The Vault with Financielle - “Was This My Worst Money Decision Yet?” | The Vault Episode 110

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

“I’ve downplayed my salary to make my friends feel more comfortable”… jail or no jail? 🚨This week, we’re diving into these money dilemmas:💸 “We Bought a House… And Now Everything Feels Expensive”💸 ”Was This My Worst Money Decision Yet?”Connect with our Partner🫶 Protect yourself and loved ones with our friends at Lifesearch **The above is a tracked link, which tells our partner we sent you and may in future result in a payment or benefit to our site.

Welcome to the Vault with Financial Out. This is a safe space where we talk all things live and money and no topics are off limits. Hello, everybody. Hello. Good morning. I've got my finance bro top on today. Oh, yes. I would feel like I would fit right in in London.

What is it? Bank station. You've not got a Patagonia vest. No, that's in my bag. We love a tech bro, finance bro. Yeah. Jive. Sorry.

Alex works from home. Sorry, you're married to one. And he dresses like a finance. bro like from home. I like it. He's a finance bro. He's like, I've got to fit the bill. Yeah.

Do you know what? I bet they don't spend a lot of time deciding what to wear. It's a uniform, isn't it? Yeah. Quartz zip. Yeah. M and S. Autograph.

And like a white shirt and then a lot of, and then a patagonia zip up. So I'm like, their arm's cold. No, the adrenaline keeps the water. Sell, sell, sell.

It's such a cliche. They just wrap them. sells in money. I love that flash mob on TikTok and they dress as Finance finance. I need to find it now. And they'd go to six-five. Canary Wharf.

Is it Rees or something that did it? I don't know. I think it was Rees to like promote the tech bro. No, find the different, is it finance or is it tech? They're both the same. Finance Bro is like, Patagonia, I feel like is more tech. Yeah. Finance Bro is court as it.

So, it's now a long. no, now no longer just Patagonia, the companies then create uniforms for them where they have their company branding on the Gilles. We should get some pink ones. Oh my gosh. We really should.

We should be in the handmade's tail outfits that we wear every day and we should buy pink Patagonia-esque finance Giles. We should. Yeah, we probably should. We'll sell them, guys. Do you want to buy shit you don't need?

Yeah. Okay, time for June. June or no, June? Who? Jail or no Jail or Gail. Gail or no Gail. What is it, Dill? Yeah, no, it's Jail.

It's just spelled Gail. Irish Gail. My mind went to Gales. The coffee. I thought we were talking about Gales. Oh, no, no. We were talking about in Irish. It's spelled G-A-O-L.

Fair enough. I think. But Lucy would like to go to Gail. Gail. I have Gail yesterday and I've got Gail's pit color on my nails. Gail on my nail. And I took a picture from my Instagram and I was like, same colour as the colour girl.

I was like, very impressed. We did go to Gail's without you. I'm really sorry. Tell her about the boy. We loved the boy. Oh yeah, there was like a really amazing guy welcoming everyone. It was the barista,

but he was just like, Hey, how are you? He was the boss. He was the main character. We were just a sideline in his production. Like, he was amazing. He was American, wasn't he? A girl was like, he made a coffee for someone.

We thought. He needs a reality. And she went to the toilet and he made it. And he just went, Elizabeth, this coffee's for you when you're back from the bathroom. And, like, was talking to himself and put it on the side. There was no one with him. No. Only Holly saw him. I heard him and saw him and he caught my eye and he just went.

And I was like, you are that coolest person ever. Oh my God. She said, Elizabeth, that's for you when you were out of the bathroom. And she was in the bathroom. There was no cue and no one around him. He just lives like that. He was having a great time. And what was funny was, and those people that are Eastern European can absolutely empathize with this.

His co-worker and clearly friends. was tired, not in the mood. It kept singing to her. He was like a Disney princess and she was like, it is too early for this. And it was just really funny seeing the chalk and cheese because she was just been so direct with him and shutting him down and he obviously is so used to it.

And she's like, it's like la la la la. Oh my God. So it was very entertaining. I really, it was worth the, how expensive it was. It is. We had, we both had overnight oats and then we shared a salmon bagel. Oh yeah.

Because I wanted something savoury, but I didn't want a full one because I wanted the oats. And Laura was about to go on stage and she was like, if my stomach rumbles. Oh yeah. With a microphone. I just don't want to be able to presenting. But then I thought I was going to have like black, blackberry bits of my teeth. There's lots. In Gales, in that overnight oats, they have like these little apple bits.

And I was like, how do they make them? How does like the great them? Oh. That's like, almost spaghetti. I was like, it's just when you spiralize it. How do they make this? She's like, the great it. But I don't think I could.

great them that nice. I guess it would be an industrial grater. Possibly. Well, I had this like grandeur and ahead of like this overnight oats. I was like, no, no, they'll just great apple in it. Just like that. I was like, so how did they make this apple? Do we think I could do it? Is it not weird having apple in porridge? Poverage. What's your, so Lucy's a gal's Stan. What is the girl's order? No, I've got a stat. Um, on my Monzo. Monzo. What's it called? Monzo review. Review. Yeah, year in reviews. Yeah. I was like, in the top 1% of spenders in Gales in the Northwest. Oh wow.

