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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to find this depressing rather than inspiring?

167 replies

freecuthbert · 28/04/2021 17:44

I really try my hardest to scrimp and save whilst on a low income. I'm a hard worker too but my industry is massively underpaid.

I keep seeing articles about people and how money savvy they are and how great their money management skills are, buying houses young and retiring early. But they usually have a good/high income to start with, some inheritance or gift from family etc.

Today another article like this has cropped up. A couple has over 5.5k income a month and have about 3k disposable income. They are set to retire early because they're so good at managing money and they would like to share their wisdom with us so we can achieve the same. Except me and my partner earn far far less than them. We'd feel well off on just the 3k, which is what they have leftover.

I am also pissed off that at the bottom of their expenses is "other costs: child support and repaying interest-free loan for a new boiler: £401.18". What a way to disguise the actual pittance the guy pays in child support, meanwhile he gets to hobnob it and retire at age 40? Also very telling that his child is simply just another expense no different to a new boiler.

I honestly haven't read past this because it really got to me. I don't feel inspired at all, I only think "what a knob". And I find it kind of depressing because I feel like no matter how hard I work I won't ever be able to achieve this, which they apparently think is purely down to good money management. I'm sure that is an aspect of course, but definitely a lot more to it than that!

So, AIBU? I'm sure I'll get a few responses telling me I'm just being jealous or to just not read these articles!

Article for those interested:
inews.co.uk/news/uk/how-i-manage-my-money-couple-photographer-royal-navy-plans-to-retire-40-earning-974132

OP posts:
Original poster
freecuthbert · 28/04/2021 19:33

From those with similar incomes to the guy in the article, thanks for the perspective, so it really seems they are being naive. To be honest, living in a campervan is not what I'd want either, and wondering how that will work when they are much older and potentially less mobile.

OP posts:
osbertthesyrianhamster · 28/04/2021 19:34

I know but it would be interesting to hear your life choices as you're so bitter about the man in the article.

Come on, OP, justify your choice to be in a low paid job and be starting a family without financial security.

Looks like this guy's wife found your thread, OP Grin

Original poster
freecuthbert · 28/04/2021 19:34

@FindingMeno I can totally relate to that! Hopefully I'll still be fit and active in old age... I can only hope.

OP posts:
SaturdayRocks · 28/04/2021 19:41

@KateWinsome

That's their gross income before tax. They both seem like grafters. He's been working since he was 17 - didn't spend 3-4 years at "uni". When wife got made redundant she got off her backside and found a job as a delivery driver.

For all we know, he may have a "uni" fund for his son, or a healthy savings pot for him. These articles are always edited.

I'm not mum to either of then (honest!) but I don't think they deserve the vitriol you're chucking at them, OP, unless you know him ...

If he had a savings pot for the son, I think that would be mentioned in the outgoings, and no doubt highlighted in the article as well!
HoldontoOneMoreDay · 28/04/2021 19:43

@KateWinsome

So it's ok for OP to tear a stranger to bits - and make nasty assumptions about his relationship with his son - but she has an attack of the vapours when questioned about her choices and you egg her on?

Rightio.

OP - the couple in the article are clearly hardworking. Hopefully, your DP will get a good outcome from his job interview and the pair of you can knuckle down and start budgeting and saving like they did. They don't appear to have had anything handed to them so they might just be the people for you to emulate rather than despise.

Well they have had something handed to them, haven't they? They've had the majority of the financial responsibility for a young person handed to them by his ex, given he's paying £350 pm for his own child. He's had the gift of someone else housing him, feeding him, etc etc.
Original poster
freecuthbert · 28/04/2021 19:47

Must truly be hard graft abandoning your parental responsibility! Grin

OP posts:
TheLastLotus · 28/04/2021 19:48

OP I’d have the same reaction as you.
But all of these are click bait

SaturdayRocks · 28/04/2021 19:49

Gotta love that he’s telling the whole world that his meagre monetary contribution to his own son will drop to £0.00 the minute he turns 18. And he won’t be seeing him anymore.

What an inspiration...

chesirecat99 · 28/04/2021 19:59

It's a series so I think the "other costs" are probably defined by the journalist working through a checklist as child support is not a regular payment for most people. Plus it would not be appropriate to publish the exact amount as it is his ex's/DS's private financial information so better to lump it in with other items.

