Do I need a loan?

Pixie5740

It looks pretty good. Entertainment is a bit high but life is for living. I don't think it works out any cheaper to pay for your tv licence upfront. In fact I've just checked and paying it in one go doesn't save you any money.

As you can see though once you've budgeted for everything you're only left with a £233.59 surplus. If you take out a large loan and/or car finance you might find yourself with more going out that you've got going in although things would get better when your wife (congratulations) starts working but you might be paying the living costs of two whilst she gets on her feet.

Not to mention that as a new home owner you still have the joy of unearthing a previous owners botched DIY (unless you've bought a new build) which you'll need money to sort or the boiler might pack in.

One of the directors at work recently reversed his brand new Jaguar into a tree and now there is an almighty dent in his car which is going to cost a pretty penny to put right. (We don't know how he managed it as his car has parking sensors and a reverse parking camera.) If he was driving an old Fiat then he probably wouldn't care about the great big dent in his car. As you say, it's one of the joys of driving a banger.

enthusiasticsaver

If you pay out £350 per month for train travel to work why do you need a car? I personally would not buy an old banger but equally in your current financial position - ie buying a flat etc etc I would not be splashing out thousands on a new car either unless you are going to be using that to get to work and saving the £350 per month train fare.

Rossim1985

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

If you pay out £350 per month for train travel to work why do you need a car? I personally would not buy an old banger but equally in your current financial position - ie buying a flat etc etc I would not be splashing out thousands on a new car either unless you are going to be using that to get to work and saving the £350 per month train fare.

Fair question! Currently I use the car to drive to the station each day but once at the new place I am within walking distance of the station. :j

However I am also going to be some 35 minutes drive away from my parents, and two friends who live near them. To see those two friends by train would require me heading into London, only to then head back out again. It would take 1 hour and 20 mins instead (assuming no engineering works). Aside from that I want a car for trips to places like IKEA and other shopping as well as just more generally for getting about, especially when my partner arrives.

As she has never lived in the UK before so we will be driving to lots of different places around the UK at weekends. She has two friends here already - one in Kent the other in Surrey, and especially for the Kent one, travelling my car is cheaper and easier / faster.

Plus I've been driving for some 10 years now, I just don't want to not have a car! I don't care what the car is, but once you've had the freedom one brings, unless you live in somewhere like London where the public transport network is amazing, it's just not as convenient.

Even say 2 years down the line when we're both working full time and probably a good bit better off, I can't see myself ever being someone who spends more than say £5k on a car, so I don't think I would ever do the lease / HP route. I just don't get the appeal of buying a new but tedious grey diesel German Eurobox for £350 a month. We are very lucky in the UK in having some of the cheapest used car prices in the world and if you don't do serious mileage (like me) you'd be amazed what you can get for not a lot of money if you are prepared to swallow higher fuel costs from larger, petrol engined cars.

By an amazing coincidence my partner has the same Fiat Punto model (even same year 2002) as mine in Egypt. She bought it only 3 years ago for an eye watering £4,000 GBP and it's a complete heap and has clearly had crash damage in the past. My car even 3 years ago was probably worth at the very most £800 to £1,000 and it was (well until now) in very good condition.

Sorry I am deviating from the point of the thread here, I need to make my posts shorter!!

DCFC79

michealjohn wrote: »

very nice suggesstion ..thanx for this precious information....

Which information was precious ?

You know this is a UK forum ?

Tiddlywinks

DCFC79 wrote: »

Which information was precious ?

You know this is a UK forum ?

Just hit the spam button - they're obviously going to try to up their posts until they can start adding links and spamming the site.

Tiddlywinks

OP - why are you asking here?

You've obviously made up your mind to spend more than you have... someone asked if you *needed* a car... you don't seem to need one as you will be within walking distance of the train station for commuting. BUT... you want one to visit friends (even though you admit they are on a train route).

There are many other things you don't *need* like a honeymoon, trips to Ikea (try Freecycle / Freegle) etc. You could even put back the wedding for six months to get a bit more in savings under your belt.

How much in savings does your wife have?

Money_maker

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What she says. There is a world of difference between want and need. You're trying to have it all at once but you simply cant afford it.

