Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

brizzledfw

HI NG.. don't post too often but subscribed to your diary some time ago..didn't want to read and run tho..

Boo to horrid Mondays... and inclined to agree with Daisy, get the other things eg. CCs on an even keel first. The factory asset sounds good and may work out as a reasonable pension.

The cutting from an article I have stuck on my fridge on pensions (came from a magazine produced by some investment guys H5rgreaves Land8wn) suggests that the over 65s spent around £1.8k (so I call it £2k p.m) per household (thats assuming no rent or mortgage by the way) ( and assuming a two person household). Just checked and date came from 'Money Which Magazine" it says. No idea as to who or what they surveyed though..but its a starting point for me..particularly as I cannot imagine getting anywhere near that low at the moment! But it acts as a target. If you have commercial property which will give you a steady income you are probably in a reasonable place.

Cheers

Brizzle

newgirly

Hi daisy, thanks for posting

I agree about the pensions, that will have to wait until the mortgage is gone unfortunatly. The cc's have not been a problem switching over the years , but it would be nice to not have any left and not have to reapply every now and then.

As for the kids, that's a more complex issue for me. In theory I agree with what you have said, we had no help buying a place etc. and I strongly want them to have the satisfaction of looking after themselves. However the reality is my kids will not have the same opportunities to do the same as we could. We bought a flat at 3x our joint wages at 20 and 23 and were able to trade up until we bought our current home. The average price of a flat here now is over 300k :eek: it's hard not to worry how they will not struggle to ever get a home. -also I want them all to move out at some point :rotfl:

Hi brizzle, I am really suprised at that figure! 1.8k pm seems a lot as an average, presumably that's with no kids to support or mortgage, its more than we live off now for all of us after the mortgage

AlexLK

Really sad to hear about the furniture getting damaged as it sounded like an interesting period piece. Is it repairable?

Are pensions a necessity for you? The commercial property would either provide an income or a lump sum (wouldn't advice this, to be honest) if you were to sell and I remember you saying your parents are well off. Therefore, at some point you'll likely take responsibility for their investments which will also provide an income. It probably sounds awful to say this but it is worth planning (with parents, obviously) for how to avoid needing to pay extortionate amounts in inheritance tax.

I completely disagree with Daisy regarding helping children financially. Can certainly see the reasoning behind the "riches to rags in three generations" but think a lot of that is to do with educating the child when he/she is old enough to understand and letting the child do stupid things when they are younger so it is out of their system. Accept the child is probably going to cost you a couple of hundred thousand pounds but don't let it get completely out of hand.

newgirly

I am not sure if its repairable Alex, it's still usable as the doors slide behind one another so it can be hidden, still have not fully forgiven dh though

As for relying on my parents inheritance , I don't really like the thought of that in a few ways really, firstly I want us to look after ourselves and hope we are in a position we don't NEED the money, secondly I want to retire as early as possible Plus hopefully it's quite a way in the future, mum is only 23 yrs older than me. I think it would be more a case of helping the kids to buy a property (deposit not the whole thing of course!)

I like to assume the worst case scenario and then work back from there, rather than rely on money we may get, the same applies to the factory rental- we could go bust and have to sell it to pay redundancy.

At the moment though, it's mortgage first of course and trying to get more money though the business. Hopefully the new tenants/huge new customers will be moving in soon, all going well it should up turnover alongside streamlining our production with the new machines, fingers crossed.

Woefully bad at wearing the Fitbit and filling in mfp the last few days, will be good today!

Off to view the college the boys will probably go to later, it's crazy, they have only just started school :eek:

thewalrussaid

Hi NG,

Sounds like you have had an up and down week! Is DD feeling better?

As we live in the London suburbs I completely understand what you mean about helping kids with deposits etc, my parents helped my brother and I out but we do realise that we were very, very lucky to get this help. However you have to look after your needs first and if anything is left over for the kids that is a bonus for them.

