My first SOA - Any ideas/advice please

National_Debtline

Hello there.

I think the statement is a very good one. The housekeeping figure isn't unrealistic for a couple - though I'm sure with some savvy thinking you'll be able to reduce it down. The key, however, is to try and be as realistic as possible - as it gives you a far greater shot at being able to adhere to the figures from month-to-month.

Oh, and absolutely consider popping something in for entertainment.

Best wishes, and hope you have a fab wedding!

David @ NDL.

toby_puppy

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hello there.

I think the statement is a very good one. The housekeeping figure isn't unrealistic for a couple - though I'm sure with some savvy thinking you'll be able to reduce it down. The key, however, is to try and be as realistic as possible - as it gives you a far greater shot at being able to adhere to the figures from month-to-month.

Oh, and absolutely consider popping something in for entertainment.

Best wishes, and hope you have a fab wedding!

David @ NDL.

Thank you David, yes I agree about the entertainment bit - also probably as Alex pointed out, maybe the car maintenance should increase a bit just in case.

I'm not sure if anyone knows if you have one ISA and find a better rate somewhere else if you can move it to them. I understand you can't have more than one ISA per tax year and I have one with the Halifax.

I'm thinking of saving the surplus £340 per month (well say £250 after the entertainment and car maint adjustments into an ISA then in 2018 if the mortgage rate is higher than 2.84 %, maybe use some of what I have put away to make overpayments on the mortgage.

Just off to check my ISA rate.

National_Debtline

I'm not trained in investments, so cannot offer any advice on the ISAs, sadly. One thing I will mention, though, is that the return on an investment may be significanty less than the amount of interest you pay on a loan. If this is the case you *may* wish to consider reducing the loan rather than putting surplus money into savings. It's an option!

David.

mr_shah

There has been alot of buzz around shipping container investments, and I am seriously looking into investing my money in this.

Has anyone had any experience in this particular asset investment and can anyone offer any advice on this?

Thanks

toby_puppy

I just did use the overpayment mortgage calculator on here, if I paid an extra £175 per month to the mortgage it would be paid off almost 6 years quicker, that means we'd be mortgage free in 10 years instead of 16.

Might take that route and perhaps divert any spare cash into the ISA, or look at the maximum I could pay off the mortgage per month.

pennypusher

My recommendations to you would be to put some money into your pension or maybe buy to let or something you can't get easy access to. You need to think of putting money aside for when you retire. You will not be able to survive on your old age pension. If you take out an ISA there is every possibility you will spend the money!

Perhaps you could ask for advice on the pensions board?

asparagus1968

mr_shah wrote: »

There has been alot of buzz around shipping container investments, and I am seriously looking into investing my money in this.

Has anyone had any experience in this particular asset investment and can anyone offer any advice on this?

Thanks

you may be bettere starting your own thread with this question

Lucy_Lockett

Toby Puppy

From looking at your outgoings you lead a safe, fairly risk-free existence - I am not criticising you. You spend lots of small amounts and I think you don't mind the £10 a month here and there. My approach was to spend nothing that was not obligatory or required for existence so from your list, if I were truly trying to acquire more wealth I would definitely not pay:
Pet insurance 23
Contents insurance 13
Life insurance 17
Presents 50
Pet stuff 25

That's £128 pm which is over £15,000 over 10 years.

But from your name you are probably a pet lover and I have horrified you, so apologies in advance!

Your mortgage is low and I would not pay it off but only if I were putting the money to a useful savings purpose. You are not, and therefore I think in your case you should pay it off and realistically accept that you are not going to really have the ability to save until you don't have a mortgage.

[Deleted User]

toby_puppy wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1595
Partners monthly income after tax....... 480
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 9
Total monthly income.................... 2084

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 335
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 105 - Is this over 10 or 12 months? If over 10, going to 12 months would reduce it to £87-50pm.
Electricity............................. 31
Gas..................................... 31
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 27 - This seems high. Check comparison sites. Indeed, with a mobile, do you really need a land line?
Mobile phone............................ 11
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 - Go Freeview/Freesat and save £360pa.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 110 - With such a low mileage, do you really need 2 cars?
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 19
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 23
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 23
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 17
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 - £600pa on presents, with no children in the home?
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Wedding ................................ 110
Pet Food Grooming Vets.................. 25
Argos finishes March 2014............... 60
MBNA finishes July 2014................. 50
Magazine Subscription................... 1.25
My Loan (reduces to £60 May 2014)....... 100
Battersea Charity....................... 2
Total monthly expenses.................. 1743.25


Assets
Cash.................................... 3200
House value (Gross)..................... 105000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 1000
Total Assets............................ 109700


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 51429.7..(335)......2.84
Total secured & HP debts...... 51429.7...-.........-

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


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,084
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,743.25
Available for debt repayments........... 340.75
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 340.75

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 109,700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -51,429.7
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 58,270.3

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

My comments in red.

PippiShortsock

I just wanted to throw a different opinion into the mix as several people have suggested you overpay on the mortgage. I would put that on the back burner for the time being. You’re about to endow your worldly goods on somebody who you say is not in a position to save, which suggests he may be in debt. His debts will be your debts (effectively if not legally) and so, as a couple, I would suggest these should be a priority before overpaying your relatively low-interest mortgage. Even if it’s not yet the right time for you to pool your finances, you’ll be in a better position with a wedding coming up and with any future emergencies, such as redundancy or sickness, if you hold some cash savings rather than own a larger percentage of your house. Once your partner is fully contributing financially to your life together and you have at least six months salary saved in cash, you will be able to look at further options for your money.

You say you’d rather save into an ISA than a pension as it’s more flexible. I can understand that, but don’t forget that pension contributions are tax-free and employers often match their employees’ contributions. I’d be pushing my employer to sort out a pension asap if I were you.