Could I be better with my money?

atush

joeyvicks wrote: »

Just tracked my last months spending; starting at 1400
200 extra to house/bills as gf hours were short of normal
400 for a weekend away next weekend
150 aside for something I can't mention!
200 credit card spends from previous month
125 for new baby bits and couple of bits for little girl
65 New trainers
Leaves me with circa 350 from last months wages

first off, GF and 2 kids (to be). Marry her. Far more tax efficient. Esp as she wont inherit ANYTHING should you die w/o a will.

400 for a WE away but you saved it from last month (not paid for after). This is good, and a kind of saving to spend. So not as bad as could be. the 150 for something you can't say, I assume os a gift for the mother of your children lol. So again, saved and then spent, not spent on credit.

New babies are expensive.

65 for trainers. Was that full price or did you buy them cheaper online?

Have you put the 350 left over in to Savings? You shoudl always put EVERY penny left over from the last month into savings on pay day. Plus a set amt you set aside on top. Having 1K is a good start, but with a house and 2 kids I'd be happier with a min of 3 months spending, 6 months is better.

Is 6% t6he max your employer will put in? If not what is the max? What age were you when you started this pension?

atush

joeyvicks wrote: »

The £25/month goes into an isa for my daughter it's not for personal savings. Is the 25/month reasonable? I worked out that by the time she's 21 it should be around 8-10k even if I remained at £25 which I won't. I also have to pay 50/month for pre-school costs as she goes there 1 morning per week.

yes, this is a good start. Esp as you will have to open another soon for baby 2. I'd look to increase it in coming years esp if you think she will go to University.

atush

kidmugsy wrote: »

Hands up everyone who didn't look askance at the weekend expense and the trainers!

These are things you might do after you've accumulated a decent emergency fund, not before.

Although at least the WE was payed before and not on credit. And giving the upcoming birth may have to be taken before?

chucknorris

kidmugsy wrote: »

Hands up everyone who didn't look askance at the weekend expense and the trainers!

These are things you might do after you've accumulated a decent emergency fund, not before.

To be honest I think £65 is quite cheap for trainers, the last pair I bought were £90 (and they were only that because I bought two pairs and got them for £90 instead of £100 each). Two pairs will last twice as long as one pair and I can use one pair for my treadmill (clean of mud) and the other pair outdoors. I need a good pair as I run about 20-30 miles a week. A cheaper pair means knee and back pain for me. They aren't expensive when you consider the amount of leisure time I am getting out of them.


I usually run in them for about 500 miles before they are relegated to trainers for walking my dog, at 6-7 mph that is 77 hours, so £1.17/hr and that doesn't include all the hours of dog walking/misc use.

atush

joeyvicks wrote: »

With my car allowance added to basic salary I'm up to £47k so I'd have to be contributing 15% (is my calc right? 7000/47000 = 15%) to get me out of the HTR. What benefit would I actually get from doing this apart from the obvious increase in pension. By my calcs it will make me £312 a month worse off than I am now?

Basically, for all pension contribs over 42K, it will cost you ONLY 60 for every 100 into your pension. Immediate gain of 40.

do you call that a Benefit?????

joeyvicks

atush wrote: »

first off, GF and 2 kids (to be). Marry her. Far more tax efficient. Esp as she wont inherit ANYTHING should you die w/o a will.

400 for a WE away but you saved it from last month (not paid for after). This is good, and a kind of saving to spend. So not as bad as could be. the 150 for something you can't say, I assume os a gift for the mother of your children lol. So again, saved and then spent, not spent on credit.

New babies are expensive.

65 for trainers. Was that full price or did you buy them cheaper online?


Have you put the 350 left over in to Savings? You shoudl always put EVERY penny left over from the last month into savings on pay day. Plus a set amt you set aside on top. Having 1K is a good start, but with a house and 2 kids I'd be happier with a min of 3 months spending, 6 months is better.

Is 6% t6he max your employer will put in? If not what is the max? What age were you when you started this pension?

Thanks for the different take on things. Generally speaking I always save before spending rather than getting things on credit!

6% is the maximum yes. I've had a work based pension for 10 years now but when I first started I was only on 13k so gradually increased in pension contributions. I have been with three different companies so I have two smaller pots and then the larger one which has been accrued in the 5 years I've been with my current employer.

I'm putting 250 of the remaining money to one side.

I need to find a decent savings account to transfer the emergency fund savings into rather than just my bank account. Any suggestions? I'd like to put the 1,250 in that I have now and then a sum each month

atush

joeyvicks wrote: »

Can you point me in the right direction form these 5% accounts. Are they easy anytime access?

Am I better off changing my childrens nisa's (they're in my name by the way as I didn't like the thought that at 18 they could pull the money out and use it for whatever they like!) to stocks and shares? Bearing mind in the eldest's there's only 1000 and it has 25 going into it each month. Can this work?

If you dont want them to have access at 18, consider an unwrapped (ie non isa) contributon into a Bare trust for them I used investment trust savings plans. As good as S&S isas in that A- tax is already paid on dividends, and B- you dont have to worry abt CGT as you can sell it in trances and at 25/50 PM you wont be over your CGT exemption.

With these, you can be in control until they are older. I did this with my boys.

atush

joeyvicks wrote: »

Thanks for the different take on things. Generally speaking I always save before spending rather than getting things on credit!

6% is the maximum yes. I've had a work based pension for 10 years now but when I first started I was only on 13k so gradually increased in pension contributions. I have been with three different companies so I have two smaller pots and then the larger one which has been accrued in the 5 years I've been with my current employer.

I'm putting 250 of the remaining money to one side.

I need to find a decent savings account to transfer the emergency fund savings into rather than just my bank account. Any suggestions? I'd like to put the 1,250 in that I have now and then a sum each month

I cant remember how old you were when you took out the pension. but if 20, then 10% was fine. But upping it to 14% overall incl tax Rel and Employers contribs fine.

Look at the current accts mentioned for emergency cash.

Next time you want something like th trainers, find them cheaper eslewhere and then buy them.

And do all the MSE things mentioned. IE do a spending diary and that includes every single pound you spend. you will easily find extra cash in your monthly spend to save.