Month: April 2020

Financial Hack: How long would you be able to pay your bills for if you were to lose your job tomorrow? Build your emergency fund, Thailand can wait.

Ashanta CharmLeave a comment

At the beginning of 2020 my husband and I decided to house hunt. We bought our apartment 4 years ago, renovated and thought it was a good time to upsize.

We had a budget, we knew the area we wanted to settle down in and knew that our next move would be for the long term. 

Ideally we wanted a project. Something that was nice enough to move in to straight away, however somewhere that had room for a back extension and loft conversion.

Deal breaker. He needs his space – games room and I need mine, an office.

We made 3 offers on 3 separate properties. 2 Offers were accepted and then BAM Covid-19 triggers a lockdown.

This was a bitter sweet situation as we were given time to truly analyse and think about what we were spearheading in to.

We are living in uncertain times and it is said that it will be a while before life is truly back to normal and in many ways, we’re going to have to accept a new normal.   

Why I gave up my 4 Bedroom Detached House hunt and decided to stay in my 2 Bedroom Apartment a few more years…

After a self analysis of our finances and various eventualities we decided to remain put.

In our current state we knew that if one of us were to lose our jobs, the other could pay the bills 3x over before it became a strain. 

We knew that if both of us lost our jobs, we had enough savings to carry us over for a few months paying the bills whilst we hunted for new jobs.

If we were to upsize and take on a project this wouldn’t necessary be the case.

We’d essentially be taking on much higher outgoings because I wanted a shiny new house and project to get my paws in to – a want, not a need. 

The take away from this experience is to stay where you are until you outgrow your home and are bursting out of the seams. Or until you can financially make the move without any strain, taking all eventualities in to consideration. No one knows what tomorrow holds.

Keep those outgoings low.

Save. Save. Save.

Save. Save. Save and when it is time to upsize, you can do so effortlessly.

There’s a time to save, time to build and a time to enjoy what you’ve built. 

Tip: You should have enough savings to carry you through 3 months of a rough period. These savings will pay your Mortgage, utility bills and basic essential costs of living (travel, food etc.)

Why?
Theres an average of about a 3 month period from being made redundant to securing a new job and receiving your first “normal” pay cheque.

Build your emergency fund, Thailand can wait.

Financial Hack: Treat your personal finances like a business

Ashanta CharmLeave a comment

At the end of 2019, my husband and I sat together to draw up our plan for 2020. We divided the year in to 4 quarters. January – March being Q1, April – June being Q2 etc. You get the gist. I’m sure your company works in a similar way when setting financial targets for the financial year.

Q1 has drawn to a close and we sat down, reviewed the targets we had set and were overwhelmed with how much we were able to achieve. Some goals we surpassed and some goals we will have to take in to Q2 as they were incomplete.

The country is currently on lockdown and we’re about to go in to an inevitable recession given the financial strain this epidemic has had across the board. Weddings have had to be cancelled, companies have gone in to administration and let’s not forget the thousands in the UK and across the world that have unfortunately lost their lives.

Taking the above in to consideration what have you had to make redundant in your life? What luxury/ habit have you had to put on pause or downgraded a little?

Treat your personal finances like a business. Cut back, make sure you have a crisis fund, but most importantly, hit those targets!

Mortgage Payment Holidays: What happens after the 3 months are up…

Ashanta CharmLeave a comment

Mortgage Payment Holidays – You do not get to miss 3 months worth of Mortgage Payments and then continue with your usual payments there after. 

The Mortgage payments that you miss during the holiday period are added to the overall balance of your Mortgage. 

Once the holiday period is over, your new monthly Mortgage payments are higher as your Mortgage balance would have increased due to the 3 months of missed payments being added. 

Your new monthly payments will increase by £10 – £100 or so. This is dependent on your current monthly payment amounts, current interest rate and overall outstanding mortgage balance. 

Find out the facts. Know how much your monthly payments will increase by before committing to a Mortgage payment Holiday… 

The 3 month break is great, especially if you’ve lost your job, have been placed on furlough or are going through financial difficulty, however once that time has passed, your monthly outgoings will increase and won’t be what they once were. 

Some people have panicked and taken a Mortgage holiday because the option is there, it was all over the news and they thought, “why not?”. However in 3 months time, these people will be less pleased when their monthly payments increase by £80 and disrupt their monthly outgoings. 

During the holiday period, save as much as you can so that you are prepared for any further rainy days.

Alternatively, if you can, plough on, cut back a little and avoid the payment holiday all together.