Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

I think traditionally you could take your private pension from the age of 50, but since the raising of the state reirement age this seems to have changed.

By the time my husband was 50 he was self employed, but he decided to take up,his private pension from a previous employer. They wrote to him offering him the chance because they were about to change the rules and increase pension age to,60. So it was take the money now, or miss the chance of retiring early.

Of course you all know what happened so it was a good job he did opt for claiming his pension early. As his widow I now get half of his pension.

I'm not sure that I would have received this if he had not taken his pension early. Because he died before the new pensionable age of 60 then maybe his pension would have died with him and I might have received nothing. I couldn't be certain though and thankfully I didn't have to put it to the test.

We could have never have foreseen what was coming but I often think that my husband had a premonition that he would die early and that he did everything he could to ensure both mine and the boys financial security. He used to half joke that he would never reach state retirement age. Unfortunately his fears were well founded.

Re FI day.........

Oddly enough my son (aged 29) was talking about this just yesterday and he has come up with a master plan.:rotfl: he likes his job well enough - for now - but doesn't want to be doing it for the rest of his life. He wants to be FI asap.

Anyway he has worked out that for each 2 BTLs he could work 1 day a week less.

We are both aiming to acquire 2 BTLs each within the next year.

It would be nice if he could be FI by the age of 35 but I think 40 is probably more realistic.

Biscuits - Well done on saving 50 per cent of your income this month, only another 20 per cent short of Mr Moneystache.......:rotfl:

I'm feeling a lot more positive today and am quietly confident that I can achieve my interim target of one residential property and two BTLs with the next year or so.

I'll probably hold onto the hatchback for a few more years yet. It's only 3 years old so trading it in for that sassy little convertible would be a bit extravagant. Maybe the year after?? :rotfl:

Still waiting to hear whether or not the offer in the BTL has been accepted. It's a bank repo so it's dragging on a bit.

Hey ho, patience is a virtue and all that.......

Broken_Biscuits

I could achieve a 70% savings rate for a month.
I definitely couldn't sustain it though. Id go mad with boredom and the obsession a lifestyle like that would entail.

maybe i should try and aim for 55% next month to see where it takes me.

without going down the toast or cold beans route i wonder how little 2 people could spend on food in a month? Without giving up the enjoyment that good and varied food brings me.

Fi on paper isn't too hard to plan for.
if your son, or any one is thinking seriously about it now, then im sure it should fall into place. Getting 10 btls in place over a 5-10 year period is not a crazy unachievable plan. Good luck to him!

not sure if you've read this
http://investfourmore.com/2013/05/my-plan-to-purchase-100-rental-properties-by-january-of-2023-part-one-of-two/

someone posted it here recently.

an American planning a 100 strong btl portfolio in a very short space of time.

tinktay84

hey all,
still chipping away at my end. Im at what I call a rubbish point as ive got rid of lots of little debts and now the ones outstanding are ones that I cant just get rid of in one go and require several payments. I quite enjoy when you get to the last bit and can make the last payment!


Hope your offer gets accepted LL!


Ive got 2 people wanting to rent a bedroom off me both short term, I only have the 1 available at the moment but my (not so new anymore) fella has said if they both want the room, me and the kids can stay at his for the 3 weeks they will cross over so I can accept both tenants, earn a bit extra money and spend a bit more time together.
Hope it comes off! If not its no big deal as im currently doing ok


Unfortunately my rental property, the tenants have given notice which has come as a shock as they seemed to be in for the long haul. already got it advertised and 4 viewings booked in and they don't vacate until end of June so im not too worried
kayalana: In case I dot manage to get back on here I hope everything goes well for you and you have a fab day!

Karmacat

Tink, that sounds a great idea, your fella sounds really practical too

I've started up applying for writing contracts on elance, but I only want to do one at a time, so it isn't going particularly fast! I'll keep plugging tho.

Broken_Biscuits

tinktay84 wrote: »

hey all,
still chipping away at my end. Im at what I call a rubbish point as ive got rid of lots of little debts and now the ones outstanding are ones that I cant just get rid of in one go and require several payments. I quite enjoy when you get to the last bit and can make the last payment!

!

not sure how much you are paying in interest each month, but could you benefit from moving some over to a interest free credit card?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

tinktay84

BB, after a crappy year and being self employed with a loss last tax year (due to the crappy year) I can't get any new credit.
I currently have 2 personal loans and a credit card.one loan is just above 2000 left (way I front on this one), other loan is about 4000 (3 months in front) and cc has just come out of interest free period.
Ive been to both loan providers to try and consolidate as I would end up paying around £140 less a month if I consolidate, or paying off even earlier but neither will have it despite both being in front and good history with them. I think over paying is he bit that narks them as they lose out on interest.

On a 'you're doing the right thing' moment... I checked on money advice service how I would stand if I started paying into a private pension.i have always been told don't bother and try and create other income streams instead....
If I started paying £50 a month into a pension now at age 31 + 1 month...I could retire at 65 with a monthly pension of... £100!!!!
My rental property earns me that now!

Broken_Biscuits

have you tried step change

http://m.stepchange.org/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=270050&WT.seg_1=step%20change

they are a charity and so no charges to you from them. They aim to consolidate your loans and reduce your monthly payments.

2 of my friends have used it and have a lot praise for them.

pensions are worth it when the company pays in. Previous employer was paying in 12-15%. Current one pays 6%. Its hard to lose with incentives like that!

i would say a lot of the calculators are a bit mean on what you could end up with. Less likely to receive complaints when they under rather than over value what you could end up with.

id try putting your amounts in a compound interest calculator instead. Apply a realistic rate of return and see what you get. (probably closer to £200-£300 a month)

tinktay84

BB,
Already looked into consolidation but again, as I don't live in the house I have a mortgage on they can't help.
Sounds silly but I am financially better off to rent out my mortgaged property and rent the house I live in!

Just spoke to one of the potential lodgers, she viewed a while back but circumstances have changed, long story short she arrives Saturday for 8 weeks.Other potential views tomorrow evening.As I say there is approx a 3 week overlap if the other one wants a room but 1 week we are away anyway and the other 2 we can stay with my fella rent free so it's all good. I would still come home make tea etc most days then just sleep at my fellas

Black_Dynamite

Morning everyone,

So after an average April (just under £1k freelancing) i'm close to beating my best month already and still have 10 days to go!

I'm expecting June to slow right down, my fiance will be giving birth and my biggest client is taking a month out, however I've got a good idea to bring in some extra cash.

I'm writing an online course that i'll provide to people who purchase a membership on my website. I'm not expecting millions, but I think over time I can easily make £300 - £400 per month (10 - 15 signups per month). Another site in my field that offers video tutorials, has over 10,000 members and charges £100 for lifetime access, i'm going to offer my course at £30, it covers more lessons on a wider range of subjects.

My other idea would be to offer this as an incentive for people hiring me.

I'm about half way through writing the content.

Expenses for this would be minimal:

Website Design - 0
Website Hosting - 0 (I have 3 clients who pay to use my hosting, I make 200% on what I pay!)
Membership plugin for WordPress - £15 per month
Email Marketing membership - still to decide but not a massive figure < £20 per month.

That means to make a profit I need 2 signups per month.I've got an email list of 5,000 so i'd expect to pickup 10 - 20 from that at least.

Exciting times

Karmacat

Thats brilliant, BD!