Rate my financial situation

[Juniperberry55]

Everything finance wise on Mumsnet seems to be very polarised, either those on £100k+ income with tens of thousands in savings and a holiday home, or not having 2 pennies to rub together

I'm quite curious to see how people would rate my financial situation on average for my age

So I'm 33, live alone
I own a house worth roughly £220k with around £45k mortgage left to pay
Around £14k in debt on 0% credit cards and a low interest loan all due to be paid off in around 2 years
Income around £42k a year
Almost no money in savings, currently trying to build up an emergency fund of a couple of months pay
£0 retirement

I'm guessing there will be the odd comment about this being a stealth post. It is not, I am in debt, I think my finances are not great in some areas, in others I think they're not too bad

Score me 0-10 on how you think my financial situation is for my age 0=awful 5= average 10=Jeff bazos level 😂

Join a workplace pension now, do not wait, if your debt is zero interest then financially you are better paying into a pension now (which comes out before tax).

I’d say your situation is about 4, at 33 I wouldn’t be happy with no pension and debt, although your equity is of course a positive thing

It won't be at 0% forever so I'm trying to clear it down before interest kicks in, yes I can transfer to another 0% credit card but that would incur a roughly 3% balance transfer fee

You kinda have ignored questions though. Or I’ve missed you answering the questions. Listed here for ease with an extra couple added.

What percentage does your company pay?

Have you checked to see how much your 7% contribution will actually cost you? It will be less than you think

Have you checked all the documentation about the company pension to see if there are additional benefits, perks etc associated with being in the scheme?

Have you considered opening a LISA (can do it for £1)?

Have you considered opening a stakeholder pension and even put a minimum away to get the Govt tax relief?

I’m passionate about this as I work in an aligned field and see the impact of pension poverty. Especially people who are asset rich (house) but low income.

Also helped financially support relatives in pension poverty. All who had homes but relied upon the state pension!

@CaptainSevenofNine not sure of exact percentage of employer contribution although it is a decent one

Yes I know how much my contribution would be, the only way I could afford it is by reducing how much I save into emergency fund, so for now I am prioritising the emergency fund

There is a payment for next of kin if I die in service - not something I care about if I'm honest, they can have the equity out of my house if I died tomorrow, I have no dependents

My savings are not in a Lisa as I want easy access without penalties for my emergency fund

Basically if I wait about 18months I can be debt free, with an emergency fund and I can join the pension fund and contribute for the next 32/33 years, so I will have a pension when I retire, will the pension be as large as if I started paying when I was 20, no, will it be dramatically smaller because I paid into it for 32/33 years instead of 34, also not really. I appreciate it will be lower but it won't be the difference between me surviving or not

I am not expecting to live off my state pension when I retire. I will start pension fund contributions in the pretty near future, it is not the end of the world
I can also look into investing more money else where once I am not longer paying off debt or building my emergency fund. I will have the house paid off by 42 at the latest, which will free up more income to save and invest ready for retirement

I think the point of the savings only being a grand is to make you uncomfortable. That way you are more motivated to clear the debt quicker so you can build up a decent emergency fund. Haven't heard of the other chap so thanks for the heads up! I'm away to have a nosey! 😁

i'd rate you very very low as you are too stubborn to take basic sensible financial advice to join your workplace pension scheme. It's completely financially inept so I can't see how you will make sensible decisions in future.

You can rate me whatever you like, but it sounds like you're rating my agreeableness with strangers on the internet that looks at things in the same way you do, rather than my actual financial situation.

Other than not opting into a pension right this very second, what else do you disagree with about my plan? Genuine question

Caleb hammer is quite shouty, very different style to Dave Ramsey. Does make you reconsider purchases about whether they're essential or if he would be shouting at you if he read your statements 😂 again very American and alot of the people are in like crazy debt for crazy purchases like 4 cars on finance and spending a million dollars on eating out.rather than your sort of normal run of the mill stuff