I thought you were just going to be in Chester. Which was a wake-up call and I haven't been in a while. Because you were like, you were like, oh, yeah, I've, I've lowered my Gales. Gail's just send you something for that. I know, I'm tempted to show them it. Yeah. Be like, can I have something? What's the Gales order if we do go in?

Currently, chicken Caesar sandwich, followed by a reverse chocolate cookie. What's the reverse chocolate cookie? It's like dark chocolate, actual cookie, white chocolate chunks. Oh, nice. Really good. And then any kind of drink. Yeah. Change my mind.

But you love a noops, don't you as well? Yeah, I love a noops. I've not been getting any drinks from Gales. I've got a noops. Well, I think it's actually Knoops. Oh. But I call it noops. It says on the walls, Knoops.

Like it's spelled out phonetically. It's not a silent K. No, noops is better. Oh, guys. Yeah, I like, I prefer noaps. Noops, you can basically go in and you choose. choose from 20% to 100% chocolate and you can have a hot chocolate or an iced chocolate or a milkshake or something.

Switch your order there. 34% almond milk hot. How did you get to 34% specifically? It's like it tastes like Cadbury's like dairy milk. I was like if I wanted a dairy milk hot chocolate, what percentage am I going for? Yeah, because they say all the notes and everything and like when you go in for the first time, they'd give you the whole shmeal. I want to go for one.

Manchester. Is that either? Where the trams go past? I've never been to the mine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I do know. Up near King. Maybe I'll go tomorrow. It's really good. And let you feed back. But 34% she's asking for with oat milk. 34% whatever milk you want.

I like it with almond. Oh, right. Because it's just a bit nutty. Nutty. So then it's like a fruit and nut. Yeah. It's not a fruit and nut. There's no fruit in it.

Some fruit. The do are you dark chocolate, regular chocolate in the middle. Like, if you had a salt chocolate. sliding scale, where would you pick? Milk chocolate is the best. So you go like 30s? I've got in my head that dark chocolate is healthy so you're allowed unlimited amounts.

I have one square a night. One square a night every night before bed with my decaf brew. Well, actually, I make Neil have a decaf brew because I don't have a drink before bed, but I drink, I have like three sips of it and then he has it. That's a compromise. I'm like, I don't want a full one. I want you. And I'll be sat there and he's like,

and then passed it over. That's weird. I just get out of it. Get a small cup. I do have a little cut, but I just don't. It's like a power move. Pass me in your drink. Yeah.

Pass me in the drink. No, one square of dark chocolate for a bed every night. Oh, God. You live life on the edge. I have good chocolate. I like it.

At least that's a square of dairy milk. No, I like it. If I have dairy milk in the fridge, it's all gone. You better believe. Whereas with dark chocolate, I don't feel the need to eat the full bar. It's kind of like a half-noy house.

I ate my chocolate bar yesterday and then Holly gave me half of her so she didn't eat it. And I was like, I will gladly help you out here. Well, it was a dairy milk duo. So you get like two half chocolate bars in it, like a long one. And I was like, I'm not going to eat all that. It's like one and a half. It's definitely not too. Yeah.

I know it's called a duo. Yeah. Okay. Time for J-L or no, Joe. Sorry, where are we? Gail. To that segue. Sorry.

Okay. I've justified a purchase as an investment. in quotation marks when it was really just an impulse purchase. You know you're walking yourself to jail. Jail. Jail, but I kind of like that she owns it. She's like, I said it was an investment and it's not. How can I position this to myself?

I've downplayed my salary to make my friends feel more comfortable. No jail. Yeah, I'm no, I'm going to. Oh, you're going to go jail? Just be proud and it might help inspire others. To be more ambitious. Oh, we went British, Lucy. You and I went no, Jill, because we understand making people feel comfortable.

But I know what you mean, how. Just to clarify, I would probably do the same thing. But anybody else. She wouldn't tell you her, tell her. I will always downplay myself, but lift others up. So I would be like, no, you should tell everyone. I don't know, it should be, like, it is inspiring when I hear, especially Laura's friends, because they're more in, like, the legal sphere and, do you know what I mean?

Like, I'm from, like, creative friends. fashion, like that vibe. Laura went into law. So obviously all her friends, like if they've made partner, like all these amazing accomplishments that her friends have from a career perspective

and I'm talking pay related, not success. It doesn't define. But I'm always like, that is so cool. Like they're doing amazing things. They're being partners in law firms. Like they're getting really big salaries,

getting big bonuses. Like it's so cool, isn't it? I remember, because it's from the early days, isn't it? Like I remember hearing like Gemma tell stories of recruiters that would contact her with a particular job

and I'd be like, what? Yeah. We're talking like six figure and we're talking like early 20s offers. She was a bit older and a bit more experience, but it was still very like, oh my God, this is what people are. And it suddenly raised your expectations. And you know what is really important about that is it raises your knowledge of like what's possible because you only know what you know.

And if no one shares stuff. And so people are on lots of different challenges for, of the different jobs, but at least knowing what like the going rates are in your space can help you maybe raise your expectations. And we were chatting to a woman the day where it wasn't changed. She was like one of the biggest regrets was not ever negotiating on that first pay rise. Like she was just so happy. Thankful. For a big, big company where there would have been more money.

