[Closed] How much debt?

I don't really want to go into my own situation, but I was surprised the other day to find out that the average amount of savings people have is £450.
Considering how much I perceive people to be spending on holidays, mortgages, and just 'stuff' I reckon most must have personal debt that would keep me awake at night.

Low interest rates meant that we payed every penny we could into the mortgage.
Being self employed not having a mortgage is a huge relief. Not one penny owed to anyone.

I hate debt, i cant bear it.
I guess I was in debt for most of my 20's.
Its a bit irrational really. I earn good money these days in my 40's, only 30k of mortgage left that will be clear in 18 months with no other debt, the mortgage debt is a constant worry though, im almost counting down the days.

Nearly debt free, last count I owed £23k on the mortgage.
Don't finance cars, I buy outright. 1 credit card with less than £1 owing.

I'm a tight shit, always have been. Cash has always ruled in my house, don't have it? Ya can't spend it (yeah, I have that CC but hey)

I think you've done very well OP, pulled in the reins when needed and as long as you are happy today, that's all that matters.

5k given to us by the fi law 16 years ago set us up for life. Used as a deposit mid housing bubble. Don't suppose it would even touch the sides of conveyancing and stamp duty costs now a days. No unsecured debt whatsoever and own over half our house. Should probably do something to move forward in the "housing market" but love the fact our mortgage is only 500 a month.

I owe about a grand (give or take a coupla hundred quid) to family and friends

that's it

Should probably do something to move forward in the "housing market" but love the fact our mortgage is only 500 a month.

I don't know about 'moving forward' in the housing market. I mean, to me a house is a home, and if you're happy there, why move? Goodness knows (as does molgrips!) how tight a squeeze our place is, but I don't think I would move even if I had four times the salary.

no debt here.

At one point I had 59k worth of personal unsecured debt.

I now have a couple of grand saved.

Mortgage that is fairly small compared to some. When we bought the house just over 5 years ago, we could have gone for something fancier & still been able to afford the mortgage but we didn't want to have a mortgage of more than one of us could afford to pay.

Now we have a little girl so my Wife is at home and isn't planning on going back to work for a few years I don't think, as any money she would earn would probably only cover childcare costs - so that seems pretty pointless.

Being sole breadwinner has put a bit more pressure on me, but we are both fairly sensible with our spending and have a decent amount of savings if needed. The only worry would be redundancy from work.

Our only other debt is the remainder of a bank loan that my Wife took out to pay for her car.
We've got enough money to pay it off now, but you have to pay the full amount back anyway if paying it early so it makes more sense to keep that money available in a savings account, rather than pay the loan off early.

Nothing. I have nothing hence no debt. 😮

Most expensive item is me car which I paid in full.

Just the mortgage. It's over £200k but under 50% LTV, 20 years left to run but overpaying brings our expected mortgage free date to be some time in 2031.

Considering a move to cheaper house to bring that down to be mortgage free in 5 years but not seriously considered it yet.

I was basically working to service our debt, credit cards, loan, mortgage it really did get me down, don't get me wrong we weren't up to our eyeballs in it but it was enough. I'm glad it's all gone now, such a weight lifted off our shoulders. I'll not buy anything I can't afford to pay for in full up front again. I have only ever had 3 cars on finance that was a long time ago and never to be repeated, depreciation and interest on the loan is a double whammy I'm not interested in taking a hit on.

I've got a mortgage, and about 4k left on 0% credit card after buying a car last year, that will be paid off this year.

We can afford it all and don't go without, get decent holidays, and have a few grand in savings.

So not the best i suppose but by far not the worst!!

having no debt takes a long time to get to.
married for 25 years, had a house 30 years, both in good jobs. both kids grown up. but I can remember going to do the weekly shop armed with a calculator, and having to stop buying once we had reach the allotted amount for the weekly shop.
never run a car either, which is a huge way to save cash, and always have enough money for a new bike when I have fancied one.

Mrs Inbred said back when we bought our house that if we are to have kids she wanted to be there for them when they were on Holiday, so we bought a smaller house and basically her salary dropped by half when we had kids. No regrets here. Five years left on the mortgage. Paying under 400 a month. The only Debt I have is a PCP loan on a car and my kids tennis coaching which is bloody expensive!

