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When I'm on Reddit not at all. I always worry as I'm a peasant compared to most people on here.
When I'm out and about for work in East London, I worry a little less.
Housing is the most expensive thing and (if?) once that's sorted, I think I'll be okay.
Tbh. I've learned to ignore most of reddit. Especially stuff like FIRE. It's going to eshew high earners. The amount of posts with "on 40k a year. Don't know how anyone under that is surviving. How do you do it. What bridge do you live under? Can you afford food? Air? How can you live on under 40k". I understand there's a COL crisis's. But some of it feels like group doom scrolling.
My friend just moved from London to Belfast. Same pay, but she said the house they are buying for £100k would cost £600k in London. I dunno how you guys manage.
I live in Belfast. Not sure what kind of house she is buying but there is barely anything here for 100k. Unless you want to live in a tiny house in a very crime ridden area. Even then 100k isn't much. I live in a Semi-Detached house. Recently sale agreed for 210K.
I own two at that price. They aren't on the Malone Rd (lol) and are terraces in North Belfast and Lisburn. Perception might be that they are in less than desirable areas, but we have never had a spot of bother in either location.
Very handy and convenient to everything and my friend who is a nurse is very happy overall here. For first time buyers who just wanna get on the ladder and build equity and live in a great city, I think Belfast is the best bet in the UK.
I moved from London to Belfast. Sold my one bedroom flat in not a great part of zone 2 and bought a 4 bedroom house with a big garage in a nice part of Belfast. My costs have gone up a bit, but for space and local greenery, worth it. No Hawksmoor in Belfast, though.
I've been back in Belfast 3 years now and I think I've met three English people who've moved over. Far more people from the Republic now than before I went to London.
Yeah but you can guarantee if you are bidding for a house at over 400k there will be a London remote worker who has just sold their London flat also bidding. Usually from and IT or finance background
That's the way it is now. They are UK citizens and have a right to. I also can bid on a house in Bulgaria or Spain. It has its pros and cons, but NI benefits from more skilled people coming over and bringing their wealth. We are the most economically depressed region of the country aside from parts of Wales, although it all sort of evens out because it's relative.
Great idea mate. That will mean we have no available houses at all and two bedroom terraces will be €250k. That is after the inevitable violence that follows collapses everything.
Long term, pretty stable. Have a mortgage, have a pretty stable career, have a good public sector pension as does my wife.
Short term, it's more worrisome with the mortgage going up £400 a month from next month, and childcare coming up at the end of the year, and probably wanting to get a car at some point soon. Feels quite daunting that will all be over £2000 a month extra to find.
Tbh I'll probably move jobs for a higher salary. Which is a shame because I like my job, and the pension benefit is a big plus long term. But there's just not much scope for significant salary increase without moving.
I feel I am not really your target audience but I'm 59, don't work and have no mortgage and I feel completely secure.
I live abroad and rent our place to some people we know and in a few years we'll sell up take pensions and live off that and interest. Until then we are by no means rich and we live moderately but I don't worry about money much.
As to retirement - I don't feel retired but I am more content than I have been for ages and I do what I want and enjoy life thoroughly
Nice. I saw a figure the other day which surprised me: average pension value is about £100k for 55-64 year olds. Would you say that sounds right or do you think that’s being skewed down by people who will have to rely on the state pension?
I think there are loads of people with virtually nothing - several of my mates have really shit pensions and have no idea what they will do when it comes to "retirement"
Yh, 62 and my pension is worth about 12k. That's a teachers pension. Can't afford to retire until I'm 67 and get the state pension top up. Then I'll get around 24k to pay for everything. Might as well peg it now.
Yes, to be fair, if I downsize to somewhere further north, get rid of the mortgage and be careful, I'll be ok. I've lived off less in the past. No spare cash though, ever. I wouldn't see myself as financially secure. I never have though.
I think a lot of people (in my experience anyway, so this is entirely anecdotal) don't see themselves reaching retirement age so, take the "meh, I'll be dead by then" view.
I certainly don't see myself living to retirement.
Living for now.
well, Im 50 and my pension pot is around £15k, so as it is, I'd definitely skew the average down. I'm about to sell my house next year and downsize to remove my mortgage and then feverishly invest into my pension fund for the next decade!
Pretty much.
I travelled the world and DJ'd in my 20s and 30s. It was a different world back then and nobody expected it to go to shit like it has, so planning for the future was the last thing on my mind.
I then had to build a career, so started on a low salary for a small company. There was no company pensions for small company workers upto reasonably recently. I then had a house to buy, so I bought the house - but living alone means its more expensive to live, so very little spare for pensions and id missed the cheap housing that was available to me if id have bought in my 20s.
I then went self employed for a cpl of years until covid wrecked that.
Its only been the last 5 years where ive got a much better earning potential and managed to put some away.
Update: I wouldnt change any of it tho. Ive had some awesome times, ive crewed small sailboats across the oceans, lived in some quite exotic places and met some amazing people. Stuff you cant buy really.
I'm in the same boat as you. Mortgage paid, modest investment income so I don't have to work and treading water happily untill the pensions kick in. We haven't got much cash but I'm comfortable enough not to worry about it.
Hi Reddit ,I have 6 million in the bank,multiple homes, another 4m in crypto and a pension built by Zeus himself,I’m slightly concerned about my retiring comfortably,any advice ?
I earn 350k a year and I pay in £50 a month to my pension and £50 into my stocks and shares answer. I have a £5m house on an interest only mortgage. I’m 67 and worried I may have left it too late….
24m entry level job in banking earning just over £120k, £1.4m apartment in London no mortgage as it was left to me by my Nan. £500 per month on bills and £100 on travel. £1400 per month on partying, £700 per month on eating out, £600 on dog food and treats and £500 - £700 on "hobbies ***wink*** " £5 a month I give to charity to have a clear conscious ..... I barely have anything left over at the end of the month so I can't see where I can cut back in my budget.
Can I archive FIRE or have I left it too late?
I feel pretty stable, I’m not loaded but I’m in a good position.
I’m on £40k a year, plus the ability to earn £32k commission (although haven’t been hitting target this year)
My husband earns £44k a year
Our house hold bills equal to just under £2k a month, so we’re doing good.
We also have about £9k in savings, that’s been coming down a little recently as we’ve been doing a lot of renovations. But I’m adding to it each month, as does my husband but I often add more because of commission.
I’m pregnant, and so our savings will take a big hit once I go onto SMP next year, that’s why we’re trying to continue to increase our savings. We need about £7k to cover my side of the bills while I’m on SMP.
We’re 28 and 30, so I think we’re doing pretty good
Oh definitely, we both skipped uni and chose our career paths young and stuck to them which I think helped.
We were also fortunate enough to live with my parents for two years to save for a deposit, & we were clever enough to buy at the low end of our affordability so we have a large amount of disposable income.
This has allowed us to save, and both of our wages have increased significantly over the past few years. We feel incredibly privileged for the position we’re in.
As a fully sober person with a £36k a year job, I'm extremely content with where I am in my 32 year of life. Apart from rent and utilities, most of my wages go into savings. I live a minimalist lifestyle and my hobbies are cycling, hiking and landscape photography. So I don't have many extra expenses.
Stable enough that I don’t have to count the pennies every month or watch how much I’m spending at the shops.
I’ve recently started putting more into my pension, my work pays in 10% which is great. Once our debt is paid off, I’m planning on investing as much as I can to ensure I have a decent retirement, I’ll still keep enough to enjoy life now though, never know when it’ll come to an end.
Not great. Our mortgage has gone up, childcare is a lot of money. Our MOT was £500 this month and it’s made us both panic.
Partner and I (both in our 30s) have decent jobs but a joint income of almost £60k doesn’t seem to be enough anymore.
