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 !)

at laffymeal. Although I'm slightly disappointed that it isn't a car wash that you own...

Of course people lie on the Internet, including potentially you.

Why don't you ask your obviously well off parents about budgeting?

My (real life, honest) story;

Self employed, have own business with my partner of 10years. 2 years ago we decided we wanted to try for baby, fell pregnant immediately, panicked, moved out of current flat to somewhere bigger. We have a 2 bed place in lovely borough of London. We pay £1581.33 rent per month, have a great life, but no savings. Now what exactly have you gained from that info?

Why would anyone be interested in these financial numbers from a random stranger. Everyone has different circumstances and priorities. There is value in sharing money-saving tips and there are regular threads to do so. But no I don't feel nosy about random strangers' income - I know full well there are many thousands of people with less than me and (thankfully a smaller number of) many thousands of people with more than me.

maid sorry, I meant buying a house together. Dawn didn't ask me any questions and I'm not in her position so can't help her unfortunately. Perhaps someone else will come along with advice ( the purpose of the thread!)

Bree I'm rarely at home so we still get on well with each other. And may I please ask (if you are willing ro share) how you were able to get 2 homes?

shoop the question I was answering was about budgeting. So I said I lived alone meaning without parents because I paid my own bills and budgeted. HTH.

Throughthick which is exactly why I came to ask this question here - to get different tips to the ones I already know. Oh well.

Mrsfrumble so you can give advice to someone who fits in your category of 'struggling' but not to me because I happen to earn over an imaginary sum that qualifies for advice? For future reference, what is that sum?

I didn't mention the damn car wash for fear it would out me

Siobhan - "only" up to £20k savings?

It had a £2 a month fee, but that's gone up to £5 and you have to pay 2 DDs a month from it, but it's been worth it for me, and still will be even when the charge goes up.

it also gives cashback on certain things, so worth a try. I am one of these people who is happy to do bank paperwork though. I don't earn a lot so the interest earned by doing the odd 20 mins bank admin here and there is a good gain for me, relatively to normal hourly rate for work.

I earn more than all of my friends but I don't feel the need to tell them (but I would tell them they asked) as I know they all work as hard as me and money isn't relevant to our friendship as we have known each other since childhood.

Whilst it is admirable that you are saving up for a deposit I would suggest you do the following -
Speak to a friend who rents/owns by themselves and ask them what their budget is (then deduct this money from your salary and pretend it doesn't exist)
Get some good financial advice concerning savings and investments as you have a lot of disposable income but don't appear to saving anything for the future (apart from a house deposit) or maximising a return, and nothing for retirement. What happens if you spend all your saving on a house deposit, lose your job and FB and then can't pay mortgage?
Speak to your employer and find out if they offer any pensions (which often your employer will pay into for you), SIP scheme, share save schemes, etc.

I earn(t) 100k partner earns 40k we own our home and two btl with no mortgages. I have about 100k savings in my business and about 10k personal. OH has 100k in personal savings, and a few k in his business (he has a separate salaried job, I'm self employed). We both have ok pensions we could live off from 55yrs but would be good to save a bit more so we can do things like take holidays/eat out.

I'm about to take three yrs out to do further training (we've emigrated) and oh is going 50% for similar reasons.

Luckily we can live on relatively little, we never eat out, grow our own veg, drive very shit cars etc. Its a bonus of having savings that you can live cheaply because if eg your car dies you just replace it using cash so aren't in that debt cycle of needing to borrow.
We moved in together when I was 30 he was 40. 10 yrs ago we were both students and in debt, we've not inherited just worked hard and saved hard and been lucky.

What advice do you want?

Well done op on responding to everyone.

It's very boring when an op starts a thread and disappears, good for you for facing your critics.

Money
Its difficult for you give advice to anyone as you are earning so much money and have little outgoings and openly admit that you spend money on eating out.

So you know already what you need to do, yet seem unwilling to change.

So, when you say you want to share tips.

What advice can you give someone?

siobhan they paid tuition and I paid living expenses (had savings to start me off and then worked during school).

001 no I am saving to buy alone, although my boyfriend and parents think I should buy with my boyfriend then I would buy quicker. I want to have my own so I know it's all mine and then we can move into mine or his. Does that make sense ?

lore My target has been to save until 25 and then buy according to what I have ( so 7 months to go). I do use my ISA allowance but have not invested in anything else - not until I buy.

There are loads of threads on here where people talk about very specific numbers - how have you not noticed that? Even without going to the money section.

So I found your post a bit patronising.

I don't think such a generalised post is helpful.

People do, sadly, post "shit, I've £20 to feed 4 for the next week, and no petrol for work".