Yeah. She said there would have been more on the table. I was told there was more on the table. But I just gladly took it and went thanks. Is like one of her biggest regrets and yeah, salary transparency where. you feel comfortable is a good thing. But also no gel because... No jail because like, so we're British and it's in Bajoran and you don't want to brag. But at the same time, if more women had these conversations,

how much more money could we be leaving on the table if we don't have these conversations? Whereas men are much more open about it. And then they go, I'm going to, I deserve that. He's shit. Yeah. He's rubbish and he's getting paid more than me. No chance. Like I want to have, I wish we had that about us a little bit more.

Baby jail. Baby gel. Play pen. Baby jail. I secretly hope I'll meet someone who makes buying a house easier. Like a sugar daddy. Or just two applications for mortgage. What's a sugar daddy of someone that's not older than you?

Or is it always a sugar daddy if someone gets paid more than you and you're like, do what I mean? Is this us asking for a definition of sugar daddy? Like, do you want Lydia to look? Is it a sugar daddy an older gentleman? with more cash. An older wealthy man. Does it have to be older? Yeah.

Apparently, yeah. Okay. Go on. What's it saying? An older wealthy man who provides financial support, gifts or luxury experiences through a younger partner, sugar baby. Oh.

Companionship, affection and romantic or sexual relationship. Ew. Ew. So creepy. But I know, I'm more laughing. I don't think she means in that way and think she's like, it'd be so much easier to buy house together.

Yeah. Yeah. Like if you're single, you are climbing that ladder on your own. Single tax. No, jail, you're absolutely allowed. No, but it's not a reason to me to get with someone. No, but the single tax is real. Single tax is real.

And I have so much empathy for people navigating buying a home. Living life as a single person financially is extremely difficult. So you have my empathy. I thought about this recently. Sorry, I'm saying we're not ready. I'm already on the paddles. With lots of people could be. be our age, could be just, I'm just more hyper aware of it, and I've gone through separations

the past few months. And I'm even talking like on social, like this morning I opened TikTok and a couple of people that I've held a long time ago both came on and said, I separated from my husband. And one of these people is, she's all about career and business and had shared, all the time that she worked for, I think she worked in VC actually. So I've worked in Venture Capital, very, very, like, established in her career, but actually had had a couple of children or at least one child and had, like, worked as a bit of a content creator since then. And so it's so interesting she came on. She was like, she's shared. I was really grateful actually that I'd built up businesses that ran in the background whilst I'm going through this kind of trauma. This was a couple of

months ago. But the first thing I went to was, oh my God, yes, but you're, that, that's like fun money for some people and it wouldn't, or I don't know how much she earns from it. So I'm I'm guessing a bit. But she's not NVC at the moment. She's not got a big, big job. Does he? I think he might have been a founder of business. But it was this kind of like money moment that I just kept thinking,

oh, she's having to start afresh. What is that like? And then it reminded me of all the people in our community. You see and as people share stories that once you've been in a two, to then start afresh and you have been. used to it. So you've got you've got the single tax like the newly returned to single tax. You've got the people that have been absolutely slogging it the whole way anyway. And it's a lot because you were used to sharing. You know, if our budget suddenly change and it was one of us,

life would be very different. And but what we have had is some wonderful messages being like, thank God. Like I budgeted, thank God. I had that emergency fund. Thank God. Yeah, 100%. So, but if you actually, there's a bit of call to arms though to tell us your stories. If you've been a solo home buyer or you've been a person who's like gone through separation and we started life on your own and we talked about it we talked about painting your bedroom pink and someone messaged in and I was like this is the best message of my life do you remember getting that and it was talking about it was the first thing she did she painted her wall pink she's in the picture yeah oh yeah where she worked from and then your mom put the paint it's got a pink

kitchen hasn't she yep because she's like because I can she just need to pink juley now and then she'll be ready for life but it is it is that point it's that like share your story with those because it will inspire the next person that just sees that mountain and goes, I'll never be able to, you will, you absolutely will, but that doesn't mean that we're underestimating how hard it is. So no jail. No jail. Okay, time for our first dilemma. Okay, paddles away. Paddles away. Okay, we bought a house and now everything feels expensive. Should you lend money to family and friends? What is an effort fund? How do I build my emergency fund? Well, we're so glad you asked. Head over to financial dot com where we tackle the

money topics you actually care about. Hi girls, I'm new to the app and the podcast, but I'm absolutely loving it. My husband and I bought a house four months ago, and since then it feels like everything has been a bit chaotic financially. We currently owe my sister £5,000, although she keeps saying there's no rush to pay her back. We also have a 20K car loan. We're really trying to get back on track, but things like unexpected house maintenance and needing new tires for the car keep cropping up. Every time we feel like we're about to make progress, something else needs paying for. I'm not used to having a mortgage yet, and the recent unexpected costs means there isn't much left over for extra debt repayments. It all feels a bit insurmountable at the moment.

