Mortgage Free ASAP

earthgirl

This is great, very motivating!

Queen-Bee_2

Although I tend to Get Things Done Eventually, I know that as one of life’s natural procrastinators, they Get Done a Lot Quicker when I keep a list.

Up until now, my MFW list has taken the form of a reporter’s notepad next to the kettle where I jot stuff down and eventually, it gets crossed off. The list gets updated daily. Recently however, I’ve noticed it’s taking longer and longer for points to be actioned.

Other than sloth and the fact I’m currently in recovery phase after more than a decade of working desperately long hours, there’s no real excuse!

Consequently, I’ve decided that in future, I’m going to post my lists instead. With luck, this will not only galvanize my activity rate, but also prove useful to other MFWs. As always, feedback and suggestions from other MSEs are welcome.

List as it currently stands is as follows:
Income related
• Review and consolidate current savings and investment arrangements – obviously this is a dynamic activity, but at the moment, I’ve savings all over the place, a mix of ISAs, current accounts and regular savings etc
• Consider ways of boosting my income – including Quidco, surveys etc

Expenditure related
• Put a system in place to capture, review and reduce energy consumption – my 2008 gas consumption was incredibly high. I am keen to consider how best to reduce my consumption, and track progress on a monthly basis
• As above, but for water consumption
• Review existing mobile phone arrangements
• Set up a spreadsheet to capture monthly expenditure on food, entertainment etc

Other
• Review required DIY projects on the house and make a start on them – perhaps most importantly, to log my progress at weekly intervals! ☺
• Assemble a database of key dates for insurance renewals, car MOT etc – to give myself ample time to shop around and source the best deal ahead of expiry deadlines.

Noticeably absent from the above is any mention of primary employment activity. Obviously this has a great deal to do with the Income related aspects of my MFW aspirations, but for now this a deliberate omission.

Reviewing what I’ve just written, it strikes me that there’s quite a lot on that list… More than I’d thought in fact, and certainly some of the items (such as the DIY action) lend themselves to be being broken down into smaller lists. Clearly I am not going to get it this done in a week. I can and will however, provide progress update reports at regular intervals.

And now, the sun is still shining and it's a beautiful evening, so I'm off for a glass of wine in the garden. Hope I’ve not wittered on for too long…
QB

LilacPixie

Looking good QB.I am also an avid list maker. I find it helps me to focus on short term goals so the long term ultimate goal becomes realistically acheivable.

Queen-Bee_2

I was woken this morning by a call purportedly from M&S Money, asking me to confirm certain security details about my account. The caller said he was checking out an urgent issue with my credit card, but refused to divulge anything further without my giving him my date of birth, mother’s maiden name and various other bits of personal data.

All in all, it all sounded rather odd, and mindful of all the sophisticated scams around these days (and the fact I was only half awake), I ended the call and promptly fell asleep again.

Later this afternoon, I remembered the call and phoned M&S’s standard enquiry number. It turns out that whilst I was in dreamland last night, there’d been four attempts to use my card – all via the internet. Two top-up payments for a mobile phone, body jewelry from an online specialist (I’m intrigued to know which bit of me got pierced without my noticing), and nearly £500 from an online clothing retailer.

I was astonished. I know I can [apparently] hold long conversations with people whilst only half awake and in a similar vein, raid the biscuit tin. But shopping??

Racking my brains, the ONLY time I have used this card recently was about a week ago to make a booking with Virgin Trains. Again, this was on-line…

It’s worrying to speculate how the fraudsters got hold of my details. And just maybe, M&S needs to revisit the way they ring up and interrogate customers whose cards they suspect are being abused. But the good news is how swiftly M&S identified the crime and suspended the card :T

Queen-Bee_2

Following my last-but-one posting, which set out my MFW Action List, I’ve finished reviewing my current savings and investment arrangements.

Savings
In total, I’ve got about £70k of savings: £7k in bank accounts, £43k in high interest savings accounts, £2.25k in a regular savings account and £17.3k in ISAs.
• Bank account - Barclays current account – main bank account. Doesn’t do anything special for me financially, but the staff in my local branch are always friendly and I’ve held the account for nearly 30 years. Feel loyal, almost a bit and sentimental about this account, so I won’t be closing it. Moving forward however, I’ll be using it more as a recreational account for non-household expenses

• Bank account - Abbey current account – main household account. Functions OK, but the staff aren’t particularly helpful and I don’t feel any emotional attachment to it. Am considering switching to First Direct to take advantage of its £100 incentive to switch

• Am also considering opening a Halifax account, as this will credit me with £5 for each month it’s credited with £1,000. In the course of a year, this is an extra £60, which in turn, can feed the First Direct account. Am wondering if it’s possible to open more than one Halifax account and have a series of feeds, which end up in the FD account or recirculate funds back into my A&L and ING accounts (see below). Do any MFW’s do this already?

