My SOA for all to see!!!

Smoggie69

Having looked at and used these forums before I have never taken the time to do an SOA. It is amazing how eye opening it is. I downloaded the last 12 months bank statements and trawled through to determine where my money has been going on average each month. The mortgage payment includes a current overpayment. The minimum payment is £595 a month. I think the main areas to focus on are Groceries (although this includes nappies, etc. for our son), Clothing, Entertainment and, as I've found out, the money we withdraw from cash machines. Any advice is appreciated.

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2015
Partners monthly income after tax....... 620
Benefits................................ 87.97
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2722.97

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 900
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 75.20
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 104
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36.78
Telephone (land line)................... 15.45
Mobile phone............................ 60.26
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 57.5
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 60
Diesel................................... 175
Road tax................................ 25.83
Car Insurance........................... 79.66
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 19.4
Buildings insurance..................... 19.53
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 45
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Cash Machines!!!........................ 100
Home Furniture & DIY.................... 30
Child Trust Fund........................ 10
Internet Security....................... 4.58
IStructE Membership Fees................ 11.42
Total monthly expenses.................. 2419.23

Assets
Cash.................................... 750
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Cars.................................... 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 126750

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 121020...(900)......3.99
Bed............................554.4....(25.2).....0
Sofa...........................850......(50).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 122424.4..-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................5164......125.......7.8 (standard variable)
Halifax Credit Card............9500......95........6.95 (fixed for the life of the balance)
Overdraft......................4800......0.........£20 per month
Total unsecured debts..........19464.....220.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,722.97
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,419.23
Available for debt repayments........... 303.74
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 220
Amount left after debt repayments....... 83.74

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 126,750
Total HP & Secured debt................. -122,424.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,464
Net Assets.............................. -15,138.4

Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/font]

R_P_W

Why are you overpaying your mortgage at 3.99% when you have loans and overdraft costing you nearly twice as much ?!

MEM62

There are those that will be far more skilled at looking at this than me but there are a couple of things that stick out right away;

1) £60 for a mobile phone. That's way too high. A sim-only deal can be had from around £11 a month.

2) Your car insurance is almost £1000 a year. Unless one of you has a really bad driving history this also seem too high. Look at this at renewal time.

3) You are making £305 overpayments on your mortgage when you have unsecured debt of almost £20K which I expect is at much higher interest rates. Cancel your overpayments and use this money to start clearing your unsecured debt targeting the highest interest rate debt first.

Good luck with getting it sorted.

Trajal

Smoggie69 wrote: »

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2 Are these both essential? If not could be worth cutting one.

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2015
Partners monthly income after tax....... 620
Benefits................................ 87.97
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2722.97

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 900 As has been mentioned, this overpayment is a false economy. Stop it and drop it down to where it should be normally for now. You'll be able to overpay much more once you have sorted the rest of your debts out.
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 75.20
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 104
Electricity............................. 25 Double check this as it feels very low given your also low gas payment below - great if it's true but worth making sure.
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36.78
Telephone (land line)................... 15.45
Mobile phone............................ 60.26 Can you ask to downgrade this? Alternatively don't get the 'free' upgrade they offer you next time around, ask for a SimOnly deal and keep the existing handset.
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 57.5 This is very high, you can cut this down I'm certain - look into it.
Internet Services....................... 7.5 With your landline and expensive tv package I'm sure you can get a '3 in 1' deal to save here.
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 Feels high. I manage for 2 people on £150 a month and we do eat pretty well. Consider dropping a brand and batch cooking to save here.
Clothing................................ 60 Would suggest halving this at early stages but others may view it differently.
Diesel................................... 175
Road tax................................ 25.83
Car Insurance........................... 79.66 For two vehicles? That's not very cheap... Sure it's correct?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 19.4
Buildings insurance..................... 19.53
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 45 This seems like a lot - £300 a year if you're on a budget could be cut down a fair bit. People tend not to even notice, let alone mind.
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Cash Machines!!!........................ 100 Spending diary for this - find out where it is going and fast. I did and discovered I was burning loads on taxis and food out. Cutting back those and avoiding starbucks etc saved me hundreds a month.
Home Furniture & DIY.................... 30 Every month? Not sure what the justification here is unless you have a fixer upper property?
Child Trust Fund........................ 10
Internet Security....................... 4.58 Use free tools such as those included with Windows and several of the free anti-adware and anti-virus software. Also learn how to configure your router and parental controls on windows. This isn't much but it's basically not necessary.
IStructE Membership Fees................ 11.42 Don't know what this is.
Total monthly expenses.................. 2419.23