And there are marvellous responses rage I would, luckily, not know about.
Like using Milk&More (though inflated price) because you can pay a week later.

I'm sure you have valuable tips to share if someone posts "I'm on £48K with no bills and want to save £2.2K a month - will I have enough for going out?"

But for the vast majority of posters, your experience to give advice is probably limited.

One massive generalised thread is unhelpful - that's not about us needing to be patronised into talking openly about income. It's because it's simply more helpful to ask a specific money question and get specific money advice.

She missed me me out thick and thin

How much do you have saved and how much more is there to go?

When do you want to buy a house? Now is a good time as mortgages are cheap.

When will you have "enough"? What sacrifices are you willing to make?

People are being quite harsh on here.

OP, I'm not going to say what our income is, but it's a lot.
DH moved in with me within days of getting together (we'd been friends for several years previously). My job at the time took me so over the world, and I lived in each country for anywhere between two months to a few years at a time. DH came with me and was a "kept man" as he didn't have a penny to his name.

I went to university and then did my PhD much earlier than most (was in my teens when I finished my PhD) so that gave me a headstart career-wise, along with a whole barrel full of problems.
When DS came along we moved to our ranch in South America, that's where we are now and it's a great place to raise DS, extremely remote location but lots of other children (children of the hands) live on the ranch so he has plenty of friends.

I didn't pay rent to my parents (on the rare and brief occasions that I lived with them and they hadn't palmed me off on someone) and I wouldn't ask DS to pay rent either unless we found ourselves in dire financial straits

Dawn didn't ask me any questions and I'm not in her position so can't help her unfortunately

ODFO OP.

Who exactly do you expect to find, on a parenting forum, that you can identify with when you are a 24 year old being bank rolled by parents who clearly don't see the benefit in making you stand on your own 2 feet?

Go and boast somewhere else where you can compare salary size and age and come back when you've realised what a tough world it can be.

I am appalled that you earn what you do yet you pay no rent. Are you saving for a real ftb home or have to decided to stay freeloading with your parents until you can buy something @ 400k in your very most preferred area? Your parents are doing you no favours in terms of teaching you financial planning and good money management esp as 'eating out' is top of your priority list.

I got made redundant from an OK job and am now on £72 odd a week jsa. And that's only for 6 months. In a few weeks I shall have an income of precisely £O.
And I've paid into the system for 37 years.
Feel better OP?

I don't agree M4blues'

I really am totally baffled by this thread. You're doing well OP, you're lucky. You have the opportunity to save as much as you can without any worries.

We are lucky too. We earn great salaries. We have paid off many years of student loans and we are now debt free. We own our 'forever home' (admittedly with a mortgage). We save because we can - it's that simple. We don't save well, we have a large balance in our bank account, it's not invested in any way. But it's there, for us to spend if we want or to just keep there for a rainy day or for anything that may crop up that we need money for. We have pensions. We are not natural savers, we are simply lucky that our outgoings do not exceed our incomings and therefore we save.

Depending on how long you've been saving you really won't have a problem getting your deposit soon enough. If you buy with a partner make sure you protect your investment into the property.

You finished a PhD in your teens, Hellbeasts ?

button nothing because it's not aligned to my personal goals. But maybe someone else wants to live on London and would have asked you questions if this thread wasn't full of negativity.

Username I was thinking if I can buy with a larger deposit it would be a better investment for me as my mortgage would be lower. Are you suggesting buying with a lower deposit and investing the money elsewhere? Surely that's riskier than borrowing as little as possible for a house?

001 I don't think there is anything wrong with eating out. If I'm saving most of my salary I have to do something fun surely (for me, that's eating out and comes out of my disposable income which I thought was reasonable for my salary). I can give advice if asked a direct question but I feel I gave all my information up (rent free and childless is how im able to save so much).

Thankyou through

Thats sad KitKat do you think you might get another job soon? Job market is horrible, I know.

I am a business owner and earn much, much more than you OP. This fact helps you in no way, as I can't tell you how to maximise your earnings (we don't know what you do) or increase your savings (we don't know what your money is being spent on). But I trust this has satisfied your nosiness at least?

You should find out how much youyou can borrow on your salary. Get the top figure and knock off 10% and make that your house budget and the top up your savings to get a 10% deposit.

So eg. You have £20k savings, and can borrow £350k. Take off 10%. Make your budget for a house £315. Then get a minimum 10% deposit saved up. So save for a while longer and get it to £31.5k.

Iand as yiu have definjte figire in mind, you will have a figure to focus on, making saving easier

I would advise not borrowing the max you can, as if your LTV is not favourable you'll be paying a lot out and won't have any contingency for unexpected costs or to rebuod your savings.