I’ve been pretty lucky really. I bought a very nice (but a bit ramshackle at the time) house about twelve years ago for about three times my income. This was just after my credit record was repaired after a bout of teenage credit-card exuberance, and just before local property started to really rise in price. Combined with this purchase, I hit a sweet spot in the financial industry where the ability to understand/tolerate/converse with actuaries and to code, or at least spec. code, was at a premium. COBOL, mostly, so it’s not like it was very difficult. So I paid my mortgage off, and bought a wee place in the country with my Y2K payments. Not that I actually did any compliance work at the time, but the premium became ridiculous for a year or two, and I was involved in a complex corporate takeover. So pure dumb luck, but I never want to go back to working those hours again. The money was really fucking great, but the cost in relationships and health wasn’t.
Okay, but not great. We’ve been through a bankruptcy (bought a leaky condo in 1996) and have been slowly climbing back. My husband is self-employed and is getting by, but not accumulating wealth. My job actually pays better because it’s salaried. I have an RRSP and a savings account that I put money away into each month, but savings have taken some big hits–my car had to be replaced, new hot water tank, pay off some credit card debt. It seems just when I have a chunk of money I want to sock into savings, there’s an expense coming up.
We’re in the situation still where when payday comes, I pay the bills, and then marvel at how little is left over.
I have very little hope of owning a house in Victoria. The lowest priced two bedroom, two bath house in Victoria came up at $347,000. Right now, we live in Langford, which means two vehicles and a commute for work. We’re in a doublewide off Mill Hill Park, and it feels sufficiently “house” like, but I want to own the land, too, which we don’t.
Not bad - but having to work at it.
When I closed my business 7 years ago, I had a $30k accounts-receivable that was pretty much rolling every 30-45 days. When I closed the doors, I had to absorb that with little hope of recovery from the clients that owed it, thus I incurred about $25k in debt at that time. Otherwise, though, not too bad, I guess. The house was just purchased a little over 2 years ago due to a corporate-forced move, but the cars are paid off and are relatively new. I’ve moved almost all of our plastic debt to low or no-interest instruments, many of which will be longer than 18 months before increasing their rates, and I’ll roll over long before then. Minding my P’s and Q’s, I’ll be debt-free in 24-30 months, and will free up about $2k/month in ca$h. I intend to roll most of that into my 401(k), since I quit investing there to reduce the debt load. I figured anywhere from 8-15% in my pocket from paying off debt was a pretty good return, for now.
Since this is the SDMB chances are folks here are more financially saavy than the average person. I’ve never carried a credit card debt and the only loan I had was a car loan once that made sense since the interest was less than interest I made investing the money (the last time I’ll throw money away buying a new car too). I had a mortgage once but paid it off after a couple years (we’ve been in the house 6 years). Long story here but in my opinion I still owe half the value of the original mortgage it’s just no longer to the bank. I max out the 401K and have college savings started for the kids. I don’t own a Mercedes or a 5,000 SF house even though I could afford it. It seems obivous to spend below your means but most people just don’t get it.
I just reread my message and it sounds snarky although I didn’t mean it too. Of course there are always exceptions and people do unavoidably run into trouble, but for most people who are in financial woes it was easily avoidable and I just don’t understand how they put themselves in that position.
could be worse, could be better - about 4 years salary in debt on the mortgage (21 years left at current repayment levels) 10% of my annual salary in over draft and another 10% on a credit card. Things are moving in the right direction swiftly tho.
Debt free, own 2 homes, have large savings…I also have 3 bambinas to raise and educate. I’m not going to be able to retire early unless the multinational I work for somehow manages to see the stock price rise about 100x.
My fiance and I are both 24. We have a home and an investment property between us, and no debt except for the mortgages. We put down a 20% deposit, and the interest is serviceable on his starting income (which is good, because my income is sporadic at best) and we’re living comfortably enough that whenever he gets a raise we’ve put the difference straight into the mortgage. No savings, because interest earned from savings are taxable and interest saved in mortgage payments aren’t, and we get a better rate and can withdraw excess payments without penalty.
Our home is a nice apartment in a very well located and relatively affordable area of Melbourne (by affordable, I mean you can get a starter place from 300-400k). Friends still can’t believe we got such a great place for the price we did (I feel a little sorry for the sellers - they sold under market value just as the market began to recover from a housing slump, and a few months before rents began to skyrocket). The investment property is in an up-and-coming suburb about 12km from the city and on a large parcel of land. It more or less pays for itself, and we’re waiting until the apartment is paid off to subdivide and sell.
The real estate market in Melbourne is pretty crazy - I think we’re something like 19th in the world for most unaffordable housing relative to income. Everyone seems to be waiting for real estate prices to substantially drop, but by all accounts the market is recovering well and it’s a good time to be a property owner.
We built our house about ten years ago. Paid about $210k. Worth (house and land) about $350k now. You think WOW!, but that is only (according to my financial calculator) about a 5.24% compounded return. Now - the lot - the lot we bought for $35k - the lot is worth $100k - that’s a 12% appreciation per year - it isn’t the house - its the value of the land it is sitting on. Don’t expect huge decreases in the prices of homes.
No debt except mortgage, and our equity is about 4X the mortgage. Only two more years of college left for our youngest, then we spend some money on the house - new carpets and the like. We’re making the final run to retirement - the date will depend on hitting the point where we can take money out of the retirement funds.
