Tired of playing catchup!

SpekySquarehead

You sound incredibly organised and sensible about it all. You're actually not too dissimilar to myself so I am keen to hear how you get on with it all.

Keep us posted.

denialanderror

Ok, so following on from where I am, now I guess I should get onto straightening out where I am trying to be...


One thing I will mention as I think it is relevant since people say "don't worry you'll meet someone and that's when you'll really start feeling the benefit of earning a high wage" - I have been told by a relevant professional that I'm almost certainly on the Autism spectrum and whilst I'm luckily able to generally function normally, it is this that is severely limiting my ability to form another long term romantic relationship along with causing a number of other issues.

For this reason, although I do still hold out hope and make a point of keeping myself in shape, looking after my appearance and dating, I'm working off the assumption that I'll be going it alone for the foreseeable.


With that in mind, I have 5 main financial concerns...
(I know I'm in a priveledged position in many ways, but I think to truly enjoy those priveledges I do need to address these concerns)…

1. I am 31 and have no savings. All of my financial commitments rest on one income which could be turned off by factors outside of my control at any minute.

This is the one that is currently giving me the most sleepless nights and is the main source of motiviation to get rid of that £6.5k loan.

Paying this off and saving 6 months salary are definitely achievable in the next decade but knowing I've got that sort of length of time feeling that deep sense of dread every time I hear the word "redundancy" or make a mistake at work is disheartening although I know not unusual.


2. My only asset other than the (heavily leveraged) flat is a 10 year old car which will need replacing at some point which will either put me back to 0 savings or mean taking on new debt (detail to follow)…


3. Given the lack of savings, options for buying were very limited so I ended up picking a leasehold new build, at the peak of the market and using a scheme to buy it. This and moving up the ladder is a growing area of concern in the mid term (again, detail to follow)…


4. In addition to my lack of property assets or cash, I also have concerns about my pension savings. I didn't start till I could afford to which was at age 26 and am concerned there won't be enough built up to retire comfortably because I'll be mortgaged to pushing 60.


5. Thinking about things from the perspective of money, I'm concerned that despite earning what as far as I know is a decent salary, the best I'll be able to achieve through a lifetime of work is a 2 bed terraced house, a second hand car and a modest pension. Perhaps it's true that success skips a generation or perhaps my aspirations simply exceeded my capability.


Thanks to anyone that is reading.
I'm not expecting anyone to really, I think sometimes it just helps me get my head straight or put things in perspective typing things out and I wouldn't bother doing that if I didn't have somewhere to put them.

denialanderror

SpekySquarehead wrote: »

You sound incredibly organised and sensible about it all. You're actually not too dissimilar to myself so I am keen to hear how you get on with it all.

Keep us posted.

Thank you Speky - I had a quick read through your diary - yes I can definitely see some similarities - I think we are in a similar situation where the day to day is ok but the long term prospects are very worrying!, I've subscribed (I think) and will follow!