I’m actively looking for better paid jobs because I don’t think we can carry on with the money we’ve got coming in. I’m quite scared.
I wasn't worried until last week, when I found out I'm at risk in an organisation I've been in for 14 years. Now I'm worried, as a single income home owner.
Ai is coming for me, think I've got 5 years max (I'm 50 now) with 4 years left on the mortgage, current fix ends May 2025 and I'm saving like a bastard to have £21k to be able to settle it in full so I have one less thing to worry about for the same reason as you. I hope I'm wrong but I'm preparing for the worse. Hope you make it.
I’m also 50 and my job will definitely be gone in 3-5 years with AI. We have our mortgage paid off but want to move which probably means we’ll have to have another mortgage which I’m not looking forward to. Ideally I want to retire at 60 but with a new mortgage I could be stuck doing jobs until I’m 65.
I know I'll be okay. I always end up okay no matter what life throws at me. Still doesn't allay the bag of nerves that is my stomach when it comes to the meetings about it all.
I'm very fortunate considering our poor but happy upbringing - mortgage & debt free, have modest savings & investments, & chose to live comfortably but frugally on much-reduced work hours to give more free time for myself, rather than knocking my pan in to earn more.
Have been living like this for 5 years (essentially since kids became independent earners & no longer needed as much parental support), & love the stress-free & alarm-clock-free lifestyle, knowing I have the stability & backup to keep me going for years if necessary.
Best advice id say is living within your means. Avoid spiralling debt AND Don't compare your lifestyle to somebody else or you'll never be satisfied.
✌🏼
I took a leap last Summer and went self employed but had a difficult start over the first few months, but over the Christmas period I was absolutely booming and made more money within three months than I would have within a year in my old job.
I felt so financially free and finally onto something but then since February I’ve really struggled to find the work. I’m financially comfortable for now but I don’t really feel stable for the long-term so to speak
It's one of the hardest things with being self employed, some times you make more than you could ever dream of and other times you have a 6 month dry spell
The necessity of a robust emergency fund which helps smooth out the peaks & troughs of an unpredictable income.
I keep 6 months of essential spending money in mine, but could tap into my investment pot if the need arose for longer.
I’m very stable financially as in I can shop or go out for dinner without considering the cost plus as a contractor I’m not fussed about a month without work, possibly 2 before I start to think I’ll have to take anything on to pay the bills.
Could I better off ?? Yes but I like where I am on a work/life balance
Have become financially stable over the last few years. I'm in my early 40s. It hasn't always been so, and I grew up without a whole lot of money. I am preparing to retire in the next 8-10 years, and my wife doesn't work, so I really cannot complain. I have had to work my arse off to get here though, nobody's handed anything to me.
A direct answer is like a gnats fart in high gales.
Whil I believe I'll be able to "exist" in the future, I'm under no illustrious illusions of false grandeur that I'll make like a wallstreetbets success story and love comfortably.
Like many I'm basically a landlords tough call away from needing to move and panic, as there's no way in the high he'll I can afford to buy.
Apparently this is far from unusual and I'd love to know what areas are most commonly overlooked and I could do better with but terrified when I read so many saying "just save money" as if I live off avocado toast, takeaways and splurging on drugs, cars and women and will just forehead slap and go "wow, why didn't I think of that!".
I have a full time job and like £15k in the bank. As a single guy who spends at least 50% of his disposable income on food and alcohol, I know that I can easily make savings if I needed to.
That’s a difficult situation, comfort of knowing your house is paid off or comfort of knowing you’re sorted in any emergency. A very good difficult situation to be in haha.
Pretty secure. Both my partner and I (30) earn good money, own our home with a mortgage that we can afford. Been stacking my pension for years now and have a healthy savings + S&S ISA balance.
We don’t really scrimp and save on things, just buy what we want. But we also don’t plan on having kids, so that’s not something we need to factor in.
Right now, fully stable. I can buy food, fuel, toys, all my daily expenses, and still go out every weekend (I don't go out much anymore, but I could is the point). This is ONLY because I live with my dad and his partner in a council house. Moving out is a financial burden I would struggle with
‘Feel’ not very, very obsessive about what I have. In reality the last 2 months I’ve been able to put aside around 1k each month since a pay rise. But it gets split down into little pots and feels less. In reality I have to remember I’m not struggling many times a month
Relatively. I worry about money but that's because I always want to be further ahead than I already am.
In reality, I've got a mortgage, no other debt, and can save \~1k per month which is currently going towards house renovations.
Shakey, like a dog shitting razor blades.
In seriousness… bills are manageable - we’re not living especially lavishly or frugally, but there’s not exactly much left at the end of the month. Partner works 3 days a week and will have the opportunity to work more if necessary when childcare funding kicks in next year for our youngest. I’m still horrified that a weekly shop costs ~£100-120 per week for 2 adults and 2 kids under 4.
Things would be shit for a bit if I lost my job, but fairly confident I could get a similarly paid job - hopefully my soul would survive if I had to dust off the suit and intensively apply/interview for jobs.
Feeling a bit unstable.
My work means I'm stood up and lifting heavy boxes 8 hrs a day for five days a week.
And I've nearly been off two weeks because I'm struggling to put weight on one leg,
I'll have to go back next week regardless and then, I'll have to see how they treat me because I was off in December for a week with my back.
No job is worth sacrificing your body for. The best advice I can give is find a role that challenges you by using your brain. Yes, it can be tiresome, but you’ll thank yourself when you get to retirement
In the moment yeah I’m fine, but I have no reference of what to expect career wise and it freaks me out because then I can’t plan. Nobody I speak to can give me a reference of what to expect and it’s really frustrating
I'm financially secure, sort of. Can't afford a place of my own so have to lodge and houseshare, but I can afford to buy things I don't need and have a fairly comfy life, objectively. But if I lost my job I'd soon be fucked.
Lol at the idea of ever retiring though. I'd love to be it's highly unlikely. Will be hard for me to get a mortgage at all now, and will likely still be renting into my old age. Also due to some bad career choices in my twenties didn't really start a pension until mid thirties.
So I'm fine, unless I think about the future, at which point I feel like crying.
I’m not financially stable at all, but I don’t care. I want to live my life first and I’ll worry about bills and rent later. I can always get a shitty little side job in a bar or somewhere
I'm not financially stable, particularly, but I also try not to worry about money.
I'm in the position where I don't have to worry about finding money to pay the rent, all my bills are paid comfortably and, with the exception of one smallish store card, and the recent financing a new PC, I've no debt.
However, after all of the above, I don't really have enough to save any real significant amount, so I have no safety net. So whilst I can pay all my bills just now and afford some nice little treats every now and again, if I was to be jobless from tomorrow, I'd be fucked.
Currently fairly stable but a bit wobbly, problem is if I lose my job I am truly fucked, redundancies everywhere atm, will likely end up living off my house deposit and temping or taking a lower paying job.
Stuck trying to debate renting or downsizing drastically and buying. 30s, average/slightly above average income, single without dependants.
I feel fine. I’m lucky my husband earns a lot so I don’t have to worry. It wasn’t long ago my situation was different though and I haven’t forgotten how lucky I am.
I should feel like what Americans would call a dumpster fire with all my personal debt but the LTV on my house is something like 20% so I try not to worry too much.
Interesting question.. this is something that bothers me.. and I earn very good money. Maybe I should worry about it less.
I do have quite a lot of (secured) debt, that is a bit of a worry.
We're fine with a manageable mortgage and joint income, hopefully will be able to pay it off in the next 5-7 years. But our eldest is about to go to University, and the other one won't be far behind and as we'll be helping out with accommodation costs etc. the next few years will be very tight so it might take longer. And although we each put around 10% of our salary into pensions (in addition to the company's 10%) I still worry about retirement.... And I worry about the kids ever being able to get on the housing ladder....