CandyLeBonBon · 28/04/2021 20:06

@KateWinsome why do you keep putting uni in quotation marks? Do you have a problem with people who go to university?

CandyLeBonBon · 28/04/2021 20:06

@freecuthbert

Must truly be hard graft abandoning your parental responsibility! Grin
Quite!
osbertthesyrianhamster · 28/04/2021 20:07

@freecuthbert

Must truly be hard graft abandoning your parental responsibility! Grin
Too right. So much to be admired, said no one ever.
Mrsfrumble · 28/04/2021 20:14

My favourite “you can do it too!” article was a young couple who’d had an unplanned baby when they were straight out of university and managed to buy a house a few years later... because they moved in rent free with her wealthy parents and her mum provided free childcare! So inspiring and relatable for everyone whose parents aren’t willing / able to bail them out 🙄

EastWestWhosBest · 28/04/2021 20:26

I remember there was a poster on here would couldn’t understand why everyone couldn’t save £25k in a year. When it was pointed out that some people just don’t earn that much she simply couldn’t understand.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 28/04/2021 20:28

@EastWestWhosBest

I remember there was a poster on here would couldn’t understand why everyone couldn’t save £25k in a year. When it was pointed out that some people just don’t earn that much she simply couldn’t understand.
And the ubiquitous 'I just don't understand' or 'surely', usually followed by 'you can just . . . ' or 'certainly everyone has . . . '.
Original poster
freecuthbert · 28/04/2021 20:38

@EastWestWhosBest do you know if the thread is still up? I'd like to read that one! I've never earned 25k after tax, which isn't that uncommon, so they really must have lived under a rock.

OP posts:
Mrsfrumble · 28/04/2021 20:40

Maybe it was the same poster who opined that if a parent truly cared about their child’s education, they’d make lifestyle sacrifices and find the money for private school fees. I was going to point out that for some families at the school I volunteer at, the £20k pa they’d need to “find” was actually their entire household income, but I couldn’t be bothered.

YesItsAPeacock · 28/04/2021 20:44

Come on people, these articles aren’t meant to inspire, they’re meant to infuriate. This discussion is exactly what they want. Clicks, links, rage-filled social media thread.

It’s a business model. Every few months one of these comes around and everyone falls for it.

See also: ooh aren’t the Apprentice candidates annoying and incompetent!

WaltzesWithSnobs · 28/04/2021 20:49

Similarly I love helpful money saving articles with tips such as 'cancel your expensive TV subscription' or 'instead of buying lunch out/coffee on your lunch break' or maybe even 'you don't need to fly to go on holiday, give your closest Centreparcs a try'

Very helpful indeed for those of us who can't afford expensive TV/lunch out/daily coffees or any type of holiday to begin with!! You may as well suggest I sell a few Rembrandts or knock my team of ponies down to half livery. Maybe I consolidate my nanny, cook and housekeeper and instead employ one person to do all three! See, it's simple really. Wink

Katiejanej · 28/04/2021 20:50

Found him on Instagram. His page is both smug and underwhelming. He’s not really retiring at 40, he’s trying to generate press and segue into becoming an online travel blogger, he thinks he’ll be able to create a following and make a living documenting his travels in the camper, in reality he’ll remain morally bankrupt and be living in a van.

SaturdayRocks · 28/04/2021 20:52

Ah yes, so he is!

TheMarzipanDildo · 28/04/2021 20:59

KateWinsome

Why are you slagging off “uni”? I’m currently at university and I certainly think I’ve had to graft to get here!

KateWinsome · 28/04/2021 21:00

[quote CandyLeBonBon]@KateWinsome why do you keep putting uni in quotation marks? Do you have a problem with people who go to university?[/quote]
Not at all. I went (as a mature student) and DD is intending to go. I don't like the slang "uni" but DD says i sound like a funny daddy if I say university Smile

Don't overthink it, Candy.

VodkaSlimline · 28/04/2021 21:05

YANBU, they sound like a right pair of cunts.

I found their instagram and am itching to troll the hell out of it.

Original poster
freecuthbert · 28/04/2021 21:12

Oh no, please don't waste your time trolling them on insta @VodkaSlimline, although I'm sure you weren't going to anyway!

OP posts: