I am so angry. I am a financial advisor and PhD is a bloody liability... How many people will get their number, realise they haven't got a hope in hell and go fuck it?
So if you have a 50k lump sum and 24k a year after tax (so realistically 40k earned income) disposable so after all bills are paid then you can have 1.4 mil in the bank when you are 60 and retire.
So if you are in the top 1% of the population you too can be rich like me. No shit sherlock.
I am sorry Debbie the part time cleaner from Leeds but that advice isn't for you. Following that will not make you a millionaire.
She also neglects inflation and pensions.
Here is some actual advice to make your money work for you as much as possible that can be related to normal people.
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pensions. If you are able to save into a pension do it as soon as you can. Save as high a percentage as to at least get the employer max contribution as this is free money. If you are near the 50k higher rate/child benefit drop off and can afford to then drop just below it through salary sacrificing extra money into your pension. This means you keep the child benefit and your pension is being uplifted by 40%.
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mortgage overpayments. If you are able to overpay your mortgage to hit a lower loan to value bracket when you remortgage then do it. If you come to remortgage time and it is a lower payment than you are used to set up a standing order to take it back to what you were paying before if you can. You won't miss the money
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debt. If you are in debt then snowball it. Do a budget planner and work out how much you can afford to pay a month (put some towards an emergency fund so hopefully you won't need to touch the cards) if you can afford say 500 a month and the minimum payments are 300 then allocate the extra 200 to the highest interest rate. Keep paying the same amount until the highest interest is cleared. You then take out next highest but keep paying 500 accross the board.
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investing. If you are in the realms of being able to invest serious money get a financial advisor. Getting it wrong can cost a fortune.
Dont get a car on finance if you can avoid it. Buy a cheap car, save up the amount you would have been saving paying the finance and then get a better car when you have the money. A car on finance is a never ending treadmill it is almost impossible to get off.
Last but not least anything is better than nothing. The main thing anyone can do is live within their income. As Mr micawber said in David copperfield 'annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen points and nineteen shillings and six pence, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual income twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
Bugger off phd.