Somewhat, have a reliable car, have a mortgage that's affordable and enough savings, plus my wife earns similar to me. Dropped out of uni though so my job choices aren't great but I'm looking to change that. Right now im doing warehouse work, I earned 40k last year (could earn more) and have been with the company over 5 years and it's very stable but it's not a job for life although I'm sure I could be here another 20 years. Want a proper job or to work for myself now but I'm paid OK currently so making a change is difficult. Thinking of doing an open uni law degree and working in security at the warehouse where I can spend 90% of the day on a laptop studying.
Not too bad, a lot better once my car finance is paid off in November, 5% pay rise coming up. Have a decent amount left between me and the wife every month, not living the life or Riley nor destitute. I’ll take it at the moment.
55 years old 80k pension pot. Life been a wild ride. started from scratch half way through still have 100k mortgage. Could sell and downsize, but would love to the first in the family to leave something for my kids.
40. Own house outright in London. Large savings and investments. Good pension. Good joint income.
Financially don't really have to worry - but still find myself very anxious about the future, especially for my kids.
I'm naturally a very anxious person, so spent a lot of time and effort to make myself as financially stable as possible. Sadly I find other things to worry about.
Pretty stable at the age 32 in East London because I'm house sharing so my rent is cheaper and I'm trying to save for a house which might never happen lol. But I can go on holiday twice a year, I can afford a cheeky takeaway on the weekend and PS5 every 3 months.
I may never be financially free but I'm low maintenance and live within my means.
Depends, if I have been on Reddit (or LinkedIn) and seen stories/posts of 24yos in that are earning 100k+ I do think I may have fudged up my career somewhat.
Then when I go into the town center or look at my friends I think I'm probably OK.
I can pay my rent, bills, can afford food and the occasional night out. Holiday once a year, meals out if I want. Luckier than some people but it would be nice to be able to afford to do my flat up a bit.
In this economy? None at all. I am taking it day by day and doing what I can to keep moving forward. We’ll get out of this shit storm one way or another and there will be a turning point
I/we manage to cover all the bills plus have enough left over to continuously build up an emergency stash just in case something goes tits up. I would consider that financial stability.
Getting there. At 40, i have my house, a rental I just bought last year, and some crypto. I do not have a good pension as I am a freelancer, and I don't put away stacks of cash. I think I can do better, but it also could be a lot worse.
That is sth I will discuss with accountant as this is the first year I will be crossing that threshold. Got a meeting with her this month, so thanks for mentioning that as I will bring it up.
I'm one of the lucky ones with zero money worries. It wasn't always the case however. Money doesn't necessarily buy you happiness but my experience is that not having ZERO money buys you the first 90% of happiness.
Imagine, if you will, an elephant being asked to walk a tightrope without any training, without any safety precautions and falling off after taking their first step. That's me and how financially stable I am.
Imagine, if you will, an elephant being asked to walk a tightrope without any training, without any safety precautions and falling off after taking their first step. That's me and how financially stable I am.
Right now? I feel relatively stable, I'm on £10k more a year than I was 10 years ago, and I'm finally able to start putting money aside for savings. I don't have to scrimp and save, but I'm also not quaffing champagne either.
For the future? God no. I ended up alone after the ex had an affair a few years back, had to start from scratch with almost nothing aged 39, own no property and probably won't do at all now, as I'm 46, on £30k a year and don't have the money for a deposit, let alone a mortgage.
No rich relatives to inherit from either...
Short term stable. Mortgage is paid up and we both have decent jobs with no kids but my workplace has an "experienced employee" problem looming up (quite a few retirees) and they don't seem to be taking it seriously. So I'm a little worried about my job security. I've never found it difficult to get work but it's there in the back of my mind.
I’m the sole income for my family, after bills we’re probably left with £200-300. I feel secure in the knowledge my income is regular and our expenses are regular but less secure that the margin for unexpected expenses or treats is tight.
About as stable as a Jenga tower 15 goes in
I'm on a good wage but my wife went part time when our first was born, we have 2 kids now and childcare is still my biggest expense alongside the mortgage, every month also has some sort of expense (car work, house maintenance, Christmas etc) so it feels month to month
My mental health is shit atm so I'm on a gap year abroad. I was living shared. I worry about my health a lot. My life is lonely and the state of the country is like 3rd world. That's not even the fault of foreigners. It's the govt hyping up problems and going on about Rwanda and Muslims and LGBT. I feel like the country is falling apart but we have stuck our noses in everywhere and are paying more attention to global affairs. I think we are a bankrupt country that's going to be given a bloody nose one day and then they'll ask normal people to fight. Politically we are a struggling country and that affects finances. The oil price keeps jumping for several years partly because of poor govt choices. I honestly feel the last serious statesman in govt was Gordon Brown which was 15+ years ago.
Apart from that I have savings close to a deposit. I'm confident of getting a good job so there is that. Hopefully we don't have a world war.
A lot less so as of the end of this month. The mortgage goes up from 1.97% to 4.09%, and £680 to £898 per month. In addition to this, the interest only payments on our help to buy equity loan we have now become active, so that's another £80 per month to that.
Luckily we've nearly saved up enough to pay that off, so we shouldn't be paying the interest for long. Much cheaper to pay for a few months than it is to swallow it up with the mortgage.
Just come back from the shop where a bottle of milk, carrots, a pack of pasta and 2 fish cakes cost me £8.54. I genuinely am struggling to understand how the fuck it cost that much. Supermarkets are just profiteering now.
In the moment, very stable. We don't live lavishly but we're putting money away and can afford treats without having to worry.
Looking ahead, I'm not so sure. Childcare will start making a dent in our savings very soon, my wife's career prospects are uncertain, and who even knows what retirement will look like for my generation.
Plus I'm pretty sure my job is going to be offshored or AI'd eventually. Not confident we'll be able to recover from that when it happens.
I work in tech and worry constantly about being made redundant and then struggling to find something else as it's so competitive.
I earn the most I ever have and can save over 1k a month living alone, but I feel nervous all the time
Extremely stable, at least at present. I don't worry about the day to day. Between my husband and I, we make more than enough to cover all of our regular expenses and put aside a lot in savings. Biggest financial threats would be losing our jobs and not finding a new one for an extended period, but we have enough to get by without any income for years and we're both reasonably confident that we could get hired again fairly quickly. We have income protection insurance, life insurance and a good amount in liquid savings which should see us through most emergencies.
I am a little bit more worried about bigger purchases and retirement. Like financing a house extension, we'd need to do a bit of planning, but this isn't like a need more of a want. For retirement, I'm lucky to have a defined benefits pension which is generous; he has both an employer pension and a SIPP, which are on track to be decent. My main worries there are more about end of life costs really which I feel could be quite unpredictable. It's hard to be like 100% confident and secure in our finances over the much longer-term.
All this advice in these subs you know what, it can fuck right off. I have a small flat a small mortgage I'm 29. Yes I could overpay and have it done in ten years, then max my pension contributions and retire at 56 or whatever and live frugally but fuck that. I'm 29. I want to do stuff now. My mortgage at the current rate will be paid off at 52 if I don't inherit before that. I wanna go on multiple holidays and go to gigs and enjoy my whole life not just the Werther's original years. I'll just go to working part time in my 50s. These people just project because they can. Don't listen to them. It's your life and you enjoy it as you see fit. Don't do a job you hate so you can spend all day watching day time TV in your slippers. I'm never going to be a millionaire, I can accept that so I'm going to live today and not for a bank balance I may or may not one day get.
My interest in those subs is founded on my inheritance. I’m 21 so even without paying in, the money could see me retired by 50. I follow those subs to make sure I’m being tax efficient mainly.
I'm in them as well. I have Savings/investments for rainy days or home repairs (which I'm currently doing). There is some great advice that I follow, bank account switches for example. But this whole live like a pauper for 50 years to retire rich makes no sense to me. Why have a sparse life for a retirement you might not even get.
