Loads of savings, Loads of 0% loans

obeywan_kenobe

Following a year of reading this website I have the following portfolio of savings and debt

Savings
£6000 ISA
£1200 high interest account
£2000 saving plan

Investments
£5000  company shares

Debt

£7200 credit card debt all at 0%
£8000 loan from Bank of Mum and Dad


Am I being a wise money saver??

obeywan_kenobe

PS I have also got £5000 worth of premium bonds

MarkyMarkD

Er no, you are ripping off your parents, assuming the loan from them is at 0%.

obeywan_kenobe

The loan from my parents was to help buy my house. It was agreed that the loan was 0%.
A lot of young people rely on generous parents to afford the massive house prices these days.
They have given me no pressure to pay off the loan in one go and I have been paying them installments over the last 8 years.

jo_b_2

Maybe it's time to show your parents how much you appreciate their help by increasing their repayments a little? Surely having so much 'spare' cash in savings accounts means you could pay them back sooner?

Money can be easy come, easy go - parents are a bit more special. :-*

obeywan_kenobe

I give up!! :-[
I wanted some constructive advice about how I could readily invest my money and all I get is how bad I am that I havnt paid my parents quickly enough.

Before you pre-judge I like to set the record straight:
I have 2 children , both go to nursery at £12,000pa NETT
My wife and myself both work.
I think what I have in savings and investments is quite modest.
My parents have several buy to let properties and dont have the outgoings we have as all of us left home.

Although i like to pay my parents asap I feel that my priorty is my children and having enough of a safety net to pay for their futures and emergencies etc.

MarkyMarkD

You don't need the money to buy your house.

You are effectively "stoozing" off your own parents.

I don't see how you were asking for sensible advice - you just sounded like you were bragging about how good a stoozer you were IMHO.

I would personally lynch my friends/relatives if they borrowed money off me (albeit for a good reason) and then stashed it in the bank or speculated it buying shares!

By the way, you didn't mention the house or the mortgage in your previous analysis of your assets/liabilities.

robnye

i have borrowed money of my MIL, i have a bonus due this month.

which is already covering other things like car mot/service, kids things

but i am paying her something every month and she is quite happy with that.

I think the point people are trying to make is

wouldnt is be better (and both you and your parents) feel better to pay them something regularly rather sporadically!

Like you I have savings (for my kids), I have debt (0% deals) admittedly i could clear debt with savings, but as half of the money has come from other sources (grandparents) i feel right in using it.

My wife and I have no savings of our own at all.

just thought i would post a +ve & -ve reply

obeywan_kenobe

This is my last posting on this subject as some people are getting quite offensive about this whole parent loan thing but since robnye provided a positive response I will say this:
Borrowing from parents is a necessity for most young people whether its to buy a home or go through university. I have been paying regular installment which was agreed mutually and both parties have no problems with it.
With the help of this website we have also been saving money and maximising on 0% loans. I also get shares in the company I work for which are held in trust and subject to capital gains tax if I sold up.

I wouldnt be doing my family any favours by selling up and settling all my debts leaving me with about £4000.
I am sure you know this would not go far if Life throws an unfortunate blow. (e.g high interest rates, tuition fees, redundancy, sickness , etc)
I guarantee my parents would agree.

As for bragging: The point of this section is to share experiences. Maybe the title was a bit unfortunate but I did like Harry Enfield .

With regards to the stoozing. I borrowed money from my parents to buy my house only. This was about 8 years ago. A year ago I borrowed money from the egg credit card and put it into a high interest account. This money is also not mine and I will have to pay it back at some point when the 0% deals disappear.

Anyway you can judge all you want but my consience is clear

MSE_Martin

I do think some of the comments are a little harsh. A zero percent debt from parents is a common thing. None of us know the relationship.

For many parents there is nothing better than helping their children flourish. Of course in a technical sense the loan could be seen as being in a savings account - and therefore stoozing.

You could see this money therefore as a gift from parents. While on a technical sense, paying debts off and having no savings is the best method, many people like the idea of savings in a pot. It may be his parents are pleased to thinkn they have helped their son save.

None of us know the relationship, as long as all is above board, i think its perfectly reasonable. I'm sure if his parents had their own financial problems he would do all he could to help as well.

I think there was a little bit of bandwaggonning on the above.

Martin