What do you consider a 'decent' salary (non-London)

bodmil

jojo90 wrote: »

None of my friends know my financial details and I don't know anyone on here personally.

Sorry, but I though this was a forum to come and get advice, opinions, and perspective on financial worries? A zero balance each month is a worry to me if not to you.

Yes you must be so worried about your finances whilst on your £6,000 holidays and £200 partying sprees.

[Deleted User]

jojo90 wrote: »

OK so I'm getting a better picture here. If I had started maybe 5 years earlier it is likely I would be sitting in a large house right now rather than a 2 bedroom flat (for the same mortgage). Could have more lodgers in there as well and be better off overall.

I guess I look at my 40+ neighbours, they live in a £350,000 house, have 2 cars, kids etc and probably earn the same as me. I think they were just lucky to be born when they were and my generation seems to be picking up the tab.

Not getting married would also have saved me a fortune.

It's nice to hear that others in my situation feel somewhat the same as I do.. !

You seem very concerned about comparing yourself with others. You almost sound like a stereotype from the 'Spendaholics' TV show. Maybe you need to wonder:

Are you happy in life?
Where do you want to be (in your life) in 5/10 years?

I'm interested to know why you think you should retire at 40.. that seems an unusually early age

sharkie

If you can't control your money, then your money will control you!

Firstly for a month or so you have to write down every penny to see where it it going. Also get and independent ifa.

I budget myself to about £50 a week lunch and spending money, so take out about £200 cash a month.

The other reality is that you have probably working for nearly 10 years and have very little, so using your current spending pattern forget about retiring at 40 or 50 or 60. If you do want to retire at 40, you have to be shrewd with money, tight, and totally change your current way or working at virtually every level.

The Joneses retire broke, don't match their level!

Mathsguy

I read this thread shortly after reading the following news article on the Daily Mash website and thought it was appropriate:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/millions-of-britons-now-living-on-less-money-than-they-would-ideally-prefer-201007072883/

MILLIONS OF BRITONS NOW LIVING ON LESS MONEY THAN THEY WOULD IDEALLY PREFER

A RECORD number of UK families can't afford to buy all the sh*t they want, it emerged last night.

According to new figures 84% of households lack the financial resources to buy even the most basic unnecessary items

jojo90_2

Mathsguy wrote: »

I read this thread shortly after reading the following news article on the Daily Mash website and thought it was appropriate:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/millions-of-britons-now-living-on-less-money-than-they-would-ideally-prefer-201007072883/

Yeah OK point taken... although my sofa does look a bit tired

So the things I'm going to do differently this month are 'live off £50 a week (£30 isn't realistic really)', 'write down what I spend', and leave my bank-card at home....

Mathsguy

jojo90 wrote: »

Yeah OK point taken... although my sofa does look a bit tired

So the things I'm going to do differently this month are 'live off £50 a week (£30 isn't realistic really)', 'write down what I spend', and leave my bank-card at home....

Good on ya. Try it and then find a happy medium where you'll still be content with your weekly splurges, but able to put money away at the same time. You never know, given time, you might even get more of a kick out of the saving side than you do the splurging.

GEEGEE8

Mathsguy wrote: »

Good on ya. Try it and then find a happy medium where you'll still be content with your weekly splurges, but able to put money away at the same time. You never know, given time, you might even get more of a kick out of the saving side than you do the splurging.

I agree, saving money and seeing savings growing can be addictive!!!

£50 a week sounds more like it. What is this going to include though? Be clear now otherwise you will end up justifying it as not being included in the £50.

jojo90_2

bodmil wrote: »

Yes you must be so worried about your finances whilst on your £6,000 holidays and £200 partying sprees.

Until I sat and added it up I didn't realise 20% of my take-home pay went on holidays. To be honest the actual figure is closer to £7k-8k having reviewed my statements . Having said that I've no regrets and had some experiences that will stay with me forever

jojo90_2

GEEGEE8 wrote: »

I agree, saving money and seeing savings growing can be addictive!!!

£50 a week sounds more like it. What is this going to include though? Be clear now otherwise you will end up justifying it as not being included in the £50.

I'm going to try and only spend £15-£20 on food. I reckon 2 x chickens = £8, re-use some spices for flavour, and some vegetables should be £15 for one person. £50 is a lot and guess I don't need things like salmon, olives, etc! I'm not going to include car travel in that although I will take out parking. Rest will be entertainment.

Thinking it through tho I already spend £30 p.c.m on entertainment, £10 for a spotify account, £20 for a giganews account, and £30 for Sky. My justification is £10 and £30 means I don't need to buy CDs or films. I'm not going to include that or I'll be screwed.

Basically it's going to be money in my pocket for the week with no cards and whatever regular payments and subscriptions come out my account aren't included. I think that's a good start for now.

MGCP

I'm still trying to work out how on earth you manage to spend that on holidays! Either you are going first class all the way, or you have a hobby you like to travel to do (like scuba diving) which is eating it up.

It actually made me feel better about my own excessive travel junkie spending! So far this year there's been skiing (maybe £800), a few days in Iceland (probably similar) and a trip to South America coming up. Even that will probably come to less than half your total annual spend.

Personally I try to put about a third of my take home pay straight into pension and savings, and ideally there will still be some left at the end of the month to bump those savings up a bit.