Financial Prospects For 2008

[motorbikez]

Just wondered what members feel about their personal financial prospects for 2008 and what do you think is going to happen to the economy.

 

[auditek]

im gonna be lot worse off, gettin off the tools, goin managerial no homers , scary stuff! no money for toys............ and the economy is in ruins as is the rest of the world. drive fast, get wrecked every wekend, do hot women go gym n bike as much as u can.... live every week like your last and commit to nothing but the lifestyle above !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[auditek]

im building 200k houses the now, we are only putting up the kits, tiling rooves and brickwork . main contractor holding back on insides to see how market gonna go next few months, maybe they have inside intel ???

 

[jojo]

This is a toughie for me, 2007 is a poor financial year for me due to bad investment, but my head is still above water. My bread and butter income requires a lot of gas and electric usage, so the increase in this area will take effect later on in the year, so not looking so good for me unfortunately. I'm also feeling the effects of a slow trading January, but it's actually not as bad as I thought it would be, so maybe there's hope.

 

[voorhees]

Looking rosey....just depends if my lottery numbers come up

 

[unkle]

Spent last year paying off debts before I moved back to the UK, nothing major but I hate owing money.

Felt good starting 2008 knowing that the biggest direct debit coming out of my account is for my mobile phone, Im a tight fist who only ever texts so even thats quite minimal.

This year I could really do with buying a house but the area I live in is a bit of a commuter town so the prices round here are quite high even though its not a terribly nice place to live, Im sort of hedging my bets at the moment, Ive saved enough for quite a large deposit on a decent sized house but if the housing market goes belly up I dont fancy saying goodbye to a lot of hard earned cash, any property bods in here feel free to part some pearls of wisdom!

 

[motorbikez]

This year I could really do with buying a house but the area I live in is a bit of a commuter town so the prices round here are quite high even though its not a terribly nice place to live, Im sort of hedging my bets at the moment, Ive saved enough for quite a large deposit on a decent sized house but if the housing market goes belly up I dont fancy saying goodbye to a lot of hard earned cash, any property bods in here feel free to part some pearls of wisdom!

I wouldn't worry too much about property prices going belly up the doomsters have been predicting a crash for the last 3-4 years however it may be worth waiting another 6 months or so before you commit yourself as prices are at a standstill and are falling slightly in some areas..If you had listened to the doomsters you would now be paying 25-35% more for a property + you would have wasted money on rent.
Just as a point of interest the general public are bailing out of commercial property at a rate of knots when prices of funds are at rock bottom having fallen 40% in 2007 ,the large commercial property companies are raising billions in the financial markets to purchase cheap commercial property.Makes you think!

 

[Randomjim]

No debts, new job paying better money and a large sum of money in the bank. Just gotta decide when to take the plunge into buying a house. Hoping on a slump so the morgage is smaller.

So should be a good year as long as i pick the right time to buy a house.

 

[Spin140]

Not too worried about hose prices as we bought wisley and have enjoyed the bouyant market of recnt years so planty of equity there.

Ref other finances, fuel & heating up, fixed 5 year 4.09% mortgage ends October - estimate £200 rise, 1st year of paying Nursery fees of around £500 PCM.

Thankfully everything is budgeted for but it's still depressing, oh well theres always 2009

 

[motorbikez]

Yes I think you've hit the nail on the head I don't feel particularly hard done by income wise although I won't be giving myself a pay rise this year.Its the 5% council tax rise the 12% food prices rise the17% fuel price rise and now 15% gas and electric price rise.

Lets hope our beloved chancellor cuts the duty on fuel by 10p per litre giving the bank of England room to cut interest rates.

 

[Amchlolor]

1st year of paying Nursery fees of around £500 PCM.

I take it you're claiming all you can?
As well as child benefit (which everyone gets), you should get something towards childcare costs from the working families tax credit, or whatever they ****** call it now.

With regard to my own financial health, I think I'll be fine.
As long as I don't want to be warm, drive anywhere, or drink anything.

 

[marriedblonde]

I take it you're claiming all you can?
As well as child benefit (which everyone gets), you should get something towards childcare costs from the working families tax credit, or whatever they ****** call it now.

There's an upper earnings limit for the tax credit. Can't remember what it is but I dont think it's that high.

J.

 

[marriedblonde]

This financial year has been very good. Not too concerned about the state of the nation, if the doom and gloom merchants are to be believed then my house will fall in value but thats not the end of the world. I own about 50% of it so have a bit to play with.

Hopefully 2008 will be good as well, time will tell... My current contract ends at the end of March so who knows what will happen then.

J.

 

[Amchlolor]

There's an upper earnings limit for the tax credit. Can't remember what it is but I dont think it's that high.J.

Depends what you call high, MB
It's around £66K before you get a "no".