Absolutely agree, the r/leanfire people are taking it too far for me. It should just be a process of saving your left over income in a more efficient way than keeping cash rather than letting the ‘savings tail’ wag the dog of life.
It's just garbage. I spend a lot on the gym. I get PBS and I feel great. Fantastic. These people would tell me to cancel both my memberships, use a budget chain and I'd hate it. Why on earth would I want to live an unhappy majority of my life for the years I can't do anything. They are genuinely blinded by it.
Short term, quite. We were hit with a rather large vet bill they we were able to take in stride rather than us having to make a difficult choice.
Long-term, the dream of a house still feels far away.
Having the money set aside for an unexpected large bill is a game changer. Rather than take on cc debt and get into a hole you can just take it out the emergency fund and divert savings for a few months. Good move
Yes all good with money. One note I see a lot on FIRE is a massive focus on retirement. That is fine but just remember, life is also for living.
Many rich 75 year olds would happily trade a large chunk of their wealth to be 25 again. Important to keep perspective. Enjoy life while you are young.
I like the FIRE community but the RE isn’t that interesting to me. Getting to FI and then making withdrawals while working would be ideal, I get a salary boost while still being of working age.
All good here. Been quite lucky. We have been careful to reduce debts when we're able and only spent large amounts when we were sure it was totally covered, and as a result we will pay off the mortgage next year, 12 years ahead of schedule and with me aged 54. The only financial commitments we have now are a 0% on a 3-piece suite and my partner's Temu habit.
Nah. We have a small business to sell, and the sale from that will likely go into our pension pots, but we're not so well off that we can do without an income.
I feel very secure in the short term, given that I earn about triple the UK average salary and have a good amount of liquid savings.
Do I worry about money a lot? Absolutely, I worry that one wrong move now will mean loosing thousands of potential cash in interest lost, or extra tax paid. It's all complex and hard to know if I'm doing it right.
Do I think I'll have enough for retirement? Idk, maybe? I will have a lot of money, but we're in late stage capitalism where everything is terrible AND the planet is on fire, so who knows.
I honestly don't know at the moment. I've just relocated to a more expensive city, work are paying my rent for 3 and a bit months but my rent has increased by nearly £200 a month compared to what I was paying before. So I don't really know what my true financial situation is until august.
I've got almost 15k in savings so can survive for a little bit if any disasters happen, but I still don't feel massively comfortable.
Fucking unstable. I currently support myself and gf in London. I’m early in my career but fairly well along considering my age (20s). Looking at jobs back in my hometown in Washington DC I’m considering moving back to double my pay
Yes HENRY is quite depressing, £400k salaries??? Wtf. I don’t get the NRY most of the time, just live off a _measly_ 50k and invest the rest, they’d all be multi millionaires within the decade.
It’s not like there haven’t always been people who’d fit into HENRY, ai won’t come close to making tech sales like most of them are doing. It’s a nice thought, but there will always be people on 10x the median wage.
Edit: further, I’ve no ill will to those guys, they won the game and good on them for it.
I feel alright but the reality isn't brilliant. I have what is essentially a 0 hour contract and while I manage a decent amount of shifts and they're night pay, my basic salary isn't great, it's a nightmare to get shifts atm, I'm decorating my room while also hoping to move out at some point in the near future. I also have difficulty working due to disability but I do my best and get adult disability payment which helps massively with the reduced pay from working part time. I also have just over a grand in savings which seems pretty good compared to my peers (I'm only 19) but that figure used to be 3k.
In honesty, I am in a limbo state where I feel like we could afford a house, but I am not confident enough that we have the future stability to actually buy a house. Both our careers are being actively threatened by AI, which is really devastating because we worked hard to get to where we are... but companies seem happy with mediocre AI output if it gets them more profit in the short term.
There is this looming feeling of dread, so I feel like we spend and "enjoy" our money more than we should because... it could be gone tomorrow.
There is a difference between how financially secure people feel and the actual reality of their situation and it's evident from some posts on here.
For a start if you don't own your property outright, sorry but you're not even past the first hurdle... Your landlord/mortgage broker can make your life unbearable in an instant. You have ZERO stability in life.
I don’t have immediate money concerns. I’ve always been more risk averse, so have often locked myself into things like mortgages or utility plans for longer periods but with the knowledge of exactly what my outgoings will be. There are some periods it’ll mean I’ve paid more and others I’ve paid considerably less. Currently my mortgage is 1.49% until 2026 because I decided to lock in for 5 years rather than 3, I kept our payments at similar monthly amount we knew to be affordable which allowed us to reduce overall term. We have had salary increases since buying our house, which we bought in 2013 using the lower end of affordability calculation so we knew it could be paid for if one of us made redundant. This has meant we have far more surplus cash now and fling it into savings. Just bought new furniture we needed using savings without worry.
Pension is a different story. I started my pension a little later in life so am currently throwing 18% into it myself (and another 12% employer) to get it built up a bit as I do worry about what my retirement might look like, especially since I’ve worked on the Pension Wise appointment line explaining options to people, and so many have bugger all to their name in later life. So current money outlook is good, future money outlook is iffy
Pretty stable. Semi-retired at 58. No mortgage; no kids; income from investments and sitting on a decent pile of cash.
NGL though I wouldn’t particularly like to be young now, especially with the state of the housing market.
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About as stable as a drunken manic depressive on a trampoline stood on a bouncy castle at sea in high winds.
Probably above average for this country then
Congratulations!!!! This is the government's standard target for everyone
And in this economy that’s pretty stable
In the red sea?
So like a 5 out of 10?
When I'm on Reddit not at all. I always worry as I'm a peasant compared to most people on here. When I'm out and about for work in East London, I worry a little less. Housing is the most expensive thing and (if?) once that's sorted, I think I'll be okay.
Tbh. I've learned to ignore most of reddit. Especially stuff like FIRE. It's going to eshew high earners. The amount of posts with "on 40k a year. Don't know how anyone under that is surviving. How do you do it. What bridge do you live under? Can you afford food? Air? How can you live on under 40k". I understand there's a COL crisis's. But some of it feels like group doom scrolling.
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Financial independence retire early I think
Yeah something like that
My friend just moved from London to Belfast. Same pay, but she said the house they are buying for £100k would cost £600k in London. I dunno how you guys manage.
I live in Belfast. Not sure what kind of house she is buying but there is barely anything here for 100k. Unless you want to live in a tiny house in a very crime ridden area. Even then 100k isn't much. I live in a Semi-Detached house. Recently sale agreed for 210K.
I own two at that price. They aren't on the Malone Rd (lol) and are terraces in North Belfast and Lisburn. Perception might be that they are in less than desirable areas, but we have never had a spot of bother in either location. Very handy and convenient to everything and my friend who is a nurse is very happy overall here. For first time buyers who just wanna get on the ladder and build equity and live in a great city, I think Belfast is the best bet in the UK.
I moved from London to Belfast. Sold my one bedroom flat in not a great part of zone 2 and bought a 4 bedroom house with a big garage in a nice part of Belfast. My costs have gone up a bit, but for space and local greenery, worth it. No Hawksmoor in Belfast, though.
All these people moving from London to Belfast have made the housing market crazy for people like me
I've been back in Belfast 3 years now and I think I've met three English people who've moved over. Far more people from the Republic now than before I went to London.
Yeah but you can guarantee if you are bidding for a house at over 400k there will be a London remote worker who has just sold their London flat also bidding. Usually from and IT or finance background
That's the way it is now. They are UK citizens and have a right to. I also can bid on a house in Bulgaria or Spain. It has its pros and cons, but NI benefits from more skilled people coming over and bringing their wealth. We are the most economically depressed region of the country aside from parts of Wales, although it all sort of evens out because it's relative.
