Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

Hi everyone.

Night Ryder . Well done on making your target - that's great. It's very satisfying to hit a target isn't it.

Re debt.......if you are not paying any interest then is there a hurry to pay it off, unless of course it's affecting your credit rating whilst it remains outstanding.

I had £6k on interest free and I could have easily paid it off but didn't bother until the interest free period came to an end. I paid it off in January, using savings. The £6k I saved between Jan and March replenished my savings pot. So now that debt is cleared and am back to full strength with the nest egg.

Within the next few months I shall be embarking on a course of lengthy and very expensive dental treatment. I have no intention of raiding the savings, I shall put it all on 0 per cent and pay it off at my leisure.

I really like my money to work for me ...........I currently get about £1500 a year in interest and that can go towards my dental work, whilst I still get to keep my capital. :rotfl:

Kaya. Good luck with the eBay. I ve still not been to the auction house to get my stuff valued. Maybe next week. TBH I've not wanted to lug stuff around because I'm still nursing my back. There's no real hurry.

Yes agree definitely worth investing in a good mattress.

And I would add also good shoes.

You spend a lot of time either in bed or on your feet......;)

PoorGuyNextDoor

It is absolute brilliant viewing, i love it!! Who on this site wouldnt love some of the clothes they wear though always on point!

Bmth100

Good to see everybody going from strength to strength; lessonlearned, well done for clearing your credit. My wife and I are still sitting on £6,350 (all interest free) which is the result of overspending at our wedding in November and some leftover student debt

There has always been something in the way of getting rid of it all; married in November, then Christmas, then we chose to move in March and I've now literally just changed jobs from weekly to monthly paid ..

However May 2016 will finally mark being able to clear some of it very quickly - I just can't wait for it to be gone, cannot imagine being debt free!

Kayalana99

Enrolled for the course officially yesterday, was really careful to read the terms and conditions to make sure I can cancel if student finance is declined but I can - and also looks like it's very rare student finance is declined as long as you haven't used it before and are a UK citizen.

It's really scary actually as I wanted to do 120 credits in my first year - but 3/5 assessments are due before December (just for the first 60 credits), so for a course that starts at the start of October you only have 3 weeks to get your first assessment in!...of course, this is only the first 60 credits, so the smaller modules I can enroll for (30 credits each x2) may also be due in the first 3 weeks...who knows as I have yet to enroll for the other 60 as yet.

The first assignment is only worth 10% of the grade whereas the last one is worth 30% so I guess their thinking is to get the easy ones out the way and give you more time for the harder assessments.

I've bought some business books off eBay I found so that should help - I could have waited to meet my friend but she hasn't replied in about 7 days now (she's terrible if you want to get in touch with her) since I asked to arrange a day to meet so I'd rather not rely on her, but if she gets in touch I'll play dumb and see what she has to offer me. Would be nice to see her again but I have contacted her twice now with no reply..

Dan Brown books came unf I've not been able to put it down already 1/4 through the first one but I have so much other stuff I need to be doing!!

The other thing annoying me is picking modules, I have picked the two easiest ones for me but there is a third - one that is based on improving your writing skills. I know this would benefit me but it also scares me as this is an area that I lack - I know if I took the modules I have chosen I could get high grades in them.

I wonder if employers care what modules you pick in the scheme of things but more what level of degree you come out with - one of them is a personal finance module which I really don't need to take and disregarded it completely when I first saw it but on closer inspection I found actually - it's the only thing related to Economics in Stage 1 (if I didn't say before I'm positive I'll be focusing my degree in Economics) and is also about looking at how and why people buy the things they do in the household (and then, of course, looking at ways to improve your own budgets)

The 2nd I choose is fundamentals in accounting - none of the other modules interest me and yes I've basically picked this one as I have already done the AAT Level 2 I'll basically be going over things I already know - not saying it will be easy but easier than doing something I haven't come across before....or there is the writing module of course but as I say it scares me and I really really do want to get as high a mark as possible.

