Mortgage free ASAP

bubblycrazy · 28 July 2017 at 10:26AM

Wow, didn't think it was that long since I'd posted!
Had a lovely weekend away at a wedding and only overspent by £6.41. I had a broadband refund of £23.96 so this covered the overspend, plus another £17.55 to go into holiday savings.

I needed 2 new tyres which cost £75 but I had the money in my car maintenance savings to pay for these.
I'm at a charity night tomorrow for my friends little boy, so will probably go over budget this week.

Tax credit letter came through and I am £188.21 better off every month! This really needs to go into the holiday fund until there's enough to cover March's trip away.
My home insurance is due and the renewal quote was about £180. Shopped around and got it for £119. I don't have enough saved for that yet (only £39 in the pot), so will have to use this months tax credits for the other £80.

I've been looking into my pension and I don't think it's going to be very good, and I can't pay more into it because it's a DB pension. Been thinking about putting some money into an S&S ISA but I'm pretty clueless about it and I'm fairly risk averse. Not sure what to do.

Will report back on Monday with final months round up.

wishingthemortgaheaway · 28 July 2017 at 6:24PM

Have a look at the lifetime isa too. See if you qualify for that.

bubblycrazy · 28 July 2017 at 7:34PM

I think I'm put off by the LISA because you cant access it until 60. I'm after something which I can use for early retirement as in 55+

SuperSecretSquirrel · 28 July 2017 at 10:07PM

Seems to me that LISAs have some of the worst aspects of pensions and ISAs (drawdown at 60+, no tax/ni relief or employer contributions, not ignored in benefit calculations, etc) without any of the good stuff! Great for potential first time buyers, but I'm not sure about the rest of us. The whole concept seems really odd to me, and I don't know who they're really for. The cynic in me thinks they were simply dreamt up as a political exercise in smoke and mirrors - give the people the illusion that they are being given something, when what's really being offered is worse than that which is already available!

bubblycrazy · 30 July 2017 at 7:27PM

Exactly my thoughts SSS! I'm thinking S&S ISA is the way to go, but then I panic about the risks and think maybe I should just continue saving in the best interest accounts available.:undecided

SuperSecretSquirrel · 30 July 2017 at 8:32PM

If you decide to dip a toe in the water, have a read of this - http://monevator.com/how-to-invest-on-a-budget/

It's a fairly old article, some of the specific funds may no longer be available, but worth a read regardless. Doesn't have to be all or nothing, you can start with quite low monthly amounts and ramp up later if you feel like it.

I started with £50pm invested in the pound stretcher 60/40 portfolio. Now things are even simpler, I just put everything in vanguard life strategy 80 and forget about it

bubblycrazy · 31 July 2017 at 12:01PM

Thanks SSS, I'll have a read when my phone will let me open the page :mad:
I would probably start with £50pm. I've read your diary and you increased from £50 fairly quickly, and kept on going!
What do you think of the view in post 12 of this thread? http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5593339

SuperSecretSquirrel · 1 August 2017 at 1:59PM

I'd agree that an overwhelming consensus is often something to be wary of - for example, a contrarian tends to be elsewhere when bubbles burst.

I guess you could end up in a weird market distorting feedback loop situation if pretty much everyone piled into the same fund, but that's not the current reality, so I won't worry about it. Not that I'm sure it would be something to worry about at a personal level anyway.

I ended up reading the whole thread, and a comment that stood out was - "I don't have a huge proportion of my retirement fund in cash, and neither do I invest next week's grocery money into early stage unlisted companies" - I guess that's why I'm so comfortable with my current level of risk. I only invest what I know wouldn't cause us a short to medium term problem if it were to disappear for a while. By minimising the mortgage balance, keeping tabs on outgoings, and having a fair sized emergency cash cushion, the value of my investments could halve overnight and it would do no lasting harm (assuming they eventually recovered and I had the nerve to remain invested). I suppose it's quite similar to how I feel about our house value, until we come to sell it doesn't really matter, it's totally immaterial in day to day life. What I'm getting at is you need to be able to sleep at night and only you can know what you're comfortable with

Another choice comment (I think it was made by the same clearly knowledgeable user) was that clueless posters on MSE tend to keep steering people towards Monevator and VLS, both of which I mentioned in my last post :rotfl: I wasn't steering you towards VLS, but I'm ok with wearing the clueless badge

Finally, thanks for linking that thread! I just found out that Vanguard now allow UK investors to invest with them directly. Must have been big news a couple of months ago, and it totally passed me by

bubblycrazy · 5 August 2017 at 3:05PM

Lol SSS, you're definitely less clueless than me!
I guess my main concern isn't the short to medium term loss, which i'm ok with. It's the long term loss which would seriously affect my plans for age 55+ if it all went to pieces.
Unfortunately investing direct with Vanguard has a minimum monthly amount of £100. Or could I put in less than this but it would have to be done manually each month?

I've been away to the lakes this week with the family and had no internet access. Had been hoping to update this before I went, but ran out of time.
12 NSD's in July.
OP'd £65.24 (on top of the £100 standard OP)

I received last years final tax credit award and I only owed them £580 instead of the £1200 I had originally been told!
I already had £960 put aside to pay this, which means I've paid the debt in full and still have £380 spare :j
I have added:
£50 to the car tax fund as it is due before I will have 12 months of savings.
£50 to MOT fund.
£50 to presents fund.
£230 to the holiday fund.

Feeling really good now that that debt has gone. Now I can focus on increasing the holiday fund and OP'ing the mortgage.

Holiday fund is currently at £538.38 (need at least £150 for November and £750 for March)
Mortgage balance is currently £47811.31 (need it to be £46875 by 31st October)

bubblycrazy · 16 August 2017 at 8:14PM

Not much extra saving going on this month.
Spendy week last week as I was out for a birthday on Saturday night and dinner on Sunday.
Also overspent on the food shop due to needing batteries and a sandwich.
Total overspend for the week was £24.71 :eek:
I'll have to take it out of the tax credits excess and have slightly less to OP next week.

Entertainment is what I usually overspend on so I'm thinking of taking money from the mobile phone excess and adding it to the entertainment. My water bill is due to increase by £2.17 from September. I think I've had a pay rise at work this month but won't find out until payday on the 31st. I think it will be about £13pm, I'll probably do a new SOA in September.

DS starts school in 3 weeks :eek: I feel like I need to be constructive with the free time I'll have.
The house really needs some TLC so I'm hoping to make that a priority. I'm such a procrastinator though!

I was going to open a Nationwide flexdirect account to get 5% on my savings, but decided to wait and do it through refer a friend and switch an account for £100, so I've opened a Natwest current account to switch.
If anyone has a Nationwide account and has a referral link let me know.
I've set up 2 new DD's to my Tesco accounts so won't be able to switch until they've came out in September.

Mortgage free ASAP

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