Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

Hi lea :hello:

Good to hear from you. Yes toddlers do keep you busy, I remember it well:rotfl:

Mind teenagers are even worse ..........and 30 year olds aren't much better. Lol. Stilll I Wouldn't change my boys for the world......but they still take up a lot of my time.

Yesterday I helped DS1 in his garden, tackling the tree pruning. His house is coming along really nicely now - my DIL is a real asset to him and they are making huge strides now with the renovations. She has a real flair for design and has encouraged him to be bold with colour. The interior is starting to look really good.

The garden is still like a jungle though so, although it wont get our full attention till next year, we thought it prudent to at least prune the trees and chop down some of the undergrowth before it threatens to invade the house.

His house is attracting lots of interest so although he doesn't intend to sell its nice to know people Like it so much. It's one of the oldest private residences in the city. It had fallen on hard times but it's lovely to see it coming back to life and people do seemed genuinely pleased that it's been rescued. He's had one or two letters from people interested in buying it and it's not even finished yet.

Lea. Like you I'm pondering how to restructure for future growth, whether it's time to form a limited company. Because I've been so tied up with sorting out my father's affairs I've not really had time to think things through.

I've more or less decided not to make any firm plans now until after DS1s wedding in May. His girls family will be arriving on 2nd May and will be staying for around 5 weeks so I'll be pretty tied up for a while now. Lots of preoaration to do before then.

I have offered the lad next door the chance to help us with some gardening work here at DS2s after Easter and he seems keen. That should be a big help and will speed things up here.

So it's all good.

Good luck with the business iniative meetings Lea, hope they prove fruitful. Let us know how you get on.

Kayalana99

Toddlers do!

Interesting development and random but I've finally decided to go for the Uni degree I've been hankering after, Business Management.

If all goes well - it should all be done under student finance and through open uni so would be free. (Well free as in no cost at this stage)

I'm not 100% sure if I can get the finance without having A Levels but I'm under the impression that if you do an access course (which would be free for me) they are more likely to give you the finance.

Unf I can't apply for the finance yet because it's to early - but the course would be due to start in Sept/Oct which yes is my busiest time of year but if all goes well I will buy the books early and get a head start before the course even begins - then Jan 2017 my youngest will be in Nursery so I'll have every morning M-F free.

What I'm hoping to get out of it? Really just personal development and to be able to bring the kids up saying education is important - I never thought it was as my parents weren't collage educated and look where my Dad is today...I feel it will help me with running my own businesses and give me a better view point and level of education.

Of course if I decide to go into a career later down line that's always a positive to - the thing with wedding photography is even at the £1,000 price range if you took on 40 weddings a year that's £40k yes - but you would be working round the clock and hardly ever get a weekend free.

Don't take this as me giving up - but I want to open up other options, develop myself and possibly keep the photography as a part time venture at least for the time being. As much as I absolutely adore it, I don't want to give my life up for it - I think 15-20 weddings a year is more then enough esp at this stage in my life.

I appreciate I'm probably taking a lot on but hey....I can't sit around watching TV all day lol.

Awaiting to hear back from OU with my enquiry and then it's just a waiting game to see when student finance opens up applications for part time students to see if I can get finance for it - although hopefully the OU e-mail should clear up any questions I have about whether I have to do the access course - FYI would be rubbish and not related to my course at all and waste a year doing something I wasn't interested in...yay...fingers crossed I can get round it.

lessonlearned

I left school at 15 with no qualifications. I did a few o levels as they were called then at night school but no A levels.

When I was 40 I decided it was time to get an education. .....:rotfl:

I did the Access course and then went on to uni to do my degree.

If you can get in without the Access course then great. You might get away with just doing one of the short OU foundation courses.

Go for it......it may lead directly to another career, it might not, it might open doors you had never even thought about.

I am of the opinion that education is never wasted, I don't think there is such a thing as a "useless" degree. Yes some may seem a bit esoteric at first glance but provided the course has some intellectual rigour then a tertiary education definitely broadens our horizons.

