# always seem to be a bit short of money!



## creme egg (14 Nov 2007)

Age: 30
    Spouse’s/Partner's age: 33

    Annual gross income from employment or profession: 31,500 + bonus of around 5%
    Annual gross income spouse:40,000 + bonus of around 3%

    Type of employment: administrator (me). Engineer (spouse)

 Expenditure pattern: In general are you spending more than you earn or are you saving?  trying to live within my means.

    Rough estimate of value of home 350,000
    Mortgage on home: 150,000
    Mortgage provider:Ulster Bank
    Type of mortgage: Tracker
    Interest rate: Not sure, around 5%  

    Other borrowings – CU loan: 100per month each (5k ish left)
Car loan, which I pay 650 per month into joint account (also included mortgage + house insurance + life insurance + phone+ esb bill)
Personal Loan: 350 per month, due to finish in April 08

    Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? no, paying off minimum.  1200 owed on this.  

Savings and investments: I save 100 p/m to CU and 100p/m into savers a/c with AIB. - this covers holidays + Christmas for me every year. want to continue this.

    Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, my company pays 10% of my salary into this without me having to contribute

    Do you own any investment or other property? Yes.
Mortgage: 112,000  value 205,000  - Interest only mortgage, rent is covering mortgage + insurance+ refuse costs.


    Ages of children: 0

    Life insurance: yes - not sure of any details,  as its part of the 650 I pay every month into joint account.


    I always seem to be just meeting ends meet each month.  We plan on (hopefully) having children within the next two years, and I dread to think how we will cope with this when we don't seem to be managing our money very well at the moment.  At the moment my finances are separate to my husbands, It's just the way I prefer it, I have my account and he has his.
This will change when we have children.
On paper I think we are doing ok, both have decent jobs, getting paid ok etc, but all of our friends seem to be able to do a lot more than we can. Is it a case of them living beyond their means I wonder??  

I also plan on getting a new car for myself early next year.  My car is literally falling apart, so need something a bit better,  looking to spend no more than 8k on a car.

I also know from looking at a lot of posts that the first thing you will probably say is I am mad to be saving and having money outstanding on my credit card. But I plan to clear the card by August next year (with my loan of 350 being gone in April next year)

I also have a casual job.  I might earn 50 quid one month after tax, or 400 another after tax.  It just depends on how busy the company is.

I hope I have given you enough info.

Thanks  creme egg


----------



## Gleego (15 Nov 2007)

Hi creme egg,

You need to concentrate on paying back your loans rather than saving the money in the cu and aib. Reason i say this is that you are being charged much higher interest on your loans compared to your savings. You might want to look at your second property - on a combined salary of approx. 70k and interest only it might be better to get rid of this and concentrate on your future especially if ye are looking at kids in the next few years (bear in mind the cost of this).

Hope this helps,


----------



## ClubMan (15 Nov 2007)

I agree - saving while carrying debt (other than maybe mortgage debt) generally makes no sense at all. Redirect existing savings and regular savings towards debt reduction perhaps. You don't seem to enumerate your outstanding debts and the rates charged above. This is key info. Also - your overall post strikes me as a bit vague and unstructured which may reflect your thinking about your overall financial situation. Perhaps contacting _MABS _or at least honestly filling out one of the debt/budgeting plans/spreadsheets on their site or in the key posts might concentrate your mind and accurately identify the specific areas that need tackling first?


----------



## oysterman (15 Nov 2007)

Can anybody let me into a secret? When exactly did it become the thing to do for young people whose finances are still very insecure (and who haven't even gone through the financial trauma of having a family) to buy a speculative property?


----------



## Flax (15 Nov 2007)

I personally don't think you should be having children if you are having financial difficulties. Even from the simple fact that children are expensive.


----------



## ClubMan (15 Nov 2007)

creme egg said:


> I also plan on getting a new car for myself early next year.  My car is literally falling apart, so need something a bit better,  looking to spend no more than 8k on a car.


I presume you don't mean a "new" new car but even so I presume that you could get something for less than €8K?


----------



## creme egg (15 Nov 2007)

oysterman said:


> Can anybody let me into a secret? When exactly did it become the thing to do for young people whose finances are still very insecure (and who haven't even gone through the financial trauma of having a family) to buy a speculative property?



Oysterman,  Did you actuallly want to contribute to my post, or just pass comment?  As you can see everyone else that has posted, has given me good advise.  