Once we got rid of the horse, our cash flow improved tremendously.
My finances? Decent. I get alimony from my ex for the next 3 years while I’m in school. It allows me to live decently and pay for school without accumulating a lot of student debt. I have no consumer debt. I have a couple grand stashed away in case of emergency. I rent a cute litte one bedroom and am planning on buying a house with my boyfriend soon.
My boyfriend’s? He has no consumer debt, owns his car outright, and has about 150,000.00 saved. He currently rents his own place. When I found out the state of his finances not so long ago, I was kinda shocked.
I think I’m okay. I’m renting, but only have about $700 in credit card debt as of today, which can be paid off easily. The car is paid off and I have about $5,000 left on my student loans. Not too bad as far as I’m concerned.
Not too badly, but I suspect the picture here is a little different. I just turned 29.
I have no credit card or consumer debt. I do have $50K in student loans and a mortgage on an apartment in Manhattan. I am happy that I can cover all of my debt service and my coop maintenance payment in one paycheck.
My savings is fairly modest and I am not growing it materially. It is meant to cover emergencies and is not really equipped right now to take advantage of any opportunities. The rising tide has driven my investments to a place I had not expected now, but not everything is fully vested, especially not the stock in my company I am given as part of my compensation.
Glad I got a distribution before our gangbusters earnings report.
I have a wife currently unable to work and no kids nor any on the immediate horizon. I am in a decent place for a young adult, and as long as I maintain a consistent expense base, I think I will be ok. I am also fairly financially savvy, as corporate finance is my profession these days.
I’m doing okay now (age 28). About five years ago I had some credit card trouble (about $5000), but my parents lent me the money to pay it off and then I paid them back (saved me a lot on interest, for which I’m very grateful).
When starting work in 2004, I had about $23,000 in student loans (total combined amount of four student loans). In order to pay off the loans quicker, I’ve been making payments that are much larger than the required minimum. Two loans are now paid off, and the other two loans have a total of about $6000 outstanding. I’m paying $400 per month, and should have them both paid off within about a year and a half.
Other than student loans, I don’t have any debt (no car payments - I bus/walk/bike).
However, I also don’t have any savings to speak of (other than about one month of living expenses). I’m working on building up a cash cushion and then making some basic investments and retirement savings. I’d like to save a downpayment for a condo or house, but the housing market in my area is insanely hot and I don’t know if I want to commit to a mortgage. I’ve been thinking that I might go back to school in a couple years. Hmmm.
£30K in savings, £80K mortgage, no paid job. I’ll be selling the house soon, so that’ll leave me with about £100K. Then I’ll move in with my aunt and care for her.
I’m doing alright. The only debt I have is the loan on my truck. I manage to put some in my 401k and a little in my savings.
I am however starting to get a little self conscience about how much I’m spending on entertainment stuff (Bars, going out to eat, etc). I’m not sure why it concerns me so.
Maybe it’s more of a guilt thing. My monthly spending on entertainment is around $500 a month. I feel like I could feed a small villiage for that much. 
No credit card or consumer debt, about £10,000 in student loans (some from a bank and some from family) and no savings to speak of. Right now I’m just looking to work enough to cover expenses (which in London are rather high) while finishing off my Master’s. After that, I plan to start saving early and lots.
I have the option to rent a flat owned by my parents at a competitive rate if I decide to move home, so buying a house isn’t very high on my list of priorities at the moment.
A couple of you have alluded to the likelihood of me finding someone here is bad financial shape is small. Why is that? (In case you haven’t noticed, I’m new here – just stumbled across this place yesterday)
Welcome to the boards, Dudley! Many (most?) of the people that this board attracts and retains are thoughtful about many aspects of life, including personal finances. This type of thread comes up periodically and people who weren’t already in pretty healthy financial shape (not necessarily wealthy, but not in debt crisis) have asked for advice and taken it and gotten themselves into better shape. I know that I’ve read a few people who have been (and are) on shaky ground (sometimes because of unexpected circumstances, sometimes not), but most of those who speak up are fortunate/prudent enough to be in decent shape.
Me? I have a mortgage on a little house I bought just before prices in my neighborhood went through the roof. My car went unexpectedly a couple years ago, so I got a small loan to cover the part of the replacement car that I couldn’t pay cash for. Interest on the loan is so low that I’m not bothering to pay it off early, because I want to make some improvements to the house instead. My cash savings aren’t in quite the shape I’d like them to be (I’ve been working on that), but my investments for retirement are solid.
If I were in your position, I’d be shopping cautiously, looking for the best deal I could get. Don’t know where you are, but in my community the tide is starting to turn and it’s becoming a bit of a buyer’s market. Since you’re not in a rush, you can afford to be patient and wait at least a bit for the right deal to come along.
GT
We’ve got a mortgage of about US$380,000 outstanding. Sounds a lot, but in the UK that’s a small mortgage on a small house.
I’ve got a credit card with about US$2K outstanding on it, but that is deferred payment from company expenses, so I’m not worried about being able to pay it off.
I have almost no savings, while my wife has about US$15K savings in Ireland, and we both have small pensions from our companies.
So, not great, but not terrible either.
Not especially. Although now, I’ll take whatever I can get. I had contemplated moving (a bunch of times) except I’m not sure where I’d go or what I’d do when I’d get there. More certainty in one of those columns could push me in a direction.