Looks like I'll be shutting down my eBay quite a bit over Xmas but I'm sure I'll make it work, just have to make sure I keep on top of my editing in August/Sept so when my course starts I don't have any editing to worry about.

Gah.

gallygirl

Good luck with your choices. Maybe others can give different insights but I think it unlikely an employer would pay much, if any, attention to what modules you've done. It's the overall grade that counts - also extra kudos for studying while holding down a job(s) and running a home.

I'd advise against 120 points in your first year. I did it, but it was 'a big ask' and I had a full time job with regular hours and children who stayed at their dads regularly so it was easy to organise regular study time.

Choose modules that interest you - but I'd advise you to go for the writing module if you feel you're lacking a bit in that area - you'll have more confidence in the future, and if you want to go into the business world you will need these skills.

Well done on going for it :T I remember being daunted by signing up for a six year course but a very wise man told me 'yes, six years IS a long time. But it's a long time whether you do the degree or not. You may as well have something to show for it'. That helped me a lot - cheers Ray :beer:

Kayalana99

Thank you but I just can't imagine doing it over 6 years - I'm planning on at least doing the first 120 credits this year but I'll see how I get on as I can imagine stage 2 & 3 will be a hell of a lot harder.

It should work out quite well as the course runs from Oct - June so I can be careful how many weddings I take on (and take on extra between June-September time 2017)

Youngest will be half days at Nursery before I know it and eBay can be turned on and off like a light switch so as long as I put my course first...I'll decide what I want to do about Stage 2 later and I'm going to get a head start on my books and research.

On an unrelated note, just because I thought this may help others there is a government scheme that will lend you up to 25k for a business. My friend has applied for it not saying it's that easy - but the funding is there if your idea is good enough and can prove it would work.

If you ever had an idea of something you wanted to do, why not go for it? I said to my husband last night if we didn't have the children I would of most likely set up my own cafe by now - I don't want to say the children are holding me back but we make different choices when we have children. I don't want to be sticking them in childcare right now, if I do this degree by the time it's finished both will be in full-time education and with our joint income we'd have more money to go out and do things together - but whilst they are young I want to be here for them.

We also had a talk about what we want to do when we retire or at least when we're older, and we were talking about a Pub overlooking the sea... I don't like being held to one place but I have a feeling when I'm 40-50 and kids are grown up it would be a really nice idea.

lessonlearned

Good Morning Everyone

Well here we are another month already.

Kaya - you sound like you have lots of plots hatching......don't think you are going to run Out of ideas just yet. :rotfl:

Well this morning I feel like I've finally come out of hibernation and am raring to go. For so long I've had my time severely proscribed by other people and it's as if I've just woken up and realised that actually my time is now finally my own and I can do Just What I Like.:D

For probably the first time in my life I now have total absolute FREEDOM, no school teachers to obey, no parents to please, no bosses breathing down my neck, no babies taking all my time, no poorly husband or mum to nurse, no aftermath of death to deal with and enough passive income to keep me housed, fed, clothed and entertained......I don't need anything else.

Of course I still WANT to make a bit more and build up something to pass onto my family but this will be for the fun of it now and not a necessity.

Boys and girls, I tell you all this, not to brag, but to give you a vision of just how sweet life can be and to give you encouragement. When this thread began I was nowhere near this happy position.

Well now I have made a few decisions about what comes next.

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it but I had a brush with skin cancer on my face a few years ago and whilst the surgeon did a superb job and I have minimal scarring my face is a little misaligned as a result.

I have scheduled some corrective work to make my face symmetrical again. The treatment is non surgical and can be done under a local anaesthetic so hopefully it won't be too awful. I get it done a week on Thursday. I'm scared silly but I have decided to go for it anyway.

So hopefully by my 65th birthday in July I shall be gorjuss!!! :rotfl:

I've also made a decision that I'm going to employ some domestic help around the house so will get the ball rolling on that next week.
TBH I'm fed with hurting my back trying to do too much - the money I save on Physio will probably pay a cleaner......:rotfl: if not then I can just shave a bit off my casual spending. It will be worth it.