Just going through this now. At the bottom of a pretty big hill I seem to have somehow fallen down. There wasn't even a good descent to enjoy either. Not sure how that happened. If you are in huge debt you should have at least had the pleasure of spending it all. Mine mostly comes from incompetence when it comes to filling in forms and paying bills.

Good on all those mortgage and debt free people on here. My finances were in a state about 8 years ago so I sat down and worked out what I owed to who and what I was "wasting" money on.

Binned the gym membership, contract phone, Sky TV plus paid off 2 loans that didn't have much left to pay. Felt much better after it and started to save cash for a change. Made a daft purchase of an M3 2 years ago, didn't keep it long as it needed some work and I just don't care about cars enough these days. Managed to clear that recently.

We have just purchased a new house so the mortgage has gone up but we would have moved eventually so took advantage of the good deal. Other than that it's just the car (which was 0% finance). If I want something I save up for it, bought a motorbike last year in cash and felt much better knowing it was bought and paid for so therefore an asset I can sell should I need to. I have a good amount of savings (very lucky I know), and it feels good knowing I'm not stressing about paying things.

I'm mid thirties, roughly 25k left on the mortgage. Similar to above, debt makes me itchy. My partner's a decade older than me, renting with three young kids and not a pot to piss in. However, thanks to all of her post-grad quals and Professional life, she's ample potential to sort herself out once the kids start growing up. Whereas I've no employability outside my dead end job. She could easily become me, but not vice versa. That's me meaning that just Debt Free isn't the be-all, ability to deal with changes of circumstances counts. I'd contentedly set out for a childless, bargain basement life so that I'd not need to care about the rat race much, and was well-enough off as a result. Now that I've wandered into a family the shift in what constitutes a liveable wage is terrifying.
(I've rambled off the point, sorry.)

I'm a bit of an oddity. Given both my wife and I work we have a nett income that is considerably above average albeit living in an expensive area of the SE. But we live quite frugally for a family with that income. We don't have to scrimp and make do, we can afford stuff when we need it but it's mostly need rather than want.

We have ca £120K of mortgage debt that has been overpaid against a house that is worth £300K+; virtually nothing on CC (even my last 0% deal has been ported enough times that it's now virtually zero) and around £60K in savings and investments. The big one is that we both have surviving parents in big houses, and have therefore some significant inheritance income at some point in the future (yes, unless they all end up in homes, etc.). So everything I've scrimped and saved over will be largely irrelevant because at some point in the future I'll become pretty well off even compared to now - certainly enough to clear the mortgage and some.

It means all my frugal living now is in essence pointless because overpaying further still and continuing to pay into investments - I'll at some point be taking it all back out one way or another.

And yet I'm still exceedingly cautious about dipping into savings and 'overspending'.

I suppose my 'vice' - not that i think it is a vice, when used properly as other posts on here in the past have revealed - is cheap / free credit. I'm going to have a new summer road bike in April / may. I could pay outright but I'm waiting for the right bike on a 0% deal, so i can spread its cost over a longer period.

£93k on a mortgage.
No other debts, no credit cards, no finance etc.
Not much in the way of savings, but we'll manage.

Student loan is probably currently somewhere around £900 and that's it. Its was a different situation a few years ago when for various reasons both me and MrsSalmon were earning but not salaried, so income was all over the place and it was very hard to get out of the overdraft and stay there. A few years of stability and predictable monthly income have made a big difference.

Go through stages, currently in a pay back stuff stage. As long as I have enough to pay off things, put a little aside and live each month I'm happy. Only worries are about work stability and wage growth, I'd like to be able to save more and build back my buffer fund a little as it's taken a battering the last few years.

The last three employers have all been tight with wages, one big blue corporate IT company hardly ever gave pay rises, in the time I was with them my income went down in real terms. Took a wad of voluntary redundancy like most techies did.
Next small company was borderline crooked and although we did get one rise in 4 years most years it was stated by the boss that the government changed tax allowances so he didn't have to give us more.
Not been in the current one long enough but it is looking pretty grim for annual pay reviews ever happening. Promotion is less likely as rather than train and develop internal staff it's easier and cheaper to get a Visa for an Indian worker to transfer to the UK for six months.

If it wasn't for the recent few years of tax allowance changes then I suspect I'd be having to cut a few expenses to cope with increasing costs.

Lucky enough to start the mortgage thing when house prices weren't stupid so that's pretty small and got a house that suits the two of us in a quiet area.

Generally use garage HP for cars, but cars don't do anything for me so I'm usually buying a cheap commuter.

Overall, could be better but could be a lot worse.

I had tonnes of it (through depression and buying things to cheer me up) in my early 20s, probably £20k +.

I was debt free a few years ago for the first time since starting to work (except for the mortgage), but now I have a bike and car on HP. Will be paid off in 18 months, but regret it really.

I'm going to try and clear our 120k-ish mortgage in the next 10 years (could do it in 5, but would need to be skint to do it), as I'd like to be truly debt free by the time I'm 40. That said, it's very easy to find things to spend money on, and 10 years is a long time!

Just £40k left on the mortgage, and that's it, could be debt free in 4-5 years with some focus. But we need to upsize to a house in a nicer area / with space for kids / good schools.

This likely means I will be soon owing in the region of £300k 🙁

No debt here, but I don't own anything big either (i.e. house or car).

Don't do "personal" debt as such

But happily got a decent size mortgage .... A 2% loan might as well be free money ... thank you vmuch.

I don't really want to go into my own situation, but I was surprised the other day to find out that the average amount of savings people have is £450.

i couldn’t live like that now. been skint post graduation and scratching around for work but that was years ago. being self employed i feel twitchy if there’s not a years worth of mortgage payments in the bank and never get spendy on frivolities if its getting close to that.
no debt apart from mortgage, i don’t understand people who have a constant overdraft or CC debt. especially if they are salaried as you know exactly what is coming in and what you have to spend/save.

This thread really couldn't be more STW if it tried could it..

I think I'm in the minority on here then, I have about £15k of debt other than the mortgage, I try to pay it off but life is expensive... I could scrimp and save, but then I can't do trackdays, buy new motorbikes or go on holidays...

One day i'll have money.... maybe 🙂

I should be more like weeksy, particularly as I have a big safety net under me at some point in the future.

But I'm not.

And i don't know who's right, him or me?

40 year old, married with two kids: No debt except a mortgage, but we were late onto the housing ladder and bought just before the crash 🙄 so that's still pretty hefty (~200k left) despite us paying in extra. At least we are out of negative equity now though.

(Never really had debt - my folks were both worked in the bank so it was drummed in to me that all debt was a waste of money and should be avoided. I didn't even have a credit card till the early 2000s when I started needing one for online ordering).

One mortgage, 130k - should be half this and 10years to go. 🙁
One car loan, 5k, two years to pay off.
Couple of quid this month on CC as the back room renovations are more grand than expected. Paid off by next month though.
We do go into o/d most months, ridiculously.

Matt. 41, too many children and a failed business behind me.

Mortgage free in 5 years. Largish house in a nice area, in the North though so not worth millions but could downsize when the kids leave.
More savings than mortgage and enough in ISA's and pensions to mean I can get off the wheel at about 60 if I choose to (51 now)

And i don't know who's right, him or me?

Can't take it with you.

My parents still live likes its "post war" Britain.... they will just not spend their money ... I don't want it ( I kinda do 🙂 ) just wish they would just go crazy and buy a convertible. Or in fact, eat out somewhere other than the Bernie Inn.

Point is ... dont get too entrenched in not spending your doe ... you don't wanna end up like ...

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I have about £12k of unsecured debt, an enormous mortgage and a student loan....

Does this make me a bad person? Maybe. The vast majority of my debt was incurred during the 2 years my wife was off work with our newborn son, due to her being a PhD srtudent at the time, we were entitled to nothing (no help at all) so were down to one wage. Having just moved from Cumbria to Bristol and with my rent, fuel, food and petrol costing more than my newly graduate wage was bringing in, I had to make a call. Deplete my savings thereby scuppering my chances of buying a house or rack-up some cheap debt. A long time fan of the long game, a five year plan was hatched and incremental debt was incurred. In November 14, I bought my first house using the £70k of savings I had remaining from my time at uni. Now, with a mahoosive mortgage, SL, CC and childcare, almost 75% of my wages goes on bills....but, in 7 months we'll be 4 years into that 5 year plan. Childcare will be finished (£12k per year) so at the end of year 5, I should, once again, be debt free. I don't regret any of it. I don't have an extravagant lifestyle, but am happy. What else matters?

