At the moment there is a lot of economical uncertainty, for example within the last week mortgage rates alone have increased by 2%!
With all the uncertainty around, it is hard to see how things are going to play out and this can be uneasy for lots of people. For us, we had plans for the next 12 months, 3 years and then 5 years. Now with the rising costs and interest rates, we are having to reassess those plans and work out what we will be actually able to achieve.
Using a savings calculator in the past, it was clear to see that we would be able to achieve the goals we had set. Now I am not sure we will even get close.
In the ideal world, I would have loved to move house in the next 5 years but when the mortgage rates are as high as they are, it just doesn’t make sense for us to do that now. We are actually better off staying where we are on our 1.65% mortgage and clearing it quicker, rather than paying over the odds on a mortgage on the new house. It is not what I had in the plans and it is a little disappointing, however, we have to be realistic.
It is not just the increase in mortgage rates that is putting plans on hold for us, but the rising costs across the board. There is no point us moving yet when it costs next to nothing to run our car as we are, yet if we move it will be at least 2 tanks of fuel into work every month. This would put on the strain of another £160+ on our monthly outgoings.
So for now, we are back to the drawing board on our plans and taking into account the uncertainty that is coming our way for the foreseeable future.
With so much unknown, the only thing I do know is that I would love to clear some chunks off the mortgage and debts in the coming months to get us on a better footing. I am working hard behind the scenes on the blog and trying to find ways to save on our spending etc. As always I am using sites like Quidco for cash back and shopping around for other deals where I can, customer loyalty doesn’t exist anymore.
I think the one thing that is really frustrating about all of this though is the unknown time that this will take to balance itself back out. For so long we have had an idea of how life was playing out but now we are in a position where we just don’t know when it will balance out again.
Long-term plans are to retire early and enjoy life but with the rising costs, there is questions as to whether this will be as early as we would have liked. Our spare cash is now being gobbled up by the rising costs and we are not really in a position to be able to do much about it other than paying what we need to pay and just keeping going.
How are you finding the economical uncertainty? Everyone I talk to is worried about the rising costs but also just keeping a roof over their head and the heating on this winter. I have never known anything really like this, even when the market crashed back in 2007/08, it seemed as though people were calmer and things were under control a little more than they are now!