SOA | 2023

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Hi folks, 

I haven't done an SOA in a while and circumstances have changed. Let me know your thoughts. 

I am currently in a "ok" position but I just want some fresh eyes to glance over to see if I am missing something. 

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2 (We half the bills and keep separate finances so the info below is what I pay, not the "household") 

Number of children in household......... 2

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 1782.12 (My wages)

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 172.9 (Child benefit) 

Other income............................ 489.1[b] (Maintenance) 

Total monthly income.................... 2444.12

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 0

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 82.83 (This is my half) 

Electricity............................. 46.29 (This is my half) 

Gas..................................... 46.29 (This is my half) 

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 21.63 (This is my half) 

Telephone (land line)................... 11.75 (This is my half, inc Broadband) 

Mobile phone............................ 35 (This is for 3 phones, mine and kids. All Sim deals) 

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10.99 (Netflix) 

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 200 (This is my half) 

Clothing................................ 0 (I usually buy as and when needed. If I don't have spare funds I dip into savings) 

Petrol/diesel........................... 130 

Road tax................................ 13.12

Car Insurance........................... 0 (I pay for this annually from savings - its usually £322) 

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 (as above) 

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 20 (School dinners on a Monday)

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 28.55 (2 dogs) 

Buildings insurance..................... 0 (I pay for this annually from savings) 

Contents insurance...................... 0 (I pay for this annually from savings) 

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 45 

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 10.99 (Xbox live for kids) 

Holiday................................. 150 (I use this for school trips etc also)

Emergency fund.......................... 200 (I dip into this for the house/car insurance & clothing as and when needed) 

Savings................................. 50 (Help2Save yr4) 

Bins / Window Cleaner................... 5.5

Total monthly expenses.................. 1107.94

Unsecured Debts

Most of my debts are 0% and will be paid off before the 0% ends - Once I have cleared the debt, I transfer the payment onto the next debt (snowballing)

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

FD CC..........................1192.8....92.77.....0 

Virgin CC......................1816.43...259.4.....0

Santandar CC...................10381.1...300.......0

BC CC..........................5124.5....108.6.....0

Wickes Finance.................5673.12...108.6.....0

BoI Loan.......................4333.78...196.9.....6

Total unsecured debts..........28521.73..1066.27...-

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 2,444.12

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,107.94

Available for debt repayments........... 1,336.18

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,066.27

Amount left after debt repayments....... 269.91

CliveOfIndia

Since you say you're not struggling I won't nit-pick over small savings that can be made here and there - on the whole, most of your expenses look fairly reasonable assuming you're not looking to save every penny you can.

The one thing that does stand out to me - all the entries where you've said you pay annually, this needs to be accounted for.  Yes, it makes eminent sense to pay for insurance annually, but you shouldn't be dipping into the Emergency Fund to pay for predictable expenses - the EF is there for when the boiler goes kaput of the car needs expensive repairs.

By all means set up a different savings account for insurances, clothes etc, and put in a sum every month that will cover the annual bills.

The other thing I would question is that you have nothing for Mortgage/Rent or TV licence.  Are these not needed (you own your home outright and never watch live TV) or do pay half with your spouse/partner?

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

CliveOfIndia said:

Since you say you're not struggling I won't nit-pick over small savings that can be made here and there - on the whole, most of your expenses look fairly reasonable assuming you're not looking to save every penny you can.

The one thing that does stand out to me - all the entries where you've said you pay annually, this needs to be accounted for.  Yes, it makes eminent sense to pay for insurance annually, but you shouldn't be dipping into the Emergency Fund to pay for predictable expenses - the EF is there for when the boiler goes kaput of the car needs expensive repairs.

By all means set up a different savings account for insurances, clothes etc, and put in a sum every month that will cover the annual bills.

The other thing I would question is that you have nothing for Mortgage/Rent or TV licence.  Are these not needed (you own your home outright and never watch live TV) or do pay half with your spouse/partner?

Hi, 

Thanks for the reply. If you have time to nit pick - go for it I can always chuck a little extra at debts  

For the annual bills - yep i agree. This is going on my "to do" list 

Clothings a bit hit and miss so I wouldnt know where to begin with figuring out a cost.

I own the house outright 

We only have netflix so no license is needed  

enthusiasticsaver

That is a relatively high amount of unsecured debt on a fairly average income.  Do you know how this all came about?  Obviously as you have no mortgage/rent you are able to service it but I would certainly be looking to clear that asap in case 0% deals start to disappear. 