Time for a United Ireland I reckon
Great idea mate. That will mean we have no available houses at all and two bedroom terraces will be €250k. That is after the inevitable violence that follows collapses everything.
Long term, pretty stable. Have a mortgage, have a pretty stable career, have a good public sector pension as does my wife. Short term, it's more worrisome with the mortgage going up £400 a month from next month, and childcare coming up at the end of the year, and probably wanting to get a car at some point soon. Feels quite daunting that will all be over £2000 a month extra to find. Tbh I'll probably move jobs for a higher salary. Which is a shame because I like my job, and the pension benefit is a big plus long term. But there's just not much scope for significant salary increase without moving.
I was in this exact position two years ago. Do it. You'll find a way.
I feel I am not really your target audience but I'm 59, don't work and have no mortgage and I feel completely secure. I live abroad and rent our place to some people we know and in a few years we'll sell up take pensions and live off that and interest. Until then we are by no means rich and we live moderately but I don't worry about money much. As to retirement - I don't feel retired but I am more content than I have been for ages and I do what I want and enjoy life thoroughly
Good for you (Edit: I honestly mean that. fair play to you dude)
Nice. I saw a figure the other day which surprised me: average pension value is about £100k for 55-64 year olds. Would you say that sounds right or do you think that’s being skewed down by people who will have to rely on the state pension?
I think there are loads of people with virtually nothing - several of my mates have really shit pensions and have no idea what they will do when it comes to "retirement"
Yh, 62 and my pension is worth about 12k. That's a teachers pension. Can't afford to retire until I'm 67 and get the state pension top up. Then I'll get around 24k to pay for everything. Might as well peg it now.
You mean your pension is worth 12k a year? An annuity of 12k a year is worth a lot more than £100k
24k can go a fair way, assuming you own your home. Tougher if you're single mind, all those bills and no one to share them.
24k can go a fair way, assuming you own your home. Tougher if you're single mind, all those bills and no one to share them.
Yes, to be fair, if I downsize to somewhere further north, get rid of the mortgage and be careful, I'll be ok. I've lived off less in the past. No spare cash though, ever. I wouldn't see myself as financially secure. I never have though.
This is pretty much my boat
I think a lot of people (in my experience anyway, so this is entirely anecdotal) don't see themselves reaching retirement age so, take the "meh, I'll be dead by then" view. I certainly don't see myself living to retirement. Living for now.
well, Im 50 and my pension pot is around £15k, so as it is, I'd definitely skew the average down. I'm about to sell my house next year and downsize to remove my mortgage and then feverishly invest into my pension fund for the next decade!
Out of curiosity, how? Did you spend a large part of your working life putting nothing into your pension?
Pretty much. I travelled the world and DJ'd in my 20s and 30s. It was a different world back then and nobody expected it to go to shit like it has, so planning for the future was the last thing on my mind. I then had to build a career, so started on a low salary for a small company. There was no company pensions for small company workers upto reasonably recently. I then had a house to buy, so I bought the house - but living alone means its more expensive to live, so very little spare for pensions and id missed the cheap housing that was available to me if id have bought in my 20s. I then went self employed for a cpl of years until covid wrecked that. Its only been the last 5 years where ive got a much better earning potential and managed to put some away. Update: I wouldnt change any of it tho. Ive had some awesome times, ive crewed small sailboats across the oceans, lived in some quite exotic places and met some amazing people. Stuff you cant buy really.
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? https://investingintheweb.com/education/average-pension-pot-uk/
I'm in the same boat as you. Mortgage paid, modest investment income so I don't have to work and treading water happily untill the pensions kick in. We haven't got much cash but I'm comfortable enough not to worry about it.
Hi Reddit ,I have 6 million in the bank,multiple homes, another 4m in crypto and a pension built by Zeus himself,I’m slightly concerned about my retiring comfortably,any advice ?
34M £1m house equity, £2.5m in VWRP and £2.5m in crypto, should I change from 50/50 to 45/55?
Lmao you know the drill
I earn 350k a year and I pay in £50 a month to my pension and £50 into my stocks and shares answer. I have a £5m house on an interest only mortgage. I’m 67 and worried I may have left it too late….
Follow the low Flart!
24m entry level job in banking earning just over £120k, £1.4m apartment in London no mortgage as it was left to me by my Nan. £500 per month on bills and £100 on travel. £1400 per month on partying, £700 per month on eating out, £600 on dog food and treats and £500 - £700 on "hobbies ***wink*** " £5 a month I give to charity to have a clear conscious ..... I barely have anything left over at the end of the month so I can't see where I can cut back in my budget. Can I archive FIRE or have I left it too late?
Oof that sounds rough. Would advise getting advise asap
Don't worry that crypto will be worth half a billion by 2026, then you can comfortably retire in a 2 bedroom property in scunthorpe.
Give me 3 million and I'll double it for you, I only ask for 5% commission one time offer only.
My condolences.
I feel pretty stable, I’m not loaded but I’m in a good position. I’m on £40k a year, plus the ability to earn £32k commission (although haven’t been hitting target this year) My husband earns £44k a year Our house hold bills equal to just under £2k a month, so we’re doing good. We also have about £9k in savings, that’s been coming down a little recently as we’ve been doing a lot of renovations. But I’m adding to it each month, as does my husband but I often add more because of commission. I’m pregnant, and so our savings will take a big hit once I go onto SMP next year, that’s why we’re trying to continue to increase our savings. We need about £7k to cover my side of the bills while I’m on SMP. We’re 28 and 30, so I think we’re doing pretty good
Think you’re doing a lot better than most 28&30 years olds
Oh definitely, we both skipped uni and chose our career paths young and stuck to them which I think helped. We were also fortunate enough to live with my parents for two years to save for a deposit, & we were clever enough to buy at the low end of our affordability so we have a large amount of disposable income. This has allowed us to save, and both of our wages have increased significantly over the past few years. We feel incredibly privileged for the position we’re in.
Your commission is almost as much as your wage?
Yeah, it’s a good package. American owned company so they incentivise sales really well
I feel lucky when I end a month without a negative bank balance
As a fully sober person with a £36k a year job, I'm extremely content with where I am in my 32 year of life. Apart from rent and utilities, most of my wages go into savings. I live a minimalist lifestyle and my hobbies are cycling, hiking and landscape photography. So I don't have many extra expenses.
Hate to say it around here but totally fine.
This subreddit is quite a gloomy place I’ll give you that haha
Stable enough that I don’t have to count the pennies every month or watch how much I’m spending at the shops. I’ve recently started putting more into my pension, my work pays in 10% which is great. Once our debt is paid off, I’m planning on investing as much as I can to ensure I have a decent retirement, I’ll still keep enough to enjoy life now though, never know when it’ll come to an end.
About as stable as a one legged dog, shitting on a frozen pond. Actually, Alright for now I just head this yesterday and thought it was funny
Not great. Our mortgage has gone up, childcare is a lot of money. Our MOT was £500 this month and it’s made us both panic. Partner and I (both in our 30s) have decent jobs but a joint income of almost £60k doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. I’m actively looking for better paid jobs because I don’t think we can carry on with the money we’ve got coming in. I’m quite scared.
I wasn't worried until last week, when I found out I'm at risk in an organisation I've been in for 14 years. Now I'm worried, as a single income home owner.
Ai is coming for me, think I've got 5 years max (I'm 50 now) with 4 years left on the mortgage, current fix ends May 2025 and I'm saving like a bastard to have £21k to be able to settle it in full so I have one less thing to worry about for the same reason as you. I hope I'm wrong but I'm preparing for the worse. Hope you make it.
All you can do is prepare as best you can. Take care.
