Experienced mortgagee's - Will we be overstretched? IYO??

thriftychap_2

getmore4less wrote: »

Allthough there was some things missing in your original forcast there was some slack, £60 gym, £200 invest, £200 each spending so that £455 is realy £655 with the investment, and could be close to £900 if needed, cut the gym and only £100 each spending. A coouple of years of overpaying by £900pm would make a big dent in the mortgage

Actualy thinking about it, affordability is not the issue its saving up to make it happen, deposit, costs, buffer funds will just take some time to get there.

Wow stop right there lol! Another great reply, thankyou. Especially the point about pension lump sum...... i like your thinking.

BUT! One non negotiable expense is our gym membership, this is part of my identity and quite honestly i would become depressed if I could not go lol!

Your point about affordability - saving up is the key i totally agree with now. Thanks again.

InMyDreams

thriftychap wrote: »

One non negotiable expense is our gym membership, this is part of my identity and quite honestly i would become depressed if I could not go lol!

This is really important. Identifying your priorities. What is essential for one family can be a cut for another. This is why you got some of the responses that you did earlier in the thread.

People place different values on things like gym, Sky, mobiles and other techno gadgets, eating out and other entertainments, what car they are prepared to drive, holidays, paying for children's education, career breaks to bring up children... Everyone has their different non-negotiables and it's all so relative. So someone in apparently an identical position might be happy with mortgage debts at that level and another rightly terrified as it would impact too much on their non-negotiables.

The tricky thing is judging now, what your non-negotiables might be in 10 years time. Be very wary of settling into a lifestyle now that will be unsustainable but difficult to give up in the future. This is why the people with the biggest debt problems can often be the people with the biggest incomes.

rndb

Our mortgage is £1400 per month on a slightly higher combined income than yours plus in addition to all usual bills etc we pay £700 per month in nursery fees (and we run 2 cars with a fuel spend of around £400 per month). We also manage to save a few hundred a month and go on holiday twice a year so it can be done without worrying too much. We watch the pennies and the pounds look after themselves. And it does give some sort of security working in public sector - I do and I think the knowledge that your job is safe is invaluable plus the fact your salary will rise each year.
And with regard children - we went onto interest only mortgage for 6 mthd whilst I was on mat leave and hence reduced income.

Ladyshopper

Are you certain your pay scales won't be frozen? I am a police officer, and they are currently looking at freezing everyone on the payscales they are currently on for 2 years. Fingers crossed it won't effect me, as I reach my 10 years and the top of the scale in August, and they are considering starting this from September. However, officers with less service will be affected, for example, if you had 5 years service, you would stay on that point for 2 years rather than have 2 salary increments to the 7 year point.

Also we are having no cost of living increases, and there are other payments being taken away. Just because they aren't looking at doing this to other public sector workers at this moment in time doesn't mean they won't in future.

spence

Speaking as a homeowner, 3 years into my first mortgage, I would advise only getting a mortgage you can easily afford then overpaying like mad.

Worst case scenarios:-

1, Illness, A much less financial burden.

2, Having children, I don't know the stats, but from my own findings and that of my friends and family, reduced hours is the most you can expect from your wife after children. (rightly so IMHO).

3, New roof, boiler, carpets, white goods etc. These ONE OFF EVENTS seem to tip up twice a year for me!

4, New car/cars, massive expense which you will have to do 4 times over 25 years probably.

Best case scenario:-

1, Massive promotions to you both, no unforseen hardship and you plot a smooth passage through stormy waters. Massivley overpay your mortgage and reassess in 5/10/15 years from a position of strength.

This is not just my opinion but also the way I'm playing it. No sleepless nights so far even after a redundancy scare, massive childcare costs and B&Q bills that seem obscene.

Good luck my friend with whatever choices you make, it seems like you have your head screwed on.