• Savings account - Alliance & Leicester – Online Saver Issue 5 @ 3.15% (variable), including a 2.65% bonus for a year after opening. Interest paid annually on 1st October. It’s good enough for now, but I’ll need to review on the 1st anniversary after opening, as the underlying interest rate is low

• Savings Account - ING Direct Savings Account - 3.00% AER (fixed) for 12 months from account opening (2.96% gross pa) with interest paid monthly. After 12 months, the rate reverts to ING’s Direct Savings Account variable rate (currently 0.50% AER). [I don’t know the difference between AER and Gross interest rates pa – can anyone enlighten me please?]. Am wondering if it’s worth transferring my savings in this account to my A&L one to take advantage of the slightly higher interest rate. Need to review interest rate being paid on the 1st anniversary of the account opening

• Regular Saver - Barclays regular saver @ 6% (fixed), expires Dec 2009. Offers a good rate, even though one can only invest a maximum of £250 pcm during the course of the year. Intend to keep drip-feeding the maximum investment for the rest of the year

• ISA - Halifax BS – ISA Saver @ 5.25% (fixed), expires Nov 09. A good rate, review the situation in October prior to its expiry

• ISA - Manchester BS – Premier ISA 45 Issue 1 @ 3.26% (variable). Includes a 0.08% bonus for 1st 12 months. The rate is OK, but again, I need to keep an eye on what happens come on 1st anniversary of account in July 2010

• ISA - Scarborough BS – Cash ISA (@ Bank of England Base Rate (wef April 09) – interest payable annually, possibly at only 2%. Again, the rate doesn’t look like a spanking one to me. Considering transfer to the Manchester Premier ISA Issue 1 @ 3.26% - though I am not sure if this is possible without penalty, given the annual payment of interest

• ISA - Yorkshire BS – fixed rate anniversary ISA @ 2.15% (fixed), expires April 10. The jury’s out on this one. Come next April, it should probably be transferred to another provider. I guess its tax-free status should be protected for as long as possible, even though I’m unlikely to be paying higher rate tax again for some time

So… My next actions regarding the savings situation are as follows:
1. Move the Abbey Account to First Direct to obtain £100 moving bonus and see if they offer better service
2. Consider opening a couple of Halifax accounts to take advantage of the £5 pcm credits
3. Configure a sequence of standing orders to make sure that the Halifax accounts are adequately ‘fed’ from my A&L/ING savings accounts. The money can the be sent back to the savings accounts
4. Check if I can obtain a better rate on the ISA’s currently paying 2% and that there aren’t any penalties for moving them mid year
5. Reduce the amount of cash held in my bank accounts – they don’t earn good rates of interest, so the money should be in high interest accounts instead.

I’ll be posting on the investments situation soon. There isn’t so much to say about that, cos I don’t have many ‘investments’ as such!!

chirpchirp

Wow you do seem organised. My ex-husband was spend spend spend and as a result I have very little in savings. We did both have S&S ISA which was supposed to cover our mortgage but he managed to take his half with him leaving me 17.5k to show for 13 years of payments - just shows how good a repayment mortgage is.

Anyway, well done on all your savings and I hope that one day I can match your savings too.

ajmoney

Queen-Bee wrote: »

Progress Update on Savings & Investment Review
Following my last-but-one posting, which set out my MFW Action List, I’ve finished reviewing my current savings and investment arrangements.

Savings
In total, I’ve got about £70k of savings: £7k in bank accounts, £43k in high interest savings accounts, £2.25k in a regular savings account and £17.3k in ISAs.
• Bank account - Barclays current account – main bank account. Doesn’t do anything special for me financially, but the staff in my local branch are always friendly and I’ve held the account for nearly 30 years. Feel loyal, almost a bit and sentimental about this account, so I won’t be closing it. Moving forward however, I’ll be using it more as a recreational account for non-household expenses

• Bank account - Abbey current account – main household account. Functions OK, but the staff aren’t particularly helpful and I don’t feel any emotional attachment to it. Am considering switching to First Direct to take advantage of its £100 incentive to switch

• Am also considering opening a Halifax account, as this will credit me with £5 for each month it’s credited with £1,000. In the course of a year, this is an extra £60, which in turn, can feed the First Direct account. Am wondering if it’s possible to open more than one Halifax account and have a series of feeds, which end up in the FD account or recirculate funds back into my A&L and ING accounts (see below). Do any MFW’s do this already?