I agree that insurances etc should come out of a separate annual bills pot but as you  have not put how much you have in emergency savings that may not be necessary. For example if you have £20k in your emergency savings then dipping into it for car insurance premiums etc is ok but if you only have £500 in your EF then ringfencing it is advisable. Same goes for car maintenance etc.   Do you have any life insurance given you have young kids? 

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

enthusiasticsaver said:

That is a relatively high amount of unsecured debt on a fairly average income.  Do you know how this all came about?  Obviously as you have no mortgage/rent you are able to service it but I would certainly be looking to clear that asap in case 0% deals start to disappear. 

I agree that insurances etc should come out of a separate annual bills pot but as you  have not put how much you have in emergency savings that may not be necessary. For example if you have £20k in your emergency savings then dipping into it for car insurance premiums etc is ok but if you only have £500 in your EF then ringfencing it is advisable. Same goes for car maintenance etc.   Do you have any life insurance given you have young kids? 

Debts been accrued over time. Various things 

All 0% end over 12 months, I've got a snowball running. There will be 2 that I will "go over" the 0% period but they will be lowish amounts (7k, 1k) with everything else cleared so I will look at moving them nearer the time.

Despite high debt, my credit ratings really good so I'm not overly too worried right now about the 0% ending 

Savings - there are 2. One which is "locked" (I can access if really desperate) the other is a regular savers which I can dip into 

Life assurance is done through my work currently. There are provisions in place in case I die 

kimwp

Looks sensible. I agree with the others that you need to put the annual amounts in - split them into twelve and pretend it's a monthly expense ie "saving for xx annual expense". I usually use what the last one cost plus 10%.

I would also differentiate between an emergency fund and savings as the first is not to be touched unless there's a job loss or similar and the second is for annual bills and big planned and less planned spends. By "less planned" I mean washing machine unexpectedly breaks and needs to be replaced asap. If the washing machine is old and croaky, then replacing it should be expected and saved for.

I actually (mentally) split my savings as follows:
1. Disaster fund (job loss etc)- one year frugal spend
2. Emergency fund - eg car breaks and needs replacing - enough to cover a couple of things happening at the same time
3. Annual bills/specific replacement of old equipment 
4. One-off spends eg saving for doing the house - these things only happen from savings that are are over and above 1-3.

Indout96

Just be wary of your car insurance, renewals are going up massively, mine went up over 40% last November and was still the cheapest (61, over 30 years NCB)  if you look on the motoring board some renewing now are looking at 100% increases due to the rising cost of cars / parts / labour for repairs.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

kimwp said:

Looks sensible. I agree with the others that you need to put the annual amounts in - split them into twelve and pretend it's a monthly expense ie "saving for xx annual expense". I usually use what the last one cost plus 10%.

I would also differentiate between an emergency fund and savings as the first is not to be touched unless there's a job loss or similar and the second is for annual bills and big planned and less planned spends. By "less planned" I mean washing machine unexpectedly breaks and needs to be replaced asap. If the washing machine is old and croaky, then replacing it should be expected and saved for.

I actually (mentally) split my savings as follows:
1. Disaster fund (job loss etc)- one year frugal spend
2. Emergency fund - eg car breaks and needs replacing - enough to cover a couple of things happening at the same time
3. Annual bills/specific replacement of old equipment 
4. One-off spends eg saving for doing the house - these things only happen from savings that are are over and above 1-3.

So at the moment i have a seperate bank account where i dump various payments (Christmas, birthdays etc) and i monitor it on a spreadsheet - I will add extra SO for the clothes etc 

Thanks! 

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Indout96 said:

Just be wary of your car insurance, renewals are going up massively, mine went up over 40% last November and was still the cheapest (61, over 30 years NCB)  if you look on the motoring board some renewing now are looking at 100% increases due to the rising cost of cars / parts / labour for repairs.

Thanks! I actually use the MSE tool and my insurance has come down this year  

flipflopflo

For clothes just pop away £10-20 a month per person. It’ll soon add up. 

KxMx

£35 for three SIM only phones is actually a bit high, I think perhaps with some shopping around you could find something lower. 
It can be easy to pay for more data than you actually need/use. I recall a poster here a few months ago paying for a huge data package for her daughters phone, only to discover barely any of it was actually used. 

I pay Lebara £5pm for unlimited calls and texts plus 2GB data. I only turn on data when I'm out if no WiFi and I really need to use it.
I do appreciated though that my definition of really need to use it will differ from a child/teen 😂