ViolaLass

HappyMJ wrote: »

It's much cheaper to move to another EU country for a minimum of 6 months then return to the UK to get a free visa under the EU immigration regulations. It'll save you as a couple £3,800 and you can effectively have a 6 month long honeymoon which you also said you will spend up to £1,500 on. You can rent a small flat for very little money in many EU countries.

I would really avoid getting a loan if you can avoid it.

Is your new wife going to work?

Living in a cheap flat away from friends and family and working for the minimum wage for six months doesn't sound like much of a holiday to me.

Rossim1985

ViolaLass wrote: »

Living in a cheap flat away from friends and family and working for the minimum wage for six months doesn't sound like much of a holiday to me.

Totally agree!

Rossim1985

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

OP - why are you asking here?

You've obviously made up your mind to spend more than you have... someone asked if you *needed* a car... you don't seem to need one as you will be within walking distance of the train station for commuting. BUT... you want one to visit friends (even though you admit they are on a train route).

There are many other things you don't *need* like a honeymoon, trips to Ikea (try Freecycle / Freegle) etc. You could even put back the wedding for six months to get a bit more in savings under your belt.

How much in savings does your wife have?

I'm asking because I wanted some advice?

To be frank I don't like the judgemental tone of your post. I came to MSE for support / help / advice which on the whole I've been given many times on this and other threads and I'm hugely grateful for that and I try to give something back when I can by helping others on the insurance boards occasionally (as that's my job). Pixie's last post after the SOA was a good example of what I consider to be useful tips / advice.

There are however a number of posters here who just seem to like looking down on anyone who may disagree with their views, or who don't follow their "I must scrimp and save every last penny and never have any credit ever" type attitude and I think this is a real shame. Death is the only certain thing in life for all of us and you can't take your money with you, so sometimes you have to live a little!

I would add that I had not made my mind up at all that I was going to take out a loan / spend more than I have before posting this thread, and in fact following the advice received on this thread, especially the experience of filling out the SOA, has made me realise that in fact a loan is a bad idea at this time when there are several unknown figures / dates (e.g. bonus figure, completion date for flat etc).

Yes you're technically right that no one 'needs' a car unless they have to use it to get to and from work, but not having one massively increases journey times and often costs. Trains are expensive! A return trip to my parents house using the train and the bus will take the best part of 1 hour and 45 mins and cost £16.70 on a weekend, as opposed to the less than a fiver on petrol and 35 minute journey in a car. The friend of both myself and my future wife in Kent, to visit her would take no less than 2 hours 21 minutes plus a further 15 minute cab ride on top (her house is in a remote area with no nearby bus links), total cost £45.90 (assuming the cab is a tenner) :eek::eek::eek:.

I am already a member of two local Facebook freecycle groups and will use these kinds of services. As mentioned before I already have a TV stand, sideboard and a sofa. A friend donated an old clothes rail yesterday too, which will do instead of a wardrobe in the short term.

I have been through a long period of debt and come out the other side, but I can't avoid credit now for the rest of my life as a result, however I have decided not to take any loans at this time. I mean essentially I've just taken on the biggest form of credit possible by getting a mortgage!

I discussed the honeymoon with my other half last night and we agreed that it may need to fall by the wayside for a few months, however we will make a final judgement on that depending on finances nearer the time (so post Christmas), but it's likely it won't happen.

Regarding the wedding date, personally I would have loved to have had the wedding a few months later, however it was already put back 3 months from November this year and cannot be moved again - it would have meant no wedding at all! The culture in Egypt is very very different to here, and most people are engaged and married within a year or 18 months maximum of meeting each other. By the time we get married it will be 2 and a half years. In addition there is pressure on my wife due to her age, she's 30 next month and being 30 and unmarried in Egypt is practically unheard of. Yes of course I think all of that is stupid, but it's just their culture over there and relationships are about compromises after all.

My future wife has savings of about £1,000 at the moment which will be used towards the visa.

All the legal bits and bobs have now started to come through on the flat and there are already some more questions that are going back to the vendors solicitors. All of this will take some time, which is naturally beneficial to me as it means more time at home saving, so if completion doesn't happen until late November this will help a lot. When you add this delay (and associated additional saving) to the potential bonus, my plan for now is to just sit tight, see how I go and if necessary with the car, buy the cheapest banger going with a years MOT if the current one cannot be economically repaired.