £20k plus
Had a buffer in case of job loss- minimum of a year

I hate living from pay cheque to pay cheque and often think of how we can 'make' our money work for us.

My family and the many generations before had very little money. Nobody has received an inheritance (money or house) when a parent has passed away.
This makes all the difference.

[Bumblequeen]

Double post-silly phone.

[KedenTTC1Cycle3]

Oops...that should read Mine/His/Ours

[MadeOfStarDust]

We have the security of no debts/mortgage/a heap of savings etc - but rely on an income....

we still feel financially secure....

I have never been without work when I want to work.... but I'm flexible and I'm not fussy...

That is the other thing I guess - because our kids are now in secondary school, we can be flexible about hours.... that makes any sudden loss of employment MUCH easier to recover from than if we had preschool/primary age kids needing childcare....

[comingintomyown]

I agree that windfalls of one sort or another can make a huge difference to your circumstances.

Fortunately one such windfall came during my marriage so upon our divorce xh and I were well catered for.

But for that I would now be in very difficult financial circumstances as opposed to being secure.

[jimijack]

Yes. I've stood on my own 2 feet since I was 16, only me to rely on so I was determined from then to be ok. I did this through graft & strict saving for years.
Lucky to have a great job & a fair wage.
I have a mortgage, obtained when house prices were very low, so it's very low indeed.
I have a good pension started when I began work at 18. I'm now 43.
I save every month a % of my wage.
I am very frugal.
DH has a good job too.

I am on zero pay maternity leave currently which is going to eat up some of my life savings.
I feel less financially stable now than I have ever felt in my lifetime. I don't like it.

[Halfling]

I second Bumblequeen. Sometimes not having any family money and inheritance can make such a lot of difference.

Most people in our social circle earn roughly the same, have the same lifestyle and similar investments. The difference between those who are financially secure and those who aren't are mostly due to:

• Financial assistance from parents for university, down payment of first house, inheriting money from parents etc.
• Divorce
• No. of DCs

[skaen]

I don't feel it, but know we are.

We have no mortgage, we both have reasonably secure jobs and either of us could pay for our outgoings without the other one needing to work. I have a final salary pension, DH has a DC one, but earns a lot. We also both have skills and qualifications which would potentially earn us a comfortable living if made redundant and which we could carry on with indefinitely.

I feel sad about it as a lot of our financial security has come at the price of DH's health - much of it was compensation for a medical error which has left him with significantly reduced life expectancy.

[Squitten]

I wouldn't say I feel necessarily "secure", but I feel like we are comfortable. We have a mortgage but no other debt and DH earns a good income that means we can afford what we need and keep a savings pot that we use to annually overpay on the mortgage and hopefully get rid of it ASAP.

I think it's the maintenance of the savings that provides a little security. It's there if the roof falls off or the boiler explodes. DH is self-employed but at least if his business crumbled tomorrow, the savings will pay the mortgage for a few months so we wouldn't be in immediate crisis.

Of course, against that you have the worry about pensions and what the kids might ever need from us for uni, etc. Definitely don't feel secure when I think about those things!

[angelinterceptor]

Oh I feel so envious reading this.

I used to be secure, then my DH and I got ripped off by a director in our company. We were left with huge debt, only way to sort it was by us selling our house. We had to do it quickly so didn't make much on it.

we cant get a new mortgage, and we are renting now for 3 years.

our future us bleak,

i think from the outside people think we are very secure, but it couldnt be further from the truth.

[silverangel]

We are ok, but not secure by any means. We can afford our mortgage etc and have nice holidays etc but have zero savings. We really need to work on that.

[okthen]

No, not financially secure here.

For me, like others on this thread, it would mean owning our home outright and having decent pensions. It would also mean that we could live on one income (and therefore base decisions- eg whether to be a sahm or not- on choice not necessity), and that we'd have a savings cushion of at least a year should we both lose jobs. That would translate to around £40k savings minimum. Yikes.

[Pagwatch]

I am sure family money makes a difference but mine had not a bean. When my dad died I paid some of his debts.
Neither DH nor I have ever received a single penny from anyone. We both left schools after our A levels but we were lucky - back in the 80's you actually could start as a junior and work your way up.
That's exactly what we did.

