To ask you to talk frankly about money !

[Moneyexpose]

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 )

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 !)

So if you are living in Herts and working in London I would say think hard about where you want to buy. If you are willing to commute yii

Sorry. If you consider commuting in you will get more for your money. For example north Herts is only half an hour into kings cross and might be convenient if you work in the city. If you limit yourself to the tube it will be much more expensive to buy. We initially bought a flat in zone 4, but by the time we wanted kids w e knew we had to get out of London , and dhs commute time actually fell once we lived further away. There is a website called commute from. Com that has a map of trainings and information on house process and commuting times to your workplace that you might find handy.

map of train lines and information on house prices

Wages will be paid on Thurs until them i have access to £10 credit on credit card. Most of my energy is taken up with trying to plan what we will eat that will fill us up but not cost much. I found reduced chicken drumsticks in Lidl yesterday at £1.88 for twelve. Yesterday was a good day.

What do you do op that pays you 48 000 at 24 years of age? I'm not jealous (well just a bit) but thats a lot more than DP earns who is nearly twice your age. I'd like to encourage my DC to go into that line of work but I'll definitely be charging them rent

I think this is a very strange post; especially to put on a parenting website. Surely a 24 year old with a nice income and no children, can think of something better to do or at least go on a peer to peer site. But for the record, the amount you save a month is roughly the same amount we have to live on a month i.e. monthly income before expenses. From that we pay rent, council tax, all utilities, all food...in fact everything.

I suspect you may be a financial adviser looking for business. I know you didn't want negative posts, and I do envy your situation a bit but am also sure you probably work hard for your £40k plus, but this does come across a bit boastful on this website.

lostlight I really hope things turn themselves around for you soon. Apologies if youve already done this but have you tried writing to the bank to contend the overdraft fees? My dh read about it on MSE- banks have a duty of care (!) and if can't continually charge fees knowing that the customer has no way of paying. His sister is at uni and has been charged for going over her overdraft several times, and even though it was technically her own fault for not budgeting for the end of the month she got a refund on them after her helped her write to the bank.

annathe it is completely worth complaining to your bank. I've been refunded/compensated hundreds of pounds for complaining about banks' fuck ups.

Talking frankly about money is something that is difficult to do in real life in the situation I am in.

DH is early 30s and is an expat. He earns approx. £80k per annum with an extra £2k per month allowance (covers all our outgoings, including food, insurance, going out, shopping etc) and an annual bonus.

We live rent free in a 3 bed house with utilities also paid for. We have a car that is paid for by the company including petrol.

From 22-25, I was earning £40k plus high commission in a country with very low tax. I paid approx £1k in tax a year. Now I'm studying and working freelance, earning less than £12k per year currently. Aiming to get back to work full time in 18 months.

We have a hell of a lot in savings. Probably around half a million. We're aiming to be sensible with our money to the point where we can retire at 50.

In my mid 20s, I never thought this would be our situation, especially with most of my friends still living at home or paying extortionate rent for a tiny room.

However my life isn't perfect. I want to work but am living in a country where I am not allowed. The expat lifestyle is difficult in terms of giving stability.

Congratulations OP on achieving what you have done so far. You (and I) are in a very fortunate position and I can understand why you may be looking for advice, especially when it is extremely unusual to find others our age in a similar position.

OP, I think a lot of the criticism of your post has come from your inability to communicate what exactly you wanted to know, and why. It does however seem to have been teased out of you by our more patient element and you haven't deserved a lot of the reactionary comments. I'm going to go out on a limb though and assume that law is definitely not your chosen profession !

As others have said, while what you do is none of our business it is actually very important when considering how much debt you saddle yourself with; will the sector you continue to be 'relevant' in 25 years (i.e you need to consider the threat of redundancy) ? Does continued experience in your field make you more valuable (i.e will your wage continue to rise or remain the same)? Is it a large multi-national vs small local (how 'protected' will you be wrt sick pay, pensions etc)? What are the pension contributions like from your employer (government tend to be more generous so less need to think about private investments)? Is it commission based (I know a recruitment consultant on a basic of £17k who earns six figures with commission but can't get a mortgage based on his current take-home)? You could probably get plenty more advice if you gave a little more info.

As you asked, I'm 31, work as a consultant for a large multi-national solution provider and earn 75k + 10% bonus. Got to this amount fairly quickly but the last couple of years seem to have hit a bit of a 'ceiling' (need to wait for someone to die or retire to open up a position ). After student loans, pension and other taxable benefits take home is around £3600 a month with my bonus paid as a lump sum in March. Company pay 18% pension contributions so its a good scheme. They also offer a share scheme which I haven't joined but probably should have. Rent is £2k, OH earns £28k and contributes £500 to the rent, all other bills are halved. Council tax is £200 a month, utilities around £120. Not London based so no extortionate commuter costs to pay but I do pay for the car (a pcp, £600 pm) or at least I did until we sold it. I also paid my uncles mortgage until recently (£1000 pm for around 30 months) whilst he suffered financial difficulties. No children, no savings.

Unfortunately I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer in march and haven't been able to work since then. I got 4 weeks sick pay then went down to £80 ssp, which has now ended. Not entitled to any benefits due to my partner earning over the threshold but so far the car sale and my bonus have covered the rent. Macmillan are in the middle of applying for ESA at £130 a week plus I get £560 PIP. Private health cover hasn't made a sh*t of difference however the NHS and Macmillan have been absolutely superb and I owe them my life. Even though I will likely have to move somewhere cheaper fairly soon and will also likely be let go by my company, I don't feel aggrieved/bitter. I'm safe, warm, loved and alive. Not sure what the point of telling you this is, I guess to say just do what you think is best based on your circumstances, get some professional advice if you think you need it and don't let finances consume your every thought. You never know what's around the corner. Best of luck.

Snoozum, how awful for you, that sounds dreadful. I hope you will be ok. I actually think that is just the sort of advice the OP wanted, but perhaps didn't realise!

It sounds l I keep you are getting lots of support, so you are probably aware of this, so apologies if this is inappropriate for you. But cancer is a disability in law, so to lay you off is unlawful if you actually want/ are able to work. They should make reasonable adjustments to enable you to work, even if this means finding you another role that you can manage, perhaps at a much lower salary.

Good luck, and thanks for sharing your story.x

Wishing u everything good, Snoozum

Wasn't my intention to derail the thread so I'll just say thank you for the advice and well wishes and assure you that I am in contact with the Shaw Trust wrt work .

TBF my prosaicness is a new one on the spectrum of emotions I've experienced since diagnosis, but I can honestly say that simply being pain-free and cared-for has been the most contenting experience of my life.

OP if you think about it the 'luckiest' people in the housing market didn't purchase investments, they purchased homes. If your primary reason for buying is to invest then stocks and shares would be an alternative and more lucrative long term option for you. However if you primarily want a home in which to live and raise a family, then I can't see a downside to just following your heart. Make a list of priorities (size, style, location, budget, financial arrangements etc), save accordingly - and buy a property you can be happy in :).