The Wilsons - 875 buy to let property empire

Dithering_Dad

Generali wrote: »

My first job in the City was as a temp. I was paid for from the stationery budget IIRC.

lol, I think we must've worked at the same company Gen, though I think the paperclip budget alone more than covered my annual salary.

Conrad

Good for you being so candid DD.
Make hay before too many moths are drawn to the candle.
You remind me of the architype (aspiring) 'quiet millionaire' as described in the book 'the millionaire next door'. I bet your neighbours would choke on thier Findus Crispy pancakes if they knew what you had squirreled away.

Dithering_Dad

Conrad wrote: »

Good for you being so candid DD.
Make hay before too many moths are drawn to the candle.
You remind me of the architype (aspiring) 'quiet millionaire' as described in the book 'the millionaire next door'. I bet your neighbours would choke on thier Findus Crispy pancakes if they knew what you had squirreled away.

Thanks Conrad, I suspect from earlier exchanges on the forums that you and I are quite similar in our financial behaviour. I got The Millionaire Next Door from the library and was pretty chuffed that a lot of the things I read were what I happened to be doing at the time. I'm also going to have a look at Rich Dad Poor Dad when I remember to order it at the library.

Our neighbours have no idea what I do for a living and so don't know our income and what we do with it all. One of the ladies was telling my wife that it's a shame D'Dad can't find a proper job close to home.

PasturesNew

dudleyboy wrote: »

Hey, if we all paid basic rate tax on our income and claimed the rest as company dividends, even though we earn enough to be in the 40% threshold, then we'd all be rich buggahs too.

You might do, but I've never paid higher rate tax.

Even with my STR fund pumping out interest AND earning money online AND working full-time I didn't reach the threshold!

PasturesNew

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

Hi PN

Ah, SAP, yeah, pays shedloads.

I did contracting before, but the dot com bubble burst and left me high and dry (hence I was stuck in my house for the next 7 years, unable to work locally at what I did and not able to afford to go to the interviews etc and work up country for the new reduced rates).

One of my plans on going STR was to go back to contracting. Studied/got my bit of paper as "evidence" I was OK to go back in ... but with a background in finance/banking, you can see how my CV has had 0 interest from potential employers in the last year

So I haven't worked.

I've got it pencilled in to start applying for contracts from next week though. Have to see how that goes (Prince2 Practitioner)

I'll be going under an umbrella though. I had trouble with a Ltd company last time I did it. I used Business Manager Services and they ticked some box wrong. I finished contracting/wanted to close the company - ended up with a £10k Corporation Tax bill and an investigation (that they hid from me) and it took 3-4 years to shut the company down and get it sorted out that I didn't owe a penny!

According to that link http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/project%20manager.do I'd get shedloads again, but there are so many hoops to jump through ... and then the interview, with its prejudices (female in IT, years past the wrong side of 40). They don't say it, but they think "don't want an old bird working in the team when we could have that blond fittie we saw earlier"

Dithering_Dad

PasturesNew wrote: »

Ah, SAP, yeah, pays shedloads.

I did contracting before, but the dot com bubble burst and left me high and dry (hence I was stuck in my house for the next 7 years, unable to work locally at what I did and not able to afford to go to the interviews etc and work up country for the new reduced rates).

One of my plans on going STR was to go back to contracting. Studied/got my bit of paper as "evidence" I was OK to go back in ... but with a background in finance/banking, you can see how my CV has had 0 interest from potential employers in the last year

So I haven't worked.

I've got it pencilled in to start applying for contracts from next week though. Have to see how that goes (Prince2 Practitioner)

I'll be going under an umbrella though. I had trouble with a Ltd company last time I did it. I used Business Manager Services and they ticked some box wrong. I finished contracting/wanted to close the company - ended up with a £10k Corporation Tax bill and an investigation (that they hid from me) and it took 3-4 years to shut the company down and get it sorted out that I didn't owe a penny!

According to that link http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/project%20manager.do I'd get shedloads again, but there are so many hoops to jump through ... and then the interview, with its prejudices (female in IT, years past the wrong side of 40). They don't say it, but they think "don't want an old bird working in the team when we could have that blond fittie we saw earlier"

Good luck with the job hunt and the umbrella. It does seem to be a much easier option, especially when starting out but you do lose some good tax incentives, the main one being the flat rate VAT scheme. This is where you charge your client's 17.5% VAT and only have to pay the Revenue 13% (12% in the first year of operating). This usually provides me with the equivalent of an extra day of billing and definitely covers my accounting costs, etc.

I think you're right to use an ubmrella though at first, certainly if you think employment will be a bit patchy starting out. I use SJD accounting for my limited company, but they also provide an industry recognised umbrella option. If you went with them it'd be really easy to switch to Ltd company status, I'd imagine (http://www.sjdaccountancy.com/).

IveSeenTheLight

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

The same applies, of course, to being self-employed, with or without being a Ltd company.

There are still some major advantages being self-employed.
One for example is that you dont have to pay tax until after you submit your tax return. Then you get more than a year to pay it off i.e.: -

April 2008 Tax return submitted in July.
Letter from the government advising the tax owed and that half is payable by Jan 31 2009 and the other half by Jul 31 2009.

Remember that the April 2008 Tax Return includes earnings from May 2007, then you have 1 1/2 years of tax accruing interest (other investment) before you have to pay it.

**NOTE** If you plan to do this, I would strongly recommend you work out and deduct the tax from your earnings each month and put the tax part in an account where you do not access the capital and thus always have the tax available when required to pay off the tax.

PasturesNew

Yes, last time I set up the whole Ltd company, at the time of IR35 changeover too, for just two contracts. After that I didn't work, had no money, couldn't sign up, had no mortgage protection because I wasn't employed, mortgage wasn't being paid. Had to take any/first job I was offered, which was 50 miles each way each day so most of salary was taken up with the cost of petrol/keeping the car on the road ....

And I'd just spent my entire income from all my contracting on the house deposit, £10k in getting central heating/windows in and other things fixed and a brand new reliable car to get to/from the contracts (200 miles away). So I was broke and expecting to get another contract straight away at the time.

If I'd been under an umbrella I could have simply got to the end of the contract, dot com bubble burst, no new contract ... but I could have bought a mortgage protection plan then signed on and claimed on the mortgage insurance and had the breathing space to work out what was best to do/look for a closer job.

Always having to take THE first job ANYBODY offers has been a major limiter in life in trying to do the right thing.

So I would want those aspects of being an umbrella: being able to walk away with a P45 in my hand and no hassle.

neverdespairgirl

experience08 wrote: »

Oh no, you've changed your avatar

What's wrong with changing it?

neverdespairgirl

chucky wrote: »

the risk is probably the same - except that you have a contract that are for 6 to 12 months dependant on what you negotiate with a months notice (same as a permanent employee) so not much difference.

Not all self-employed people work in such a fashion, though - I certainly don't.