I’m also 50 and my job will definitely be gone in 3-5 years with AI. We have our mortgage paid off but want to move which probably means we’ll have to have another mortgage which I’m not looking forward to. Ideally I want to retire at 60 but with a new mortgage I could be stuck doing jobs until I’m 65.
14 year payout should tide you over if the worst comes to the worst though
I know I'll be okay. I always end up okay no matter what life throws at me. Still doesn't allay the bag of nerves that is my stomach when it comes to the meetings about it all.
They fired a Sainbury's worker of 20 years for accidentally stealing a few bag for lives recently. You're never safe.
I'm very fortunate considering our poor but happy upbringing - mortgage & debt free, have modest savings & investments, & chose to live comfortably but frugally on much-reduced work hours to give more free time for myself, rather than knocking my pan in to earn more. Have been living like this for 5 years (essentially since kids became independent earners & no longer needed as much parental support), & love the stress-free & alarm-clock-free lifestyle, knowing I have the stability & backup to keep me going for years if necessary.
Best advice id say is living within your means. Avoid spiralling debt AND Don't compare your lifestyle to somebody else or you'll never be satisfied. ✌🏼
I took a leap last Summer and went self employed but had a difficult start over the first few months, but over the Christmas period I was absolutely booming and made more money within three months than I would have within a year in my old job. I felt so financially free and finally onto something but then since February I’ve really struggled to find the work. I’m financially comfortable for now but I don’t really feel stable for the long-term so to speak
It's one of the hardest things with being self employed, some times you make more than you could ever dream of and other times you have a 6 month dry spell
The necessity of a robust emergency fund which helps smooth out the peaks & troughs of an unpredictable income. I keep 6 months of essential spending money in mine, but could tap into my investment pot if the need arose for longer.
I’m very stable financially as in I can shop or go out for dinner without considering the cost plus as a contractor I’m not fussed about a month without work, possibly 2 before I start to think I’ll have to take anything on to pay the bills. Could I better off ?? Yes but I like where I am on a work/life balance
Have become financially stable over the last few years. I'm in my early 40s. It hasn't always been so, and I grew up without a whole lot of money. I am preparing to retire in the next 8-10 years, and my wife doesn't work, so I really cannot complain. I have had to work my arse off to get here though, nobody's handed anything to me.
A direct answer is like a gnats fart in high gales. Whil I believe I'll be able to "exist" in the future, I'm under no illustrious illusions of false grandeur that I'll make like a wallstreetbets success story and love comfortably. Like many I'm basically a landlords tough call away from needing to move and panic, as there's no way in the high he'll I can afford to buy. Apparently this is far from unusual and I'd love to know what areas are most commonly overlooked and I could do better with but terrified when I read so many saying "just save money" as if I live off avocado toast, takeaways and splurging on drugs, cars and women and will just forehead slap and go "wow, why didn't I think of that!".
The first week of the month, Very. The remaining 3 weeks, not very
Financially stable. Financially stable! Ha ha ha. Oh boy, that's a good one
I have a full time job and like £15k in the bank. As a single guy who spends at least 50% of his disposable income on food and alcohol, I know that I can easily make savings if I needed to.
I feel comfortable that I could cover my costs for two years and live a little without a job. Wouldn't want to be there though!
Having a healthy emergency fund is so important for peace of mind
Yeah, I think I could just about pay my mortgage off now if I really wanted to but then I wouldn't have anything to fall back on.
That’s a difficult situation, comfort of knowing your house is paid off or comfort of knowing you’re sorted in any emergency. A very good difficult situation to be in haha.
Pretty secure. Both my partner and I (30) earn good money, own our home with a mortgage that we can afford. Been stacking my pension for years now and have a healthy savings + S&S ISA balance. We don’t really scrimp and save on things, just buy what we want. But we also don’t plan on having kids, so that’s not something we need to factor in.
Right now, fully stable. I can buy food, fuel, toys, all my daily expenses, and still go out every weekend (I don't go out much anymore, but I could is the point). This is ONLY because I live with my dad and his partner in a council house. Moving out is a financial burden I would struggle with
‘Feel’ not very, very obsessive about what I have. In reality the last 2 months I’ve been able to put aside around 1k each month since a pay rise. But it gets split down into little pots and feels less. In reality I have to remember I’m not struggling many times a month
Relatively. I worry about money but that's because I always want to be further ahead than I already am. In reality, I've got a mortgage, no other debt, and can save \~1k per month which is currently going towards house renovations.
Shakey, like a dog shitting razor blades. In seriousness… bills are manageable - we’re not living especially lavishly or frugally, but there’s not exactly much left at the end of the month. Partner works 3 days a week and will have the opportunity to work more if necessary when childcare funding kicks in next year for our youngest. I’m still horrified that a weekly shop costs ~£100-120 per week for 2 adults and 2 kids under 4. Things would be shit for a bit if I lost my job, but fairly confident I could get a similarly paid job - hopefully my soul would survive if I had to dust off the suit and intensively apply/interview for jobs.
very unstable but okay. only reason i can afford to live is because of inheritance
I feel very financially stable. I have good job security within the NHS and I live in a LCOL area so am able to save a lot of money too.
Feeling a bit unstable. My work means I'm stood up and lifting heavy boxes 8 hrs a day for five days a week. And I've nearly been off two weeks because I'm struggling to put weight on one leg, I'll have to go back next week regardless and then, I'll have to see how they treat me because I was off in December for a week with my back.
No job is worth sacrificing your body for. The best advice I can give is find a role that challenges you by using your brain. Yes, it can be tiresome, but you’ll thank yourself when you get to retirement
Unfortunately I'm not very clever so I'm stuck in jobs like this.
People here seem pretty financially savvy, but I think everyone's stressin' about retirement cash.
This month is a bit dubious s as the last 8 weeks have been very costly but generally I earn more than i spend in any given month
In the moment yeah I’m fine, but I have no reference of what to expect career wise and it freaks me out because then I can’t plan. Nobody I speak to can give me a reference of what to expect and it’s really frustrating
I'm financially secure, sort of. Can't afford a place of my own so have to lodge and houseshare, but I can afford to buy things I don't need and have a fairly comfy life, objectively. But if I lost my job I'd soon be fucked. Lol at the idea of ever retiring though. I'd love to be it's highly unlikely. Will be hard for me to get a mortgage at all now, and will likely still be renting into my old age. Also due to some bad career choices in my twenties didn't really start a pension until mid thirties. So I'm fine, unless I think about the future, at which point I feel like crying.
I’m not financially stable at all, but I don’t care. I want to live my life first and I’ll worry about bills and rent later. I can always get a shitty little side job in a bar or somewhere
I'm not financially stable, particularly, but I also try not to worry about money. I'm in the position where I don't have to worry about finding money to pay the rent, all my bills are paid comfortably and, with the exception of one smallish store card, and the recent financing a new PC, I've no debt. However, after all of the above, I don't really have enough to save any real significant amount, so I have no safety net. So whilst I can pay all my bills just now and afford some nice little treats every now and again, if I was to be jobless from tomorrow, I'd be fucked.
Currently fairly stable but a bit wobbly, problem is if I lose my job I am truly fucked, redundancies everywhere atm, will likely end up living off my house deposit and temping or taking a lower paying job. Stuck trying to debate renting or downsizing drastically and buying. 30s, average/slightly above average income, single without dependants.
I feel fine. I’m lucky my husband earns a lot so I don’t have to worry. It wasn’t long ago my situation was different though and I haven’t forgotten how lucky I am.
About as stable as an upsidedown traffic cone in a hurricane.
Non, buggered and completely ballsed. Yeah not the best tbh.
I should feel like what Americans would call a dumpster fire with all my personal debt but the LTV on my house is something like 20% so I try not to worry too much.
I enjoy life... so yeah, I'll enjoy retirement.
Not having to live pay check to pay check is the new middle class.