One option I've considered is adding the 5K we owe to my sister onto the car loan, as we're about to change loan providers anyway after finding one with a lower interest rate. I really don't like owing a family member money, even though she says there's no pressure. The plan in my head is to clear the credit first, is to clear the credit card first, first mention of credit card, then chip away at the car loan and the £5,000 by paying extra each month. But I also really aspire to have proper sinking funds, savings and an emergency fund in place. And I don't know where that fits and when we're juggling all of this. For context, we both have stable incomes that don't change month to month

and we already pay extra into our pensions each month. How do we actually get back on track and start building sinking funds without feeling like we're constantly firefighting? I'm exhausted for you. I know. But firstly, welcome new to the podcast. And because you're new, you will be feeling overwhelmed. You'll be hearing us talk about sinking funds and paying off debt

and all these different things. And it is overwhelming, isn't it? And, you know, you have some chunks there. Like, those are not insignificant amounts, five and 20. You know, some people might have a little, and there's a credit card obviously, but some people have a little bits and bobs. But don't worry, this is normal.

And what your scenario, you are perfect textbook. Your perfect textbook normal because you're someone who life keeps hitting you. You need to do the tires on the car, the things need doing on the house. house and you're like, oh, I'm just getting started and then I have to go back. So I've not got sinking funds. I've not got any spare cash. I've got these debts. What do I do? And she's done what lots of people think in terms of I'll just consolidate some of it because mentally owing

family money will be there. Even if your sister's going, don't worry about it. She will also be fine with it. But there's just something and this is why we always say, don't we? Like, just be really careful about borrowing for family or lending to family. I've got that right way around. My mom is always like, oh, lend a borough. Sorry, mom. A not I'll lend it you. It's not I'll lend it you. It's... Oh no, do you want to say... And Timothy always says I'll borrow it you or I'll lend it you and it's like, I lend from you.

But maybe that's the wrong way around. Sorry, Trish. It's like... I thought it's like, I will lend you. You will borrow from me. Possibly that. And I think we get it wrong way around. After all these years, you think we'd know.

I think the pressure of getting it wrong gets to us every time. Because you know it's a stickler for Trish, so sorry. No, she hates it and someone says, can I borrow some... Can I borrow some sugar or like, can I borrow something that you're going to eat the full thing of. You can't borrow it? Can I have some sugar? I set to a lot.

Can I borrow that? Can I borrow that Kind of Bueno? I think the worst one is can I borrow a tampon? No. You can have it. Yeah. Gifted. I'm gifted.

I'm gifted to you. But there's just something that makes you feel like uncomfortable when there's like money transferring hands between, between family. I'm conscious not to say that we're borrowing now in case it's so funny. So she's like trying to build up these building blocks that other people take months and months to do. And so what I would say is just don't worry and don't panic. Lots of people jump straight to a debt consolidation because it's like you suddenly go, oh, I don't like this debt. Yes. And the payments are high and the interest rate feels high. And so instead of like doing something about the debt,

you jump to like, let's do something about the interest rate, which. is absolutely fine, but it doesn't do anything. And that's really important because I think some people feel better because they've done something. But really, it, first, with debt consolidation, typically, we run up the debt somewhere else anyway. She's not really doing debt consolidation in terms of, like, lots of cards going on one. She's talking about, I owe my sister,

the car loan needs, I want it to be refinanced. So it's two debts, but it's technically consolidation. So we slow down. We start the bottom of the playbook. emergency fund? Do you have any emergency savings between you and your husband? A husband? I think it was husband. Just jumped to that. But build up emergency savings first. One month's expenses is a really good place to start. And you start there first. I usually start there before even sinking funds because if it's an emergency, you've got your emergency fund.

Whereas if you build up your car maintenance sinking fund and then something goes wrong on the house, were you going to, you've no money to fix it or you'll use credit. And you keep saying things are cropping up and that's what an emergency fund is literally for. You're like, oh, and tyres. I don't know if she said tyres, but she did. She said this and that and that. Tires and then house meat, house issues, house repairs. And for the beginning, I would say for many people, for the first minimum six months,

it's a bit of snakes and ladders. And you just feel like you're getting ahead and then something comes up and you go back. And you just feel like you're getting ahead and you think something comes up and you go back down. You feel like you're going backwards. And what I say to people then is, what would happen if you weren't doing this? You'd have gone into more credit. So you feel like you're not getting ahead. But actually, there's these little lessons that are going and you are practically not going backwards with money.

You are funding these accidents, these emergencies yourself. That's super empowering. So you start with the emergency fund. And then you do debt snowball, which I would do debt snowball. I would be considering optimizing that interest rate on the car loan, but I'd be tempted to just do it with a car loan. Don't roll extra in debt into it. And it feels like an extra big mountain to climb.

And it's 25K of debt then, isn't it? Literally. You can't do then the debt snowball where you're chinking off little bits at a time. And then the little, little as debt is gone. And then you can put the minimum payments. Literally. The debt snowball then doesn't exist. It probably would feel too big to me.

