Millionaire Challenge

Kayalana99

I'm not an oldie but my Dad is planning on using his rental income to retire on rather then a lump sum, think he is aiming for 2k monthly not sure how he is doing with that though.

My Mum has the kids today as she does most Weds and I realised I didn't actually have anything that I have to do...always got a list of stuff to do but nothing major as the house is (reasonably) tidy, I had already done my book keeping and I did have some sales but not more then an hours worth of work.

Just to give background my OH is a very hands on person, I really don't have to lift a finger for 'man stuff' i.e changing bins, putting pictures on walls...it's not like I can't do this stuff or don't want to but I suppose when someone is saying they will do it then why not?

Basically my OH has never really seen me do anything of that nature...i.e build a flat pack or gardening full stop etc...with us moving I have decided to get the house in shape and the front garden drive was a wreck so we decided a few weeks back to take it up and just relay it with grass and park in the street parking so I took it on myself this morning to dig up the drive...I have to admit it's been such a blast and all neighbours kept coming out to talk to me so it was almost quite social lol I didn't realise how long it would take though but it's all done and flattened off. My OH came home on his dinner and drove up to me outside with a spade his face was priceless....lol, was good timing as I had just finished removing the stones and slabs so I was bit clueless what to do next to flatten it down so he gave me some advice on it but he kept looking at me a bit gone out I wanted to sort some more out but save that for another day as I am not used to the hard labour my back and feet are aching now.

Re Book keeping...I am not happy. I've took in 16k this year and lets say my est tax is higher then I thought it would be but I am hoping my Accountant will be able to sort some of it out for me. Although, one thing I do like is fact I have earned(profit) 50% of my wage from my job last year running this business so when you think I am doing it at home with my kiddies you can't turn your nose up at that...I was only part time FYI as I realise it still wasn't a big wage to start with...plus it's only really my 2nd year trading(infact it's my first full year as I started Oct13). I have to admit looking at that 16k figure VAT is starting to become real..I believe the threshold is 35k? I don't know why but it scares me but I will deal with it when (if) it comes but I do hope sales will grow year by year so heres to a growing business.

I've also got a website in place for my next idea, I have probably mentioned it a while ago but I have an idea for an information website so very low start up costs and if it catches on could be good but we'll see, you have to try these things. My App idea is still just an idea...I still think it's an absolute brilliant idea but I have just lost motivation with it but I'm sure it's something I will come back to.

Also on the house move, my Dad has said he might be able to help us in June, I'm not keen as I already owe my Gdad 12.5k from the house we brought this time around so I would end up owing around the 30k mark...but I said to him lets put a pin in it till June and if he can and doesn't change his mind I will sit down with it and think about it more, but me and OH said we would both still aim for March 2016 and ignore it incase it doesn't happen.

Right..think I'm going to relax and read more of my Black hole focus book till Kids get back...so drained of energy.

Karmacat

Kaya, are you sure you've kept receipts for everything you paid out on? And your accountant will hopefully know more about tax rebates for things. Good luck!

Shazd69

Good Luck and Hard Work and you will do it

Black_Dynamite

Kayalana, I'm after some advice really, how much does your accountant charge if you don't mind me asking?

If you don't want to disclose, can you give me an idea?

a) < £300
b) £300 - £600
c) £600 +

I'm freelancing and working full time so my tax free allowance is eaten up with my full time job. My outgoings equate to around 1% of my turnover (Web Design so my outgoings are next to none), so I'm faced with being hit with a huge tax bill (20% on my entire freelancing earnings).

I'm capable of doing my self-assessment and balancing my books etc, but I'm trying to weigh up whether an accountant is worth the cost.

I don't mind paying tax, I just want to make sure I'm not paying more than I have to!

Thanks for your help

Kayalana99

Yes KC ...more or less lol :-) Sorry BD...I don't mind telling you at all but my Accountant is my OH's uncle so I'm not best person to ask lol and it really depends on how much they have to do, tbh it may just be worth having a word with one as mine knocked quite a lot of stuff off last year that I wouldn't of known to...but I think in your case as your books should be quite simple unless they can save you money it would be quite pointless?

He charged me £80 last year I reckon this year I will be looking at £200-250 as their is a lot more to do.

Karmacat

I pay the equivalent of £300 to my French accountant, and when I used an English accountant last, about 4 years ago, I paid about £600, for complicated accounts.

I'd say, try to do it yourself, if its all double dutch, give it to an accountant. Or give it to an accountant for a few years, and learn to do it yourself. Nowadays, I make sure I get the percentage of tax I have to pay around what the accountant used to do, and I'm happy with that.

cazmanian_minx

My accountant is £340 to do my business accounts and my self-assessment. She's saved me a fair bit of money over the years with her advice, so essentially she pays for herself.

Black_Dynamite

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm going to do what I originally planned and file my own self assessment this year. I really don't see how they could save me more than £500 as my turnover is essentially my profit and I don't want to go down the road of dodgy tax avoidance / evasion!

I'm looking at growing my business over the next 12 months, I've increased my profit 200% since June '14, if I can hit the same levels of profit for the next 4 months, I've managed to replace my better half's salary 6 months in a row, she breaks up for maternity leave in 2 months so things are looking good. We're saving to move into a bigger house so all this extra income is helping.

Our LTV on the current house (if sold for the same price) is about 80%, I'm aiming to move into a bigger house and keep the LTV at 80%, the houses we've been looking at currently mean it'll increase to 85%.

Then the plan is to pay off the mortgage and get a 2nd home to rent / sell on. I'm adamant I'm retiring at 40 (14 years to go!).

Thanks for your help everyone, this is one of the few forums I make time to read, always find it useful and inspiring!

paolopants

I once met a guy who was so determined to become a millionaire it oozed out of him. You could just tell that he completely had the right attitude and frame of mind to achieve it. From what I last heard, he is well on his way, but I think if you really want something enough, you'll find a way to achieve it. If not, you'll find an excuse.

Karmacat

Black_Dynamite wrote: »

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm going to do what I originally planned and file my own self assessment this year. I really don't see how they could save me more than £500 as my turnover is essentially my profit and I don't want to go down the road of dodgy tax avoidance / evasion!

This is what I now do, as I said.... so, my advice is to do it as early as you can after the end of the tax year. There'll be less of a wait to speak to someone at HMRC, and although I've done it in January, and they don't rush me off the phone, I'm sure that going over it slowly is helpful.

The other board on this forum thats helpful, where I saw a lot of people posting in January about self assessment, is the Cutting Tax Board - you can post specific questions on there, I did, and there are at least a couple of people who seem really knowledgeable.