2020++ - smiling and waving and looking so fine

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Great news on the loan!  Will you roll the payments into the CC or do you have other plans for it?
Quick question, if you don't mind me asking?  When your kids were at uni, how much did you contribute?  My eldest is due to go next year and reading the MSE guide, it's suggesting a parental contribution of £500pm to top up the paltry maintenance loan.... ouch!  2 years later, our son will go to uni too probably....

savingholmes

We paid DS around £400pcm. However we made him part fund. So in year one he paid most of his own bills up to xmas as he'd had a job and we'd made him save for uni. With hindsight he earned over £9.5K that year - so really shouldn't have needed any £. Don't fall into the 'auto' trap. He did get a £2K scholarship year one, and a £1K one year 2 which helped too

mark55man

Hi @ohdearhowdidthathappen - no worry about being nosey - if I didn't want to talk about stuff I wouldn't have a diary!!

DD1 went to a cheap seaside place to live and worked full time through the holidays but not during term time.
DD2 went to an expensive seaside place and worked part time through holidays AND term time.
DS1 is doing a mature student (only a few years but still) and is still at home doing it all virtually

I would say in the first year you would look to support more (and maybe definitely suggest no working during term time) but by the time we got to year 3 DD1 was on not very much support required at all but DD2 was still on about £500pcm (effectively I underwrote her rent).  However, I did to some extent underwrite DD1 and her car,  So average DD1 was about £400pcm and DD2 was £600pcm

DS1 and I have arranged that I will continue to support his car, and take over the repayments for his business loan that didn't work out but that he is managing all his other costs.  DS1 GF has been paying rent although she is on a break until her new Full time job starts in January.  So DS1 is probably averaging £350 pcm

On balance, although it depends on your DC personality I would strongly discourage them from working during term time, and although it was DD2 choice to do that rather than work harder in the holidays, it did definitely impact her ability to work and resilience to face up to crises within term time.

mark55man

In terms of the loan, yes they are heading for CC2 although DD2 will require some of that as she has moved to London in a "build it and they will come" job hunt venture. 

And I agreed to support that as although she was great company at home (especially for OH while I have been busy) she was withering a little bit - strong young women need to be out there, and she (like every other graduate) is finding it hard because of the virus and (I think) like yourself for me its been nothing but a blessing financially - so I decided I couldn't begrudge her this adventure as she has chosen a quite cheap and adventurous part of London.  That will be at least a year but on UC she will not need quite so much support - and even if she scores a minimum wage job she will be able to fully fund herself  

Sunshine_girl2

mark55man said:

Hey Sunshine_girl2 - yes the pandemic has been terrible but has had some advantages.  Knocking chunks off the debt and being not so chunky (chonky??). My long term target weight goal was 200lbs which I aimed to do over a few years.  But Keto, and now Fast 800 means I am only 2 lbs off that now.  But that is only just within healthy parameters even though I am quite tall.  So, I will probably  have another go after Christmas and see if I can get down to 190lbs (13 and 1/2 stone) or even 180lbs (12 stone 12) - ONE HUNDRED and EIGHTY.  I can visualise myself saying that on the scales

On the other hand most of the weight seems to be coming off my bum and not my tum, to the point where I am not as able as previously to sit for too long without padding.  I am certainly making more use of cushions - I am quite sedentary when working from home

Hi SH - woohoo indeed.  What a nice xmas pressie from myself to myself

Same here for weight loss and BMI just made it in to the overweight bit, so another 2 stone to go I think. 

mark55man

finally when DD2 money needs settles down I am going to try an experiment in upping my pension contributions to create a ring fenced fund that will be mortgage neutral fund.  Hopefully by leverage the tax bands (HRT going in and BRT coming out) and gaining 2% of salary extra contribution from work, I can create a matched pot from which to make Mortgage payments about a year earlier than I could be just OPing it. 

Then if I decide my other arrangements are adequate to retire (I'm nearly 60 you know)  I can do so without undue drama - it is possible to have extremely cautious (capital preserving) pots in your pension fund and although not a MFW OP every penny purist play - it looks like I can get at least a 50% extra bang for each £ I  use in this fashion and possibly 80% if I can work the tax band hustle

mark55man

Sunshine_girl2 said:

mark55man said:

Hey Sunshine_girl2 - yes the pandemic has been terrible but has had some advantages.  Knocking chunks off the debt and being not so chunky (chonky??). My long term target weight goal was 200lbs which I aimed to do over a few years.  But Keto, and now Fast 800 means I am only 2 lbs off that now.  But that is only just within healthy parameters even though I am quite tall.  So, I will probably  have another go after Christmas and see if I can get down to 190lbs (13 and 1/2 stone) or even 180lbs (12 stone 12) - ONE HUNDRED and EIGHTY.  I can visualise myself saying that on the scales

On the other hand most of the weight seems to be coming off my bum and not my tum, to the point where I am not as able as previously to sit for too long without padding.  I am certainly making more use of cushions - I am quite sedentary when working from home

Hi SH - woohoo indeed.  What a nice xmas pressie from myself to myself

Same here for weight loss and BMI just made it in to the overweight bit, so another 2 stone to go I think. 

Well done on just being overweight - I aspire to that
Well done as well for nearly being so close to your DFD - very similar to me - yay!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks for that info Mark and SH.... I was hoping for more like £150-200pm, so probably being naive (at least in year 1).  I agree with the not working in term time if possible, my worry is that she won't work at all and expect us to fund it all.  She'll be majorly out of luck though!  It's all such a minefield

mark55man

The maintenance loan they get is barely enough (and in DD2 case was not enough) to even cover the rent.  So even allowing for a mean £200pcm - that's not a lot to run a single household off, when depending on course there may be book expenses ... - so unless she is working hard now I think you will need more, and that is with yours working in some shape or form. 

So its not entirely unreasonable to expect some support and post-covid its really really difficult in the casual job market so even if willing (which I accept isn't a given) how much is it worth to you for your DC to have at least a tolerably entertaining and studious time??

mark55man

Just listening to 5 years by Bowie
"I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour/Drinking milk shakes cold & long/Smiling & waving & looking so fine"  now where have I seen that before