Net worth in late thirties.

[chillipopcorn1]

I’m panicking and spiralling slightly. I’m mid/late thirties and my husband is older, mid forties. For various reasons which are now being addressed we’ve racked up huge credit card debts and have sold our house to clear them. After clearing debt we’ve got less left than we originally put in as a deposit. You don’t need to tell me how stupid we are - I know that, and there’s a lot we are changing moving forward. However we’re panicking because basically we’re mid life and only have 30k to our names. Now we’ve cleared debt we’re in a position to save 3k a month for the next two years which is fantastic but still won’t get us up to where I feel everyone else our age is! Is there anyone who has success stories about sort-of starting again later in life with a small amount of net worth and being financially sound later on? We’re both public sector workers with about 10 years each of those pensions. Will inherit some money but not for hopefully many years! We are 1

Its pointless comparing yourself to other people. You’ve made a mistake and fixed it and are starting again. Don’t beat yourself up for that. I was in a similar position in my 30s.

Well you faced it and are moving forward. So you're doing better than all the people with huge debts and their heads still in the sand. 3k a month to save is massive. Are you saving it all? Investing some?

If it helps you feel better, you're not including your pensions in your net worth calculation. You say you're in public service - Are they defined benefit? If so, take the figure for the annual income on retirement and multiply by 25.

It doesn't really affect things now, since you can't access that money, but it is still yours and part of your net worth

It doesn’t matter what other people are doing. You can save 3k a month which is huge and more than many your age will be able to. Make sure you budget well and are sensible with it

30s are a great time to be building wealth. You aren't expected to already have it. Imagine what your 60-year-old self would give for a chance of 20 years to save and invest ... and yet you have that chance right now. Go for it.

youve addressed the problem. Your 30s are strange these days, some people are secure with good equity, others are still renting and living pay check to pay check. Many are in the latter. Don’t beat yourself up

You have no idea ‘where everyone else your age is’ though, do you.

As others have said - £3k a month is a huge amount to be able to save.

Focus on that - you have the opportunity to grow your savings considerably.

Look on the bright side. 3k a month is a massive amount to save.

What are you saving your 3k a month for? Would you be wise to put some into your pensions via AVCs ... very tax efficient.

We won’t have a home so need to save up for a deposit, stamp duty etc. it’s a limited time that we can save like that (overseas posting) so when we return to the UK we’ll need to buy a house again.
our pensions should be ok-ish as public sector workers (we won’t be contributing whilst abroad)

Age
Net worth inc Pen
Net worth excl pension

44
954697.3
£444,026

43
837965
409508

42
671010
326529

41
545618
262172

40
522723
316221

39
388166
210898

38
317769
177769

37
293529
158529

36
253834
119834

35
182109
55109

34
160715
39715

33
304096
190096

32
193906
91906

31
167887
75887

30
113882
38882

29
130000
60000

28
98100
43100

27
78700
38700

26
66800
36800

25
55900
34900

Oh wow this is really interesting thank you! What happened when you were 35 that really helped you gain momentum?

You have a lot of advantages. You can save a huge amount of money every month, you’re relatively young, and have two incomes coming in. The UK property market - generally speaking - is the worst it’s been for many years and shows no sign of improving in this dreadful economy. One thing I would caution against though is expecting an inheritance.

It might be a little misleading, in my spreadsheet, that year, we had house revalued for new mortgage, and it added £40k to value of house ... coincided with paying off renovation loans also.