Finally got a reality check!!

nicola1982_2

Yep, I love their food, I've never tried Netto because we haven't one local, but most stuff I buy is from Aldi or Lidl (except bread maker yeast which strangly enough I find to be cheapest in Lakeland!)

millsee

No this financial advisor is doing this for no charge- she works through a local estate agent and we used her when we moved.

Just a small point. Your financial advisor does not do anything for "no charge". They get a fee from the companies with whom you take out a policy.

Do you see what they've done here?

Best bet, do some research online, and cancel the lot of them. I'll bet you can get a much better policy.

Learn the difference between "whole life" and "term assurance", learn what lifestyle choices you need to make to keep your premiums low. Check out the interent to see which companies are reluctant to pay out.

Also, work out whether you need it at all.

raffe

I think Millsee might have a point, i wouldn't cancel them straight away, however i would do the leg work myself, find out exactly what they are for and exactly why you have them.

Lucie_2

elzie
To give you a rough idea; my mortgage is a bit less than yours (£640 per month) & life insurance costs £17.92 per month!
The whole area of life insurance/assurance/decreasing term blah blah blah is a minefield & takes a while to understand, but with a bit of online reserach you should be able to find out what is right for you.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi Elzie,

Call me cynical but I doubt the financial advisor at the estate agents is looking at your policies for free out of the goodness of her heart.

I suspect she will come back and want to sell you some new type of policy.

To be honest I would cancel the lot of them and use the £300 to pay of debts or put it in a separate account and "self insure yourself" ie 10 months you would have £3,000 pounds saved.

e.g if your OH last his job you could use this £3K of "self insurance" or if nothing bad happened you still have that 3K as savings.

(maybe just have one £15 per month fixed term life insurance ie in case the worse happens it pays out a 100K or so).

Put it this way we can buy insurance for everything theses day from your washing machine to injury to death to travel to the water pipes to our pets etc etc.

However there is no point using all your money insuring for every possible disaster but you have no money left to buy food and starve to death !!! )))

Good Luck.

kar

Income
OH £1270
You £700 (for now)
£200.10 CB & WFTC
Total incoming: 2170.10


Mortgage:
Remortgage 244.24
Mortage 668.61 9 (why do you have two normally when people remortage they borrow enough to pay of the first mortgage as well as the extra don’t they – that is a lot of mortgage repayments what are the aprs on them? Could you remortgage to cover both in one smaller repayment with a lower apr. Is maybe the remortgage actually a secured loan or something – I didn’t think you were allowed to have more than one mortgage on a property – I’m obviously wrong but I’m a bit dubious about the financial advise you got when you remortgaged)

Utilities and essentials
Water 42.00 (have you thought of having a metre fitted it could save you money so check it out)
Electric 30.00
gas 40.00 (both gas and electricity seem really high to me have you tried uswitch.com to see if there are cheaper providers)
House Insurance Building and Contents 23.47
TV licence 10.99
Council tax 115.00

phone
Bt (quarterly) 13.50 (I take it you need this even though you have Carphone warehouse phone – I don’t know the t & c sorry – but if so have a look round re phone and internet as there may well be a cheaper option.)
Carphone warehouse phone and broadband14.99
02 Mobile 35.00 (now cut down to £8 from June)

CIS Child savings 10.00 (you said you can’t stop this did you? How old is your first child that this is for?)
Sky 21.00 (needs to go completely – you could try dvd rental tarting for entertainment)

insurance
Mortgage Repayment protection 35.66 think about canx this but it depends on what type of jobs you both do etc. how easy would it be to find a new job if you lost yours etc

Life insurance 10.02
Life insurance 18.77
Life Insurance 14.45
Life Insurance 20.27
Life insurance 24.60
Life Insurance 8.27
Life Insurance 115.57
American Life Insurance 5.95
N Union Accident insurance 2.98

most if not all of these are unnecessary. Firstly find the contracts. Are these ENDOWMENT policies or just plain and simple INSURANCE policies. Any insurance polices need cancelling straight away. Endowment policies need to be considered carefully whether to canx or not and then find the right policy much cheaper on line. You ONLY need one. Why is this advisor doing it for free what will they gain and when are they contacting you back. Are they a friend or something?

