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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask you to talk frankly about money !

337 replies

Moneyexpose · 20/09/2015 18:27

I don't understand why on this site , and even in rl, people are so shy to talk about money. Including myself, hence the name change !

So I'm inviting everyone to talk money. Feel free to name change if you feel uncomfortable. I feel knowing where other people stand and how they live (e.g. budgets, priorities) can be helpful for everyone. I'll start ;

Have a bf, no children, 24 years old
Earn £48k a year
Live at home with my parents whilst I save up, so no rent. No car either.
Spend £330 a month on transport
Save £2.2k a month for deposit (the £200 may sometimes get spent so im not strict on that)
Have £300 disposable income
Priority order; a home, holidays, shopping, eating out (if im honest, this is probably first Blush )

I know I can't police it, but can this thread please be free from negative comments. Feel free to ask questions so people can also get ideas on how to maximise income, savings etc. And mainly, to satisfy our nosiness (I know I'm not alone !)

OP posts:
Wombatinabathhat · 20/09/2015 18:31

YABU

Sorry but your post sounds like a stealth boast. Why nc?

There are threads on here where posters literally have zero money in their purse/wallets and are looking for help on obtaining food.

I don't see how this thread will help them at all.

spoonfulofgoodness · 20/09/2015 18:32

Agree with Wombat. I'm a civil engineer and have worked my way up in the company but I wouldn't dream of telling you my salary.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 20/09/2015 18:35

Yanbu.

I would love to know the ins and outs of friends and acquaintances finances.

However....even on here I'm not prepared to divulge, so I think you may possibly be in for a disappointing thread.

whois · 20/09/2015 18:35

Agree with Wombat. I'm a civil engineer and have worked my way up in the company but I wouldn't dream of telling you my salary.

Why not? Might be very useful for people thinking about what to do at uni or what jobs to apply for?

Secrecy about salaries are stupid IMO.

NerrSnerr · 20/09/2015 18:35

You earn £48k and you're not paying rent? Blimey, that's a freebie and a half.

Murfles · 20/09/2015 18:36

I'm rather shocked you live at home and don't pay rent at 24!

Original poster
Moneyexpose · 20/09/2015 18:37

How can I boast when you don't know me. And I don't even have a home (not likely to soon either) Hmm

I thought seeing other people's structures would be helpful. I have found those types of threads helpful in the past and thought to put them all under one thread and updated.

Plus, it's that mentality of not talking about something in fear of upsetting someone else that I'm trying to fight off (one step at a time, hence NC now, then maybe I can eventually talk about money comfortably)

OP posts:
Original poster
Moneyexpose · 20/09/2015 18:38

Oh, I don't pay rent because I'm saving up for my own place. My parents would be offended if I offered tbh !

OP posts:
NerrSnerr · 20/09/2015 18:38

Sorry, that wasn't helpful.

Our household income is about £55k, just gone down as I am now part time. We bought our first home last year after a decade of renting. I am glad we did it that way as we lived in a few different cities and had more fun than we would have done at parents houses.

StillRaving · 20/09/2015 18:38

You wouldn't be living in my house for free !

Original poster
Moneyexpose · 20/09/2015 18:39

Genuinely asking, why are people afraid to talk about money even on an anonymous site, where you can NC ?

OP posts:
Spidertracker · 20/09/2015 18:39

Happy to tell you my salary.
I am a 1 to 1 teaching assistant for a child with autism. I work 25 hrs a week for £9192.22 a year.
DH earns £15,388 a year.
We do ok and don't feel we are either poor or rich I would say we are average, we pay the bills, run 2 cars and the children do extra curricula activities.

LineyReborn · 20/09/2015 18:39

Good for you. Good for them.

MaudGonneMad · 20/09/2015 18:39

My parents would be offended if I offered tbh!

So you haven't even offered to pay rent? On a salary of 48k? Shock

yorkshapudding · 20/09/2015 18:39

You have a home, OP. You just don't own your own home, there is a massive difference. It's pretty normal to not own property at the age of 24.

LineyReborn · 20/09/2015 18:40

Sorry Spider, my comment wasn't a response to you.

Iamblossom · 20/09/2015 18:40

However....even on here I'm not prepared to divulge, so I think you may possibly be in for a disappointing thread.

This.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 20/09/2015 18:41

But I don't think you generally can talk about money in RL. If you earn a lot you may feel like you're boasting if you disclose it; if you earn little you may not want your friends pity or feel like you are tapping them for money.

It just doesn't work like that.

If you talk openly about money and how you spend it, you open yourself up to a hell of a lot of criticism (n.b. See comments above about how you aren't paying your parents rent on your salary)

Dawndonnaagain · 20/09/2015 18:41

My tax credits got stopped this month. For no reason, just a cock up. We have no other income other than dh's esa, which will go in next week. That leaves us with 100 pw for four of us. Bus fares to and from college for the teens are 50 quid, or 40 quid in petrol. HMRC have said it will take two, possibly three weeks to reinstate them, by which time we will have run out of money again as the ESA goes in fortnightly.
There, that's me talking about money.

NerrSnerr · 20/09/2015 18:42

I hear a lot of people on mn talking about moving home to save for a house. It just hasn't happened in my circle of friends)graduate in my early 30s). We all just house shared or moved in with partners and saved up, but maybe it's different in London. We all own houses now, it just took a bit longer.

Spidertracker · 20/09/2015 18:42

Didn't think it was liney don't worry.

Murfles · 20/09/2015 18:43

I'm a Headteacher. Salary £74,850. DH is a vet with his own practice and specialises in equine surgery. He earns much more than me.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 20/09/2015 18:43

Bloody hell, that is a BIG salary to be earning for anyone, never mind a childless 24 yr old singleton living rent free in the parental home (even if you ARE saving up for a place). Do you contribute in other ways? Pay for your food? Cook for everyone?

EatDessertFirst · 20/09/2015 18:43

I'm calling not so stealth boast as well. And we can call it that because you are living somewhere for free and can save 2k a month. Bully for you.

I'm not going to divulge our financial circumstances because writing it down proves how tenuous it is, and how we are just keeping our heads above water. Thank you for making me, and probably a few other who have bills to pay feel like crap.

KitKat1985 · 20/09/2015 18:44

Wow. 48k a year and you don't pay any rent to your family at all? Sorry but I think that's a bit 'free-loading'.

But yes to answer you question. 28K a year (nurse) but at top of pay scale now so no more salary increments. Take home is about 1800 a month. BUT 500 a month goes on bills (DH also pays another 500), 400 a month groceries, 200 childcare (DH also pays another 200) and 300 a month on running my car. 200 on clothes / going out / random, so 200 a month towards savings which usually gets eaten up each time the house springs a leak or the car breaks down. So sod all long-term savings.