Attitude to money?

Bravepants

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Perhaps an example might help to illustrate why the credit card route can be better (in my opinion).

OK, fair enough, you are saying that you effectively have a constant £600 (or so) on the credit card, ergo £600 in the current account.

Flobberchops

I'm the annoying "reformed smoker" type of saver - which is to say I was crap with money and habitually broke most of my life, finally had a "eureka" moment, and now bore the socks off anybody who'll listen with my opinions on compounding interest and the base rate.

Terry_Towelling

Bravepants wrote: »

OK, fair enough, you are saying that you effectively have a constant £600 (or so) on the credit card, ergo £600 in the current account.

The example I gave was very simplified and quite extreme but it was just to illustrate the principle.

The key is not to use the card to borrow (although I know that it is still technically borrowing) but to use it as a convenient way to buy the things you normally would, and defer cost for a few weeks.

I only said it because OP seemed to have a fixed idea that credit cards were only for buying things you cannot afford - which is the wrong mind-set to adopt. That said, I suspect OP was just postulating an invented life-style scenario in order to stimulate a discussion.

System

JennyJukes wrote: »

This is why I budget an "entertainment" budget so I feel there are some things for my own pleasure each month. Once I reach my emergency fund goal, I intend to create an account for my "fun" and split my money on deposit savings, excess/emergency savings, and guilt-free savings.

You sound like you have had a rough time, so congratulations on the "onwards and upwards" attitude. I agree that you should absolutely budget for some fun …… we have an instant access savings account for what we call "treats and eats" and all our loose change goes in there at the end of the month together with money for anything we budgeted for and didn't spend (I always have a little review of the housekeeping account at the end of each month!)

kev2009

I bought a place on my own with a mortgage a few years ago and yes, I worried about how i would afford it, could i afford it, what would happen if no job etc etc. Ironically, i didn't fit in the 25 year mortgage I wanted so they had to put me into the 30 year mortgage, which although I didn't want, it did reduce my monthly repayments somewhat so that has helped. I fixed my mortgage for 5 years and next year this comes to a end and i'm currently thinking I will fix for another 5 years with the same provided, unless they are higher than other mortgages but at the moment, its about the same as others. I have managed to keep a bit of money aside of which I've basically said I wont use that money for anything unless i'm out of a job and need to use it to pay the bills etc otherwise I wont go below that figure. I have 2 regular savers i pay into each month and then hen they mature i transfer the money back into my main savings account and I re-sign up to the 2 regular savers and the money then comes back out again each month by DD. I also transfer to savings anything I don't spend each month from salary but only who figures, i don't transfer pennies etc, i just take a round figure like £50 or whatever.

I also have a CC, which like others i pay for things on as is nice to have added protection when paying for stuff also and then i clear it when the bill is due.

I now have a emergency fund which is part of the money I've decided i wont touch and want to keep behind me at all times until absolutely necessary to use.

I'm now working on OP mortgage, last year I paid a small amount off and the next 2 years i'm aiming to pay of as much as I can, with a view to reducing what I owe for when i need to re-fix in case interest rates go up. At present i'm OP and reducing monthly cost as I want to keep the term the say, again in case interest rates go up, it will help being over longer term. Once I re-fix next year for probably 5 years, I will then make OP and reduce the term as i'm hoping this will put me in a much better position at the end of my next 5 year fixed.

I'm also contributing to work pension so i'm not neglecting my pension. As it stands, they predict not a fantastic pension for me so i'm hoping to increase this once I get my mortgage paid off or lower. Ideally i'd love to pay my mortgage off by the time i'm 55 and then i'm thinking of paying some of the money I would be paying into the mortgage into my pension to hopefully help increase my pension income from a annuity I plan to buy as I like the idea of a fixed secured income in retirement as opposed to draw down where it is still invested and if the markets crash i loose a load of money, I don't want that kind of worry in retirement, i want to retire, get a fixed income for life with a % increase each year to help offset inflation etc. At present i'm on course for getting full SP but i'm hoping to get out before my SP as they keep moving the pension age, it was 65 when i started work so i'm hoping to get out at 65 and I believe my SP will currently kick in at 67/8.

i'm just hoping my job last.

