Advice for a 35 year old

jimjames

Over £700 spare cash per month and none on debt repayments? In 7 months you'd have cleared your debts!

But where does your money go now? You said you have zero savings. So you're spending money on something, what is missing from the SOA?

jordanjim

I agree with the above comment. If you're earning £1250 a month and spending £514, where is the rest going? How do you not have a penny in savings?

You should forget about investing straight away until you've cleared your debts. You admit that you made mistakes in your younger years, we all have. But take responsibility for them and pay what you owe. Even if the companies haven't chased you for a while, it will affect your credit rating at the very least and might end up with a court case. On the other end of the scale, although I know ethics isn't very fashionable on this site these days, you should expect to pay for the services and goods that you've used.

Pay the people that you owe, cut out all non-essentials (e.g. satellite TV) then work on an emergency fund in case of job loss/health issues etc. Then you might want to think about looking into investing and/or career or personal development to gain better wage prospects. Short term pain for long term gain.

Dird

frenchplonka wrote: »

Paying of the debts having a fund seems sensible but I wont have anything saved either and then I wont feel like im going forward and its not like the companies are putting pressure on me to pay either

You'd be going forward in so far as you took a few steps in the wrong direction previously so you'll be turning around & heading in the right direction.

Clearing higher interest is more important than those affecting your credit score (which is probably already bad). You've got £700 left after necessities, maybe put £100 to treats, £100 to an emergency fund/savings pot & £500 to clearing your debt. My mom hadn't heard from her debt for a while, next thing you know I was clearing her council tax bill

frenchplonka

Sound advice I fritter money away n buy stupid things all the time deffo need to stop this.

My main issues are if I have cash I will spend it ...

Also not sure what I could retrain as I'm 35 done customer service all my life

Dird

You could do whatever you wanted to if you were willing to struggle through. Uni is still available to 35 year olds assuming one will accept your qualifications, would need a PT job and student loans to fund life during that time though

frenchplonka

The idea does appwal to me just no idea what I'd do etc most courses these days don't seem to lead to roles anyway.

Deffo gping to get on top of debts and save at same time does anyone have advice for somehow putting money somewhere I can't get at it.

economic

frenchplonka wrote: »

The idea does appwal to me just no idea what I'd do etc most courses these days don't seem to lead to roles anyway.

Deffo gping to get on top of debts and save at same time does anyone have advice for somehow putting money somewhere I can't get at it.

yes it is very difficult to decide what you want to do. ive been in finance for 10 years and am financially comfortable so i am able to do whatever i want really but its tough to find out what it is you want having been in a particular area for so long. i think the best thing to do is just try different things out.

frenchplonka

Dont get me wrong I dont want a flashy life style im perfectly happy taking home what I earn. If anything Id rather open my own carpet shop seeing as thats what my family have done in the trade for 30 odd years but again need money to make money i guess

ColdIron

frenchplonka wrote: »

does anyone have advice for somehow putting money somewhere I can't get at it.

Your pension?

jdw2000

What I find works for me is setting myself a weekly budget (£50 for me) and drawing that £50 out on a Sunday. That is my spending money until the following Sunday. I leave my debit card in my wallet in case of emergency, but I put it away out of sight to remind me not to use it in Tesco etc.

I started doing this fairly recently and I am astonished at how little I can live on when I put my mind to it in this way.

By always paying for things with your weekly cash allowance you really start to see the value of every penny in your wallet.