An Accountant In Leeds On £76,900

This week: "I’m a 28-year-old chartered accountant working in a large professional services firm. I bought a house around two and a half years ago, just before I met my boyfriend, K. I moved into K's flat earlier this year but I’m still paying the mortgage and bills on my unoccupied house. I’ve been trying to sell it for around six months; the sale fell through twice before I found my current buyer and I’m hoping to complete (finally!) this month. I’m also in the process of buying a new build, which K and I will move into in a couple of months' time.

I’ve always been quite a spender, mostly on travelling but also on going out, clothes…I’m not even sure what. K is the complete opposite — he always thinks very carefully before buying anything and is very focused on saving for the future. He’s had a very good influence on reining in my spending habits. The house-selling/buying process has been very expensive and when it goes through I’ll be facing much higher monthly mortgage payments (thanks to the recent interest rate hikes). As a result, I’ve had a big shift in my attitude to spending money and I’ve got a lot better at really thinking through any purchases I make instead of impulse shopping. This has led to a substantial reduction in my credit card bills!"

Occupation: Manager, M&A
Industry: Finance
Age: 28
Location: Leeds
Salary: £76,909
Paycheque amount: £3,845.38
Number of housemates: One: my boyfriend, K.
Pronouns: She/her

Housing costs: £1,152.60 (this is my latest mortgage payment. I’m currently on a variable rate so this has been increasing each month since March, when my fixed rate ended. I’m hoping to complete on my house sale this month so fingers crossed this should be my last payment). I’m currently living at my boyfriend’s flat but he has very kindly told me I don’t need to contribute anything towards this, given I’m still paying for my old house. When we move into my new house, I’ll be paying the majority of the £1.5k mortgage.   
Pension? I pay in 6.65% (£401.27 a month) and my employer pays in 3.35% (£202.14 a month). 
Loan payments: £328 student loan.
Savings? Currently £5,200. This is all earmarked for paying my credit card bill for repair work I had done last month to the house I’m selling. My savings have been drained this year by having to pay around £6k for 'extras' on my new house (kitchen, flooring etc.) and buying my car in cash.
Utilities: £20 water, £50 gas/electric (this is very low as my house is unoccupied at the moment. I cancelled the internet when I moved out), £126 council tax. I paid £159 for a TV licence last September and although I only used six months of it before moving out, I can’t get a refund as the property hasn’t been sold yet.  
All other monthly payments: £35 gym, £48.98 car battery (covers battery maintenance and recovery if my car runs out of charge), £80 parking, £17.59 phone contract. Subscriptions: £30 Pret, £8.99 Amazon Prime. £47.99 annual subscription for Beyond workout app.

I did an undergraduate degree on the £9k fees. I took out student and maintenance loans to pay for it. It’s scary to think about how much student debt I have and how ridiculously high the interest rates are.

I always felt that we were fairly comfortable; it’s only in retrospect I’ve realised how much my parents probably did struggle and sacrifice to make us feel that way. I now know we had a large mortgage, car loan payments and would make big purchases like furniture on finance. My parents stressed the importance of saving up for things we wanted and avoiding credit card debt. 

When I went to university at 18, other than sometimes going back for a couple of weeks during holidays. 

At 21, when I graduated university and started my full-time job. I am financially responsible for myself now but I know my parents and/or my boyfriend would help me out if needed.

I got a job at Sainsbury's just after I turned 18. This was mainly to have work experience on my CV but also to give me some money to save for university. I carried on working there during the holidays while I was at uni for a couple of years. 

I didn’t until recently. I recognise I have a very high salary, particularly for my age, and could generally afford to enjoy nights out and regular holidays. I saved for my house during COVID, mainly because I couldn’t go on holiday for a while. The decision to move house has had a much larger impact on my finances than I anticipated, due to the expensive structural work that was identified during the survey and it being a much longer process than I’d thought. My lodger moved out in the spring and combined with the variable rate mortgage, this means my monthly housing costs have effectively doubled since the start of the year. Due to rising interest rates, I am now also facing a much higher mortgage rate on my new house than I’d planned for when I reserved it but I have invested so much money in the process already that I can’t back out now. I worry about how much debt I’m taking on with my new mortgage.

My parents gifted me £5k towards my first house deposit. They also gave me a monthly allowance while I was at university so I didn’t have to work during term time. My grandparents also paid into a savings account for me on a regular basis from when I was born. I used part of this for a volunteering trip to India when I was 17, some towards a trip to South America after I graduated from university, and the remaining £1k or so went towards my house deposit.