Help Please, I think I am panicking over nothing but I need advise with money! :(

JayRitchie

Hey, well done for posting so you can nip the problem before it becomes an issue. Please post an SOA - its a really good habit to see where your money is going. Just a warning - a lot of young professionals in London rack up debts. Many pay it off fine due to pay rises but others get into horrible problems if they lose their jobs etc.

Friday1989

From the numbers alone you look to be in a good financial position so well done Thats the kind of wage most of my friends are on and we all manage to enjoy ourselves and eat. Moving to London is a bit of a culture shock and you definitely need to keep an eye on spending because it can easily add up.

My suggestion would be track your spending using an app (Yolt etc or monzo). It will show you where you are spending (ideally categorised). Then you can decide what you can do without. If you find it's nights down the pub, cut down the number of drinks or start having people over (it may be a bit geeky but board games and wine nights are awesome). If you are spending it on entertainment (cinema, theatre, comedy, gigs etc) then you're in luck because the best thing about London is the amount of free/very cheap events every night. Take a look on time out, eventbrite and Facebook. Once you've clicked attending on a few Facebook and eventbrite events they get to know what kind of things you like.

Your wage is more than enough to live well in London so try not to panic.


Edited to add: I'm a little confused. In 2015 you posted about getting a job in London a year ago and it was paying less than you are getting now. Then you said you had a lot left over after paying rent and bills. What has changed since 2015?

EssexHebridean

Those saying post an SOA are correct here - the link can be found in my signature. make sure that when you fill it in it is an honest and accurate reflection of how things really are NOT what you think we expect to see - aspirational SOA's help no-one!

Tracking spending is also a good plan but first let's find out what's going on with your basic finances.

Takmon

ThatLondonFella wrote: »

Hi MSE Forum,

First post here!

So, I recently moved to London and the rent is £800/month, which is a lot for a room but being close to work is convenient given how much I would save on travel by not living in a central location. I'm earning £28,100 annually and have £9,600 on rent annually. I'm currently using my debit card to stay afloat and have an overdraft of £2,800 with £28 left before I go over the tipping edge. I've also got an AMEX card that I've got £490 on but I plan on cancelling this as the £150 fee is too much! I've just applied for a 0% interest credit card for 28months with Virgin Money, but I am not sure if that is wise decision or not...I've got no other money, so it seems like a good idea but I will need to be responsible with it. I've got no car payments, mortgage or anything like that.

I had around £4,000 in savings, but due to some family issues helped my sister out as she's in Uni so I helped out. However, I will not be getting this money back anytime soon until she finds a full-time job to start paying me back.

I'm really just looking for some advise to help me get out of this mess I've got myself into. Any tips or advise for saving and being strict and getting on the right track? How much should I be putting away etc? Is it possible to get out of this mess??

Many thanks for your time!

Kind regards,

On paper it looks like you have more than enough to pay your bills and live on. But there is a serious problem somewhere because your almost £2800 in the red which indicated a big spending problem!.

So as a lot of people have said you need to post an honest SOA showing where your money goes and start to budget your money so you don't need to borrow.