I earn £55k a year. Can I afford private school for my son?

Kannu

Bit early for you to think about this level of details but my attention was caught by the fact that this fellow studied in oxford and has a similar background to you. He's 27 and has done fairly good financial planning but needs more advice. I can well see you facing similar situations in just 7-8 years with being married and possibly a child.

So I began thinking, if I had to advice you on how not to get into this situation or improve it, what can you do? Few things sprang to mind.

Think about getting married. And also see if your wife has the ability to earn some money part time. Whilst I'm fully for the mothers to look after the children full time, having two incomes really really helps. In this particular case, his problem would have been solved by having his wife work.

Second is to think whether you do need private schooling for your children. You two didn't need it but that means you need to stay in a location where there are good schools (comprehensive and grammar) which are free.

Which also means that you need to think about your mortgage. We will, of course, help you with your house or flat but we need to think about it. Earlier the better. I think you need to have a word with Mamma when you're down here so that we can work on your flat/house and location. Let's start looking.

You also need to max out your pension as much as you can buy we also need to think about paying off your uni debt as soon as possible.

And you know what impressed me reading about this chap? He is saving a seriously large amount of his earnings. That's very good. By my accounts he's saving almost 25-30% of his earnings which is most excellent. In the form of pensions and isa's. I learnt to do that well into my 30's but he's doing it since he's 25! You can start doing this even earlier if you can.

Lessons learnt son. Lessons learnt.

Love

Baba

I earn £55k a year. Can I afford private school for my son? - Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11408559/I-earn-55k-a-year.-Can-I-afford-private-school-for-my-son.html
(via Instapaper)

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Money Makeover: Rik Thomas earns £55,000 and wants his young son to go to private school. Is it feasible? Katie Morley offers expert advice

At 16 months old, Rowan Thomas is only just starting to utter his first words.

But already his parents are thinking about how they are going to pay his private school fees.

His father, Rik Thomas, 27, says giving his son the best education possible is top priority – particularly for primary school – where he believes good teaching makes the biggest difference.