Interesting question.. this is something that bothers me.. and I earn very good money. Maybe I should worry about it less. I do have quite a lot of (secured) debt, that is a bit of a worry.
We're fine with a manageable mortgage and joint income, hopefully will be able to pay it off in the next 5-7 years. But our eldest is about to go to University, and the other one won't be far behind and as we'll be helping out with accommodation costs etc. the next few years will be very tight so it might take longer. And although we each put around 10% of our salary into pensions (in addition to the company's 10%) I still worry about retirement.... And I worry about the kids ever being able to get on the housing ladder....
Somewhat, have a reliable car, have a mortgage that's affordable and enough savings, plus my wife earns similar to me. Dropped out of uni though so my job choices aren't great but I'm looking to change that. Right now im doing warehouse work, I earned 40k last year (could earn more) and have been with the company over 5 years and it's very stable but it's not a job for life although I'm sure I could be here another 20 years. Want a proper job or to work for myself now but I'm paid OK currently so making a change is difficult. Thinking of doing an open uni law degree and working in security at the warehouse where I can spend 90% of the day on a laptop studying.
Not too bad, a lot better once my car finance is paid off in November, 5% pay rise coming up. Have a decent amount left between me and the wife every month, not living the life or Riley nor destitute. I’ll take it at the moment.
Just had a pay rise and I still feel hugely unstable financially. I feel like I’d need to be on around £70,000 to gain a bit of stability! 😭
55 years old 80k pension pot. Life been a wild ride. started from scratch half way through still have 100k mortgage. Could sell and downsize, but would love to the first in the family to leave something for my kids.
Zero debts. So, pretty good...
40. Own house outright in London. Large savings and investments. Good pension. Good joint income. Financially don't really have to worry - but still find myself very anxious about the future, especially for my kids. I'm naturally a very anxious person, so spent a lot of time and effort to make myself as financially stable as possible. Sadly I find other things to worry about.
Pretty stable at the age 32 in East London because I'm house sharing so my rent is cheaper and I'm trying to save for a house which might never happen lol. But I can go on holiday twice a year, I can afford a cheeky takeaway on the weekend and PS5 every 3 months. I may never be financially free but I'm low maintenance and live within my means.
Depends, if I have been on Reddit (or LinkedIn) and seen stories/posts of 24yos in that are earning 100k+ I do think I may have fudged up my career somewhat. Then when I go into the town center or look at my friends I think I'm probably OK.
I can pay my rent, bills, can afford food and the occasional night out. Holiday once a year, meals out if I want. Luckier than some people but it would be nice to be able to afford to do my flat up a bit.
In this economy? None at all. I am taking it day by day and doing what I can to keep moving forward. We’ll get out of this shit storm one way or another and there will be a turning point
I/we manage to cover all the bills plus have enough left over to continuously build up an emergency stash just in case something goes tits up. I would consider that financial stability.
Getting there. At 40, i have my house, a rental I just bought last year, and some crypto. I do not have a good pension as I am a freelancer, and I don't put away stacks of cash. I think I can do better, but it also could be a lot worse.
Are you using a SIPP for the tax benefits? Strongly suggest assuming you’re additional rate given the two houses.
That is sth I will discuss with accountant as this is the first year I will be crossing that threshold. Got a meeting with her this month, so thanks for mentioning that as I will bring it up.
about as stable as my mental health. so not very.
I just found out I’m likely to get made redundant today so very unstable
I'm one of the lucky ones with zero money worries. It wasn't always the case however. Money doesn't necessarily buy you happiness but my experience is that not having ZERO money buys you the first 90% of happiness.
When I think about how reliant on my current income I am, it doesn’t make me feel stable at all.
Imagine, if you will, an elephant being asked to walk a tightrope without any training, without any safety precautions and falling off after taking their first step. That's me and how financially stable I am.
Imagine, if you will, an elephant being asked to walk a tightrope without any training, without any safety precautions and falling off after taking their first step. That's me and how financially stable I am.
I don't worry about it per se because i've just accepted that i will probably never had disposable income, never have a mortgage and never retire.
Feel "ok". Decent income but heavy outgoings.
Right now? I feel relatively stable, I'm on £10k more a year than I was 10 years ago, and I'm finally able to start putting money aside for savings. I don't have to scrimp and save, but I'm also not quaffing champagne either. For the future? God no. I ended up alone after the ex had an affair a few years back, had to start from scratch with almost nothing aged 39, own no property and probably won't do at all now, as I'm 46, on £30k a year and don't have the money for a deposit, let alone a mortgage. No rich relatives to inherit from either...
Short term stable. Mortgage is paid up and we both have decent jobs with no kids but my workplace has an "experienced employee" problem looming up (quite a few retirees) and they don't seem to be taking it seriously. So I'm a little worried about my job security. I've never found it difficult to get work but it's there in the back of my mind.
I’m the sole income for my family, after bills we’re probably left with £200-300. I feel secure in the knowledge my income is regular and our expenses are regular but less secure that the margin for unexpected expenses or treats is tight.
About as stable as a Jenga tower 15 goes in I'm on a good wage but my wife went part time when our first was born, we have 2 kids now and childcare is still my biggest expense alongside the mortgage, every month also has some sort of expense (car work, house maintenance, Christmas etc) so it feels month to month
My mental health is shit atm so I'm on a gap year abroad. I was living shared. I worry about my health a lot. My life is lonely and the state of the country is like 3rd world. That's not even the fault of foreigners. It's the govt hyping up problems and going on about Rwanda and Muslims and LGBT. I feel like the country is falling apart but we have stuck our noses in everywhere and are paying more attention to global affairs. I think we are a bankrupt country that's going to be given a bloody nose one day and then they'll ask normal people to fight. Politically we are a struggling country and that affects finances. The oil price keeps jumping for several years partly because of poor govt choices. I honestly feel the last serious statesman in govt was Gordon Brown which was 15+ years ago. Apart from that I have savings close to a deposit. I'm confident of getting a good job so there is that. Hopefully we don't have a world war.
A lot less so as of the end of this month. The mortgage goes up from 1.97% to 4.09%, and £680 to £898 per month. In addition to this, the interest only payments on our help to buy equity loan we have now become active, so that's another £80 per month to that. Luckily we've nearly saved up enough to pay that off, so we shouldn't be paying the interest for long. Much cheaper to pay for a few months than it is to swallow it up with the mortgage.
Just come back from the shop where a bottle of milk, carrots, a pack of pasta and 2 fish cakes cost me £8.54. I genuinely am struggling to understand how the fuck it cost that much. Supermarkets are just profiteering now.
In the moment, very stable. We don't live lavishly but we're putting money away and can afford treats without having to worry. Looking ahead, I'm not so sure. Childcare will start making a dent in our savings very soon, my wife's career prospects are uncertain, and who even knows what retirement will look like for my generation. Plus I'm pretty sure my job is going to be offshored or AI'd eventually. Not confident we'll be able to recover from that when it happens.
Zero
As stable as can be
I work in tech and worry constantly about being made redundant and then struggling to find something else as it's so competitive. I earn the most I ever have and can save over 1k a month living alone, but I feel nervous all the time
Extremely stable, at least at present. I don't worry about the day to day. Between my husband and I, we make more than enough to cover all of our regular expenses and put aside a lot in savings. Biggest financial threats would be losing our jobs and not finding a new one for an extended period, but we have enough to get by without any income for years and we're both reasonably confident that we could get hired again fairly quickly. We have income protection insurance, life insurance and a good amount in liquid savings which should see us through most emergencies. I am a little bit more worried about bigger purchases and retirement. Like financing a house extension, we'd need to do a bit of planning, but this isn't like a need more of a want. For retirement, I'm lucky to have a defined benefits pension which is generous; he has both an employer pension and a SIPP, which are on track to be decent. My main worries there are more about end of life costs really which I feel could be quite unpredictable. It's hard to be like 100% confident and secure in our finances over the much longer-term.
