Millionaire Challenge

wesleyad

little_green wrote: »

Yeh it's just so hard not to compare yourself to others. Recent example - 20 year old girl I know of & her boyfriend of the same age both just bought new cars. Both 68 plates, one Mercedes & one bmw ... and i'm just like how the hell do they do it!?

Are they not just leasing/financing them? A few years back I used a HPI check to buy a car, and you get 5 checks. I bought the first car I saw and so had 4 left over. I used the 4 checks at work on people like you described and they were all on finance.

lessonlearned

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas.

Just done my budget for the next six months. January looks a bit hairy but after that I should be able to romp away. I shall however continue to live simply. I Need to replenish the war chest of course but tbh I don't need to splash the cash. I'm perfectly happy with my lifestyle.

In the New Year I will be having a massive declutter and will see how much I can sell. I have waaay too much "stuff". :rotfl: I have already made a start, although the stuff I've cleared this morning will be donated to the chazzer.

Littlegreen......you are still letting the green eyed monster get to you. Banish that demon, once and for all. :rotfl: ......seriously envy will only hold you back. It's negative and very destructive.

As for the cars.....I would agree they are likely to be leased or at least on a lease/purchase scheme. I currently drive a rather elderly Ford Fiesta which was my dad's. Despite her age she has done a very low mileage and she goes like the clappers. She meets my current needs. When she eventually expires and goes to the big car park in the sky I will either go car free or, if I really can't live without one (of course I can, :rotfl: ) then I might well lease rather than buy. It will all depend on my circumstances.

I have leased before. I simply regarded it as a legit business expense and made sure that the mileage allowance we claimed covered the lease payments.

Leasing can be a good option, especially if it helps you conserve your capital for something more important. I really can't see the point of chucking money at a liability, which of course is what cars are.

My advice is to put your money into appreciating assets, preferably one that produces income.. If you really need or cannot resist a flash car then don't sink all your capital into it. The £30k you would need to buy a Mercedes could be used as a deposit on a BTL. The rent from your BTL would fund a seriously nice motor. Better still wait until you've got two BTLs.

I'm very much looking forward to the NEw Year....raring to go.:D.

If I don't get the chance again, wishing you all a Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Muhren

I hope that everyone has had an awesome Christmas.


I had to have my appendix out a week ago yesterday, not ideal timing but it has meant that I have had some time off over Christmas and also have not spent money on going out and getting into the festive spirit(s)!


I do struggle a little with comparing myself with others, especially my mates, of which a few of them are self employed and do well for themselves. I know it isn't good to do this but I think it is human nature, and is something I am trying to stop doing. Maybe one for the new years resolution list!


On the subject of cars, I am in the process of looking at a new one through the company as my current one has to go back soon. There is a car that I have wanted for a few years but is really expensive, I won't get it but the temptation is still there. I am trying to get the balance between something that I actually like and something that isn't going to break the bank. Staying on this subject, I can remember reading somewhere that it is better to lease depreciating assets and only buy ones that appreciate. I guess that isn't always possible but there is food for thought there.


On the finance side of things for me, my company shares continue to tank, they are down around a third from this time last year. So I thought that I wasn't going to reach my end of year target of £200k NAV. However I am in the process of remortgaging and my house price seems to have shot up a lot more than expected, which will mean I be closer to £230k when I get round to totaling everything up early in the new year. Which was a very nice surprise to end the year.


Here is to a prosperous 2019 for everyone.

little_green

lessonlearned wrote: »

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas.

Littlegreen......you are still letting the green eyed monster get to you. Banish that demon, once and for all. :rotfl: ......seriously envy will only hold you back. It's negative and very destructive.

I know. definitely something I need to work on. I'm starting gratitude type journal thing in the new year so hopefully that will help. definitely destructive i know that, i like the quote "it's like drinking poison & expecting the other person to die" yup.. pretty much. Its nice to admire what others have if it strive us to do better ourselves but not when it drags you down & eats at your self worth.

Thanks for all the positive support on this forum.

re the comments on invest in assets that appreciate in value (as opposed to those that depreciate like cars etc).... what are things that appreciate in value? I mean dont most material things depreciate?

