Still crazy after all these years

Causeascene

Some would be really pleased to be in my shoes now, but after being so long in so much debt, things are getting easier now and I don't know how to move forward.

I'm in my forties. Until I was thirty my life was pretty usual - school, college, job, marriage, mortgage, child etc. I divorced in my thirties with some debt, and then the debt spiralled out of control, so for the last ten years I have lived on a knife edge. I met my now husband (bringing all that debt with me) and that relationship is solid. My daughter is a lovely teen and I would say I've done a good job there, she is secure and rounded and happy.

A while ago we were lucky enough to be given a little bit of inheritance, which started the ball rolling to reduce our debt. Since then Lady Luck has been on our side and we have worked hard to reduce the debt further and now we are nearly clear. We have no assets, no house (or mortgage), no pensions, no life insurance. We own two old cars outright which have been great to us all the way through.

With continued luck we can make a comfortable life for ourselves, without paying off extortionate interest etc we have enough coming in each month to be comfortable, with enough left over to start doing sensible things like pensions etc.

However, I feel in a state of shock. I don't know what to do first and i feel nervous when i get up and am just treading water. I have never been lazy, but I just don't seem to be able to sort things out. I can't make choices over really small things like what to cook for dinner. I've started making lists each day about what to achieve, but I don't really put much on it.

I'm so excited about what the future holds, but nervous it will all go wrong. I feel privileged to now be in a positive position, but I seem to have lost loads of life skills!

Any practical solutions?

moohound

Life insurance is not expensive, and might be worth thinking about with you having a dependant child.

You can have a look at prices on the comparison sites, go compare, money supermarket etc. and places like cavendish online

Some kind of provision for retirement needs addressing as well, there are considerable tax benefits in saving for a pension, have a look on the pensions board.

I think is you have spent a long time focusing on paying down debts its difficult to think of anything else, and taking the next step in to financial security can be hard, I'm sure you have learned a lot during your road to debt freedom and you can use those skills to help yourself go forward.