And it's always another string to your bow.

PoorGuyNextDoor

Lesson learned can i be rude and ask how old you are? Only i have a long term goal of BTL and "doer upers" to buy and sell on to make a living...hopefully a very good living at that aswel!!

Kayalana99

They got back to me and I don't need to do it the only decision I have to make is whether to start in Sept or Feb (and apply for funding when I can)

The problem is if I start in Sept - I have 4 weddings in a row and the run up to xmas is always hectic but I don't want to put it off till Feb, it means I won't start it for 11 months.

I'm not going to worry about it to much for now but I've been searching left right and centre for the books for my course - if I could get my hands on some learning material now and start studying then come Sept I'll already have a solid ground to get started so won't be so much pressure whilst I'm so busy Sept - Dec, then my little one starts nursery in Jan 2017.

Gah Feb 2017 would be perfect and makes the most sense...sigh just don't want to waste more time.

lessonlearned

Kaya - great news.

Whilst I fully understand your enthusiasm to get cracking, the reality is February would probably be better for you. You will have done the weddings, got Christmas out of the way and your youngest will be at nursery.

You know it makes sense.:D

Poor Guy. - I shall be "just" 65 in July. :rotfl:

Well I have been (ever so slightly) naughty. I have booked a 4 week holiday in Cyprus next February (2017)........it was a bargain:rotfl:

Well travel was always part of my master plan......;) and of course it is my intention to spend at least part of each winter in sunnier climes. The vitamin D will do me good......ha, ha.

Seriously......one of the advantages of having reached FID is that I can now take full advantage of long stay vacations. The flights are the biggest cost so staying for longer makes perfect sense. The hotel has wifi ...........so it's a case of have laptop will travel.

ms_night_ryder

Love that LL! This is what I would love to be doing as well. travel and lots of it, February is not that far away.

In the meantime I'm going to concentrate on getting some savings together, preferably starting before I leave for my holiday. I'm going to start by buying post office bonds, I need to set a target amount and also another source of saving.

Floxxie

Kayalana99 wrote: »

I'm not going to worry about it to much for now but I've been searching left right and centre for the books for my course - if I could get my hands on some learning material now and start studying then come Sept I'll already have a solid ground to get started so won't be so much pressure whilst I'm so busy Sept - Dec, then my little one starts nursery in Jan 2017.

Gah Feb 2017 would be perfect and makes the most sense...sigh just don't want to waste more time.

Long time lurker delurking! Well done Kayalana on making the decision to study. I really wouldn't worry yourself about trying to read up and get ahead of yourself on the course. You are a mother and therefore you will be amazed at your ability to skim read and take everything in. I did a law degree and managed to give birth to a third child, get divorced, work full time and move country. I never did the amount of studying they recommended (although it worried me before I started that I didn't have that amount of free time). I know you haven't studied for a long time but I think your confidence will fly when you realise how many skills you have as a parent and you can put them to good use

lessonlearned

Hi Floxxie. I think you are right. I think mature students are often surprised how easy it is. The life skills that mature students have acquired and all that wisdom and experience stands in good stead. And of course parenting does give us a whole load of extra skills, especially the ability to time manage and juggle comittments.

Kaya - you'll be just fine.

Well today I have wrenched my back so it's cancel everything and some enforced rest. Very frustrating.

Still a good excuse to curl up with the cat and watch a few DVDs, do some reading, and catch up with friends over a few nice chatty phone calls.

There's always a silver lining. :rotfl:

PoorGuyNextDoor

Good news and bad then. I took the plunge to negotiate a new deal at work. I said i would most likely leave if i dont get more money. More or less told them i want to make myself rich instead of someone else. Iv taken the offer so my wages for April - April will be just shy of £70k. Brilliant until i realise il be paying over £17k in tax!! Mental amount of money!!