My SoA

CKhalvashi

piglet39 wrote: »

OMG here goes.... Quote on another thread from the OP:

"At the same time, if my earnings were to halve (which they probably will next year as I’m not standing for re-election on one council) then we’d severely struggle, and this is without having a mortgage/any debt to worry about.

OP hasn’t come for judgement, but to get genuine help."

I don't personally find it insensitive. Yeah sure I'd love to have that income but surely whatever your income it's good to keep a handle on things isn't it....? Let's get some facts first.

CKhalvashi - got to ask - you mentioned in another post (quoted above) about your income potentially halving next year. Is this why you have posted?

If so... lot's of potential savings to be made but I'm guessing it's not that straightforward. You mention 're-election' - do you need to keep a residence in the area that you work in? You have assets - can you downsize? I think its a question of adjusting to not being able to simply shop/go out/holiday when you wish because even if your income were to halve you could still afford to remain where you are and pay for your essential living costs.



More info please!

My income is going down, and unfortunately, whilst I don’t need to live in Hertfordshire itself after next year, I need to stay in the town I’m in for another 3 years :mad:. There’s nothing around above 2 bed (I need 3 minimum, however do appreciate that I don’t need 5).

Holiday is normally around £6k/year (that’s personal holiday), which is definitely going down this year, and the mileage I do (about 1600mi/wk and the other car does about 600mi/wk, for those that are interested) is something that due to business commitments, I haven’t got a hope of getting down.

I’ve worked out that losing £46k pre-tax, I’m going to be around £1500/mth worse off, which is definitely the holiday going. We have use of a friends property in the South of Spain this summer, bringing the total (3 weeks for 4 people) down to a rather cool £1200. That’s almost 30% of what I need to save!

I’ve also spoken to Shy this morning and managed to get unlimited broadband, unlimited calls and TV (with the bits that we don’t really use) for £48/mth. I’ve wangled in much of the international calls in with this, so the total for all 3 should be going no higher than around £60/mth, with the mobiles down to £70/mth combined (also spoken to Orange).

I’ll post back after I’ve done the ‘downgrade’ trick at Tesco’s, however when doing something council-wise on the market this morning, I’ve got 4 large salmon pieces (will do 2 meals) for £16, instead of £30-ish in the supermarket for the same amount. With Sainsburys done until Weds (I didn’t go shopping this week), we have the shopping for 5 days at £146.41 + cigarettes, and that includes the half case of wine I ordered yesterday. £300-ish a month would perfect, however I do want to get it lower! I’ve also bought 2x5kg bags of pasta (85p a serving incl. sauce) and various cheap lunches, which will hopefully stop me darting into the nearest coffee shop at the smell of food on the weekly rounds.

I never thought I’d admit that I’m on a moneysaving mission, but here goes! We’re taking just over £8k each next year from the company and then dividends at the end of April. Any company director will agree that this is the cheapest way of doing things!

Thanks for the pointers I’ve had already, and lets see how much more we can do!

CK

CKhalvashi

pleasedelete wrote: »

I assume that the ops partner doesn't really work. It looks like they are paid a salary and dividend from a limited company. All above board and legal but as a result if one salary goes so does the other. The op is basically using their partners tax allowance to pay less tax themselves.

Each person has a personal tax allowance plus £35k odd in dividends tax free (company pays tax not individual). So in reality partner has no independent income and op is a higher earner. This makes them very vulnerable if they lose a contract or work.

We both work full-time, and own 2 separate businesses, however one thing that’s important for me to remember is that I have a lot of additional responsibilities that OH doesn’t. Most of our work is on 3-6 month contracts whilst most of her work can come/go by the night, and there are normally huge bills at the end of each month for each of us, which is why I’m planning this now, rather than when I need to.

One thing I’ve thought about doing is leaving the dividend in instant-access, then drawing out as/when we need to, however this is really going against the point I want to make of ‘I need to cut down sooner rather than later’

I’ve also looked into getting rid of the SC (it’s ’52’ plate and now the girls are growing up, doesn’t really get used as it costs a fortune to run), and we’re looking around £8000 for it. I’m going to keep it until October (to sell with new MoT/insurance runs out in November, and to use over the summer as the roof goes down)

I’ve registered on Rightmove to see what property’s coming up, as I think I’ve posted before, I’d have no problem shifting the house due to its location.

CK

heartbreak_star

Stopping smoking will help too

Good luck though!

HBS x

talana

...I’m going to be around £1500/mth worse off....

Holiday [STRIKE]500[/STRIKE] 100
Entertainment [STRIKE]400[/STRIKE] 200
Presents [STRIKE]200[/STRIKE] 50
Clothing [STRIKE]300[/STRIKE] 100
Groceries [STRIKE]600[/STRIKE] 300
Phones/broadband [STRIKE]350[/STRIKE](ish) 100

Total saving £1500.
And that's easy, modest, pretty much instant saving that can be done at a stroke. Plenty more could be had on top of that if necessary.