Debt is a matter of circumstance and perspective.

M.

In my 40's and i have an 80k mortgage. Cars are paid for and i have never owned a credit card. We also decided to buy a house that we could easily pay for if one of us lost our job. That was the best decision ever as we had one child at the time and then we ended up with twins! I have now given up work as £2500 for nursery fees a month was way beyond our means. My issue is i have no qualifications to back up my profession and i also have no pension as all my wage went on to getting on to the property ladder. I dont worry about mortgage/ debt but i do worry about finances for the future.

My Parents in law are similar. They spend their money on redecorating, replacing items that don't need to be replaced and buying the grand children gifts etc. I suggested once that instead of doing this why not put a small amount in a childs ISA for instance.... They looked at me like I had handed them a turd!

I'm almost the opposite of theotherjonv - As an only child with the family home being a desirable house in a nice sussex village I spent like crazy 'knowing' I'd have a big inheritance which would clear any debt I had. At one point our unsecured debt was more than our joint combined gross income. The last few years have bought the realisation that in all likelyhood the equity in mums house will pay for her care so we are slowly but surely paying it all off.
Hopefully will be free of credit cards/loans in about 3 years, then another 12 till the mortgage is gone.

Paid off mortgage in my late 30s, wouldn't mind moving house but stamp duty says no.

I did well out of buying in London in the late 90s, such a shame that luck(?) on the housing market has so much impact on our wealth.

Could struggle for decent income in coming years as Indians taking over my niche area of IT, could retire as wife works but not sure I can rely on her as she never seems happy with her jobs and changes them too often.

30, huge mortgage, some student loan left.

It won't be absolute debt that get's me, it'll be cashflow. At the moment about 75% of my net pay goes out in bills or those debts!

This thread really couldn't be more STW if it tried could it..

I think I'm in the minority on here then, I have about £15k of debt other than the mortgage, I try to pay it off but life is expensive... I could scrimp and save, but then I can't do trackdays, buy new motorbikes or go on holidays...

One day i'll have money.... maybe

I doubt you are in the minority. You're probably one of the few willing to be honest 🙂

300k mortgage debt here in late 30's here

do i win? 🙁

No personal loans or other finance though. Just living in expensive south east combined with a few of redundancies around the time I was trying to buy a house.

It's a conscious decision though. We could live in a smaller house or flat and pay it off sooner, but we've bought something that can be extended (rather than a flat), plus we're gambling on house prices increasing where we've bought. As is everyone else i guess...

if they are going to decrease:
a. why buy a house at all?
b. what else do you do with your money? (I'm no Wolf of Wall Street)

I've maxed out a succession of credit cards, as well as personal loans, and payday loans, and I've spaffed the lot on coke and hookers. Its been bloody brilliant!

The credit lines are about to dry up, so when they do I'll just declare myself bankrupt, and start again 😀

I've got about 4k of unsecured debt at the minute from moving house 3 years ago, about to take out a bit more to have a new kitchen and bathroom.

I also have the mortgage (89k) and a car on PCP but don't tend to have cashflow issues, it's just a case of managing it all to avoid getting to the end of the month with nothing but savings.

Will get the loans cleared in the next couple of years and will then focus on overpaying the mortgage a little before moving in to a bigger house and no doubt starting the process again!

Paid off the mortgage last year aged 46.

Car on PCP, but it's a 3 year 0% deal, and we have already put enough into an account to pay off the outstanding balance when the 3 years is up, and we will then run it into the ground like we did the last car.

No other debts - credit cards paid off each and every month.

Still never enough money for n+1 though, strangely....

Can the usual suspects reign it in a bit. Theres oily smugness actually leaking out of the bottom of my monitor. Its a really unpleasant substance, and almost impossible to clean up

I'm 43 & the Mrs is 40.

£260k mortgage debt but approx. 50% LTV. (house was valued 12 months ago at £500k)
At £1300 per month it is still a lot cheaper than renting (in the area we've chosen to live)

We also approx. £25k on various 0% credit cards, which is a hangover from extending our house (which added loads of value)

No car finance or anything else.

