Thoughts on our personal finances so far this year?

[lwilliams777]

For context both N and R are 24, N works as an engineer at a mid-size company, R works as a risk analyst for a large financial services company. We live near Leeds in a 2-bedroom rented flat and own our car (2006 VW Golf). In the remainder of the year our goals are to stop traveling for a bit, pay off the final £750 of debt and start to properly save for our wedding!

Flowchart here

 

[angelwings37]

@lwilliams777 No gas and only £505 for a years worth of electricity? Looks too good to be true, well done on keeping those costs down.

I’m in a 2 bed and pay £170 dd a month for gas and electricity combined and £45 a month for water.

 

[lwilliams777]

@angelwings37 Thanks yeah, it's actually 7 months but we've managed to do quite well on the electricity by half freezing during the winter!

 

[angelwings37]

@lwilliams777 Ahh that makes sense and your title does say so far this year - it’s only that we typically see these over the course of a year or a typical month.

It looks very good in all, particularly the low amounts you are spending on yourselves and eating out!

 

[lwilliams777]

@angelwings37 Thank you, we try really hard to just stick to the essentials

 

[zogy101]

@lwilliams777 Don't save for a wedding would be my advice ... do something far more sensible with the money.

 

[bloodygrace]

@lwilliams777 Are these expenses monthly or yearly? Some seem to be yearly but then ones like Amazon prime and 02 look more like a monthly expenses.

 

[lwilliams777]

@bloodygrace This is YTD (January 1st - July 31st)

 

[bloodygrace]

@lwilliams777 Sorry I should have read the title makes sense. Doesn't seem too bad to be honest. Can't really offer any advice except maybe make more use of the tax savings that a pension offers especially when you reach the higher rate tax band (40%).

 

[lwilliams777]

@bloodygrace Thank you, yeah working in finance means that R gets way higher pension (14% from the employer if they contribute 8%), whereas N is on 4% from each party (and then we privately invest 6%). Hopefully it becomes more equal in the future...