I guess if I am honest I do get a little irritated at the suggestion that family money or paid for degrees are always behind anyone with anything. I don't mean ths thread - just read it a million times on here.
Along with 'well they probably have shit lives behind closed doors' and 'women living off their DH' [grrrrr]

[2rebecca]

I have had no inherited money and still feel secure. I think the stability of your job, not having debts and spending within your means counts for alot. Few people have enough savings to cope if they lost their job and were unemployed for a year. Having enough money to cover that counts as extremely wealthy, not just financially secure to me.

[cathpip]

I do feel financially secure in that if my washing machine went bang tomorrow I could go and buy a new one using the debit card. Still have a mortgage and car loan though, would feel very secure if they were paid off.

[LtEveDallas]

Right now, yes, I feel financially secure. I'm able to say 'what the hell' and 'its only money' . I'm in a secure job, with a secure pension.

This time next year? Not so much. My contract is ended, I've got to look for a job for the first time in 24 years. DH has got to look for a job for the first time in 30 years. We are both pretty scared.

However, with careful planning we have saved enough to be very nearly mortgage free. We will have 2 pensions coming in that will cover the mortgage and the bills. All we will need will be money to 'live' (I tell myself this when I wake up in a cold sweat at night)

I will be doing everything in my power to push DD into getting some kind of 'trade' behind her. To learn to do something that will always be needed - doctor, dentist, vet, plumber - that kind of thing. I'd even support her if she were to join the Forces (although I'd push for the RAF rather than the Army). I will try to impress upon her the importance of a private pension. One less beer a day adds up to a lot of money in the end, and a lot of freedom, a lot less stress.

My only regret is not listening to my Dad. When I was in my early 20s some houses came up for sale in my home town. I was newly divorced and 'larging it up'. Dad told me I should buy one of these houses....I didn't, I bought a sports car instead. I was an idiot. 2 of these houses have just sold for 5 times what I would have paid in 1996. The rest are long term rentals that have no end in sight. I wish I could go back in time, I really do.

[BraveMerida]

Grew up poor. Not feeling secure....early 40's, even though we own our home, have assets, no credit card or loan debt, only enough cash for emergencies, we only just got to a position where we could live comfortably on one income which is just as well as I stopped working last month, having been in continuous employment since graduation bar maternity leave and a 3 months unemployment. Everything is in joint name but we have separate pensions.

It's scary how everything is dependent on DH's job and income and how quickly it could all go pear shaped if he falls ill, loses job etc. etc., and thinking about how to fund dd's education (even though she is an only, so don know how others manage with more) and our retirement.

[bouncysmiley]

I don't. We can pay the bills and are nearly there with debts but until these are paid off we have limited savings and zero money to spend on ourselves. Pensions should be ok though.

[festered]

I feel financially secure.

I earn more than most people because I was willing to take jobs that were unconventional and that most don't respect, and make sacrifices (friendships, respect of 'normal'society).

I live with my OH who owns a house he bought very cheaply. It is still mortgaged but the cost is very little- and we live very frugally. I love spending money on luxuries, but I save on our everyday life-I've got him 'trained'-he was wasting a lot of money when we met.

My parents own a lot of property, I will assist them with their business as time goes on and eventually either take it over or sell for profit to care for them and carry on with what is left over.I have a half-sister but even with half, if we were to inherit half each I'll be well off. If I take over the business with her, we will make it work hard.

I am not a hard worker, I am very lazy,but I am confident in my abilities as a worker-I'm not a leader or an entrepreneur, but I am good at earning and saving.
I am also aware that all the above is precious and could go at any time. I'm prepared but not nervous!

[StupidFlanders]

I've read this all with interest.

I'm probably not as independently wealthy as others on here but I feel financially secure.

I know our families could support us no matter what happens (and have set up the dcs for us).

I have also proven in the past that I can support myself and dcs on my own income and determination!

[ceeveebee]

I feel financially secure. It's all relative - comparing to where I have come from - parents were in low paid jobs, 4 DCs, lived hand to mouth.

Now, although we don't own out home outright, we live in one of the most expensive boroughs of London and have enough equity that we could sell up and live in most places in the UK mortgage free
We own our car outright
We have enough in savings to pay our outgoings for 2 years (and if house was sold, more like 5 years)
We are both professionally qualified and have highly paid jobs. Pensions not great as private sector but not concerned by that at this stage of our lives and with our other assets

So compared to my upbringing of not knowing where next meal was coming from, free school meals, grants for school uniforms and often seeing mum cry when a gas bill came in, yes I feel secure now