You pass comment on our investment property, so I will indulge you:
We bought this a few years back, as an addition to our pension.  We did not have to re-finance or stretch ourselves in being able to afford this. So far we have done well from it.  It is costing us nothing, and we have a nice buffer should the property become vacant.  

I don't think my finances are insecure, they just could be managed better.


----------



## ClubMan (15 Nov 2007)

As an (at least interim) solution to the _CC _debt could you switch to a 0% offer card so that you are not paying interest on the outstanding balance while you are clearing it (ideally sooner than next August)? This will most likely require you to stop making any further purchases on it but you should probably be trying to do this anyway!


----------



## creme egg (15 Nov 2007)

Thanks for your replies.  I have been a browser of this site for a while, and found some of the threads to be very useful to me.  I now manage to live on a budget of €15 per day, and 95% of the time this works out well (a few unexpected things happen every now and again, so take the money from my savings)  I will have a look and fill out a budgeting spreadsheet, as there has to be a better way to manage my money.  I know that you all say that I should pay off my debts first as the interest rate is high.  I like the comfort of having a small amount of savings, but clearly this is getting me no-where, so will deffo revise this thinking.

The car for 8K... another thorny issue.  I want to get a "new to me" car and I feel that I want to spend in and around this figure (deffo no more) as when we do (hopefully) have children, I want something that will be reliable, and "safe".  I know I know... warped logic... getting into more debt.  
By the time we have children, this will probably be two years down the road, and our debts except our mortgage will be cleared by then, so I think we will be ok financially,  its just at the moment, I never seem to have any money!  So the budgeting spreadsheet is the way to go to make things clearer for me.

Thanks for your help


----------



## creme egg (15 Nov 2007)

ClubMan said:


> As an (at least interim) solution to the _CC _debt could you switch to a 0% offer card so that you are not paying interest on the outstanding balance while you are clearing it (ideally sooner than next August)? This will most likely require you to stop making any further purchases on it but you should probably be trying to do this anyway!



Hi Clubman,  I will look into this.  I think Halifax do a 0% interest... will pop in them today.  I don't use the card anymore.  Have no need to either ...thankfully :- )


----------



## ClubMan (15 Nov 2007)

You should clarify all of your debts and the rates charged as your original post is not clear on these - e.g. for some it mentions only the repayments and not the actual amount and term outstanding and rate charged.


----------



## creme egg (15 Nov 2007)

Sorry about that clubman.  I think I have enough advise for the time being anyway.  If I need to come back about anything, I will make sure to include this info.

Thanks again for all your help, with a bit of planning and discipline I will be in a lot better situation next time I post!


----------



## Bronte (15 Nov 2007)

Hi OP I don't think you need to buy a new car if your current car is working perfectly even if it is falling apart.  In any case buying a car for a yet to be conceived child is a bit of forward planning too much.  More like an excuse to spend a lot on a car.  Why don't you pay off your debts first and then sav for a car.


----------



## creme egg (15 Nov 2007)

Hi Bronte,  I literally mean my car is falling apart.  I did not pass the NCT, and the work it will take to make sure it passes, is actually more than the value of the car. (I am not being fleeced by a mechanic either, my friend is a mechanic, so he does the work, and just charges me for parts)   So I don't think it would be prudent to flog a dead horse.  The "new" car on the other hand,  granted it is not a necessity, but I really don't feel that the money I will spend will be wasted, as I will be  running this car until it  falls apart.  I do need the car daily, so feel buying another banger might be a bit of a waste of time, and 8K I feel is enough to get me a good car, that should last me 8-10 years.
WRT getting a car and having future children in mind.  Getting a  car is a necessity, so I might as well get something that is a little more adaptable, should I be lucky enough to have children.


----------



## cole (15 Nov 2007)

Hi creme egg
You can pick up a great bargin at the auctions e.g Merlin in Ashbourne every Wed and Sat. I have bought cars there (5 so far) both for myself and friends and have had no trouble. Plus I'm mechanically illiterate! It's a risk sure, but one that so far has paid off handsomely for me.


----------



## Bronte (16 Nov 2007)

I agree with you cream egg you need a new car.  No point sending good money after bad.  I don't know the price of cars in Ireland but if you say it will last 8 to 10 years for just 8K it seems very cheap to me.   Personally I wouldn't go down the car auction route as I prefer a car that comes with some type of warranty from a reputable garage.  (if such a thing exists )


----------