Too chunky. And that's where people can waver. So I think definitely optimize the car loan if you can or sell the car, 20,000 pound car loan. How good is this car? Because that's an option. It's something that people don't often consider, but depending on how quickly you want to get out of debt

and how quickly we want to do that, do you really need that level of car. Because what happens is, you have to calculate how long this is going to take you. So let's, for argument's sake, say the credit card's 2K. So she's 27K in debt. So if, let's hope the car's worth over 20 because she's been paying off a loan,

it might not be because of depreciation. So, okay, let's say it's worth 20. She could sell the car for 20. and get a car for 10 and she's suddenly got 10 grand less debt. So the tot, because she's got a 20 grand car. So if she sold that and got 20 for it

and bought a 10K car, she can, she's got 10 to pay off the debt with. So instead of having 27,000 pounds worth of debt, she's got 17. It might take you a year to pay off 10,000 pounds. And that is a lot of money. For some people it might take longer,

you've just cut your debt-free journey by a year just by deciding to have a car. I mean, what's my car worth probably 5, 6K? It's probably not a lot, you know, and it's 12 years old. It takes repairs and stuff. But I could easily go and get a 25,000 pound car today with the car on. It'll just literally walk out of here and go do it.

But I'm driving a car that's fine. And my life's all right with it. And I'm not, you know, and that's a six. So I'm even talking about going to a 10. So definitely don't discount the fact that you do have an option with that car. You've got a car loan. you're about to refinance it. Imagine if actually you change the car and you change the loan. But yeah, work through it, do the snowball. So if you've got your emergency fund, start working through

credit card, probably if it's less than your sister's loan, then your sister, then the car in terms of your overpayments. And where I say with sinking funds is, emergency fund aside, start building them up if you are going to spend the money anyway. So if you are going to go on a family holiday, there's no judgment from us. We're in your camp. We love a good holiday. But you may as well incorporate that into your budget now because what we don't want you to do is get to the family holiday and go, I'll put it on a credit card. So if you're going to start putting a little bit aside, but just bearing in mind that every time you put money into an optional sinking fund, a fun sinking fund, you are putting less onto your debt. But I, you know, I did this personally. Obviously, this was years ago now, but it was a while before I started a car maintenance. and a house maintenance fund. I did have a car insurance and I did have a service and service because that was like coming up and but there were emergencies. I knew of them. So I did start those but the smaller.

But once like you get the debt in a really good place and or paid off, you can start ramping those up. Like our car maintenance fund is quite high because our cars are older and we need it. But we don't dip into our emergency fund. Yeah. So like you're at the beginning. You've got a lot. Just trying to do a bit too much.

But once. Like it's all going to come. But like, Laura, it might just take a bit of a long time and best if you're going to follow the playbook methodology to do it in a certain order. Yeah. Get that mini emergency fund feels like it would be a big win for them. Yeah. And you're right where you're meant to be. Like if it feels like you can't get your sinking fun, it feels like you can't. It feels like you can't do that. You're doing it right. Yeah. It's a bit painful at first. Yeah. It's a lot. And part of feeling the pain is some of like the muscle memory that we need to not do this again. Yeah. To be brave enough to sell that car. You have to not like. the situation you're in. Yeah. Because if you're all right, then you'll keep it.

And so like we make really, when Holly decided to go to a one car family, I think she did an article on it on our website on financial.com. But you, I mean, God, you take forever to make decisions anyway, but you are agonized over it. You did that because it's,

but it's like a society thing like, oh, we need to have two cars. With two people. Like, just because society says so, like, oh, we need two cars. Like, yes,

from a logistical point. of you need to be more organized, but it was the best thing we ever did. You also did it about paying off the car finance with your savings for a long time because you were worried. And I'm like, I don't want to have no savings. It's like, well, I wasn't going to have no savings. I was not going to have a lot less savings. But I then built up those savings so quick because I didn't have the car payment. Like it's just. But you've got to feel some pain to make a brave decision. You've got to not like it. You've got to like not like that debt so much. Like if you if you've got a car of that value, you better love it. You better live in it.

take pictures of yourself in it, embrace it. And if it's like mine and there's hula hoops all over it, maybe thinking about switching down. And the other thing with cars is you can build back up again. And obviously, I've mentioned this a few weeks ago, actually. We're not there yet. We might need new cars at some point because we've got two 12-year-old cars. And so we're having to build up sinking funds for that.

And it's tough because I always pictured a moment where we'd have really nice cars because we'd move back up in car again. And every time we think about it, we want to go on holiday. Yeah. I'll do that. Suddenly, we don't give you. We're like, oh, she'll possibly get a better car. And I'm like, no, I don't know.

I go on holiday. Yeah, I feel like you go through phases and it's like, oh, yeah. And then you just go. And then you're like, the amount of dilemmas that come through this podcast about cars and being tied to expensive cars. It just makes you want to go never. Do you know what? We do get so many. Maybe I've got a new idea for like a social series where we answer car dilemmas sat in a car.

Because we're too many. We can't do that we get so many on car finance and car loans. I'm going to have to stop you because. We've got another one. The next dilemma is really car focus. Anything you've got else to say about cause? Let's stop talk about cars. We're going to do it from the car, live from Holly's car, Laura's car.

Lucy's car car. Well, I was thinking about that actually the other day. We were going through our budget and everything. And we have combined petrol pot now. Yes. Right? Because normally Alex just had his own. petrol pot. And we were like, we need a combined petrol pot because like, yeah.

