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.

Surely you can’t have long left on your student loans? I’m two years younger than you, earning less and mine will be paid off next year.

Why not? DS of a friend was on 75k at 32

Plan 1 Student loan repayments are higher than plan 2

@Nw22. Maybe but the loan was usually lots lower.

@coxesorangepippin. I’m curious as to what you are getting at ?

Sorry £270 more likely.

So according to listen to taxman, you should be taking home just under £3200 pm after 5% pension contributions and £270 pm student loans - or are you paying more than this?

So just under £2k after your mortgage, being generous £1500 after your car payment (when will it be finished? Can you then keep the same car for a few years? Then you'll feel better off?)

Have you minimised all your other expenses? You shouldn't really 'feel poor' unless your lifestyle expectations are unrealistic. And if they are, could you get a second job or a lodger?

OP - I’m guessing due to the length of your training that it was something like veterinary which incurs huge loan expenses and tops out around the level of your wage if you are an employed practice vet. If you’ve decided against try to climb the career ladder any further then you’ll need to clear the loans asap in order to have the standard of living you want, so as PP suggest, sit down and do a detailed budget and be ruthless in terms of how to achieve it. Good luck 🤞🏻

Ignore all the people telling you you're rich, mumsnet is like that to anyone earning over 20p. I suspect you did something like medicine which means long studies and high loans. The only thing you can do if you're broke is increase your income (get a lodger, maybe just Monday to Friday?) or decrease your outgoings. Sounds obvious but that's what you're going to need to do. I am sorry though, interest rates, cost of living, energy bills, it's all a bit shit really. Much sympathy.

OP hasn't had responses like that. Many have made the very good point that this is a decent salary, not that OP is rich and has about £2k a month after the mortgage and student loans are paid, which seems like a reasonable sum for a single person. No not rich, but definitely should be manageable and it is curious that she cannot make ends meet.

Where did I say there was nothing to complain about? Or that it was a race to the bottom?

Hopefully the mortgage rates will come down a bit soon. Once inflation goes down B of E will reduce the interest rates. You are only in this position because your mortgage rates increased. You were doing fine before that happened.

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!

But you do have a decent job that pays well. Your salary is way above average.

The cost of living is ridiculous at the moment and most people are struggling.

It doesn't mean that it wasn't worth you working hard/ going to uni/ etc. You would probably be struggling more if you didn't do those things.

@TigBitss Sorry, I was agreeing with your point, that actually it's only a decent salary in a double wage household. I can see why you thought I wasn't-I'm not sure I worded it quite well.
My point was that I agree with you, it's not THAT decent of a salary. However with no dependants, it shouldn't be as much of a struggle as the OP states.

I meant that I didn't want MY OWN post to be a race to the bottom, by me saying "well I earn less than the OP AND I have two kids so she shouldn't be moaning"

YABU for feeling poor.
You are not BU to feel you would like more money. But it sounds like you are poor at managing your money. Why not post your budget on a moneysavingexpert forum to get advice on how to make your money go much further.

Our mortgage plus service charge is about the same as your mortgage a month and we more than managed on just my very similar income when Mr Monkey was out of work after Covid.

I have long paid off my student loan (which was £137 pm) but i do pay 10% additional voluntary contributions a month in to my pension. We don't have a car so that mans we have a bit more money to play with.

I tihnk you need to look carefully at what you are spending money on.

I wish I was on 58k

Can you overpay your student loan? I've never had one. So I'm not sure if you can.

Is it possible for you to change jobs and make more money?

I guess I don't understand we are all of your money is going to as that is a fairly decent and come and you are expenses seem to be reasonable.

I earn less than OP and my pension contributions are 12.8% - some employers don't let you chose your pension contributions %

You CAN overpay on a student loan, although it’s not always the best option. If OP loses her job, student loan payments will pause, unlike her mortgage or car payment. Once OP reaches a certain age, any unpaid balance on her student loans will be forgiven/expire. This is not true for her mortgage or car payment. If OP overpays on her student loan, it will not reduce her monthly bill—it will reduce the amount of time she has to continue paying it (which she may never reach anyway, if she reaches the loan expiration date before it’s paid off). If she’s paying anything off early, it would likely be more beneficial to overpay the mortgage or car loan.

So if you pay a big lump sum off the student loans, the monthly payments will still remain the same?

Why would that be? That's a strange set up

How much is your monthly payment towards the student loan?

Student loans are like a tax. There are different rates, etc for different years of entry into the loan system, but it’s approximately 9% of anything you earn above about £27k. You can pay a big lump sum, but you will continue to pay that 9% until the loan is paid in full. And if your loan expires, you will have paid back that lump sum unnecessarily—it would have been forgiven anyway.

Now, if you earn hundreds of thousands per year, it can be worthwhile to pay off lump sums because you WILL end up paying off the entirety of the loan before it expires with your 9% payments. Paying off early would save you on the interest paid over the years.

@Minikievs ah ok sorry!