Loving life...but no savings?

N

ninamc

Guest
Age: 34
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 29

Annual gross income from employment or profession: Not sure about the gross, I clear 390 a week after tax. Work 9.30 to 2, Mon - Fri
Annual gross income spouse: 44,000. (Approx. 2,700 a month)

Type of employment: e.g. We both work in IT
Expenditure pattern: In general are you spending more than you earn or are you saving? Not saving, but not spending more than we earn either.

Rough estimate of value of home €380,000
Mortgage on home €126,000
Mortgage provider: EBS
Type of mortgage: Tracker, interest only, fixed rate - variable
Interest rate 4.5


Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc WE BOTH HAVE CAR LOANS. I HAVE A 05 MICRA, BOUGHT FOR 9,000. USED SAVINGS OF 4,OOO AND BANK LOAN OF 5,000 OVER 3 YEARS. ONE YEAR COMPLETED IN FEB, MONHLY REPAYMENT OF 175. PARTNER HAS 98 JEEP, BANK LOAN OF 4 GRAND, PAYMENT OF 135 A MONTH, ONLY 6 MONTHS COMPLETED.

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Don't have a credit card.
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? -

Savings and investments: ZILCH AT THE MOMENT

Do you have a pension scheme? PARTNER HAS JUST COMPLETED HIS 6 MONTH TRIAL PERIOD IN NEW JOB, HIS VHI AND PENSION HAVE KICKED IN THIS WEEK, I HAVE NO PENSION SCHEME.

Do you own any investment or other property? NO

Ages of children: 6 and 3

Life insurance: YES.

Out of weekly wage:
Childminding for youngest DD between 9 and 12 - 100e
Playschool for youngest DD between 12 and 2.30 - 30e
Weekly shop - 150e
Petrol/toll money for himself - 70e
Petrol/phone credit for my self - 30e
Milkman - around 7e. So that's my wages taken care of...

Annual Outgoings.
House Insurance - 135 (with AA
Bin Charges - approx 250
AA coverage for cars 120
His car tax -500 (approx)

Monthly outgoings:

Mortgage - 800e )
His car insurance - 90e
Cleaner - 120e
Sky Digital - 40 (no sports or movies) Car loans - 310 Eircom 55
ESB approx 85
Gas - approx 80 in these cold months.
Saturday night is family dvd/pizza/chinese night approx 40e*4 = 160e

I like to bring my kids to see shows, the cinema etc. Would probably spend 100e a month on entertaining them. (A lot less in the summer months)
I go out with the girls once a month, and would tend to spend 150 or thereabouts on a good night. Probably 100 if no meal involved.
Partner also goes out with the lads about once a month and would spend around the same.
He is from Cork, and we would visit probably every 2nd month. Petrol for the trip and him to go out with his friends down there, we would probably spend 200 per trip.
Himself and myself go the cinema every couple of weeks, approx 40e. (My fiend babysits for us and I return the favour, saves us a few bob)

Holidays
1 week in Kerry in his parents mobile home. Spending money approx 1000
1 week in a European City, always try to get cheap flights, reasonable accomodation, but like to do all the tourist things, eat well and have approx 1500 spending money - totals approx 3,000
I would probably have a girls long weekend away also, approx 1000.

I pay my car tax every 3 months, only 40 quid, I just don't notice it.

What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?

Sorry it's so long-winded. Just wanted to give an honest, thorough view of what our finances are like. Main question would be: we were thinking of opening a credit-union account and throwing hopefully 500 or so a month into savings. However, looking at the EBS website, I think if we threw 500 a month onto our mortgage we could have it clear in 10 years. Would this be feasible?
And also if we did this, what would the minimum saving amount per month do ye think we should/ be doing on top of this?

Any advice greatly appreciated, and I'm new to this so go easy on me!!

p.s we don't smoke and never drink at home.
 
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Re: Loving life...but no savings??

Shouldn't you be looking to reduce/clear the unsecured car loans before looking at regular savings/investments?
Type of mortgage: Tracker, interest only, fixed rate - variable
Click to expand...
This makes no sense to me - if it's a tracker how can if also be fixed!?

Could you not ditch the cleaner and the milk delivery and clean up for yourself and buy milk in the shop?
 
You should also do out a comprehensive and realistic budget/expenditure list. You may need to keep a spending diary for a few weeks to help with this. While you have estimated some expenditure above you seem to be using very round figures which can often mean that you are not estimating these accurately (and often people think or like to think that they are spending less than they actually are) and you have added some significant ones (e.g. the socialising costs) on as an afterthought.

Balancing the books is not difficult - you just need to objectively assess where the money is coming from (income, credit etc.) and where it is being spent. Once you know that you can start looking to see where savings can be made. There are a few obvious candidates already as mentioned above.

You should also tackle your car loans before worrying about saving in my opinion. These will cost you more than you will earn on deposit in the short/medium term in all likelyhood.
 
Hi,

I'm not being a killjoy or saying its too much but IMHO the best scope you have for creating savings is to cut back on the cleaner and social side of things. A quick tally for the cleaner, socialising and hols would show expenditure of €11,720 approx.
 
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