• Savings account - Alliance & Leicester – Online Saver Issue 5 @ 3.15% (variable), including a 2.65% bonus for a year after opening. Interest paid annually on 1st October. It’s good enough for now, but I’ll need to review on the 1st anniversary after opening, as the underlying interest rate is low

• Savings Account - ING Direct Savings Account - 3.00% AER (fixed) for 12 months from account opening (2.96% gross pa) with interest paid monthly. After 12 months, the rate reverts to ING’s Direct Savings Account variable rate (currently 0.50% AER). [I don’t know the difference between AER and Gross interest rates pa – can anyone enlighten me please?]. Am wondering if it’s worth transferring my savings in this account to my A&L one to take advantage of the slightly higher interest rate. Need to review interest rate being paid on the 1st anniversary of the account opening

• Regular Saver - Barclays regular saver @ 6% (fixed), expires Dec 2009. Offers a good rate, even though one can only invest a maximum of £250 pcm during the course of the year. Intend to keep drip-feeding the maximum investment for the rest of the year

• ISA - Halifax BS – ISA Saver @ 5.25% (fixed), expires Nov 09. A good rate, review the situation in October prior to its expiry

• ISA - Manchester BS – Premier ISA 45 Issue 1 @ 3.26% (variable). Includes a 0.08% bonus for 1st 12 months. The rate is OK, but again, I need to keep an eye on what happens come on 1st anniversary of account in July 2010

• ISA - Scarborough BS – Cash ISA (@ Bank of England Base Rate (wef April 09) – interest payable annually, possibly at only 2%. Again, the rate doesn’t look like a spanking one to me. Considering transfer to the Manchester Premier ISA Issue 1 @ 3.26% - though I am not sure if this is possible without penalty, given the annual payment of interest

• ISA - Yorkshire BS – fixed rate anniversary ISA @ 2.15% (fixed), expires April 10. The jury’s out on this one. Come next April, it should probably be transferred to another provider. I guess its tax-free status should be protected for as long as possible, even though I’m unlikely to be paying higher rate tax again for some time

So… My next actions regarding the savings situation are as follows:
1. Move the Abbey Account to First Direct to obtain £100 moving bonus and see if they offer better service
2. Consider opening a couple of Halifax accounts to take advantage of the £5 pcm credits
3. Configure a sequence of standing orders to make sure that the Halifax accounts are adequately ‘fed’ from my A&L/ING savings accounts. The money can the be sent back to the savings accounts
4. Check if I can obtain a better rate on the ISA’s currently paying 2% and that there aren’t any penalties for moving them mid year
5. Reduce the amount of cash held in my bank accounts – they don’t earn good rates of interest, so the money should be in high interest accounts instead.

I’ll be posting on the investments situation soon. There isn’t so much to say about that, cos I don’t have many ‘investments’ as such!!

Wow, I thought I was doing well having £25k(ish) in savings but you have blown me out of the water. If you have any organisational tips then send them my way as I am obviously not as well organised as I would like to be. Can I be cheeky and ask how long it took to build all that up? Also, are they all cash ISAs?

Queen-Bee_2

ajmoney wrote: »

Wow, I thought I was doing well having £25k(ish) in savings but you have blown me out of the water. If you have any organisational tips then send them my way as I am obviously not as well organised as I would like to be. Can I be cheeky and ask how long it took to build all that up? Also, are they all cash ISAs?

Thank you for the complement.

If you've read my previous posts, you'll gather that I have recently been made redundant, so some of that sum is connected with that. Previously, I had a well paid job, but very little time (or energy left) to blow the bank in terms of a profligate lifestyle. Also, I had good reason not to trust my former employer and always suspected that sooner or later the situation would end in tears. Consequently I saved, saved, saved!

I am probably a little less well organised than you think. A few years ago however, I received three successive pieces of very poor advice from financial advisors. As a result, I now do my own research and try and bounce ideas off other people.

I found that the financial sections of the weekend newspapers are a good place to start, as are the various boards here on MSE.

Good luck,
QB

Keefington

Wow I really like your graph, I'm going to have to add something like that to my spreadsheet!
:T

Queen-Bee_2

Yesterday, I called L&G to check the current value of my UK Index Trust ISA. This is a low-cost index-tracking trust, which charges a lot less than an actively managed trust – the annual management charge is 0.5%. I selected this on the basis that until I understood more about how the stock market works, I might as well choose something that followed general market trends, rather than trying to outperform them.

Well… as of yesterday, my investment’s worth around £11.25k. This is a lot less than at its £14.9k peak in July 2007, but better than it’s all time low of £9.4k in January this year.

I read somewhere that year on year, the stock market has consistently performed savings over the last 90 years, returning and average annual rate of about 11%, against deposited cash at around 5-6% per annum. However, although now is probably the time to buy, it takes a cast-iron attitude to risk to continue to invest when the cash you’re playing around with is something you simply can’t afford to loose.

I am thinking about investing another £1-2k into the fund and allowing it to grow before cashing it in and using it to further reduce the mortgage in a few years time. There’s always the possibility however, that I might need to sell the investment in 3x years’ time to finance my university studies. Is this a long enough timeframe I wonder? Or would I be better off just taking it off my mortgage?

Decisions, decisions…