Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

troglodyte wrote: »

LL I hope you are managing to stay on top of all your various challenges! As if that wasn't enough to deal with, I'd really like your opinion on something, please; would you mind if I sent you a PM?

Of course you can send me a PM. If I can help at all then I will. As long as it's not pension advice:eek::eek:

I agree - pension planning is a minefield. Mine was all sorted and then whoosh - out of nowhere - illness and disaster struck and everything went pear shaped.

The only advice I would ever give is the advice that I would give to any savings/investments etc "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". Spread the risk.

Well - as you say - life is definitely a series of challenges and I certainly seem to having my share.

Never mind dahhhlings - without them life would be so dull .....:rotfl:

I had to have a bit of an enforced rest this last couple of weeks or so - due to a bad back/neck/shoulder thing going on. So I decided to use my time productively and have finally got the mountain of paperwork, form filling all done and dusted. It feels good.;) I'm finally back in control which suits me just fine - I'm a bit of an OCD control freak at times.

Anyhoo - here's the heads up ....

After giving the matter a lot of thought I have to concur with my sister. It is too late to move mum & dad now - they are just not up to it. Their next move is likely to be into a nursing home, probably sooner rather than later. So with that in mind I have decided that Phase 2 of my master plan will be by-passed and it's straight on to Phase 3 (with a little detour when it is time to start nursing home hunting).

So I have now started viewing a few properties. I need to speak to a couple of brokers before I make any final decisions and get down to the nitty gritty.

It's starting to get interesting.

Hope you are all well, healthy, happy and making lots of money.

EvilJaz

I have enjoyed reading all of the posts, and seeing what people are doing to complete the 'millionaire challenge'.

I recently finished university and am sitting my final CIMA exam in May (though i can't get qualified till i have the full 3 years experience which will be October of this year). I have a fairly OK paid job but have realized to achieve my own goal of being a 'millionaire' i will not ever achieve it being employed at a company.

I am finally after years in the making ready to launch my own business. But alas, it is doomed to failure before it even begun

MKeynesMoneySaver

How so EvilJaz?

EvilJaz

Because its a website similar to PCSpecialist, Dell, Alienware.

Where you build computers. It was a great idea when i decided i wanted to do it (like 8 years ago). But not so much now that competition is so fierce.

gothrockchic1

EvilJaz wrote: »

Because its a website similar to PCSpecialist, Dell, Alienware.

Where you build computers. It was a great idea when i decided i wanted to do it (like 8 years ago). But not so much now that competition is so fierce.

I see that as an opportunity to undercut the big guns and also do things differently.

Write a business plan, if it doesn't go to plan do something else or do it differently.

Good Luck:A

lessonlearned

Welcome Eviljaz

Just wanted to say the same as Gothic - don't feel that you've missed the boat with your internet business idea. The fact that other people have done it and been successful shows that you were on the right track.

I agree with Gothic - I'm sure there will still be some mileage for you and that you can compete, maybe on price but more importantly perhaps - on service.

I know we've talked about this before but I think if you look for the niches then you can perhaps tweak the model to find your USP - Unique Selling Point.

We don't have to keep re-inventing the wheel - ie constantly coming up with new designs, products, inventions or business ideas. Sometimes we just need to refine and improve on what has gone before.

Well - the sun has come out today:D - that horrible icy cold wind has dropped so today I'm on a mission to investigate my new "patch".

I'm starting my preliminary house search and I looking for a "diamond in the rough". :rotfl:

tinktay84

Hello Hello!
Ive missed so much! I always read everything, have lots of questions/responses then draw a blank when I start to reply!

Well after a humungous blip at the end of last year & the beginning of this I am starting to get back on track. Without going too deep into it I was basically on the brink. I had my notice letter written out for our house & notice for tenants to move out of our house etc, now for those of you that know, the house I am in is a house I would have to be dragged out of kicking & screaming so writing out that letter was awful (obviously doesnt compare to things other people have been through!) It was once I had that letter in my hand that I said to my self 'no way' I basically laid my cards out on the table & held my hands up to say I was sinking.
A few people then saw things for how they really were & things have changed.
My husband now has contracting work that is ongoing.Its quite a tricky set up now which sees my husband leaving the house at 630, me and the kids leaving in the car at 730, dropping the 2 kids at their 2 different school/nursery before heading back home to swap into my van (only 2 seats) before getting to jobs at 830. I then have family members on a rota to collect the kids for me each day & have them until either my husband or I get home around 7pm.
Im very lucky that my dad & auntie are both retired s can help a lot & my son has a lot of after school activities & daughters nursery is open until 6 :-)
Ive now set my prices in line with competitors (still a little less but I am earning now) & we are booked solid until august
My target for 24th April was to get debt down to £10000 which I currently have around £1200 nursery fees, £800 gas & elec bill!!! & £10000 on a loan.
Ive reduced my overdrafts to a combined amount of £600 & have savings of £400.
My business is now paying for itself & have even treated myself to further training to increase services :-)