I also agree re inheritance, if I get an inheritance it would be a bonus! I don't want to be in a position where I am waiting for my parents to die in order to rescue my finances No one know what the future holds, if they got very ill and required care (touch wood that won't happen for their sakes) everything they had could be gone and that would be right because that's the point of saving and having money - to be able to have the best options available when they are required. I would rather have them spend everything on proper care and live out their days in comfort than get an inheritance myself. It has taken me a while to get to this viewpoint as I probably did used to think "oh well i'll get a load of cash one day I'll be fine" but now I realise I have to stand on my own two feet and sort myself out.

Have a great weekend

newgirly

That's really nice of your parents to help out, I don't see any other way unless they end up moving a long way away to a cheaper area which they may of course decide to do (except ds2 who would never move away from West Ham for anything :rotfl:) I guess we will see what happens!

Dd feeling better now thanks

Still going round in circles re holidays, fed up with suggesting ideas to my ungrateful teens :mad: dd does fancy a cruise so I might just forget the holiday and plan a cheap as possible 2 or 3 day mini cruise.
Instead of budgetting for it , saving any excess money, change, birthday money etc. make a challenge out of it.
Then everything can go to the mortgage which is kind of the point of me starting this diary I guess

Apologies for my massive wittering on and u turns lately, it's the first year I have had that I have not had a strong plan that I have wanted to follow, well I have now

newgirly

Dd is out tonight with a girl she used to go to college with, they are going clubbing and it's her first time. :eek: I can't possibly stay awake as it doesn't finish until 4 am, which is going to be a first as I can never sleep until everyone is home safe, luckily the girl is staying with us and dh said he will collect them if they get stuck with no cab. I hate this part of parenting, and am now having a large glass of dh's xmas whiskey, watching the boxing and going to try and sleep.

Edit, boxing ended in first round off to bed!

AlexLK

re. the furniture.

As for the inheritance, obviously I don't know your situation but if your parents are anything like mine there's a lot to deal with and is not about waiting for parents to die / denying them proper care should they need it. Suppose this is more addressing thewalruss than you, NG. My parents have got to the stage where they want me to look after their assets and investments under their supervision. Surely, it would be a waste for a good proportion of your parents' hard work or own inheritance to be eaten by the government in tax?

On a brighter note, your daughter will be fine. Wish my father had been so accommodating when I were that age ... I was the kid who had to run out of the house at any opportune moment and this was for the very dubious "thrill" of visiting "Chesvegas" ... never mind the heady heights of London. :rotfl:

newgirly

Oh dear no alex! My dad is a workaholic who built up his business by working around a full time job at a large company in an unrelated industry, starting at 4 am , popping in to check on his staff at lunchtime then going in after work and weekends. When he retired he went full time at his own place, I don't think he has any intention of winding down ever to be honest, let alone handing anything over to me or my brother (both of whom are pretty clueless)

Dd is clearly not a party animal, they left the house at 11.30pm (a done thing apparently nowadays) and were home by 1.07pm I have yet to find out why, however they must be awake as dh woke the cat when he left for work and she howls like a banshee until food is in front of her.

Love chesvegas, we have bas Vegas fairly near to us , it even has its own Hollywood style sign as you drive through in white on a mound of grass :rotfl:

Sunday plans:

College applications for the boys- a total nightmare, we got no further on visiting yesterday either.

Cook a roast (m & s meal deal chicken)

Finish little bit of ironing left

Visit great aunt at mums - she has a tough life as a full time carer for my great uncle who is older and unwell, it's her birthday so need to pop out and buy flowers and make or buy a cake

Re do finances AGAIN- using cash has been surprisingly a lot more messy than expected, I have borrowed from my grocery purse for my main purse and vice versa, it's been harder to keep track of what I have spent, so I may go back to using the cc for the bulk of purchases and just having a bit of cash for the odd things.

Maths tutor has text to say she can fit ds1 in weekly already, so that £40pw now.its great but :eek:

Watch a film with dh this afternoon, he is working a lot and spends most of his down time at the cinema or watching films at home, so I guess I will join him today, even though is film taste is decidedly dodgy sometimes ie. "The fast and the furious parts one to 100"

dizzyblnd

Where r u based new girly? U sound close to me. That seems a lot for a maths tutor. How old is ur son?