£60 a month spare what shall I do with it?

Buy to let is a disaster waiting to happen. There's a surfeit of houses across the country with no tenants according to the Times a few weeks ago. Property is a place to live, not some wonderful investment. I've made a fortune on the two houses I've owned, or have I? If I sell the place I've got, I still need to buy somewhere else. It's pretend money not real.
Save for a deposit AT. But above all else make sure you have some pleasure in life. You work to live, not live to work.

 

pensions and mortgages are things that you need to start as quickly as you realistically can in life.

If you feel you have a good income coming in now, I'd do both as quickly as you can..

 

Lord the that is the problem my parents are in, my dads business is not doing so well so we need to find extra cash, there is about £120-£140k equality in the house but you can't buy much for that and its important we stay in the area because of the business and my grandma who needs a lot of care.

I do want to go get on the property ladder but if prices keep rising the way they are I will have no chance.

Bottle my income certainly is not good, but my out goings are very little at the moment and I think I should make the most of that while I can.

 

They won't. Save up the cash and when the Poo hits the fan you will be in a very good position.

 

I am worried it will take me about 10 years to save up £10k though for a deposit, in 10 years time £100k will not even buy a borded up terrace in Salford.

So unless things go down or steady buying a property will no longer be an option.

I personaly think there should be some laws on buy to let because if we are not careful we will go to back to Victorian times when a few elite own most of the property in the country.

 

Before long the market will be saturated with bought to lets. The market for cheap houses is still there. It depends where you look.
In North Manchester near me you can still buy a house for 50/60k but if you must live in Chorlton of course you'll be stuffed. South Manchester's expensive, we chose not to live there because for the price of our house we'd be lucky to get a semi with garden.

 

That may be true where you are, the market is obviously very different across the country. I could let my house within a fortnight, guaranteed, easily covering my mortgage plus £50-£100 per month. It should go without saying that you need to know your market before buying to let, but assuming you're not a complete dufus it shouldn't be too difficult to avoid buying in an area where the market is either saturated or non-existant. It takes little more than talking to estate agents and letting agencies to find out where to put your money. The thing is housing is still in relatively short supply more or less nationwide, hence the continual increase in prices, and if people can't afford to buy, they rent.

The money you make out of rising property prices is only pretend if you do nothing with it or if you only move sideways or upwards in value when you move house. I funded two and a half years off work by moving 20 miles, that felt pretty real to me. Also, if you have more than one property you may find that the gains can be very real, after all you can release you cash whenever the time is right for you by selling it!

 

Amazingtrade
Meanwhile, back in the real world, you are trying to decide what to do with a bit of spare cash. You are not going to buy a house in South Manchester. Unless you have a dramatic change of fortune. Its a fact of life. Lordsummit's right in that North Manchester will always be cheaper. OK one day you may own more than one property. Chances are that like most people you won't. In which case the house you're living in aint no pension plan! I repeat the advice so wisely given earlier. You consider yourself a computing consultant whom people pay for expertise. Well its time for you to pay for expertise from an IFA. Don't go for 'free' advice. That'll just mean you'll be steered towards the product providing the adviser with the biggest commission. Go for advice you pay for and where any commission goes back to you. That way there is no personal financial incentive for the IFA to recommend product a over product b.

 

It dosn't have to be Chorlton, but the vast amount of my customers are from this area so I need easy access to the area, although I can move my business to some extent I am not sure there would be the same demand.

Stretford/Old Trafford is a bit cheaper, but the only affordable places in Stretford tend to be the rougher parts, with the nicer parts of Stretford being almost as expensive as Chorlton.

The other crucial thing is easy late night access to the city centre. There are some nice new estates in Beswick and Salford which are cheap and its fairly central but these areas are still risky.

I went to Rochdale the other week and was amazed that it took me just 55 minutes to get there from Chorlton using public transport including waiting for buses and trains but if I had to that every day for a £25 job it would not be worth it.

I am not ruling out North Manchester, it is just location is important to me so I would rather a smaller property in a more central area. I am certainly not going to spend £100k on a flat in Hulme though.

All this is still a good 5-10 years off anyway, I just need to start planning it now.

 

I probably need do this because I am just completly confused at the moment. What I don't want to happen is money sitting in my current account doing nothing just waiting to be spent in the pub.

 

It's a matter of prioritisation. To me, buying a house was and is higher on my list of priorities than going out drinking. My total alcohol expenditure so far this year is £16. Currently I'm just getting by, but since buying a house I've massively cut down on toys, buying music, alcohol, etc. I've bought 4 CDs and been to one gig this year.

There's nothing wrong with having a different set of priorities, but it's a simple case of you can't have your cake and eat (or even drink) it too.

You need to have money accessible, but not too accessible. I got hit up this month for £330 by the inland revenue (for their mistake, not mine... but they still charge me interest for it). It's unforseen things like this that can and will happen.

Put it in some sort of savings or high-interest account that you can not get at by debit card or cheque book. That way you won't be tempted by availability for spending on a night out, but if you need it for something like tax or a deposit on something or a car or whatever then you can get at it.

 

The problem is for me being self employed my social life is important, more important than any electrical crap (I love HIFI and computers but they can never be as good as friends).

As I don't do any socialising during the day nights out are very important for me. I don't spend much at all on a night out but probably have them a little bit too frequently, I have already started cutting back a bit.

 

Like I said, there's nothing wrong with whatever your priorities are. You may (will) find that they change in time.

It's important not to live solely for tomorrow at the expense of today. Equally, you shouldn't live only for the moment and damn what comes. Strike a balance.

 

That is exactly what I aim to do, if I had no life I could probably save £150 a month but then I may as well be dead so its pointless.

£60 a month is a figure I arrived at my cutting back on my booze spending but still going out.

 

Young people today really are utterly useless. Spending only £16 on alcohol and only buying 4 CDs and going to one solitary gig since the start of the year isn't striking a balance, it's living like a monk.

AT, you're a young man. It's almost certain you will have major life changes in the next few years - you're unlikely to be in the same job/running the same company, you may manage to get your end away or even meet someone you want to shack up with long-term, etc etc. The last thing you need to be thinking about at the beginning of your adult life is your pension or a mortgage. You're not on this earth long, spend the money doing exactly what you want to do, be it travel, decent psychotropic drugs, prostitutes, alcohol, music, whatever floats your boat. Leave thinking about planning for your retirement until you hit 30 or so and earn a reasonable salary.

-- Ian

 

Please don't tar us all with the same brush

Saying that, I start a new job on Wednesday and the info I've had through the post is largely regarding pension plans and such!

Postman MO!

 

Wise words Sideshow but I did all that when I was a student, sailed the seven seas (well the Irish sea and English Channel ) and got drunk all the time, went to lectures after 3 pints, stayed up till 4:00am talking about kernals and had sex pecisely zero times

The real goal I want is to run my own indie/music bar in Manchester one day its only a dream but its a dream that can only happen with money.

 

You're after some part time work, why not go get some bar work experience?

 

So you're a post man now then I wouldn't mind doing that job (I've had years of experience) but dogs might be put me off as you can't avoid posting a HM letter just because there is a dog in hall waiting to bite your finger off.

 

wise words indeed