Car
Fortis car Insurance 17.61
Fortis Car Insurance 30.71


other
Food approx £240.00 (you can cut this down we will do our best to help)
Petrol £80.00


Debts

Cahoot Flexi Loan of £8732.18 at 8.5% APR monthly payments £174.64
Burtons card £200.00 paying off £35.00 per month
OH Halifax Credit card £3241.44 paying off £77.00 per month.
Overdraft one £699.99
Overdraft two £383.07
Overdraft three £500.00
Owing to my nan £3000.00

total income 2170.10
Current outgoings other than debt 1866.66
Debt repayments 286.64 (not o/ds or nan)

Leaving £16.80 for luxuries

We need APR’s on these please. Check statements or just phone up and ask. Burton’s card likely to be 29% ish as it’s a store card so that would be my first target for extra cash even if it’s only 16.80 at the moment

You can do this as there is a lot of insurance in you SOA that should be able to be cut out saving you a lot which can be targeted at your highest APR borrowing.

Good luck with things.

sammy115

Quick thought on mortgage protection. I pay £33 per month for cover on £1400 worth of mortgage payments. this is payable after 1 month of being unemployed. We have just claimed as my OH was out of work for nearly twelve months. We just would not have survived without it. I think you are paying too much for what you are getting. Look for a cheaper quote.

Good luck. I have just had my fourth baby and following my disastrous end to my employment we have just had nearly four months of living off CTC and CB. Not easy but certainly opened my eyes to what was important. I would not change anything that has happened to me at all.

You have a lot to do, but if you can do most of it now whilst you are still home with the baby then do.

ampersand

Hello elzie-
We don't know where you are, but little of this land is Tesco-void.
I am surprised no-one has spoken about their R&R policy as a pleasing and viable way of cutting down your household costs. MSers contribute their finds which you check when shopping-ALWAYS look at it beforehand. Read the discussion thread, too. I filled a freezer in 19 days with free Tesco goods, obtained when MrT overcharged me. Look it up under supermarket shopping on this site, then keep it handy as a desktop shortcut.
Join all of Tesco's clubs and receive the welcome packs and discount vouchers.
Always read the Online discount codes thread here as well.
Asyou probably know, Tesco Clubcard points are worth 4xtheir face value on deals, rather than in store. The new book, just arrived, includes the YHA, which delights me as a Life Member. Don't be misled by old notions or the word 'Youth' - they are for all ages and do great family room deals.
I hope you have a Boots Advantage Card too, especially as you have two littlies.
Have you thought about e-bay and Amazon for selling unwanted things and books? Don't be surprised at what sells.
As you have already found, in just a couple of hours since you took courage and posted into this wonderful community started by Martin, people are here and willing to help.
You'll have blips, but come here when you feel yourself failing or flailing.
Bless you and your family - you'll get there.

littlejen_3

Hi,

I am a complete shopping snob! I love going to Waitrose, Marks and Spencers and Sainsburies. I do however also go to Lidl! I go to Lidl to buy all of the staples, pasta, rice, meat, cheese, milk. They sell most things (don't think much of there fruit and veg tho - not very fresh). It is really good quality and they also sell lots of unusual continental foods. Once I have done this I go to one of my favourite supermarkets on the way back then I already have most of what I need. The few things that I could't get in Lidl I can then buy at Waitrose etc. It's like my treat. I usually only spend £10 in there after spending between £30-£50 on a months worth of shopping at Lidl. This is definately the best way to do it
Give it a try, I am sure you'll be converted!

Happy shopping xxx

P.S. When you shop at Lidl as you fill up your trolly try and keep track of what you think this would cost at your usual supermarket. When you get to te till I guarentee that you'll be amazed.

Sea78

elzie wrote:

Thanks Sea! I had my first baby at 18 and it was such a shock to the system i never enjoyed it all, this time however i am totally loving it spending time with our new addition, but then lie in bed stressing about finances at night.
I know what you mean! I was in shock for ages after my first! No one can really warn you what it's like, eh?
I forgot to mention that the £3000 is a loan from my nan to get a 5 door car when baby arrived. Not made any repayments yet. i sold my other car for £1300 to my sister and still awaiting payment for this. I cant see how i forgot to add this on!!

oooh...well, can your sister pay you this anytime soon? Then you could pay off the highest APR debts and then arrange a payment scheme with your nan. This would help loads I think...even just to clear a few debts...

Seaxx