And you weren't like, I'll just use your petrol pot. If you could just like, I'll be a princess what I want to be. Do we need a combined point? And then he was like, calm maintenance. I was like, technically both calls are yours. That's not a joint expense. How's your car maintenance pot looking? Oh my God. That's so funny. Have you got one now? We're going to start one. Okay. But we were like, do we need it? to cause I was like, we've been from home. And then I was like, yeah, I'm not giving up my independence now. You literally just passed your test. You finally got freedom. And it's like, I think you should get the bus again. He was like, I might sell Gloria. It's like, Gloria is mine.

Don't you tell her. Yeah, not Cecilia. Is that what they call? Yeah, right. Noted. Gloria and Cecilia. Gloria, long story short, Gloria from Madagascar. and Cecilia, because it's a C class. I chose that name. You're allowed. Celia. Okay, more car talk pending. Was this my worst money decision yet?

Yes. Possibly, yeah. Struggling to make it to payday, the financial app helped me track my money, pay off debt, and finally feel in control. I've built savings. I've started investing. and I actually feel financially well. Download the Fanishell app and start your money comeback today. Hi, Team Financial. I absolutely love the podcast and listen every week, so I wanted to share a

dilemma I'm currently facing. Two years ago, I started a new job on a higher salary, and in the excitement, I bought an expensive car on finance. Yes, I know. Big regret and a big financial crime. The car was worth 28K at the time. I paid a 6K deposit and took out 26K finance degree, including interest to cover the rest. I'm now around 20 months into the agreement and have roughly 16K left to pay. My monthly payments are around £450. Since going freelance, my income has been less consistent, so I'm trying to reduce my monthly outgoings wherever I can. The car is one of my biggest expenses, especially when you factor in petrol, insurance and servicing on top. So here's my dilemma, is it worth selling the car? I could sell it for roughly 23K, which would clear the

remaining finance and save me the future interest on the loan. That would also leave me with some money to put towards a cheaper car, although I'd probably still need a smaller amount of finance just with a lower monthly cost and a shorter commitment. Alternatively, should I stick it out and continue with the payments I've already committed to, knowing that eventually I'll own a higher value car outright once the finance is paid off. Not having a car isn't an option as I need want to get to work from where I live. I'm just trying to work out whether cutting my losses is, cutting my losses now is smarter or whether I'd regret selling it later. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Wow. I see what you mean when you're like, stop talking about car finance

because I think the next one is. And just for context, like she all in if she completes the deal, she'll have paid 32k for a, oh my God. It was a 28K car, but now is worth 23, maybe worth 18, 20 by the end of the deal. She'll end up with like, let's say, an 18 grand asset and she's paid 30.

Oh my God. Including interest, if she sees it all the way through. So those are the numbers we're talking. And when we do, when we take out car finance, we always say it's not evil. You do you. And it's unfortunately become a very,

common way in our society to buy cars like we're older and people of our age and older will appreciate this like that's not how it used to work and then sometimes it would be a loan a car loan people did still get loans for cars but it it was the car companies that made suddenly these like luxury cars affordable or brand new cars affordable people didn't get a brand new car they got like a three and a four and five and six year old car and suddenly you know teenagers could get a brand new K-A, brand new Fiesta, brand new courser, because of this finance, you know, and whilst it is amazing that it did make safe cars accessible for lots of people, it suddenly became the norm as how you, how you bought a car. And so they're not daft. And obviously, I'd say this all the time,

like when it's with car finance, you are the profiting twice, like the profit with the margin on the car and then they profit with the margin on the finance. You know, they want you to take out finance. I don't want you to pay cash. You don't get a lot. You don't get a deal for paying cash. They're like, no, can you pay finance please? Yeah.

And, you know, there's been lots in the press about when it was done not in the right way. Interest rates were manipulated, lots of things.

So it's been a messy business for a while. But it's normalized. And so it's just when you actually look at the underlying price of the car, like would she have bought? You always use that analogy,

don't you? Would you have bought a third? 28 grand car. If you have 28 grand cash in your bank, would you have gone to that car dealership and bought a car outright? Probably not. Oh, my God, no. The attractiveness of that monthly deal, of which probably sounded then good at the time for what the car was. Now you do financial.

You're like, I don't want to pay a £450 out for a car. $400. $450 a month is crazy. Yeah. And basically pay what's she doing. If it was worth 28, but all in, she'll end up paying around $32. So like her own four grand extra worth of interest. And that's at the time you're going to that.

But knowing that it then falls in value, if she ends up with the car being worth like 18 to 20, if it's worth 20, she's overpaid by 12 grand. Yeah. Because of the depreciation of the asset, you know, it might have been worth that more at the time.

And so like, would you be willing to throw away 12 grand today? Like, would you set 12 grand of that on fire? No. You're like, Lucy's like, no, give me back. Hold up to it. But that's what we're talking about it.

When it's discussed in terms of monthly amount, even though this is eye watering and it's high for her, it doesn't seem as bad as setting fire to £12,000. And that's, we know, lots of things to appreciate, lots of things give us joy and we use it. People down top rent like it's this waste of money and it isn't. There's lots of reasons we spend money and that's okay. Not every penny we earn has to go into an asset that rises in value. But the danger is that this amount of money stops you from doing it. What would you do that? Would you be brave enough to walk away from such a nice car?

