The Real Eagle

45 mrs is 35. I'm thinking go for it and study part time in higher education and get an interesting job in 5 years time. I sell 4 ringed things to PCP people at the moment.

Thanks for your opinion and advice but here is why I disagree and feel that my naivety has been in trying as hard as possible:- last year I made give or take £55k and took home about £2900 a month as had company car to get to work so tax code knackered and car for the mrs on work scheme so she could tottle around/ get kids to pre-school, etc, Mrs worked 16 hours a week and bought in about £500. Child benefit was gone as the company car BIK took me over £60k so total incoming monthly was £3400. Been playing with entitledto.co.uk calculator and the results are startling:- If I take redundancy I will get circa £6k earn £25k/30 hours on 1250l I would take home £1720 and if mrs takes redundancy she will get about £2K and then stop working we would qualify for £1300 made up of universal credit & child benefit = £3020 per month. So all in all about £380 per month worse off but with a much better life (lower bills - food at work, fuel, car tax, ins, etc) and possibly £8 grand in the bank. So back to the naivety thing - I'm not so sure.

It has also been a chance to really reflect on the first 45 years of my attempt at life. Do I really need to bust a gut to make 50 grand a year, spend 45-50 hours a week doing a job I dislike with people I dislike to pay for a life I dislike whilst missing my kids growing up and having a permanently stressed out woman who is trying to do the same. So much so that I have decided to put myself forward for voluntary redundancy and scale back on all the things that I'm told would make me happy, yet don't. I have a feeling I am not alone in feeling this way and having explored the financial side of things - It turns out that if I find a job that I enjoy with less hours maybe earning half as much then the universal credit side of things will pretty much balance the books -I had never considered this prior to furlough and would almost certainly have just carried on as I was. Does it make me a scrounger or just a bloke who now understands more of the rules to the game of life and is using them to my advantage.

If I am totally honest - I am furloughed as is my better half both on 80% and having the best time of our life in the garden with our 2 young kids with all bills paid and no stress except is the sun going to shine today. I appreciate this will not be a popular post yet thought I would share it with you good people to confirm what you are pretty sure is happening anyway.

http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/detail/13706897 This "normal" 3 bedroom house on Ellington Road in Bedford finally sold today (stc) for £142000. It initially entered the market on the 19th March 2008 (not the 22nd as stated on propertysnake) for £197,950. It was on the market by a company called haart who were responsible for the initial valuation less than 5 months ago. Make of this what you will.

Gatehouse Estate Agents in Kempston Bedfordshire:- Shame that..

I used to work in that building and it was a s-heights hole then.. It will all end in tears. I wonder what the 125 Polish single mothers will make of AJ?

http://propertysnake.co.uk/site/detail/7405795 This house is in the road just off mine. A genuine 27% drop in asking price and they still can't even get anyone round to lookat it let alone put in a degrading offer. Love it..

The online version has just appeared..(strange that) and can be read here:- Report from bedford times and citizen online

Page 6 Bedford times and citizen today (24/04/2008) NOTHING ONLINE AS SOMEONE IS DESPERATE TO KEEP THIS QUIET. And I quote:- "House prices in Bedfordshire have been among the country's worst hit by the ongoing 'credit crunch'. Prices accross the county tumbled by 3.2 % last month, MEANING THE AVERAGE HOME IS NOW WORTH £7,529 LESS. Tyne and wear is the only region in the country where prices have fallen by more than those in BEDFORD, with a drop of 3.7%." It goes on with some desperado from Lane and holmes sprouting some t urd about Bedford is undervalued....