Millionaire Challenge

Thanks LL! Just finished work, so its a cuppa tea for me and I had a supermarket delivery (coz I'm poorly, honest) and there was a double packet of Basics jaffa cakes ... I'm on a mission to finish them

ETA - this was in The Guardian today, themed for this Sunday when the clocks go back: http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2013/oct/24/save-money-in-an-hour-clocks-go-back

ETA - again - okay, I'm reading from the beginning sue me but Tinktay, are you still having an accountant do your accounts? If you are, you've had a few years now of them doing your accounts - I'm betting you could do your own now, honestly. I had an accountant for years and years, and I've been doing my own for two years now. They're really complicated too, because of the French property I part-own, but with the example before me of how my accountant did it, I've been able to get it very near to where she was. And I *understand* them now too, as well as saving £500.

EEEETA - so sorry to keep hopping back on :rotfl: but I'm currently on p21 of this thread, and hopping up and down with glee (well, not really, I'm on anti-nausea medication for labyrinthitis, hopping would be bad!) and I read this from tinktay: "I see every negative person as one less competitor thus making me one step closer to my goal.". Thats sheer brilliance. I really, really like that. I'm reading with both eyes firmly glued on the print for me, but also for my brother - the people he works for are trying to get him out without paying redundancy, and there's no union there after a long story I'm not too sure about, he's up that nasty brown creek without a paddle - I just hope I can spark something for him to show him its not the end.

Thank you, tinktay and lessonlearned, for all your writing so far!

Morning LL and all!

I'm still mooching through the early part of the thread. Had a brainwave last night, reading what Little Miss Unidebt wrote. The classic advice, "do you what you love". And I know that I need passive income, i.e. sales from a website, but I haven't "done what I love" - I started, with a green ethos website, but I got sidetracked by doing the logical thing. I don't think I can make the green one work right now, though I'll keep it for rebranding or whatever.

No, the idea I've had based on "do what you love" is about cats. I love cats! There's space in the market for a cat-themed website, I'm sure - when you google, the first page is all about the stage show, or charities. There's definitely space there - need to start setting up content, of course - links, comments on news, research, a blog, sales - Amazon and high-end. I've just done another search "cat poetry free of copyright", and a few different ones are coming up, but nothing like I'm thinking of yet.

Doesn't have to make me a million all on its own, of course

Hello YB, thread noob here ... spent hours trying to get through 123reg and my bank to buy a couple of domain names (I'm an existing customer at 123reg, thought it'd be simple) - no way no how, communication between the two is a real problem. I've checked my bank account is safe, and done all (and more) that they suggested - got impatient with it, and paid by paypal in the end, annoying, but there you go. £16.75 for 2 domain names for 2 years, and if the first one pans out, I'll expand into the second - this is the cat thing, by the way. I've got some paid work soon, so thats all I can do for now, but once everything's confirmed, I'll link up 123reg with my other websites on weebly, and have at it

I've read through the whole thread! Taken me days tho actually for such a timescale its very brief. Its about to get a lot less brief if *I* use it, I'm kind of longwinded ... I'm *not* going to join in a conversation from 5 pages back though - very tempting, but as part of my new "make it count" approach, now I've got the background, I'm just going to get going. I love what mineallmine wrote: " the plan is to knuckle down. Keeping asking if either the time or money I'm spending on is an activity that's helping me reach my goals." I need to apply that to time spent at the computer too, as my fingers are a bit dodgy with the arthritis.

So. Short term and intermediate goals, as well as the big one. I've really lost focus the last few years, it didn't feel like it at the time, but I have. I want to retire in July 2016, when I'm 61-and-a-half (a la Adrian Mole ), its when my younger sister is retiring, and it makes a good goal. "Retiring" means stopping all client work, and having say 1 week in 8 when I'm not really working, as well as being able to afford to go on holiday. I get a state pension when I'm 66, I've had two rises in my pension age, but they *say* it won't go further than that for me. Hmmm. So, yes, I want a million, these are the goals:

- £100k to put towards buying the next property I live in: this will get me a small scale detached 3 bedder, hopefully with garage, when added to the money from the sale of my current house.
- £100k over the next few years, improvements to the current house, a runabout (Citroen Berlingo, by what friends say), living expenses as my current source of income collapses, some doctors and dentists bills to see to my health, other investments in me (for instance, the last winter clothing I bought was an anorak from Primark for £8 about ten years ago, and I really need some new-to-me clothes).
- £800k to funding my retirement. What money I do have is currently in ISAs, shares and pension funds at the mo, plus the French apartment, and a few premium bonds are piddling around. As I'm saving it, I'll put it in safe to moderate risk places.

Obviously, I'm not going to make £1million in 2.5 years! Unless a premium bond comes up :beer: in which case there'll be a party. So the passive income and active trading, **will** be continuing on past that point :j

Goals, and ways and means, coming up (sorry! told you I was longwinded).

Okay, these are the potential income streams (6 of them):
- spreadbetting my own 85% successful system, if I could control my fear long enough to stay in the trade. I'm getting up towards half an hour, which is the minimum I need. Get a move on - system doesn't tend to work as well during holiday periods, i.e. most of December for the financial world!
- greetings cards: big image that shrinks to fit, or a simple design: cards for men, Ancient Egyptian themed cards (one of my RL interests, you'd be staggered at the money in this - its all index-linked pensioners!), local images (Sussex, very scenic) and just now, cats.
- end of the world novel; got over 40,000 words done, got some amazing advisers on various aspects - military, firearms, smallholding - and quite a bit of interest from peeps on prepping websites. Tho as I said on my post further up this page, I'm science fiction, not end-of-the-world doom.
- cat website. Just got this idea on Thursday! Bought the domain name, and a companion name about all animals, I've got some good solid ideas, because I love cats (hence my name on here ).
- tree foraging book for the UK. Another author suggested I do this, and I will, but realistically, its not going to be soon, and it won't make a mint, unless I waft about like Alys Fowler and get the pensioner-!!!!!! lot interested :rotfl:.
- counselling work. Just need to roll over what I've got; won't be renewing optional memberships of smaller organisations, though you *have* to have some professional memberships.

Action Goals to end of 2013
- trading review, not touched it since June, there've been upgrades to the website I use. I also need to contact my ISP, something about changing the password every month to keep the speed of the connection constant, its awful again at the moment. No good when you're buying and selling!
- counselling - get CPD hours in, renew professional insurance, DO MY ACCOUNTS.
- EOTW novel, integrate research into useable format, get the plot points in, extend the plot forwards.
- cat website - get it set up, I have a free space on weebly I can use. Start getting content on there. Aim for two items under each heading each month.
- greeting cards. Clear kitchen table of junk so I can lay out my design stuff, and see it all more clearly. Focus on the cats, since I'm starting the cat website. NEW CAMERA - on my personal blog, my photos are really fuzzy. I need my web presence to be more professional. I need business cards too, Vistaprint here I come.
- tree foraging book - keep safe the notes I already have; make sure I keep a record of new information I haven't got time to integrate right now; photo any experiments I *do* have time to do.