I wouldn't know what car is? Yeah, I want to know. We need pictures. But I feel like I would cut my losses. But I don't know if that's just because what I know now with how we've lived over the last few years with Finanelle, the mosquito in my ear would be like, get rid. You're like, just get rid. Yeah. I mean, Lydia, what do you think about that?

Like, you, I'd say we're all fairly frugal, but you definitely like very, very good with your money. it and you overthink, not overthink, but you're very careful with purchases. Like, how does a 450 car payment make you feel? Horrible. Like, yeah, no, I'd hate that. I couldn't cope with that. What roughly were, have you paid, like, in rent in the past? Because you rented on your own previously?

Um, my old rent was like $700 a month. Yeah. So, like, that's for like a roof over your head. Yeah. And you were able to, you paid that for you on your own and you were able to sustain it. And you can understand like some of these people, like some families have two of these 450 cars. Obviously she's not shared that with us and she's got the one. It is a lot.

And so whilst it's affordable, while she's managing it and she could keep going. I mean, you asked me, Holly, what would I do? I would absolutely be getting out of the car. But I'm much more comfortable. Yeah. With a car not defining me and with the idea that I don't care up. people think as much, it's very easy to say. But I think imagine going from that and just buying like a 300-bottle. Yeah. That's like, I was like exposure therapy. Yeah. Having the world like the world

is now. It sounds like they're not that bothered about the car anymore. There's no attachment in such a way. I don't think. Maybe even more like the dopamine's gone. Maybe they resent it. Yeah. Yeah. A resentful purchase. Yeah. Some people are still like, but I can't do without this car. Or I really need a good. I love it when people like, I need a, I travel. I travel. travel with work so I need like top-tier car and I'm like I've got a brand new Porsche it brought down on the first day on the way to the lake district and they had to get towed oh my god that's such a bad omen for the call you might know who is actually I want to as son of someone famous I'll tell you after this I'm sorry no it wasn't him but like nothing is absolutely guaranteed um

do you know what as well like you so much of car finance because it's such a big purchase is a dopamine hit. And then once the dopamine subsides, like how many people's like order cars and get excited? And then they're like, when is this car coming? Like, and actually they're over it.

They're not as excited about it and it's just a car then. The dopamine hit that you'd get from going, fuck it. Don't want the car anymore. Yeah. You actually did something really cool and really scary and really big for your finances. It's like putting something in your basket and just cancel it. Just if you want to play around with cars.

Just home. Just build one. You can build one on the mini website. I've done it for years. And then you just go, and then it's like, 78,000 pounds with all the additions that you put on

and then just go, anyway, it like, close the window. Holly's the queen of abandoned baskets. Honestly, every e-commerce that in the country hates, Holly,

she's messing with all the algorithms and all the data. I'm just waiting for a discount code because this has been sat in your basket for six years. She's not want by here with a discount code. They're like, we'll get you for freight now.

How can we get this? Person to convert. Why are they falling out the funnel? Because you're fucking with you. That's why I'm playing with you. I would like to see them get rid and cut losses. You do not have to be defined by a decision from your past. There are some scenarios where mathematically it's not you've made your bed,

you lie in it. It's just more of a, okay, for the period of time it is. But it sounds like this is still such a high value car. Depending on your income and depending on how quickly, I always look at how big your income, how big is your excess so the excess cash in your budget and how much do you love that car?

Because if you really love that car and you could pay this off, overpay it and get it done in a year, I would say. And then you own it. I'm not bothered. Because that's a big part of the value of car that you have

and your earnings. If it doesn't, if it like hold you back for the next two, three years paying off all these payments slowly because what she's saying is by the time it'll pay it off, it'll be this. Well, no, no,

because you're overpaying because it's a debt. You're on financial. So you can keep it and it's okay to keep it. It's okay to have a high value car. That's not what we're saying. But if this high value car hold you back from investing and from building money on savings

and having a nice day-to-day life and your budget seems really tough, then is it really worth it? So I think it's one of the two. Sorry, I had forgotten that point about this is still all proportionate and it's fine if you can afford it. Yeah. But you're writing in this dilemma because it was an impulse.

It's bothering you and it's an impulse by. Yeah. for other people it's really not a problem. Just continue as you are. If you sell it, take a selfie in it and send it to us first. Yeah. I don't know what it is. What could it be?

I've got no concept of how old, how much cars cost. That's the thing. Unfortunately, even some like suboptimal cars are expensive nowadays. Neil's like, my next car needs to be an electric car. That's his thing that you keep saying. They're so expensive. That's where one gets some. Basic ones are so expensive.

Really? Yeah. Yeah, really expensive. Not expensive to run. Stay with Gloria. I'll be with Gloria for the rest of my life. Gloria. Just forever singing that song.

And then Cecilia, I wanted to sing, oh, Cecilia. But you might not go on that one. I do know. I do know that. You're breaking my heart. Right there go. That's another karaoke number four. Is that what you sang when you sing you're in the car when you're singing?

No. Because you're in Gloria, right? I'm in Gloria. Oh, sorry. Gloria. Gloria. She's singing that though, right? Alex.

I like them big. I like them chunky. That's the song from Madagascar. Oh, is it? I got on. Motto, Motto. We haven't talked about Lydia's karaoke. Oh, yeah.

Oh my God. This would have been an opener. We're absolutely hijacking. My side hustle is Tom Jones impersonator. Yeah. But tell Fran and Shell what you actually, like you weren't just singing to a backing track, were you? Oh, my friend's wedding had. karaoke, but they had a live band.

He still had the lyrics like on a... Yeah, that's incredible. And they had like lots of props so you could wear like a cowboy hat. However, it was very fun. Did you feel main character energy because you're a band behind you? It's in the video shoot, absolutely.

I have seen the video. That's like the scenario that I imagine in my head in the shower. And like you actually got to live it out. Can you imagine a band? Are you a backing band? You're thinking like Ray. Like Ray has a...

like orchestral like trombone trumpets. I'm going to start a little singing fun just to hire them for myself. Yeah. Well, what you're doing for your birthday, Lydia? Well, a band's coming around to my house and I'm going to sing. Were you nervous? No. No.

The pressure of a band, it's not even a backing. I was actually outside when they called my name and I full on pelting. You really missed it. I love that when people have run it. Sprinted. When it's your turn for karaoke and you're like, trying to tell your pallets you? And they're like, oh, sorry.

Running, running. Shove him to start the way. I remember when Carl said he did karaoke in Japan, I was like, I think that's an iconic moment. Like, it's obviously their thing. And every restaurant turns into a karaoke booth. Everyone, like, all the TikTok videos that you see was like people in the Philippines are amazing singers. And like karaoke and Philippines family is like a massive deal.

No. They're incredible singers. Like a lot of the people. Well, send you on so you get on the Philippines character. Incredible singers. And it's a. big family event to do. But they take it very seriously because they're so good.

Really? Yeah. Which is interesting because people think like, you know, to win on X Factor, you have to wake up one morning and be good at singing. But actually, they can't all be naturally good. They train. They sing. So you can get good by, maybe better by practicing.

If I know there was any insight in this, help us because obviously we're not going singing. Neil. Some people are still deaf. I completely disagree. There's no way you can train. I think Teddy is as well, by the way. And I think he's got it from Neil.

Oh, it's tight. Oh, Teddy or Woody. I don't know which one. I was singing I was like yourself. I don't know, but I started singing to something the other day. Oh, it was K-pop Demon Hunters. And Woody literally turned to me and put his hand on my leg and he said, can you just let them sing it?

They do it so much better. That's brutal. Oh my God. Just like she was hitting the high note of golden. So then I lost interest and when I did something else. I was like, I can't sit here and not sing. It's just not going to happen. So I'll be gone.

Yeah, Ali doesn't let me sing while we watch. One of my, like, core memories of driving home from school once my friend was in the back of the car and my mum, like, the CDs that were on rotation in my mom's car, Madonna. and the Beatles. Can we just, sorry, I need to know, like, was it a single CD or was it you to put six in? Single, yeah. And my mum was like singing Madonna. I don't know, I can't remember what song it was.

And my friend was like, oh my God, you can't even tell the difference between you and Madonna. So she wrote that. So that friend was walking around any time. She must have been written on that for like 20 years. I remember. So I'm doing a parents dance at Alby's dance school. We do it every year. And the new dance is a Madonna compilation.

I hadn't heard of one of the songs. Go on. At all. Express yourself. At all. At all. Express yourself. I had never, ever, ever heard it.

And Jill, the Tant's teacher kept playing and going, you'll know it. You'll know it. I'm going, listen, I'm going, nope. Just me and the Gen Zs did not know it. No. I can't believe I'd never. Now I know it, but only because I keep laughing to dance to it.

And I know it. I don't know it. Did I remember Dad, used to have a car where the CDs went in the boot? In the boot, yeah. Six or seven, yeah. Lighthouse family.

Lisa Stan's Field. Yeah, beautiful South. Queen maybe. Yeah. In the boot. You put them in the step in the... How does that work? So you couldn't change your mind

out of the seven if you were mid-motor. Oh my God. You're like, stop. For luckily they had to make good choices. Oh my God. Right, I used to think they'd go in the boot.

Yeah. I'm picturing it like, Like a conveyor belt Actually like no I don't think so I mean I could have done How do you play it in the boot Commit to the six And if you were in a long journey

Yeah that's scary That's how I was asking is it Was it one that you could physically put in the front Yeah it was Mix tape And you'd have the folders With the wallets Yeah

Not while you're driving off this Imagine telling What were we telling Teddy the day And he was like No In awe Yeah we did We used to

In all Oh um Albu was shown as someone trying to use a VCR and she was like watch, watch, watch what the parents say. I'm like, oh my God, I feel so old. And she's going, and I was like, yeah, that's what we would say.

She couldn't understand that it disappeared into the, you know, like there was an integrated video in VCR TV. Lucy's looking at you going, no, I don't know. No, like were you? I once I shoved an orange in it when I was young. And on that note. Did we answer her, Delamette? I definitely got.

Yep. We would sell it. We would sell it, but if you can afford it and you can pay it off really quickly, overpay it. Don't just, don't stay as you are. Do want to do that. That is all for this episode. The Vault is now closed.

And just a quick disclaimer, The Vault is just a chat around life and money topics. We're not giving financial advice.