Tixy

How much are you expecting your income to reduce to?
At the moment from your statement of affairs you appear to be earning after tax £57,540 and £70k dividends so £127,540 (assuming the £70k divis are after tax).
And you appear to be able to live your current lifestyle on £54,288 and so save £73252.

Is your income going to reduce by more than this amount? If its only going to reduce by £1500 a month in total then you could continue to live the same lifestyle as you have in your SoA but just that your savings would only be £55,252 a year.

I think you are considering selling your house - but as far as I can understand from what you've written you shouldn't need to do this.

Certainly you could easily make some cutbacks. If you halve holidays, clothes and groceries and made no other changes then you could afford to live and keep your existing assets and savings on an after tax income of £45,888.

CKhalvashi

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Stopping smoking will help too

Good luck though!

HBS x

Tried that one, I’ve managed to cut down to 20-ish a day now, and want to get that down to 10!

talana wrote: »

Holiday [STRIKE]500[/STRIKE] 100
Entertainment [STRIKE]400[/STRIKE] 200
Presents [STRIKE]200[/STRIKE] 50
Clothing [STRIKE]300[/STRIKE] 100
Groceries [STRIKE]600[/STRIKE] 300
Phones/broadband [STRIKE]350[/STRIKE](ish) 100

Total saving £1500.
And that's easy, modest, pretty much instant saving that can be done at a stroke. Plenty more could be had on top of that if necessary.

She’s buying no clothes for herself, that would be the best start!

Already sorted the phones/broadband

Entertainment will be going down quite considerably, although part of that is work-related

Holiday = done

heartbreak_star

I can't say I'm not horrendously jealous of you, but you obviously work hard for your lifestyle Well done for your forward planning!

And congratulations on cutting down smoking, you're doing better than my OH *sigh*

HBS x

rising_from_the_ashes

heartbreak_star wrote: »

I can't say I'm not horrendously jealous of you, but you obviously work hard for your lifestyle Well done for your forward planning!

Actually, I can say hand on heart I'm not ..... I used to commute 750 miles / week and that was bad enough - 1600 miles / week in a car would be my idea of a living nightmare.

I'm afraid I value my work / life balance much more these days and, there's no denying that while it would be nice to earn a bit more, I wouldn't give that up for any sum of money and would rather be skint than better off but with little free time.

CK If you can manage to reduce things gradually over the next few months (and I can see you're already starting to make progress with this) then it will make things a lot easier should your salary then reduce in a few months time.

CKhalvashi

heartbreak_star wrote: »

I can't say I'm not horrendously jealous of you, but you obviously work hard for your lifestyle Well done for your forward planning!

And congratulations on cutting down smoking, you're doing better than my OH *sigh*

HBS x

The reason I’m here now is that I know forward planning is going to be essential. I’m shedding some responsibilities next year to try and cut 20h/week, and hopefully more over the next few years.

I do work hard for the lifestyle I have, and one thing is certain, having been in serious debt before now, that it’s going to be essential not to happen again.

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Actually, I can say hand on heart I'm not ..... I used to commute 750 miles / week and that was bad enough - 1600 miles / week in a car would be my idea of a living nightmare.

I'm afraid I value my work / life balance much more these days and, there's no denying that while it would be nice to earn a bit more, I wouldn't give that up for any sum of money and would rather be skint than better off but with little free time.

CK If you can manage to reduce things gradually over the next few months (and I can see you're already starting to make progress with this) then it will make things a lot easier should your salary then reduce in a few months time.

At 29, I’m starting to value time with the children (8 and 10), and as such want to cut down. Having just spent 2 hours with an MP and 2 County Councillors, this is the sort of thing I’m talking about, more than anything else. Driving over to Hertford for 4pm meetings twice a week is really not fun!

It’s going to be a case of slowly getting used to things winding down, as stated above, I’ve had debt problems in the past (which is why I’m here now), but don’t want to give up things like the house to get my own way, even though to most, it would make perfect sense. As some would say, I’ve had it too good for too long!

I was, in myself, a bit nervous of posting an SoA on here, and as you can probably see from others posts, the reason why.

Onwards and upwards!

CK

Bravehearted_2

Those screaming that the OP is insensitive are silly.

The Op has as much right to ask for advice as those swimming in debt. His high income shouldnt invalidate his post.

When I'm harsh to posters that p155 money away and get in debt, these posters shout that DFW and you aren't allowed to judge - but OP posts and their quick to lash out.

OP do you really drive 1600 miles a week??? And are you really 29?