Muhren

As it was only something that I heard, with regards to things that appreciate in value, I can only speculate. Off the top of my head I would say, property, some watches such as Rolex ( a couple of mates own these), maybe even a vintage car. So maybe not everyday things, but then if you look on the flip side, should we all be renting our TV's, fridges and washing machines instead, for example?

Kayalana99

Muhren wrote: »

As it was only something that I heard, with regards to things that appreciate in value, I can only speculate. Off the top of my head I would say, property, some watches such as Rolex ( a couple of mates own these), maybe even a vintage car. So maybe not everyday things, but then if you look on the flip side, should we all be renting our TV's, fridges and washing machines instead, for example?

Nah you've got to weigh up pros and cons. If you were going to rent a car for 10 years you would surely lose out (lets face it, the people renting it have to make a profit so I'm going to assume it's cheaper to buy a car long term) but if you wanted a nice car for a year, then wanted to swap it again...etc you would lose out on the re-sale value of the car where as renting you save that cost - it also allows you to have a nice car without getting 7 years finance etc - yes you would have the car at the end of those 7 years, but it means you are tied in to either having that car for length of the finance or fees when it's sold etc.

Lots of reasons to rent cars depending on circumstance, my driving instructor used to rent one for 3 years then upgrade too, as again as LL said it saves capital too which can be useful for other things - things like renting TV's etc - something that you could poss own for 10 years plus + means cost wise it's not worth it and for the price of what these things can cost these days, unless you just want the luxry of having something you can't afford for a lot cheaper (say a 3k tele with extra features) it's not worth it - even then to me it wouldn't be.

Muhren

Thanks LL, I ventured out for the first time to have a meal and a couple of beers last night, so I must be on the mend!


Kay - yeah of course you would have to weigh up the pros and cons, the only thing that I can think of that I lease a the moment is my car. That is only as it is through work, I don't think I would have leased if it wasn't for that. The major bonus with the lease is that if anything goes wrong you just send it back and don't have to fit the bill for it. I have had to have a number of things repaired on the car, including the clutch, a problem with the suspension and the windscreen to name a few, all of which I haven't had to pay for (it is all included in the monthly price I pay). So it is risk free motoring at the end of the day, if I had bought the car I would hate to think how much I would have had to pay out for the work. I assume this would be the same, if for example you rented a washing machine and it blew up after 6 months, you would just send it back and either have it repaired or replaced.


Like I said I haven't looked into it, just thought it would be an interesting discussion point.

lessonlearned

In the "olden days" people often rented TVs, washing machines etc because they cost a lot more in real terms than they do today.

I rented a colour tv In 1971 because they were so expensive to buy. I seem to remember they were about £500 back then. They were also tempremental and unreliable.

By comparison white goods and electronic equipment are much cheaper today so buying makes more sense than renting. The car argument is more complicated, there are pros and cons to both sides so I think you need to think about your own particular circumstances.

I think leasing cars tends to work best for people who are self employed and who can claim a mileage allowance, reducing your tax bill. My husband and I used to pay ourselves a mileage allowance of £0.44p a mile. This easily covered the lease payments (and insurance etc) on our Lexus.

The thing is car depreciation is so high that often the best you can hope for is to make your motoring costs "neutral". Plus of course there is the concept of "lost opportunity costs". Ie, tying up large amounts of capital that could be invested for a better outcome.

Luckystepho

The jealousy thing is definitely something I need to work on too... I have a very spendy friend who is always going clothes shopping, having facials, drives an expensive car etc, and when I am at work I get texts from her saying she's shopping, having her nails done etc...


I do find myself feeling jealous although every now and then I get an inkling that her finances are not as healthy as she makes out!

Kayalana99

Luckystepho wrote: »

The jealousy thing is definitely something I need to work on too... I have a very spendy friend who is always going clothes shopping, having facials, drives an expensive car etc, and when I am at work I get texts from her saying she's shopping, having her nails done etc...


I do find myself feeling jealous although every now and then I get an inkling that her finances are not as healthy as she makes out!

My friend is in such a better place then me but we've had this talk and jealously really is normal - in fact it's healthy for you as it pushes you to do better yourself.

However, not being happy for someone, and putting them down is not ok. She has lost friends over her 'good fortune' and they have become bitter towards her. I'll always want certain aspects of her life as she does mine (although maybe not as many :rotfl:)

If you was the most well off person you knew, you would prob not feel the need to go higher.