So hopefully a lot less back pain and a bit more time to do something either more productive or more fun.....

I have also decided to cancel the holiday in Cyprus - I don't like flying very much and I think I would likely be bored stuck in one resort for 28 days.

Instead I have booked a Baltic cruise for next May, managed to pick up a bargain for the same price as the Cyprus trip by booking so far in advance. I have always wanted to go to St Petersburg so really looking forward to it.

My goal for April is to finish the decluttering - almost there, plant up the garden to grow some healthy fruit and veg, offload some stuff to the auction house and sort out all the jewellery and decide what to do with it all. Some I will sell, and hopefully have some of it remodelled. Some of it was my mums and it's a bit dated now.

I know she would be thrilled to see it updated and see me actually wearing it rather than it sitting there in the safe never seeing the light of day.

I'm not going to set a savings target as such, but I've paid the deposit on my cruise so that's a form of saving. I also need to set aside some spending money for Barcelona and entertaining wedding guests and family members next month.

I think April and May are going to be expensive months. :rotfl:

Have a great month, make lots of money........

Azzzaa

I made £70 yesterday from second hand books which I did not expect to do when I woke up!! I am going to try and list some items on eBay tonight if I get the time £££££

AnimalTribe

It looks like everyone is doing well.

I've made £300 on eBay getting rid of some of my clutter (and loads more stuff to sort through). £250 I'll put away somewhere until I decide how to use it, and add to it, hopefully. £50 I've spent on craft stuff. I've got loads of unused craft stuff in the house, but the extra £50s worth will let me turn what I've got into stuff to sell at Christmas. I know it's early but it will take me a while to get stuff together (and September seems to be the time to sell).

Kayalana99

Sold one of my lens for £150, still got my 2nd camera up at £500 but will reduce it to £450-475 after the end of the tax year - if it sells it sells, but would rather things sell in the new tax year lol.

A tad annoyed I've purchased £1,400 worth of equipment to get rid of excess funds before the new tax year - the money hasn't come out of the account yet and I have a feeling it's not going to show up on the bank statement till past the cut off date...so annoyed. I could put it through on the receipt date rather than the bank statement date but given I don't normally do my book keeping like that I'd have to change everything to do it that way....fingers crossed perhaps it will come out today or tomorrow but so far it's not even showing that it's been taken.

Sorry to keep going on about the degree but found out that Stage 1 has no effect on your overall grade (Stage 2 is 1/3 and Stage 3 is 2/3) whilst it won't affect the work I put in it means I can choose whatever modules I feel would benefit me the most. I don't have to decide till May so I'm going to leave my options open until I have done more research on Economics. Got my books through too!

Got a new camera on it's way (to replace my back up camera and so I can use both together) and a macro lens but that's all the big stuff done and dusted now - all the other things I need shouldn't break the bank when I purchase them and the best part is cameras and lens hold value pretty well so if I ever do decide to sell up I'll get most of what I've spent back.

Goals for now;

Revise Business
Work on the new market with eBay
Finish my wedding photography course (It's amazing!! bought it a few weeks ago don't know if I said)
Get house sorted

Things to avoid
Watching Big bang theory
Picking up the 3rd book of Dan Brown (I've read the 2nd Angels and Demons...what was that like two days? When it's good, it's good!)
Wasting time on facebook

I got so much work done last night - so today I've cleaned the front room, got a wash on and...well pretty much that's it since I got up this morning till about 1pm...it's annoying cause I could have got so much done in that time. At least, I did something productive I guess.

This afternoon I got the rest of my eBay done - but I'm struggling to focus, I have had a headache today in fairness to myself.

Hope all goes well with your operation LL, I'm following suit with the decluttering hence trying to get the house sorted, the more open space you have I swear the happier it affects your mood.

ETA: Husband got a £900 pay rise - it's something!