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Do we have enough cash left over?
Comments
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The mortgage to income may be a little high for my comfort level.... it's 38% of your take-home income. With any shift in mortgage costs up and also to prepare for any unexpected repairs it may put an unexpected strain on finances. With no emergency savings fund either, you should respectfully not consider this.0
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Thanks all. Lots to think about. I have contacted my IFA to get his advice.
Out of interest if we had say 3-4k saved up what would your thoughts be then?0 -
Personally I would say 4k is very much on the low side.
Think about how long 4k would last you if your income source dried up. I am a student and I could only stretch to about six months, with a mortgage to pay, cars to run, appliances to fix.. and cost centres...it's a whole different ballpark.Said Aristippus, “If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.”
Said Diogenes, “Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.”[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][/FONT]0 -
Living in the SE doesn't help. House prices are expensive. If we don't think about this before children tho then we'll never be able to do it when we do have them. hence why we are thinking now.
As everyone has said to me, you can never afford children and i'm sure there are lots of people in worse financial positions than us who have had children and manage.
Luckily we have relatives who would help us. I agree with many of you tho that we must have some "rainy day" money that we will start to save for now. Currently we could potentially save £1000 a month if we are careful. If we can save for 3-4 months then get the house on the market which could again take 6 months to sell we could have a tidy sum. Let's see what our IFA has to say. Will update you.0 -
Assets
Cash.................................... 0
This says it all.
You have not been saving so so where has all the money been going.
In a way you are kidding yourselves you can save because you havn't.
Do a SOA based on the actual spends for the last year.
See if you can account for the change in net wealth and all your income.
HP? you need to save for things not take on debt.
So you need to be saving for the next car
car maintanence looks a bit low
You need to put in allowances for all the things you will end up spending money on so go back over the last year.
With the oh we have £550pm approach you will end up spending it.
Work out what you can save 99% no problem.
Challenge the spends you have and the value you get
eg : why are you paying so much for mobile phones there are cash back deals that cost very little.
£62 for TV how much do you watch this.
£?? gym , I don't see this on the SOA
In one post you say(for the £550)
The plan would be to save £200 a month and then use the rest for clothes and weekend fun
So thats £350 on discretionary stuff
Then later
Currently we could potentially save £1000 a month if we are careful.
So there is another £450 of potential discretionary stuff making the total £800 are you realy happy with blowing £800pm on stuff?
It is good you are thinking in advance but the proof will be can you actual live on this new SOA?
STARTING NOW pretend to pay all you bill at this level, overpay the mortgage(or put aside) etc.
If you can't save at least £550pm(or more) then your SOA needs adjusting with the things you are really spending money on.
(you could go one further and pretend you are allready on maternity wages and put in the kids expences nappies are not that cheap)
Then over the next 12 months you will have a realistic picture of what you can live on.0
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