Lulabelle's MFW Diary

lulabelle1

Another day, another spend....... DS1 has worn holes in to his trainers.... it's now beyond embarrassing to be seen with him whilst wearing them, so new trainers are required!

lulabelle1

Still having my money dilemmas......

At the moment, most spare money is thrown at the mortgage but we have managed to build a small fund in the form of ISA's.

The last few years ISA's are at a crappy 1.something % and this years is the Nationwide regular ISA and at 2.something %. We have a small amount in a savings pot earning maybe 1%. We have a regular saver - 6% - which matures next month. So, savings are pretty much performing at useless rates.

Our mortgage is on Nationwides old BMR so at 2.5%.

My deliberations are the same as they ever were:
-Pay mortgage off as quickly as possible and worry about everything else (ISA's, investment ISA's, B2L's later (we should be able to get it paid off, if all things remain equal, in around 2 years)
-take back Over Payments and fund two B2L's now
-start using some of the OP money to pay in to stocks and shares ISA's

I made an appointment with a Nationwide FA to organise the stocks and shares ISA - he called me - looked at my accounts, had a chat and said that there advice is always the same - pay off debt before any sort of investment. He said paying the mortgage off should be my priority before considering B2L's and stocks and shares ISA's.

I suppose Nationwide always err's on the side of caution.....

Funny thing is, when I saw a FA a couple of years ago, he said the same thing.

So, do I just play it safe? Throw EVERYTHING at the mortgage and worry about ISA's, saves, B2L's etc etc etc later?

gallygirl

lulabelle1 wrote: »

I made an appointment with a Nationwide FA to organise the stocks and shares ISA - he called me - looked at my accounts, had a chat and said that there advice is always the same - pay off debt before any sort of investment. He said paying the mortgage off should be my priority before considering B2L's and stocks and shares ISA's.

Sorry, I think that's b*ll*cks unless you have done a risk assessment and come out as very adverse to risk. If your debt is at 2.5% and you can get 6% gross from a regular savings account then the equivalent amount of debt is a good thing. Unless he thinks you can't be trusted with access to savings........ ah...........:rotfl:.

Paying off your mortgage is safe but not, in my opinion, the best long term strategy. You need to do a proper analysis of your attitude to risk, financial situation and long term plans. Once you've identified those then you're in a better position to decide what to do. Then implement it and stick to it .

lulabelle1

gallygirl wrote: »

Sorry, I think that's b*ll*cks unless you have done a risk assessment and come out as very adverse to risk. If your debt is at 2.5% and you can get 6% gross from a regular savings account then the equivalent amount of debt is a good thing. Unless he thinks you can't be trusted with access to savings........ ah...........:rotfl:.

Paying off your mortgage is safe but not, in my opinion, the best long term strategy. You need to do a proper analysis of your attitude to risk, financial situation and long term plans. Once you've identified those then you're in a better position to decide what to do. Then implement it and stick to it .

Ever thought of professionally giving advice to people GG? Can I be your first client?

gallygirl

lulabelle1 wrote: »

Ever thought of professionally giving advice to people GG? Can I be your first client?

OK. Free first session, £100 first time you change your mind, £200 second time etc. You'd be bankrupt in a month :rotfl:.

lulabelle1

gallygirl wrote: »

OK. Free first session, £100 first time you change your mind, £200 second time etc. You'd be bankrupt in a month :rotfl:.

You're not wrong!!!:rotfl:

I'd still take you up on your first FOC session though.... let me know if you fancy an extended coffee sometime soon. If nothing else, my finances will provide much humour and hilarity! At my spends.... not any bad debt - never missed a payment on anything in my life thankfully.

lulabelle1

Crappy start to the day yesterday - a van pulled up outside of the house in the morning - the chap proceeded to walk down the side of the house - grab the kids scooters and then popped them in his van and drove off.

Worse - my 4 year old DS2 saw the whole thing happen.

So, two very upset DS's and one mad Lula. £200 worth of scooters gone.

Looks like a lovely day today - nice and sunny. We're off to see my business partner and his family today and the boys are really looking forward to seeing him. He's great with the kids and they really like him..... so, I'm sure he will cheer them up.

Went to Bicester Village with my BFF yesterday - ground breaking news - I didn't buy anything. Well, apart from the coffees in Starbucks as she drove.

And, we had dinner there - they he restaurant told us about their new app and that if we downloaded we could £5 off. So, we had separate bills and had £5 off each. £8.34 spent on dinner including a drink - result.

I baked a Lemon Meringue with ginger biscuit base when we got home which we will take with us today. Next few days in theory would be NSD's - however we need to fill the car with fuel. Will be claiming mileage though so I guess that cancels out the fuel spends.

gallygirl

How awful :eek:.

Coffee date being arranged

Fortune_Smiles

The neck of some people :mad:


Fortune x

lulabelle1

And back......

Lovely few days away. My rather lovely Business Partner had bought new scooters for the boys which were presented upon arrival! Happy boys!

And, apart from some fuel we managed two NSD's.

Miserable weather here and I've even had to pop a jumper on.

Fortune - you're not wrong, some horrible people around, I'm counting my blessings that it was only scooters, I guess it could have been much worse.

GG - apologies for the delay with coffee planning, didn't have any internet for the last few days.....