I still find it so frustrating that there are houses sat on the market for between £35000- £60000 that I could easily get to a high standard & rented out but no one will touch me. Ive got proven track record, high credit score etc but its the self employed bit & the £10000 outstanding loan (although this is actually in front as ive overpaid)
Gettign lots of press attention now too :-)

lessonlearned

Hi Tink
Just wanted to say - good to see you back. I was getting
concerned....

Anyway sorry to hear about your tough times but good on you for fighting back and hanging on.

Churchill once said something along the lines of "When you are walking through hell, you just have to keep going". Sorry can't remember the exact quote.

I agree with him on this - you just have to keep moving forward.

Sometimes it feels that you are running just to stand still but I think as long as you can keep the momentum going you will come out the other end eventually.

I can only speak for me and say that yes I had to walk down a long dark tunnel but eventually you do see light at the end. There were times when I thought I would lose my home but somehow I managed to cling on. I had to sell some assets at firesale prices and yes I am starting from the beginning again but at least I kept a roof over my head and the shirt on my back. I didn't have to declare myself bankrupt and my credit is still good.

Had a piece of good news yesterday. One of my endowments looks like it's going to be worth more than I had budgeted for - so that has to be good.:rotfl: Just waiting to hear about the other one.

Like you I'm in rented whilst I plot my next move. Selling my house to release my equity and then just renting for a while has given me a breathing space to think about what I really want and how best to achieve my goals.

Like you I could not afford to buy this house at the moment. So renting has given me a nice home and left my capital free to start my empire. :rotfl:

I have had time to really stop and think and formulate my master plan.

So folks - tell me what you think. Be gentle.:rotfl:

For the next couple of steps it will be a couple of flips and then maybe a couple of buy to lets. Not quite sure which to do first so have started viewing a mixture of properties to give me some ideas.

Plenty of good quality reasonably priced apartments for BTL's around but a bit short of reasonable flippers at the price I want to pay. I'm sure something will turn up sooner or later.

Tink - I can understand what you are saying about having the chances but not being able to get a loan. Would it be worth you meeting with a broker - the actual sums you would need aren't that high. There must be something out there.

I am currently doing just this - meeting with a couple of brokers and am also looking at some form of commercial lending. Just doing my homework to see what's out there so I can weigh up my options. I know I can borrow from private investors if need be, but obviously interest rates and fees would be higher, so I'm just shopping around at the moment.

I reckon by the end of July - worst case scenario I will have around £100K in cash, best case scenario around £140K.

Worse case scenario - I won't be able to get a mortgage so will only be able to buy one small property to develop. Best case scenario we are looking at one flipper and one very cheap BTL. This is working on the assumption I can't get a mortgage.

If I can get mortgages and loans then obviously I can rebuild my finances more quickly using the principle of "other peoples money"

If not then I just do it with my own money, ie the cash I have. It will take a little longer that way but there's no real problem.

I am happy enough to start small and safe and grow slowly.

"Mighty oaks grow from little acorns".:D

For me it's a long term strategy not a get rich quick and get out fast scheme. I'm happy to play it slow and safe.

Like you I have £10K debt outstanding but as it's interest free for the next year or so I'm not worried about paying it back, because I can put that money to better use in the interim, either as money towards a BTL or to refurbish a flipper.

Just hang in there Tink - indeed all of us - all we need to do is just keep going. We will get there in the end.

I've been at the brink, within a whisker of losing everything, but I held on and now have enough capital to start my relaunch.

If I can fight back and rebuild - anyone can.

I'm probably the oldest poster on this thread so for me £1m is a big ask and I might run out of time before I get there. However, to those of you who are 20, 30, 40 years younger then there is no real reason why you can't do it.

[Deleted User]

Glad to have stumbled upon this thread today. I would love to join you folks. I am a little late in starting my millionaire fund at 40 but am in a good position in that I have no debts and have paid off my mortgage.

However, I only have a temp job at the moment which finishes in June and I really need to focus on getting something next session, ideally something permanent as I would like to get a mortgage/loan to buy our first buy to let or do-er upper house. I think the school I am with will probably ask me to stay on (which is great) but that the job will still be temp for another year.

I am currently working on building up an emergency fund and will have around 10K in that by the end of this month.

troglodyte

Welcome Allie!
Some on here are older so I wouldn't worry, there is a good mix and plenty of interesting and motivational experience!