Not particularly bothered about it - household income is circa £90k and the debt will start coming down pretty fast when our childcare bills start to drop.

We've got the escape plan of selling up (houses sell in hours/days where we live) and buying a smaller house outright/with a teeny mortgage if anything goes wrong.

With hindsight binners, your suggestion up there ^^ looks waaaay more fun!

Mortgage, creddly cards, overdraft, I'm in it up to my fekkin' eyeballs, same as everyone else round here.

About 90k mortgage, 10k unsecured (car loan mainly).

Seems to me for most of us one's car choice is one of the biggest influences on personal wealth. A workmate thinks I spend a silly amount on bikes and related gear but his Audi Q7 depreciates by far more than I spend - plus he spends a grand on tyres/year he tells me.

Two bank loans, a new car on PCP for 4 years, 3 mortgages, and nice watch on 4 years 0% finance. I think that is it, but when totalled up not huge amounts, 60/40 secured vs unsecured. A lot of folk will have bigger prime mortgages.

I have a reasonable job, and whilst not that secure at the moment, I am relatively expensive to be shot of, 6 months notice plus redundancy. It is not my debt that keeps me awake at night. The business is unlikely to simply fold, famous last words.

I have probably always had debt in one shape or form for the last 25 years and having never been "stung" by it and with interest rates so low it doesn't bother me too much.

In recent years I think I have very much changed my thinking and behaviours to one where I don't like spending my own capital so I borrow other people's, who themselves have borrowed it from someone else, hence the watch, and my last few cars have all been on PCP deals.

I would never have bought something like a watch on credit a few years ago.

This thread is good timing as I am currently stressing about debt.

I am currently debt free (no mortgage as I rent) but am due to take out a loan for a new (used) car.

the thought of getting into debt again is very off putting, but I know that should things go awry on the job front then I'd sell the car to clear the loan. as long as my assets are within the same ballpark as my debt then things "should" remain stable.

Though I have also managed to save two months salary as a life buffer to for a worst case scenario. Oh and an ISA that I add to in small amounts each month.

But as a few of the above have stated, life is definitely for living so the cash I do have does get spent on lifes little luxuries (bike parts, outdoor kit, coke n hookers)

I have ****ed up in the past (more than once) with credit cards and debt. I am debt free now and largely intend to stay that way. I would allow myself a mortgage or maybe a car loan, but not CC's or personal loans for holidays etc. I treat it kind of like an addiction I have kicked.

I have no savings, live in a rented apartment and have no car, I want to buy a car by next winter but it will probably be a bangornomics purchase, depending on how much I can save by then.

Had a fair bit of debt through my twenties, student loan etc,
science salary, living in cambride, then london
Lived in the cheapest accomo I could find in north london (my wife describbed it as a squat you pay rent on, never ate out, never bough a new bike 🙁 , cycled everywhere 🙂 weed was my only luxury for a good 10 years I reckon) just about got enough to buy a place in a not nice part of london, which ended up going up an insane amount of money in 10 years!
so we are now in a bigger house with a smaller mortgage in the wilds of milton keynes
my wife did well out of the oil business but her latest layoff looks set to be permanent, I cant see the industry picking up really.
2 kids and now twins on the way, means it wouldnt even be economically viable for her to go back to work for the next 5 years or so.
As the sole breadwinner feeling a lot of pressure to make sure that my contract gets renewed at the end of the year or we are in trouble!

Thanks to redundancy and injury I didn't earn a penny from May 2009 to April 2010 and avoided bankruptcy by the skin of my teeth, but I was effectively 'blacklisted' by every Bank and Financial Institute due to having huge amounts of defaulted debt - I managed to get my first Credit Card in 5 years a year ago, not because I wanted to borrow money, but because I needed to prove I could borrow and pay it back - I use it, I pay it off in full at the end of the month.

Come July when my old debts are cleared (by time, not payment) I'll have personal debt to the tune of £300.

Not that I'm debt free really, because of the above all 'our' debt has to be in my Wife's name - that amounts to £8000 at 3% APR, a graduate loan that tidied up a few things, mostly a little over spend on our wedding after I was made redundant again 3 months before the wedding, but mostly from when she was studying.

