To be in this job and feel poor?

[fedippp]

I trained for seven years, reasonably large student loan etc, to end up age 35 on 58k, and barely anything left at the end of the month!!! Mortgage is 1300 for a 2 bed semi, (up from 800 last year). Student loans are still hundreds a month. I have a car on finance as I couldn’t save house deposit and car deposit, need car for work. I eat beans on toast 3 nights a week. I feel like an idiot. I missed out on so much in my twenties to get into a decent job that I thought paid well and it seems to have been a waste of time! Does anyone else feel this way? I feel so disheartened.

YABU your life sounds great! Whats the problem exactly?

@Peekaboobo struggling to make ends meet and will definitely have to sell my home if interest rate goes any higher. It feels horrendously stressful!

Im on less than you and in rented. Fancy swapping?

Can you get a lodger if you live alone in a 2 bed to share some of the costs?

The easiest thing is to get a lodger, roughly 7k of extra tax free income....
Take 2k for yourself maybe a holiday? and put 5k into your pension or overpay your mortgage. Or get rid of car loan fast...

Buy a cheap runaround car - get rid of the finance

Get a lodger.

Isn't your take home about £3300 even with student loans? Minus your mortgage that's still quite a lot left. Are you single? DC?

Oh and do a proper budget.

OP you don’t mention this in your post…are you in a single-income household?

You're going to get sarky responses here op. I understand where you are coming from. We as a couple are different circs but similar situation.

According to the ONS your salary puts you in the top 9% of earners.

I'm guessing you live in the SE though where money goes nowhere near as far, and yes student loans can be crippling at exactly the point you want to try to buy a house.

And OP don't worry mortgage rates will start coming down - they already have in fact. Inflation is down so at some point this year the base rate will go down hopefully. Are you on a fixed rate or variable?

How much is your car finance?

Yes, I'm managing fine but I'm aware I have a cheap mortgage and my student loan was paid off last yea. I couldn't manage now if I'd stretched my budget when I bought.

Tbh I'm really quite jaded at the moment. I feel like I'm worse off than a lot of people I grew up with that didn't bother with school/uni. A relative was complaining that she can't move to a 3 bed council house...and it took a lot to point out that I can't afford a 1 bed flat where she lives. And I'm not annoyed with her... I'm annoyed that despite earning well, I can never afford to live where I grew up (my parents were locals and poor)

Will you wages continue to increase?

Sell your car, get a bank loan and buy a cheaper car with cheaper repayments.

I don’t understand how your mortgage is only 1300 and you don’t have enough left tbh.

Poor you

What is your take home pay? What are you spending your money on? What type of car did you get?

I voted YABU as you are earning plenty, so I'm wondering what your budgeting skills are like.

I think a salary like that only sounds as good as it is when it's part of a 2 person contributing household. Otherwise, it's the equivalent of 2 x £26k salaries which isn't great these days tbh.

No wages unlikely to increase much now. Yes I live alone. I resent the fact that I should have to consider a lodger just to get by. It feels pointless having worked so much for so many years. My student loans are HUGE

I understand, we’re in a similar position. Money just doesn’t go as far. I feel like many of us (I’m in my early 40s) were mis-sold on what getting a university education would mean.

I was first in my family to get an undergrad, then I went on to get a master’s because it was deemed necessary for me to progress in my career and my lifestyle is at a lower standard than that of my parents at my age who both left school at 16.

How much left on Student Loans? I clocked your age so I think you were one of the first few years of higher tuition fees. I was the last year of the lower fees (40) and just paid mine off last year. It does make a huge difference.

When did you last change company at work? That can sometimes be an instant 10-25k raise without any new qualifications.

But it's the reality. If your expenditure is high and your income isn't increasing, then you are living beyond your means.

I think there are probably changes you could make before needing to take in a lodger.
Although presumably you must have expensive commuting costs to be struggling on your wage. So you may need to move somewhere nearer to your wage.
Best thing to do is post your budget to see where savings could be made or check what you are spending money on if you don't already know your budget.

Get a lodger in if interest rates go up