No Money - but BIG ambitions

Sepa74

Well, I agree that the right thing to do is start a spending diary, and gradually improve the accuracy of the SOA over time. Like you, before I started a diary I had no idea what I spent on food, or anything else for that matter. I also agree that if you are a high earning independent professional there are much better ways of spending your time than on housework. Your pet hate is batch cooking, mine is cleaning! I have hired a cleaner who has made such a difference in my life... good luck finding a cook!!!

Your finances sound even more complicated than mine! I also freelance / consult, and have a limited company, so I have no idea what my net wealth is, or how much I could overpay. I give myself an 'allowance' every month, and any claims I make for OP come out of that, but it bears very little reality to what I actually earn!

I am fortunate in having an offset mortgage, so all the extra money in my personal account (that I have no idea whether I could spend or not - who knows what my personal tax bill will be) is at least minimising the interest I pay.

I take it the land you need to pay off is in your home country? I think it is very sensible to buy there as you will know the best places and have a network of people who can help and advise. It would be like someone from England buying a holiday home or land for development in Devon, I imagine!

I am also a migrant, but my career has been in the UK - I only had part time jobs in Australia. It keeps my finances (relatively) simple, but the contrasting economic fortunes of the two countries mean I wouldn't be able to afford to move home!

Please don't get discouraged and leave. I enjoy reading your posts.

Weronika

getmore4less wrote: »

For me the issue is the mixed message

currently is it appears you are not in control of the basic finances
I don't know how much I spend on nappies, no - but I know I always buy them at the best price available and stock up. Each purchase is a necessary one but I didn't run a total to see if I went over the 'budget' or not.
---

Then we have the 35y mortgage on a relatively low amount.
35 mortgage so basic payment is low and we can choose how much to OP without long term commitment in case circumstances change

All points to finances that have been tight and are now even tighter.
Finances have been tight - we have renovated the whole house (all floors, wood and carpets, plastering, new kitchen, bathroom,even garden and fence), bought all furniture without paying a penny in interest. All thanks to careful planning and saving, getting 0%CC and such; we also bought the car for cash couple of months ago! It's not easy to start from scratch in a foreign country - as I said my friends are still joking about the time when we moved in and I only had 4 plates for all of us:rotfl:

Looking forward it is not clear if the budget will ballance for 2012.
It covers all major expenses including mortgage OP, with a generous allowance for baby stuff and still £50 leftover which will be used for emergencies. Because I have to wait till April for my CB and CTC letter, I don't know the figures but I assume it will actually increase since the 2nd baby will be born than. Any increase is a bonus and will be used to OP further or pay for extras as needed.
So I actually think it gives a nice positive balance to the budget - we spend less than we get.

Then you throw in these other investements and liabilities that make a significant difference.

I think you need to step back and get the basic budget sorted for 2012,

Do a ballanced SOA for 2012 so you know how much money you will have for futher investement(rather than just guessing)
I can't without knowing my income and that is the most important part - I know the minimum I'll have, but not the actual amount yet.

Where you invest this surplus is your choice but with these longer term commitments I would think carefully about future cash flow.

Getting 2012 right will give great foundation for 2013 when earning/refinancing/debt requirements will be come a more urgent issue.


Remember a move to self employment can impact the ability to refinance.I know, the way banks treat self-em is awful - no trust whatsoever! But they do trust companies that they will continue to pay salaries:mad:


Looking at 2012 and the SOA, lets look at an example.


Car Maintenance. . 16.67

Thats only £200, MOT and basic service will eat that, you just had an unplanned £500 bill on the car I would up the car fund to £40-£50pm to reduce the risks of unexpected repairs, if there are things like tyres than they need adding.
I'd rather have one emergency fund, for all kinds.

car insurance looks very high any savings to be had there?
(how many cars?) It's one car, but it covers 2 drivers, It was the cheapest deal we could find for our BMW.

You have also nothing allocated for house related purchases you have been talking about getting. Tot up what you need during the year and add to the SOA.I 'm waiting for my income to clarify, so I know if I can afford spend more or do I have to buy basic.

It takes time to get to grips with all the income and outgoings from a standing start.

I totally agree! I was surprised myself at how many things I was taking for granted with higher income.
Thank you for your response and feedback, I appreciate it as you have valid points - ideally I should be able to know how much I spent on groceries each month. I started my spreadsheets now, so I can draft the budget and improve upon it.

Weronika

Sepa74 wrote: »

Well, I agree that the right thing to do is start a spending diary, and gradually improve the accuracy of the SOA over time. Like you, before I started a diary I had no idea what I spent on food, or anything else for that matter.
Thank you - I started feeling like the only one without a clue!

I also agree that if you are a high earning independent professional there are much better ways of spending your time than on housework. Your pet hate is batch cooking, mine is cleaning! I have hired a cleaner who has made such a difference in my life... good luck finding a cook!!!
I do cook and clean, just do not like it:cool: When I asked around I actually do more than my other SAHMs but I also moan much more about it, so it appears otherwise:A

Your finances sound even more complicated than mine! I also freelance / consult, and have a limited company, so I have no idea what my net wealth is, or how much I could overpay. I give myself an 'allowance' every month, and any claims I make for OP come out of that, but it bears very little reality to what I actually earn! I know the feeling!