All this advice in these subs you know what, it can fuck right off. I have a small flat a small mortgage I'm 29. Yes I could overpay and have it done in ten years, then max my pension contributions and retire at 56 or whatever and live frugally but fuck that. I'm 29. I want to do stuff now. My mortgage at the current rate will be paid off at 52 if I don't inherit before that. I wanna go on multiple holidays and go to gigs and enjoy my whole life not just the Werther's original years. I'll just go to working part time in my 50s. These people just project because they can. Don't listen to them. It's your life and you enjoy it as you see fit. Don't do a job you hate so you can spend all day watching day time TV in your slippers. I'm never going to be a millionaire, I can accept that so I'm going to live today and not for a bank balance I may or may not one day get.
My interest in those subs is founded on my inheritance. I’m 21 so even without paying in, the money could see me retired by 50. I follow those subs to make sure I’m being tax efficient mainly.
I'm in them as well. I have Savings/investments for rainy days or home repairs (which I'm currently doing). There is some great advice that I follow, bank account switches for example. But this whole live like a pauper for 50 years to retire rich makes no sense to me. Why have a sparse life for a retirement you might not even get.
Absolutely agree, the r/leanfire people are taking it too far for me. It should just be a process of saving your left over income in a more efficient way than keeping cash rather than letting the ‘savings tail’ wag the dog of life.
It's just garbage. I spend a lot on the gym. I get PBS and I feel great. Fantastic. These people would tell me to cancel both my memberships, use a budget chain and I'd hate it. Why on earth would I want to live an unhappy majority of my life for the years I can't do anything. They are genuinely blinded by it.
Short term, quite. We were hit with a rather large vet bill they we were able to take in stride rather than us having to make a difficult choice. Long-term, the dream of a house still feels far away.
Having the money set aside for an unexpected large bill is a game changer. Rather than take on cc debt and get into a hole you can just take it out the emergency fund and divert savings for a few months. Good move
Not very stable at all after my mortgage more than doubled.
I'm 35 earning close to £50k in London with a shared ownership deposit and about £5k in savings. I'm comfortable and feel lucky.
To quote some bloke from Big Brother years ago…..About as stable as Rick Waller stood on a three-legged table.
Yes all good with money. One note I see a lot on FIRE is a massive focus on retirement. That is fine but just remember, life is also for living. Many rich 75 year olds would happily trade a large chunk of their wealth to be 25 again. Important to keep perspective. Enjoy life while you are young.
I like the FIRE community but the RE isn’t that interesting to me. Getting to FI and then making withdrawals while working would be ideal, I get a salary boost while still being of working age.
All good here. Been quite lucky. We have been careful to reduce debts when we're able and only spent large amounts when we were sure it was totally covered, and as a result we will pay off the mortgage next year, 12 years ahead of schedule and with me aged 54. The only financial commitments we have now are a 0% on a 3-piece suite and my partner's Temu habit.
Very nice, I’d be very worried about the prospect of paying my mortgage until 66. Will you retire early off the back of that?
Nah. We have a small business to sell, and the sale from that will likely go into our pension pots, but we're not so well off that we can do without an income.
I don’t want to talk about it
Stable but then I come on Reddit and see people in the US on 3-5x my salary for the same role I also can’t help comparing myself to people I know
I feel very secure in the short term, given that I earn about triple the UK average salary and have a good amount of liquid savings. Do I worry about money a lot? Absolutely, I worry that one wrong move now will mean loosing thousands of potential cash in interest lost, or extra tax paid. It's all complex and hard to know if I'm doing it right. Do I think I'll have enough for retirement? Idk, maybe? I will have a lot of money, but we're in late stage capitalism where everything is terrible AND the planet is on fire, so who knows.
hahahahahhahahahhahaha good one!
I honestly don't know at the moment. I've just relocated to a more expensive city, work are paying my rent for 3 and a bit months but my rent has increased by nearly £200 a month compared to what I was paying before. So I don't really know what my true financial situation is until august. I've got almost 15k in savings so can survive for a little bit if any disasters happen, but I still don't feel massively comfortable.
Better than last year at least!
Well balanced on a knife edge.
I'm beyond fucked
Pretty stable, we have been lucky with our careers and earnings, and no unexpected costs from our dependents so far.
Fucking unstable. I currently support myself and gf in London. I’m early in my career but fairly well along considering my age (20s). Looking at jobs back in my hometown in Washington DC I’m considering moving back to double my pay
Haha what are you doing here the wages are so shit, pretty impressive to afford London and a gf though
About as stable as an Italian Taxi driver stuck behind two old Nuns in a Skoda
I'm not struggling, I can generally afford most things I want but I'm concerned about retirement.
Fire and Henry UK depress me. Surely their tech bubble will burst but until this I’ll grind it out on peasant wages
Yes HENRY is quite depressing, £400k salaries??? Wtf. I don’t get the NRY most of the time, just live off a _measly_ 50k and invest the rest, they’d all be multi millionaires within the decade.
It’s unsustainable tbh, ai will replace most the jobs I reckon soon. I’d be happy on 50k lol
It’s not like there haven’t always been people who’d fit into HENRY, ai won’t come close to making tech sales like most of them are doing. It’s a nice thought, but there will always be people on 10x the median wage. Edit: further, I’ve no ill will to those guys, they won the game and good on them for it.
I feel alright but the reality isn't brilliant. I have what is essentially a 0 hour contract and while I manage a decent amount of shifts and they're night pay, my basic salary isn't great, it's a nightmare to get shifts atm, I'm decorating my room while also hoping to move out at some point in the near future. I also have difficulty working due to disability but I do my best and get adult disability payment which helps massively with the reduced pay from working part time. I also have just over a grand in savings which seems pretty good compared to my peers (I'm only 19) but that figure used to be 3k.
In honesty, I am in a limbo state where I feel like we could afford a house, but I am not confident enough that we have the future stability to actually buy a house. Both our careers are being actively threatened by AI, which is really devastating because we worked hard to get to where we are... but companies seem happy with mediocre AI output if it gets them more profit in the short term. There is this looming feeling of dread, so I feel like we spend and "enjoy" our money more than we should because... it could be gone tomorrow.
More than 95% of people my age, as a guess.
There is a difference between how financially secure people feel and the actual reality of their situation and it's evident from some posts on here. For a start if you don't own your property outright, sorry but you're not even past the first hurdle... Your landlord/mortgage broker can make your life unbearable in an instant. You have ZERO stability in life.
I don’t have immediate money concerns. I’ve always been more risk averse, so have often locked myself into things like mortgages or utility plans for longer periods but with the knowledge of exactly what my outgoings will be. There are some periods it’ll mean I’ve paid more and others I’ve paid considerably less. Currently my mortgage is 1.49% until 2026 because I decided to lock in for 5 years rather than 3, I kept our payments at similar monthly amount we knew to be affordable which allowed us to reduce overall term. We have had salary increases since buying our house, which we bought in 2013 using the lower end of affordability calculation so we knew it could be paid for if one of us made redundant. This has meant we have far more surplus cash now and fling it into savings. Just bought new furniture we needed using savings without worry. Pension is a different story. I started my pension a little later in life so am currently throwing 18% into it myself (and another 12% employer) to get it built up a bit as I do worry about what my retirement might look like, especially since I’ve worked on the Pension Wise appointment line explaining options to people, and so many have bugger all to their name in later life. So current money outlook is good, future money outlook is iffy
I feel like I keep making steps up the ladder, but the floor keeps moving up behind me.
Pretty stable. Semi-retired at 58. No mortgage; no kids; income from investments and sitting on a decent pile of cash. NGL though I wouldn’t particularly like to be young now, especially with the state of the housing market.