Are you financially comfortable?

Jagraf

Mr_Costcutter wrote: »

There are many threads on these boards where members talk about their financial situation. If they wish to reveal such information - that's up to them. Personally, I would not choose to do so - unless seeking help. To me it is far more interesting to look at the journey someone has made to arrive at a position of being 'comfortable' or 'wealthy' - rather than just hearing that they are.

That's a good point - we all have stories as to why we are in the positions we are in.

marco_79

I have to say we are comfartable because of the wage I earn but it often doesn't feel like it.

I earn roughly £100k per year and my wife hasn't worked since our second child was born 6 years ago. We are both 37 with kids 12 & 6.

Our mortgage is 20% of our take home pay. We have zero debt other than the mortgage as we pay of our credit cards off every month. We have reduced the term on our mortage by 3 years when we remortgaged a couple of years ago so overpaying. We have around £40k credit available on our cards should we need it. We pay around £400 into investments every month which generate income as well as building a pot which isn't accessible due to tax reasons. I also have an inheritance coming of around £30-40k (grandparent nearly 90 and not in the best of health). I have been with the same employer for years so would get around £100-£150k redundancy should the worst happen.

We have a large house, two fairly new cars and holiday in Florida every year. We also eat out fairly regularly. We save around £500-1000 a month but that often goes to paying of the months credit card bill and holidays which means our actual savings are zero most of the time. We live month to month and spend what we have available, we enjoy life and the kids are having a childhood that I could only have dreamed about.

I was brought up in a very poor household, even though my grandparents had money and often treated us my parents didn't and there were severe alcohol problems and abuse in the family home.

I sometimes feel that we should just continue the way we are and live life to the max. We have our retirement sorted, inheritance coming and my wife wants to go back to work at some point.

Other times I think we should be saving/investing more and living a less extravagant life style but we could also get wiped out in a car crash tomorrow so whats the point.