Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

Hi Tink - I did a post today and then lost it:mad:

Today I officially became an OAP, although I prefer the American term "Senior". More respectful.:rotfl:

Anyway my pension becomes payable as from today, plus it transpires that I also have a small occupational pension - I'd completely forgotten about that, duh.

So there we go - two guaranteed sources of passive income....

It also appears that one of the viewers is going to make an offer on my house, will know more on Friday.

However, the bad news is it looks like a developer is going to be putting in a planning application for the field at the back of my house. He has tried several times over the past 25 years and so far the Council have just thrown it out. We'll just have wait and see.

The field does contain a balancing pond to minimise the risk of flooding, so hopefully it will still be turned down.

Fingers crossed.

Another £500 to the pot this week, however I also had to fork out £120 because the ch boiler died on Sunday. So a net of £380 - better than a slap in face with a wet haddock.

Had a touch of the flu last week - so no car boots for me - far too cold now. I won't bother now until Spring and it's a bit warmer.

Hope you are all doing well.

troglodyte

Hi all,

Great to hear from you Tink, no doubt you will both overcome your temporary setbacks.

By the way re vanishing posts - as a precaution (having had that happen a few times) I always select all the text of my post and copy it (Cntrl C) bfore pressing the 'submit' button - then I can always go back and paste it in again just in case it disappears!

LL I really hope things go as well as they can!

CitizenKitten I was interested to read about your family situation. My parents have been through exactly what your grandparents are doing - one minute very busy with all sorts of projects, then very suddenly they became 'old' and found it all terribly hard, then my Mum dropped dead and now my Dad (92) is on his own and finding it all a struggle. I'm trying to spend time with him and help as much as I can but without us actually living together it is difficult. And I also have two young children (one just 4 months). Also interested in the family trust idea. My parents worked hard and saved, I am an only child with an unmarried partner and 2 children. I wouldn't want to think that all my parents' hard work could be pilfered by someone else! Is it expensive or difficult to administer?

citizenkitten

LL - congrats on your new senior status and hidden pension! 380 is defintely better than a slap in the face with a haddock, working for the fish industry i can tell you that for free.

troglodyte - my grandparents acutally already have themselves a built granny annex in my aunts backyard! though to call it an annex is hardly appropriate, it is more like a penthouse studio! but will they move there? like hell they will. i think they wanted a reason to give my aunt money to do up the place, (she is currently renting the space at the mo) in the guise they may move there when they are "old". I am so sorry to hear about your mum, i am sure they have been married for a long time, your dad must be devastated. being the only child is such a burden in cases like these but dont be too hard on yourself, you can only do what you can do.

I am going to try and think of ways to "help"
- phone every week, so i can monitor their health
- visit more with food
- tell everyone else to bring food when they visit
- investigate some things to help people with limited sight

in terms of the trust, my grandfather worked in the financial industry so he knew how to pretty much set it up. I know very little because ours is soooooooo complicated due to certain financial issues.

here is a good intro article about it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/tax/2816877/How-trusts-can-safeguard-the-family-riches.html#

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/trusts/intro/basics.htm


i would advise that before you meet and independent financial expert, you have all the facts and figures with you, so you will need to have a very indepth discussion with your father about his finances and your own. for some, talking about what you may get after someone you love dies is very morbid but I would always advice practical planning for financial matters.

they will also advice on how to tie up the money as best as possible so that it would be very hard for someone to run off with the money. you could get a loan from the trust to buy a family property and pay your "mortgage" back to the trust. therefore you wouldnt own the property, the trust would, but you could pay it back so slowly that you could tie up huge lump sums for years to come...til maybe your children are in safe enough environments for you not to worry. If you did that to get into a catchment area of a fantastic state school, i would call that a very good investment for your children.

Mine is tied to when my trustees die, that will be when i am at least 50 years old.

troglodyte

Thanks very much for the links CK, definitely worth reading! I agree, many people don't like to talk about what will happen after they die - and of course no one wants to bring it up with an older relative for fear of being thought 'grasping' - but in this case ignorance really can lead to a big loss! And as the article says, while trusts used to be something just for the super-rich, that isn't the case any more.

drummer_666

just read through this. noted down the titles of some of the books for when I have a spare min!

I'm 27. Bought my first house in June this year with some help with deposit from parents. It was a dive I bought, been working so hard on it doing virtually everything but gas, elecs n wall knock thru myself (had no DIY skills before).

Aim to finish this and sell in early 2014. With profits to buy my next house and refurb it. Then change that to BTL and buy a second house for me to live in.

At some time I need to find time to make money on the side. When I was 17 I was doing well enough on eBay making my own framed cd presentations, that I could quit my part time job in a shop and buy my own car.

I'm just spending so many evenings and virtually all weekends working on the house that I'm finding it hard to find time to see friends let alone get back into a business mindset!!

Taking on this huge house project was a lot for me on my own and it is overwhelming at times, but then when I do things like tiling the kitchen (something I've never done before) and it's finished it feels really good!

I don't want to become a millionnaire. Life is for living. BUT I do want to be happy, live in a nice big house that I have refurbished from scratch myself (ideally an old warehouse/school/period building that I've converted), afford nice holidays and have a decent £20k+ in savings to feel secure.

MKeynesMoneySaver

That's good that you've managed to do a lot of the work yourself, gaining lots of experience and saving yourself a few quid also. My current house was a wreck in which I had to go through and renovate myself. Looking back it was well worth the effort. Working hard and solidly meant that I wasn't distracted by any DIY jobs after it was all finished and could concentrate on other things.

Just make sure you take your time and do things properly and to a standard you will be happy with for a long time. I tiled bathroom and kitchen myself (first time tiling also) and I am over the moon with the result. I rushed the laminate floor and there's a small gap in one of the joints which really bugs me.

I plan to build my property up through renovation like you are, it's hard work but should be a good route to property equity and not too risky because if the market crashes you can ride it out staying in the nicely renovated house. If you play it right living in the properties you renovate reduces your tax obligations.

MKMS

lessonlearned

Hi Drummer - you are off to a good start. All your hard work and sacrifice will pay off in the end. Some sound advice there from Moneysaver.

Well I've had a good offer for my house today. Fingers crossed we get a nice smooth ride through to completion. I need to start looking for somewhere to rent so I can get out quickly and not hold up the sale.

Then I can start looking for a "project"....

lessonlearned

Thanks for the links CK. I've already set up trusts for when I pop my clogs to protect my boys.

Since OH has moved into the nursing home I do have to redo a lot of my financial planning. I've seen my solicitor and she's given me a to do list.:rotfl:

I think your ideas for helping your Grandparents are spot on. Of course, they will want to be as independent as possible for as long as they can so it pays to come up with practical solutions.

troglodyte

Well done Drummer on your house, sounds like you are doing very well (better than us, been here 5 years and not finished yet - but then 2 small children are a distraction!) and great news LL I hope the offers are what you wanted and everything goes smoothly.

quotememiserable

If you invest at funding circle credit union (very low risk) you can return 6% net for a basic rate taxpayer. You'd 'only' have to put in 53000 per year to OPs target of £1m in 13 years