Kev

longleggedhair

Interesting thread I can relate to. When I brought my first house 18 years ago, interest rates were much higher and I brought a house out of what really I could afford. There were months when I barely had the money to buy food. But it was a good lesson in many ways, I now own a house that there is no way I could have afforded now with house price inflation and it made me careful with every penny.

When interest rates plummeted ten years ago my mortgage payments dropped by almost a thousand pounds a month, I've steadily been investing that money and with a bit of good luck and a small inheritance I know have about £250,000 tucked away.

I still save now with no real purpose for the money but it does give me immense security and comfort, and I am not quite as frugal as I once was.

Poor_Leno

I wonder which government is going to actually do something about the pending crisis of more and more people retiring in rented accommodation and qualifying for it to be (mostly) paid for by the state. I suppose part of the solution is increasing the retirement age to 75 and along with it the number of years of national insurance for the full state pension. Can anyone imagine working a full time job at 75 to pay rent? Not me anyway.

little_green

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Relationships don't necessarily make things easier.



My wife will spend on things without even looking at the price at times. I'll question her in a i can't believe you spent on that kind of way (let's say expensive food for example) and when i tell her what it cost she'll be like oh wow i didn't realise it was that much.


LOOK...AT...THE...LABEL...THEN :mad:


I'm a saver. My parents were savers. They struggled when i was a kid and they were big on saving money.
My wife is a spender. Her parents also struggled and still do but they're a get it and spend it type. They get a cash injection from something (insurance payout for example, inheritance, whatever) and it's like they don't want the money, they rush to spend it - big TV straight away, new car etc etc, and then back to having no money.
Over time my wife has become more money conscious. She's not nearly as bad as she once was, but saving doesn't come naturally to her.


So yeah, relationships can make it more difficult, some times.

i cant echo this enough. So many people say that it's easier when there's 2 of you (same with parenting) but that is not always the case, as people can have differing views.
My OH is a spender whereas I try to be a saver.
What frustrates me is all the "small" things that add up.... like paying 5p for a bag everytime you go to the supermarket. it's probably more the laziness there that bothers me that than the actual 5p cost as we have so many bags.
We were both brought up poor, i'd say I was from the poorer family however I was better educated by my parents how to manage money. OH is very much "as a child we couldnt afford XYZ so now i'm an adult & work i'm going to buy XYZ for myself now (even if I don't really need it)" It's about maturity.
I went through a phase of not budgeting or really being in control of my money per say but I grew out of it. Now I take pride in the fact that I know all my money moves. I track every spend.

I think it's more a lifestyle choice. Personally, I enjoy bargain hunting. The only downfall with that is sometimes getting lured into buying bargains you don't actually need!!

I worry about money bc I'm in a job that does not pay as highly as I want. I cant seem to catch a break career wise. My degree feels like it's closed more doors as opposed to open them so not too keen to return to education (& waste even more money/get into more student debt) when there's not really any guarantee it'll get me a higher earnings. My biggest frustration is that I want to save more but you can't save more than you earn.

droopsnoot

I started keeping more control of money when the company I worked for looked as if it was starting to have financial troubles. I had a card debt at the time (a few hundred, nothing terrible) and it worried me. So the first thing was to get that paid off, and then set the card so that it was automatically paid by direct debit every month.


My issue now is that I haven't found that magic button that allows me to spend savings without a very good reason. I don't have to justify it to anyone except myself, but several decades of concentrating on building savings up has made it difficult to switch mind-sets for me.

Eco_Miser

droopsnoot wrote: »

My issue now is that I haven't found that magic button that allows me to spend savings without a very good reason. I don't have to justify it to anyone except myself, but several decades of concentrating on building savings up has made it difficult to switch mind-sets for me.

I've been retired now for 10 years, and really, truly, getting-all-my-pensions retired for 4, and still don't even spend anywhere near my income, never mind breaking into savings.
However, I am allowing myself more frequent and more expensive 'treats', and I've never had a problem spending a grand or so with very good reason. The skill if finding that reason