My Early Retirement Story - Another Perspective
Options
Comments
-
It's not about RoI. or at least that's way down the decision tree.
We have 4.
They are all hugely expensive, and it is largely our choice.
We have no 6th form nearby, but a couple of private options. That's a conscious but hugely expensive decision.
We pay £70 pw for eldest at university, as the loan is restricted owing to my earnings.
We pay thousands for music lessons, dance lessons, drama plus indirect costs (30,000 miles per year driving them...). Kit, Instruments. Clothing.
The school trips are technically optional - the orchestra tours etc tend to be £600+ each per child.
That's where it #all# goes. Not on holidays (as a family).
it will get cheaper once they are older.
NB I have not defined "older".0 -
ROI for university isn’t easy to calculate as there are so many intangible benefits and it shouldn’t just be a training course for a job. I hate to think that fees are dissuading people from doing what they love or from even attending university, but I think that’s what’s happening and the UK is probably not fully developing a lot of great talent. If there was still a string apprentiship culture in the UK I wouldn’t be as worried, but that ended just as I graduated back in the early 80s. I had friends who were that last intake of British Steel apprentices and when they finished training they were let go, so most of them took contract jobs in the Middle East.“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”0
-
Unfortunately DD'd desire to be a vet means she is going to start working life with a massive loan balance. 5 or 6 years of £9k fees plus 5 or 6 years of £4.5k maintenance loan, both of which will have been accruing interest at 6% during the course. Add in the course requirement of a further 38 weeks of work experience to be done during the uni holidays, making getting a holiday job more challenging. We have told her not to stress and to think of it as a tax as she will never pay this off in the 30 years.
Shame we aren't Scottish. All my friends with European or Eire links have been getting dual passports for their kids to avoid the uni fees.
I would assume that if she qualifies a Vet there is a very good chance that she will pay off a big chunk of that debt.
6% is obscene.Money won't buy you happiness....but I have never been in a situation where more money made things worse!0 -
Marine_life wrote: »I would assume that if she qualifies a Vet there is a very good chance that she will pay off a big chunk of that debt.
6% is obscene.
If she has some financial sense then she will pay it off asap if the interest rate is 6%. But whatever happens she is starting off with a financial handicap which could well limit her options. Carrying debt limits our choices and is an added layer or risk. It's particularly important for early retirement as an increase in the rate of a mortgage or having the fixed cost of a loan if your income sources are stretched in a downturn can destroy a plan that's a bit too optimistic.“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”0 -
Marine_life wrote: »I would assume that if she qualifies a Vet there is a very good chance that she will pay off a big chunk of that debt.
6% is obscene.
Unless she ends up with her own practice vets don't actually earn that much. My prediction spreadsheet has her still owing £200k after 30 years (when it is written off) and the interest being added annually being higher than her loan payments so it would actually be growing at that point.
They add the 6% interest during the course but you don't start repaying till the April after graduating so that could be nearly 7 years into the loan by then. A vet starting salary is about £27k. It would have been a lot easier for her to have wanted to do something else but she is not wired that way.I’m a Senior Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning, Loans
& Credit Cards boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.
All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0 -
I think with vet degree she could branch into management, planning, science, pharma hopefully with a higher income if endless on calls for local farmers and lambing sheeps get to her.The word "dilemma" comes from Greek where "di" means two and "lemma" means premise. Refers usually to difficult choice between two undesirable options.
Often people seem to use this word mistakenly where "quandary" would fit better.0 -
bostonerimus wrote: »If she has some financial sense then she will pay it off asap if the interest rate is 6%.
It's not that simple though. It's not a normal debt. You may never pay it back. I was speaking to someone who's son works in financial markets on the other side of the world. He gets a letter from the UK government and he just says he's unemployed. Apparently the UK government has no enforcement powers abroad. If they couldn't work or had long term sickness they just don't pay it back. I could have paid the fees up front but I thought my children were better having the money and just think of them paying a higher rate of income tax or graduate tax.0 -
I think that's called fraud...I was speaking to someone who's son works in financial markets on the other side of the world. He gets a letter from the UK government and he just says he's unemployed. Apparently the UK government has no enforcement powers abroad.0 -
Marine_life wrote: »I would assume that if she qualifies a Vet there is a very good chance that she will pay off a big chunk of that debt.
6% is obscene.
Equally obscene is the UK Government selling the student loan books to its banking chums in the city then squandering the proceeds.0 -
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.7K Spending & Discounts
- 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 608.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173.1K Life & Family
- 248K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards