Firstly, hello and thank you for taking a moment to consider reading this and helping
A close friend used this before, said the advice and support saved him through a very tough time financially, as a result he came out the other side and contributed back to the forum, I hope I'm able to get some advice too.
I welcome an experienced user moving this thread to a correct forum, I'm afraid I'm unsure which one is best.
I'm reaching out to people to seek advice on a very tricky financial decision we find ourselves stuck in, I'm listening to as much advice as I can get, I hope you'll take a moment to read through it, I've tried to be brief. Thanks in advance.*
Myself and my wife have been together 15 years and have 2 children (age 4 and 2)*
We lost a long term family business to liquidation in which we were both involved; as a result personal bankruptcy followed immediately afterwards.
Myself and my wife are now 5 months into the 12 months of personal bankruptcy.*
After the initial assessment into our statement of financial affairs we were signed up to a three year income payment agreement and now pay £80/mth (£40 each)
This was originally worked out on two salaries of £30k each and payments are due to be paid for a further 2.5years.*
*
As can be expected we've found the process incredibly hard, however I find we've gone from a happy relationship of 15 years to near divorce and now have regular (albeit free) counselling sessions. I've contemplated suicide for a while and come fairly close three times. We're short of money every month and have to beg from parents to cover one off expenses that were outside the budget.*
On a more positive note, she has just been offered to transfer to a new job at £90k earnings. This is comprised of £40k basic and projected bonuses for around £50k. She's fully investigated and is happy with with proof on how realistic the bonus scheme is. These bonus payouts will fluctuate significantly on a month to month basis.*
The income from this one job is far higher than the income for two separate jobs.*
The job would involve a huge life change with personal sacrifices on both sides. It would probably also mean me stopping work to look after children full time. She would have to travel more, work away four nights of the week, see the children far less amongst other considerations, however in the weigh up in this area it seems at first definitely worth doing.*
It's also worth noting our childcare expenditure is also changing soon with one child moving from nursery to school saving £350/mth and in January the other child's nursery fees reducing by £150/mth as the 15hrs/week childcare allowance kicks in.*
There are plenty of variables for us to consider whether this is the right thing to do, we're seeking advice from this forum for knowledgable third parties on the main issue: It is to do with declaring the potential income and expenditure changes.*
What to declare, how much is handed over, how, when and for how long etc etc. *Basically this would help us know whether to make so many life changes and if it is all (at least financially) going to be worthwhile.*
Any input and ideas in relation to this issue would be gratefully received. Please also reference what experience you may have had in dealing with anything similar.*