Diary of a reformed shopaholic (I hope)

Drawingaline

Is it your cards you have cleared? If so just call up and either close or reduce the limit.

GeorgianaCavendish

Well done with the barbells and postponing the Christmas shopping for now. I would keep them in the basket for a bit longer to see if you can get any discount codes or promotions over the next few weeks/months

shoppingobsessed2020

@Drawingaline I’d been doing that with mine (yay) but the issue is he has approx 28k availible credit on cards so could use them, I need to go into the various banks with my power of attorney and get it registered in order to reduce the limits but I don’t want to go into the busy city on a weekend with monkey boy as trying to limit our exposure.

thr plus side is once he has done and passed this course there are no more major courses to do, just the regulatory ones he has to do every few years anyway which he can pass in his sleep.  He did some nebosh qualifications a couple of years ago so he is literally done for work related courses.  He will still study for fun as that’s what his nebosh was for but I don’t mind the fun courses it’s just the work ones that annoy me.

alt80

Sorry not read your diary but POA for your husband when it appears he is of sound mind; working etc. Seems a bit concerning imo. Also using the cards whilst studying for a course which will presumably mean a jump in income not sure why that's a massive problem really unless I've got the wrong idea and the course won't pay for itself in the short/medium/long term?

shoppingobsessed2020

@alt80 I’d prefer it if he didn’t use a card to fund the next qualification as he has been chasing this promotion for years and we have funded 2 attempts at the exams before he got paid study leave which is where a chunk of our debt has built up from.  Was supposed to be an instant promotion then he drops the bombshell that he still had one more internal course to do before promotion which he could have done at any point in the past few years, he just wanted to wait till he had passed the exam.  

I know I’m focused on the numbers but it’s a 1.5 - 2k s month salary bump with promotion to the next rank, plus higher pension contribution, business class flights to and from ship, better grade of medical insurance for us all as a family and better rotation schedule.  I’d like to get some of that salary bump banked and paid to debt before he starts chasing for his captains ticket.  He’s just focused on the end result of being a captain which is great, but I’m the one watching out for his mental Health and don’t want him to burn out.

alt80

@shoppingobsessed2020 I know nothing about being at sea but sounds like a decent investment to me tbf? 

shoppingobsessed2020

@alt80 it is a decent investment but when you look at the loans and the mbna credit card and the Barclays card in his name, that is what we have spent funding his attempt at his promotion which he hasn’t yet got due to one more course he has to do which he could have done at anytime over the past few years. If you can’t tell I’m still slightly bitter over that lol.  We’ve got approx 45k debt still to pay just from his qualification chasing over the last few years plus what I’ve spent and the cars.

He takes home approx 50k a year at the moment on a 2 month on 2 month off rotation, promotion to next rank is around the 65 -75k mark starting salary with the same rotation p and then a captain in his company starts at 120k a year but is on a 3month on 3 month off rotation. He won’t get to be captain till hes put in a good 3/4 years at chief mate so this is why I don’t see the point in him rushing to do this ticket when he won’t see the monetary benefits for some time.  The promotion to chief mate will be enough of a bump in take home pay to give a us a good chunk paid off.  I’m just asking him to hold off for 6 months or so, I’ll juggle the cost if I have to but it’s a long term goal so I can’t see why waiting a few months will matter.  

enthusiasticsaver

I agree that using cards to fund a course with no guarantee of an immediate bump in salary does not sound sensible especially if you have been down this path before of building up debt, increasing monthly commitments and no increase in income.  By all accounts his courses are the reason for the £60k of unsecured debt you had at the beginning of the diary and half your monthly income is going on debt repayment when you take the mortgage, car HP, secured loans and unsecured debt into consideration. Why can he not leave it a year and get rid of the chunk of debt built up for previous courses? Sounds like a lot of pain for not much gain. 

I would be asking three questions.

How much of your existing debt have you cleared? 
How much will be added to the debt if he does this course?
How certain is it that he will get a salary increase if he passes the exam?

alt80

Apologies I haven't read much of your diary I didn't realise you accrued debt from the qualification attempts but still it seems there's one course holding up £15-25k pre tax raise in income. How long would it take him with the uplift in net pay to 'pay' for the unpaid study leave? You need to work out the opportunity cost and go from there. Being annoyed for him wanting to better himself by seeking promotion seems like a bit of an emotional reaction to a temporary raise of debt levels when you are looking to pay down. What's the actual advantage in waiting?

shoppingobsessed2020

Thanks @alt80, I’m not annoyed with him wanting to do the qualification, he can do it just not right now. He will not see the monetary benefits from gaining his captains ticket for 3/4 years so I don’t see the point in rushing ahead and doing that qualification in the next few months.  

The courses he has to do when he is home are going to cost us about 3k and that’s just his expired regulatory courses, then there is an internal course which work will pay for and once he has done that internal course he will be promoted to chief mate.  All I’m asking of him is to do at least one trip as a chief mate and then look to doing the captains exam.

im also concerned about burnout which is a huge reason I don’t want him to rush and do the captains prep course and exam.  He had 4 months of intense studying, then an exam.  He had a couple of weeks chill time with us as a family and then went back to sea in February, he’s been away ever since due to Covid.  Working 12 hr days, 7 days a week for over 7 months means he will be in no fit state to jump straight into another intense course.  The regulatory ones he will have no issue doing but I’m concerned that mentally this will tip him over the edge and frankly We can’t afford to move to give me the chance of going back to the industry I trained in and there have been major redundancies offshore, although his lordship works in that industry it’s completely different to the North Sea oil industry which is where I used to work pre child.

@e@enthusiasticsaver he has one internal company funded course to do and then he gets promotion to chief mate which will give us an extra15/20k a year to throw at debt on top of what we already are paying.  He has approx 3k of courses to pay for which are going on a card in the short term but his guaranteed long tour bonus will cover them and they will only be on a card for a matter of weeks from booking them to his lordship actually getting his bonus so I can handle that.  I just can’t juggle another unknown amount of debt when he won’t see the benefit from that course for a few years yet.