Assets
Cash.................................... 750 Presumably your emergency fund? If so, bring it up to 1500 then cap it.
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Cars.................................... 6000 As I mentioned earlier, examine if both are essential.
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 126750

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 121020...(900)......3.99
Bed............................554.4....(25.2).....0
Sofa...........................850......(50).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 122424.4..-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................5164......125.......7.8 (standard variable) <--- Pay this first as highest interest. Your mortgage overpayment will clear this fast if you add it to the Monthly.
Halifax Credit Card............9500......95........6.95 (fixed for the life of the balance) <----then look at paying this off.
Overdraft......................4800......0.........£20 per month <---and finally this (before you go back to overpaying the mortgage and/or saving)
Total unsecured debts..........19464.....220.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,722.97
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,419.23
Available for debt repayments........... 303.74
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 220
Amount left after debt repayments....... 83.74

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 126,750
Total HP & Secured debt................. -122,424.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,464
Net Assets.............................. -15,138.4

Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/font]

My comments above. I'm quite draconian in my spending, no one ever got rich by spending money. Remember, drive down costs, pay off smart and don't re-use credit facilities once you have repaid them, instead save and dip into funds when needed rather than use other people's expensive to borrow money.

Good luck, you're not in bad shape at all

Smoggie69

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

• The main reason for overpaying the mortgage is that we want to sell the house we're in at the minute. Whether we buy again or rent is still to be decided.
• Both carsare essential as we work in different directions from home.
• Gas & Electricity:I’m switching to the EDF Blue Price Promise and using my readings for the last12 months I came out at £73 per month. I was on a Scottish Power tariff whichends today, and was only £65 per month.
• Mobilephones: This is for 2 contracts, so I can look at these once they end.
• Satellite/CableTV/ Internet Services: My line rental is with BT, although I do have the SkyTalk free overlay. I also have TV and internet with Sky. I got the HD Pack lastyear, although I did get £101 cashback which offset the cost of it.
• Groceries, etc.: Our groceries include for everything such as nappies, baby wipes and kidsmeals. I like the idea of batch cooking, as reheating something at work is alot less hassle than making sandwiches every morning.
• Clothing: Iwouldn’t mind going a few months without buying any. We tend to get gift cards fromour parents for Christmas and birthdays, so as long as the companies aren’tstruggling this could be spread over the year.
• CarInsurance: This is right. My insurance is currently £38.41, and my wife’s is£33. Mine's up for renewal at the start of June, so I'll be comparing them all again. Breakdown cover (which the website says to include) is £99 for the year(£8.25 per month). This was frozen at the introductory price from last year.
• Presents(birthday, Christmas, etc.): This was a fairly conservative estimation. I thinkwe need to cut down on this. Like Trajal said, “no one ever got rich by spending money.”
• CashMachines: It will be interesting to find out where it is going.
• HomeFurniture & DIY: I took this figure from the last year, although lookingback we did buy a new bed for our son, so this will most likely reduce thisyear.
• IStructEMembership Fees: Part of the job. I already get one paid at work, but I’menquiring about getting a second one paid as well.

katsu

Some quick thoughts, hope they help...

Breakdown cover is too dear at £99 per year. Look at Autoaid which costs around £40 for both of you for the year, or Autonational which is around £60-70. Martin's motoring tab explains more about both, and other options.

How does overpaying help you sell? Are you in negative equity?

Check if you can claim the second memb fees back from HMRC - they have lists on their website of subscriptions you can off-set for tax purposes.

Pressies - make gifts and use charity shops and sales. Seriously. I can do over 20 people for under £200 (that is some people having new condition books for about 50p and more expensive gifts for parents, for example).

Definitely go SIM only - why pay more? £10ish can run a smartphone on giffgaff.

Cancel Sky TV and use online free TV catchup to help you clear the debts faster.

topsy73

For your car insurance look at something like admiral. They do a multicar policy. For my husband (12 plate skoda) and mine (52 plate Peugeot) it cost approx 390....