Do you splash your hard earned contract income?

[VectraMan]

I seemed to spend everything I earned when I was younger, and never had much to show for it either. Not really sure where it all went. Now I feel a bit guilty and feel "the right thing" is to save. But I've probably been a bit too much of a skinflint of late and ought to blow some cash on a holiday or something.

[LondonManc]

Talking to a fellow contractor mate the other day. Gets about same day rate as me. He was taking delivery of his new Porsche. £90K or something like that - all on finance!

He admitted though that he spend most of his contract income (hes married with kids too) and has pretty much zero warchest..... Hes confident he can keep working and get new gigs. And he puts bugger all into his pension.

Seriously nuts if you ask me. Dont get me wrong, I spend my money on things I want - no point being the richest man in the graveyard. More important to me is my kids having things they want (like good holidays etc) and remembering it as they grow up. Also, Id like to have a warchest ulimately where I can pick and choose contracts.

And I thought I was flash doing this. (My cars a 10 yr old galaxy with 105k miles). Warchest could be better as could pension. Dear mrs PC doesnt buy expensive stuff but has a bit of a relentless spending habit for crap. Personally I hate spending money on crap.

Whats the rest of you approach? Spend it while you can or live like a monk and save it all?

If you're anything like my Welsh grandfather, then you're as tight as a duck's arse and need to relax a bit. His business is his own, so the valley gossip badge fits too

[northernladuk]

As a wise man once said...



He got to shag Kylie Minogue as well so it's good enough for me....

[LondonManc]

As a wise man once said...



He got to shag Kylie Minogue as well so it's good enough for me....

But was dead at 27. Webcam in your garage this weekend pal?

[northernladuk]

But was dead at 27. Webcam in your garage this weekend pal?

A minor inconvenience. No biggie.

[chopper]

I've been contracting for 14 months; I have a < £1000 a month mortgage on a 4 bed detached house and about £440/month car finance. I plan on around drawing £50k a year (£11k salary + £39k dividends) which I know takes me into higher rate, but keeps me out of paying child benefits back. I also pay SWMBO about £600 a month in salary. I am also putting £10k a year into a HL SIPP. The main reason for this is because I have spent about £20k this year on house renovations. Once the house renovations are done, then I can scale my drawings back a bit. The home renovations have come at the expense of holidays (Lots of holidays, but they've all been in the caravan, so site fees have been under £500 for all our holidays put together this year). I figure 'wasting' the warchest buildup on home improvements is OK at this point rather than blowing it on a depreciating asset.

I have already built up a 6 month warchest, I make sure all my CT and VAT liabilities are ringfenced, the current plan is to get the warchest closer to 12 months during 2017 and then... happy days

[VillageContractor]

Currently saving as much as I can to put a deposit down on a house in London so not spending much.

Once that's sorted then will probably be in the middle. Save enough for a warchest, pension, house improvements. However I will make sure we go on family holidays, nice christmas, kids hobbies etc.

[LondonManc]

A minor inconvenience. No biggie.

Clearly he's still got more brains than you

[d000hg]

I'm a saver. I still haven't really adjusted to the amount I can earn if I contract full-time... though as I only do about 20 hours a week my earnings are comparable with a permie job so we don't have buckets of disposable income.

Being generally quite frugal means that when you actually want/need something, you can generally afford it without worrying.

[WTFH]

I spend a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squander.