Are you financially comfortable?

enthusiasticsaver

Yes we are comfortable but approaching retirement with no mortgage or debts. Comfortable means to us we can afford a decent holiday every year with a few short breaks. We like enough to do things to the house, replace furniture/appliances, go out for meals, change the car and be able to treat our family. At the moment we have around £3k disposable income per month after utilities. This will go down when my OH retires at the end of this year to around £2k but we have savings and my OH will get a lump sum from his pension. Still fairly comfortable.

HappyMJ

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Yes we are comfortable but approaching retirement with no mortgage or debts. Comfortable means to us we can afford a decent holiday every year with a few short breaks. We like enough to do things to the house, replace furniture/appliances, go out for meals, change the car and be able to treat our family. At the moment we have around £3k disposable income per month after utilities. This will go down when my OH retires at the end of this year to around £2k but we have savings and my OH will get a lump sum from his pension. Still fairly comfortable.

I wouldn't have a clue what to do with £3,000 per month. That's what I used to earn many years ago. I couldn't spend it. I spent about £1,300 per month and saved the rest. I just cannot spend much more than about £150 per person per week no matter how hard I try. I have always tried to save on everything I buy even when I earn enough money so I don't need to spend additional time trying to find a better deal....I will still shop around and use Quidco/Topcashback/Checkoutsmart.

Maybe the difference is the car. I don't want to own a car ever again. I have a driving licence and will rent one whenever I "need" one for £20/day plus fuel but that is very rare. I haven't needed one for over a year at which time we hired a transit van for the day to move house.

onlyroz

We are comfortable, particularly now the kids are school age. We can normally afford one UK holiday and one overseas holiday each year, and we run two cars. When the kids were in nursery, however, we were spending more on childcare than on the mortgage. I have a few debts but once they're paid off we're hoping that hubby can take early retirement.

Jagraf

Having spent years in a huge amount of debt (eye watering) and now debt free I would say I feel financially relieved but not yet comfortable. Comfortable to me means that whatever our future circumstances, we wouldn't have to worry about money (eg savings, regular pension, insurances, mortgage free etc).

We have our own business plus an employed income and a relatively high amount of 'disposable' income the majority of which is being saved and invested.

We stick to a comfortable food and entertainment budget, but I have no need for expensive stuff unless it's something we really enjoy (buy mostly secondhand clothes, cars etc).

FBaby

I wouldn't have a clue what to do with £3,000 per month

It depends what you have included before you define your disposable income. Some people will only count their mortgage, CT and utilities, others will include absolutely everything they pay regularly. The difference is often in a few £1,000s if you have children.

GwylimT

Fairly, we don't have a mortgage or rent, but my wifes medical bills are at least £800 a month, which is really the equivalent of paying a mortgage.

We don't holiday much, purely as its hard to with our son, we rarely eat out due to allergies and the poor quality of food in restaurants.

We have a nice home, two nice fairly new cars, we have savings we add to each month and no debt.

Spendless

We were but then I lost my job and haven't found another. My wages were paying for the 'extras' but 5 months on, many of these extras have now become necessities. Fortunately we have some savings and have made the decision that this week, we dip into it to buy the things we're struggling with.

Happier_Me

I would say we are comfortable by most peoples standards. We have a joint household income of around £80k a year and we contribute fairly evenly to this. All of my net salary (plus a bit) pays down our mortgage/debts and this will become truly disposable income early 2019 when we become completely debt free, although much of this will be saved as we aim for financial independence.

We are early forties with two children. Kids are by far the most expensive but rewarding additions to a household, we still pay around £250 a month in childcare (they are now 11 and 8), but at one point we were paying £800 a month for three day week child care. Include the loss of pay for working part time and the cost is eye watering in those early years.

I don't think we will feel truly comfortable until we can live on one income though.

Rosemary7391

I'm single. On the face of it I'm pretty comfortable; month to month I have money left over although I don't have expensive hobbies. I can afford the train fare to visit my friends which is what really matters to me. Usually I save about £300 and probably spend another £200-300 on 'stuff' (including food), so £600 disposable income? Savings are split between long term (put away just in case, repairs) and shorter term (holidays, replacing mobile/laptop when they've had it etc). However I'm very aware that in slightly less than 2 years time I'll have no income, and may have several months before I can look for a job, and it doesn't look so good then. I'm also concerned about major repair bills for the block of flats I live in - I'd have to get a loan and that'd likely be all the money I currently save each month going in repayments, probably for longer than 2 years... So I'm comfortable now but not enough to make me not worry about the future!

I don't know how I'd cope doing a PhD in a more expensive part of the country! Same money, doesn't go as far. And still the prospect of having to live with no income at the end for a while.

pollypenny

We are now, but it was difficult in the past. In fact, it was only when second child finished uni that we weren't juggling money around.

We did both pay AVCs to boost our pensions and that's paying off now that we are retired. Of course, in hindsight, we discovered that AVCs were the wrong option an we should have bought extra years.

As long as we have no debt and can fly to the USA twice a year to see the gorgeous boys, we're happy.