Countdown to retirement.... oh dear

vintagebrighton

Here it is.... I'm pretty scared about posting this tbh but I need to face up to reality. I have only 17 years till I retire and I need to put some sort of long term plan in place. I've been on this site for a while so I know what I need to do but I just don't seem to be able to do it.

I NEED FOCUS....

I've decided the first step is to assess where I am and go from there..... It's not gonna be pretty

A bit about me

Age ~ 50, Partner 53
6 kids between us, mostly non-dependent but you know how it is:rotfl:
3 marriage breakdowns between us
1 bankruptcy (mine)
1 mental breakdown (mine again)

We both work part time. Me because mentally I can't 'deal' with certain things. I'm hoping to work towards changing this. Him because he's studying for a Phd and is self funding.

Live in a 2 bed council property (that's an asset I guess)

I'll post my SOA here a bit later.

At the moment we're looking forward to a very lean retirement a very long way off. In fact, the years leading up to retirement are looking very lean too especially as OH works in benefits advice and it's cut, cut, cut ~ possibly until there's nothing left to advise on.

Time to make alternative plans......

vintagebrighton

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 360
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1020
Benefits................................ 427.65
Other income............................ 87.96
Total monthly income.................... 1895.61

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 330
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 119
Electricity............................. 53
Gas..................................... 42
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24.24
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 65
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 150
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
University Fees......................... 200
Subscriptions x 2....................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1455.36


Assets
Cash.................................... 400
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 400

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
My Family......................10000.....60........0
His Family.....................2000......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........12000.....85........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,895.61
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,455.36
Available for debt repayments........... 440.25
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 85
Amount left after debt repayments....... 355.25

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,000
Net Assets.............................. -11,600

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Okay, that was both painful and eye opening.... We don't have over £300 left every month!

The £45 listed for TV is a package including phone, unlimited internet, tv and line rental.

Mobile phones... 2 x pay as you go. We put £15pm on each.

Child expenses... youngest son at college and as there's no funding now we give him £100pm for his books, travel etc. He also buys all his own clothes, toiletries, haircuts etc. £50pm is for partner's daughter who's also unfunded at college.

I haven't put an amount for clothes etc. Clearly we do buy them but it's if/when we have the money and we very rarely buy new.

Groceries is £300 but this includes all food shopping, household shopping, cat stuff, the window cleaner and toiletries for 2 adults.

Maybe the first step is to start writing everything down.. that £300pm must be going somewhere!

vintagebrighton

It's worse than I thought, we're meant to have £400pm left

vintagebrighton

Had a ponder

We don't have money left usually but it must be going somewhere. We've just had Christmas and not borrowed a penny so that's where it's been going the last couple of months.... also in the savings, plus we had a bit of work done on the kitchen which cost £150 just before Christmas.

Not sure how I'm going to do it but I need to up my income. Also, I'm going to post my own SOA up... me and OH don't have a joint account, we each pay certain household expenses out of our own accounts. He has his wages and I have CB, Tax Credits and my earnings.

Back in a bit

vintagebrighton

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 360
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 427.65
Other income............................ 87.96
Total monthly income.................... 875.61

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 53
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24.24
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 35
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 100
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
DD Amnesty.............................. 5
Subscriptions........................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 544.36


Assets
Cash.................................... 400
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 400

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Family ........................10000.....60........0
Total unsecured debts..........10000.....60........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 875.61
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 544.36
Available for debt repayments........... 331.25
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 60
Amount left after debt repayments....... 271.25

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,000
Net Assets.............................. -9,600

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

vintagebrighton

I've just remembered I have another couple of debts but not sure how much for. One's for NI contributions and one's for HMRC ~ a penalty for filing my return late. I've appealed against the amount of this one so not sure what's happening with it. Need to chase it up methinks!

Hope there's no more.......

kittiej

Hi vb

I def think you need to start a spending diary and record everything, absolutely everything.

love your sig btw

vintagebrighton

kittiej wrote: »

Hi vb

I def think you need to start a spending diary and record everything, absolutely everything.

love your sig btw

Yep, you're right..........tis the only way

Have spent a couple of days sorting financial stuff (as well as finishing the Christmas goodies which isn't good for my weight loss challenge) and this is the result ~

Our financial month is 20th to 19th as OH gets paid on the 20th. I get money every week... he pays big bills I pay little (lots of little) bills.

Worked out I need to pay out £724.12 by the 20th but only have £660 coming in........

I want these payments made.. it's mostly things I've left and spent the money on Christmas etc so I'm not gonna leave them to carry over. Once they're paid then I can start budgeting from 20th January and getting some savings.

It's gonna be tight but this is my challenge ~ make an extra £60 in the next 3 weeks to pay everything that needs paying and keep a tight budget to make sure my £660 income lasts .... I can do this by

1) spending diary
2) cash in coins that we've accumulated
3) ebay/gumtree to sell anything I don't need

Any extra money I make over the £60 (that's being optimistic) can go in the savings pot.

McKneff

Are you sure you really need to pay NI contributions.

You only need 30 years contributions to get a full state pension.

McKneff

I'll never understand this 'you pay that out of yours and ill pay this out of mine' in couples with families and households.

Weve been married 44 years and every thing goes into the pot, no matter who earns what and everything goes out of the pot. Anything left over is saved for holidays, car, house repairs etc. We have never had an argument over money in all that time.

What happens if you have no money at the end of every month and the other half is out clubbing with what he has left over at the end of the month. Im not just talking about 1 month, I mean every month.

vintagebrighton

McKneff wrote: »

I'll never understand this 'you pay that out of yours and ill pay this out of mine' in couples with families and households.

Weve been married 44 years and every thing goes into the pot, no matter who earns what and everything goes out of the pot. Anything left over is saved for holidays, car, house repairs etc. We have never had an argument over money in all that time.

What happens if you have no money at the end of every month and the other half is out clubbing with what he has left over at the end of the month. Im not just talking about 1 month, I mean every month.

Well, we've both come to our relationship with a lot of baggage including my bankruptcy so no joint account on purpose! We do a joint budget of all the household income and then see who can pay what. Of course, if either of us is short then the other gladly helps.

Sounds as though your relationship is solid with none of those pesky control issues... I only wish my past relationships had been like that but alas not............. people are people and some of them are screwed up whilst others are just a bit wonky. Either way, it's always good to be able to manage things on your own. I've been down the 'everything tied up together' road and it isn't nice when the road comes to an end