Total debt repayments represent 6% of out take-home pay, and our total outgoing are less than either of our usual take-home pay so we won't have to starve or be homeless if one of us loses our job suddenly, again.

It helps me sleep at night - not that I would suggest defaulting on all your debts and living credit free for 6 years as a sensible way to managed your finances, it's a living nightmare sometimes.

3 years ago I have about £10k of unsecured personal debt and no house. It was fairly well managed on 0% deals and things but it was just a case of keeping the plates spinning rather than paying anything down.

I'd finally had enough of it when i bought a house 2 years ago and got myself debt free at the end of last year.

This frugality has led to paying off chunks of the mortgage, mainly so i can partake in threads of middle class smugness like this 😀

47, two years ago was married and had a joint mortgage of 40k on a stunning house I had built myself and a 4k car loan. Now,£67k mortgage and 1k credit card,a year left on the car loan. Divorce is expensive kids!I bought my first flat in Dundee for 12k in the West End in 1990. Moved to London and earned the sort of money they paid plasterers there. I had the original flat and another paid off that I then sold to build the above house. Being in proper debt for the first time in 20 odd years sucks.

😆 i got up to about 40 grand personal debt in my early 30's. Had absolutely nothing to show for it but a tan and some scars.
No job (well, just cash in hand and some odd envelopes of prize money).
No house (living in a shared flat most of the time).
No car (and my bikes were owned by someone else).

Then i had to go an get a real job and a life.
How dull.

The tan has gone too.

Aside from a relatively small moortgage that either myself or my other could pay off with one salary...no debt. Had debt before and hated the feeling of it...now all decisins based on staying debt free...whilst sounds idealist I'm sure many people would not wish to live the way we do to, be able to live within our means...

37, married, one anklebiter on the way, living an hour on the train from London (but don't work there...), combined income of about £85k.

I once had a student loan (spent on bikes) and £400 on a credit card once. Hated it beyond description, and vowed that I'd never have an unsecured load or CC again.

We were lucky with buying our first house - despite it being pre-crash we got our mortgage payments back and made money over 6 years. We were hugely fortunate to have a donation from parents which helped us a couple of steps up on the housing ladder - we paid £420k for a renovation house that is worth £550k two years later with the work we've done. Mortgage is about £230k. We have savings and managed investments of close to £100k which are earmarked for another extension on the house post-baby for another bedroom, playroom, study and much bigger utility room. No CCs, cars owned outright.

My father is planning to release a lot of equity to my sister and I as a ploy to avoid inheritance tax - more than enough to pay off our mortgage. Despite this we are pretty frugal - we only eat in the pub once a month, run quite old cars, shop in Lidl, I ride an 8 year old bike etc. I'm hoping that we will be in a position to provide our little one(s) a great fun life with the money we have put aside.

No debt
No mortgage
House purchased outright 9 years ago in a nice leafy suburb of London (a few good investments on flats bought in our 20s)
Both me and the Mrs are 42
Being debt free doesn't necessarily make life any easier I still suffer anxiety issues...

I've a loan with about £2.5k left and a credit card with £1k on it. No mortgage, own home outright thanks to Grandad who passed it to Mum and then Me.

I hate owing. I'm aiming to get the Credit Card mostly paid off this month then carry on paying off the loan.

Mrs Hound is from Yorkshire.
'nuff said!

weeksy - Member
This thread really couldn't be more STW if it tried could it..

Yeah I know, and I got slated the other week for asking "how much money do you have in your wallet/pocket" Just as a bit of a giggle..
🙄

I've got a few [s]friends[/s] acquaintances that revel in the "no debt here" but have a MAHOOSIVE mortgage. I may have some debt, less than £10k including a car loan, but I also have savings that will cover my debt and then some, and I have a life.

We did the wife at home looking after kids when they were young and just one income, and TBH I think we were better off for it. I couldn't live in a situation where we both had to work full time, to pay the child care, to pay the mortgage, to exist to work to pay the mortgage. If I lost my job I'd have to lose some things to be debt free, but I'd still have a roof over my head and no worries about it not being there. (Housing Co-Op)

52, married 26 years with twins about to go to Uni. I was due to retire in 17 months' time, so all my financial planning has focussed on getting rid of the mortgage as soon as I could, and in any case before my retirement date. Low rates and an offset mortgage meant I overpaid instead of saving and I have less than 20K to go, but switched to saving an identical amount offsetting the interest. That way I have a pool of instantly available emergency cash saving me interest at mortgage rate (and thus avoiding tax on the interest) so effectively it's paid off.