 

[marriedblonde]

Oh ok it's not too bad I guess

 

[benw123]

I'm lucky. I start a new job in three weeks which pays around £7.5k more than my current job, comes with an annual bonus and has real prospects.

My wife is at home full-time with our 18-month-old son, so with a single salary coming in we have felt the pressures of the higher cost of living. Thankfully we don't have any serious debts, although we have recently taken out a second mortgage to get an extension done and most of our home renovated.

As for the outlook, personally I'm feeling good right now but I worry about things long-term, mainly for the country as a whole in the next 20 years. We're a little island and there are simply far too many people crowded on to it.

 

[karl7900]

I bought my house two years ago with a co-ownership package (75%mortgage, 25% co-ownership). I plan to buy out the co-ownership and take a bit of equity out on the house too. I also plan to tidy up my outgoings a bit too. So in short, I'm hoping to improve financially this year.

 

[auditek]

i agree with ben 123 . i was gonna emigrate to canada/vancouver few years back, decided not to pursue. sometimes wonder if i would have been better off. long term , is a thought what state this country/society, people with no respect ... my bro wont have kids, doesnt want to bring them into this world. he has a point but i im glad i dont think like him , lol

 

[jcs356]

2008 is looking pretty good for me. Just coming to the end of my first year of trading of my own business which has gone very well. I ended up working for clients for just over 5 of the 12 months (my choice), spending quite a bit of time travelling, and I'll have earnt a similar amount to when I was working full time.

As I see it at the moment 2008 will see me working pretty much flat out for the whole year, so I'll end up doubling my previous salary before I set the business up. So all in all, looking pretty good to me.

 

[Petem95]

I'm expecting to be worse off slightly. My company is already suffering a bit from the effects of the credit crunch.

It looks like the long overdue house-price-crash is now underway, so I expect house prices will be down quite sharply by the end of 2008, and for the next few years at least - but thats not the end of the world really, and hardly unexpected!

Job prospects are the main worry. I work in IT, and when firms cut back IT spending is always the first thing to be cut.

 

[unkle]

i agree with ben 123 . i was gonna emigrate to canada/vancouver few years back, decided not to pursue. sometimes wonder if i would have been better off. long term , is a thought what state this country/society, people with no respect ... my bro wont have kids, doesnt want to bring them into this world. he has a point but i im glad i dont think like him , lol

The grass isnt always greener on the other side but I would recommend living abroad to anyone, I did and it was a very worthwhile experience, showed me all the good and bad things about the UK, it isnt such a bad place after all. (although there are things that could and should be sorted out)

 

[auditek]

aye grass aint any greener. lived down south few years back, didnt like, got a mate in sydney, he doesnt like it much, another mate didnt like oz either after 3 yrs, hated london, he now in cali, nae much positive vibes from there either ? they always givin me the homesick speeches when we meet up. but you have to taste it to see if you like ? no point thinkin about it!!!!!!!!

 

[TFSI]

Just wondered what members feel about their personal financial prospects for 2008 and what do you think is going to happen to the economy.

Used to always be skint at 18 years old i am now 50 and still skint

My problem seems to be i keep spending it

On the positive side i have NO debt what so ever and the only thing i have ever been in debt with was my mortgage which finished a good while back

One of the most important things my Father RIP taught me was if you cannot afford it dont buy it

 

[motorbikez]

One of the most important things my Father RIP taught me was if you cannot afford it dont buy it

Very good advice I was brought up in a similar manner when I was 17 I asked my Mother to gaurantee a loan I wanted to put towards cash I had saved for a car she said no save up and buy one cash,which I did I remember being somewhat ****** off with Mam at the time but taught me a valuable lesson.By the way I never asked Dad for cash the anwser was always the same NO.

Like you I now buy cars bikes etc cash every time I will buy stuff on interest free though.

 

[auditek]

get it all on loans, saving takes too long i want it all yesterday live for the moment !

 

[jojo]

I understand what some of you guys are saying, when you say, 'if you can't afford it, don't buy it'

get it all on loans, saving takes too long i want it all yesterday live for the moment !

But quoting above, getting a loan is a way to afford something more expensive, you just need to pay a bit extra in the form of interest, but doesn't mean you can't afford the item in the first place.

 

[marriedblonde]

I too was brought up with the if you haven't got the money for something you can't have it - save for it. But I was only a kid! But I'm with Jojo on this one, having a loan doesn't mean you can't afford something.

I wouldn't say it was wise to have loans that used upall your earnings but common sense surely dictates what you can and cant afford. Hmmm lots of people dont have any common sense... Maybe your right

 

[Onlyme]

Im importing Romanian Prostitutes so I should be much better off this year plus the prostitutes are bringing there kids over so i'll get them to pick pocket up oxford street

 

[TDI-line]

Im importing Romanian Prostitutes so I should be much better off this year plus the prostitutes are bringing there kids over so i'll get them to pick pocket up oxford street

Sign me up for 2 of the RP's please.