What amazes me is we have a decent income not that much debt. We save up mainly for things we need etc etc. People we know on modest incomes have just seemed to of gone mental spending. Brand new cars extensions multiple foreign holidays!!!!! How the bloody hell is that possible!

I love the 'I have no personal debt but I do have a mortgage' responses

It's almost like houses and the associated borrowing doesn't constitute real debt.

late 20s

60% LTV on the mortgage - which is sizable given we started 4 years ago in aberdeen.

I have no other personal debt

The wife went to uni in st andrews so has a fair chunk of debt - but at the interest rate from when we went to uni we are just as well to keep servicing it as it comes rather than pay it off - our mortgage interest is higher.

but she has no other debt.

We have just had a paycut /9 day fortnight/car allowances stopped - mooted at work and judging by peoples reactions about not being able to live they were living to service their debts ......certainly seeing what they "can afford" earning the same as me living frugally....

In light of the current O&G climate im glad to have saved my money rather than spent it ahead of earning it and paying it back.

I went from being debt free to having a 250k mortgage which was a bit of a shock to the system. On the bad side it stopped me packing in work and becoming a layabout, on the positive side it stopped me packing in work and becoming a layabout 🙂

Why are some people not including mortgages in their debt burden BTW?

Think i might just be taking this one. 125k mortgage, 30k debts on loans and credit cards etc.
Hoping to switch some of that credit card to mortgage when up for renewal in August. The hopefully debt becomes manageable and can get the loan paid off.
It is a worry but I don't think I`m an unusual position after separation from the ex , 2 boys aged 11 and 12 and having to juggle life and bills etc.
Advice is always welcome if anyone has any that useful.
Ta

dazh - Member

Why are some people not including mortgages in their debt burden BTW?

possibly, because...

for most (practically all) people, buying a house without a mortgage would be impossible, so it's not 'irresponsible' debt - the kind your mum would tell you off for.

also, for most of us, if our financial lives turned to custard, we could probably sell the house, clear the debt leaving us with a few (thousand) quid. That wouldn't work for debts on car/bike/telly loans.

maybe?

i do include mortgage debt in my mental bank-balance, but don't include student loans...

Seems to me for most of us one's car choice is one of the biggest influences on personal wealth.

True that, but there are plenty of others factors. Mortgage is a big one.
£1700 a month for us so that's a pretty decent slice of the pay cheque.
And childcare is another £600-odd a month.

If I didn't have children or feel the need to provide them with a home then I'd be quite well off 😀

I love the 'I have no personal debt but I do have a mortgage' responses

It's almost like houses and the associated borrowing doesn't constitute real debt.

Yeah its good aye ??

It's not paying more for something that is worth less (car,bike or big stupid tele) .... as opposed to using leverage to buy more of something that's appreciating in value

have to live somewhere ....

is having a mortgage of X better or worse than paying someone elses mortgage by renting - most rents seem to be mortgage + x% unless your very lucky....

@inbred, it isn't. I often speak to folk who have no intention of amassing a fortune, they just consume. There is a lot of talk that my (our?) generation of baby boomers have stolen all the money from our successors. They will not enjoy the benefits of house price booms like we did in the 80s, they will never own half-million pound houses outright because they can't buy them for 75k like we did in the mid 80s. They can borrow at 2% interest, where we used to save at 10% for more. When most of your income goes into a mortgage, why the hell would you save or a rainy day if your disposable income means it's constantly drizzling? You don't buy cars, you spend £300 a month leasing one. And anyway, your baby boomer parents have now got so much stashed away, and they have so much equity that when they peg it you can clear your debts and spend it all on whatever the hell you want.

It's almost like houses and the associated borrowing doesn't constitute real debt.

It doesn't.

£200k of mortgage is entirely normal, and costs a similar amount to rent.

£200k of personal loans and most people would be up shit creek.

no debt but no mortgage, can't get one on short term contracts, and getting a bit old to get one if I don't get something sorted soon 🙁