I am fortunate in having an offset mortgage, so all the extra money in my personal account (that I have no idea whether I could spend or not - who knows what my personal tax bill will be) is at least minimising the interest I pay.All our savings went towards house renovation, car, baby stuff - so at the time of taking mortgage we didn't have any left to offset and the rate was higher than for offset. I'll be looking at changing that in the next 5 years though.

I take it the land you need to pay off is in your home country? I think it is very sensible to buy there as you will know the best places and have a network of people who can help and advise. It would be like someone from England buying a holiday home or land for development in Devon, I imagine! Yes, it is, that's why I know it's secure (well, as anything in this world) investment.

I am also a migrant, but my career has been in the UK - I only had part time jobs in Australia. It keeps my finances (relatively) simple, but the contrasting economic fortunes of the two countries mean I wouldn't be able to afford to move home!
funnily enough, when I begun I had clients from Australia not UK :rotfl:
Please don't get discouraged and leave. I enjoy reading your posts.

Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate all feedback - even negative one gives me opportunity to defend my case and my thoughts on the subject get clearer. But it is SO MUCH NICER to hear nice things:j I am subscribed to your threads btw:)

frugalfrog

Hi, I think you may have confused some people as to your financial acumen. I know people on here are trying to help and when they see comments that makes alarm bells ring, they feel they need to warn you. As they may not know the whole picture it can sometimes seem a bit of an insult. There are a lot of people out there that live in denial of the financial responsibilities & a lot of people get ripped off with dodgy financial "investments" - land banking has been a big issue in this country recently.

I have changed my spending habits over the past year since having my little girl, I have always tracked my spending, but never really paid any attention to it. I had a very well paid job and always had plenty of money left to pay bills so I never really looked at anything. Since being on maternity leave I had a big surprise at having so much less money to play with, so I have been going into every last detail (I am a bit of an accountant at heart).

I was looking into working while on Mat leave and the DWP site states that if you are on SMP (because you worked for an employee before baby born) you can work in a self-employed capacity during maternity leave WITHOUT affecting your SMP - http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/ni17a-a-guide-to-maternity/statutory-maternity-pay-smp/working-in-your-maternity-pay/

However, if you are on MA (you were self-employed prior to having baby) you cannot work self-employed.

So if you are on SMP & you can do consultancy work, you can start to build up your business without it affecting your SMP. Just be careful if you are doing "consultancy" work for your previous employer. To be classed as "self-employed" you need to be doing work for multiple clients, and not just one client (more help is available http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/WorkingAndPayingTax/DG_4015975)

hope this helps

Weronika

frugalfrog wrote: »

Hi, I think you may have confused some people as to your financial acumen. I know people on here are trying to help and when they see comments that makes alarm bells ring, they feel they need to warn you. As they may not know the whole picture it can sometimes seem a bit of an insult.

I understand that and I appreciated every comment - if only to realize that some of my decision making process needed further explanations/clarifying. I started here because everybody is so helpful! It's good place to be!

I have changed my spending habits over the past year since having my little girl, I have always tracked my spending, but never really paid any attention to it. I had a very well paid job and always had plenty of money left to pay bills so I never really looked at anything. Since being on maternity leave I had a big surprise at having so much less money to play with, so I have been going into every last detail (I am a bit of an accountant at heart).
I was the same - never really overspending but not paying so much attention either. But right now I'm going to have a big decrease in income so I thought it's better to count everything now and start preparing.

So if you are on SMP & you can do consultancy work, you can start to build up your business without it affecting your SMP.

With first baby I was on SMP so I was allowed to work as self employed - that's why it wasn't such a big shock for our finances.Right now though I'm going to be on Maternity allowance and I'm not allowed to work at all:(

So I plan to concentrate on training in preparation and just enjoying time off with new baby till my MA pay finishes. I'm still waiting for confirmation I will actually receive it - and as it takes 3 MONTHS from application - it will be around MAY that I know for sure where I stand:mad:

Yesterday was lovely, friends came for dinner, they have 3yr old girl and she and my 2yr old monkey played wonderful together, loads of running, chasing, bed jumping, shouting and giggling:j

I remember Sepa74 was having trouble with kids playing in appartment above her, so I'm only grateful I got the house and do not disturb anybody too much (hopefully). It's a semi though, but so far neighbors didn't complain.

In a middle of dinner preparation I stared having contractions (false ones luckily) so my OH finished it and as a dessert we had a semi-frozen :rotfl:cheesecake from Aldi, but everybody enjoyed it nonetheless.

I am tempted to open new ISA with M%S, just to get £10 in points.
I also printed out 2 coupons yesterday for Huggies newborn pack, each worth £5 so well pleased with it. People reported that the packs are on offer from time to time for £3 so they were paid £2 to take them from the shop:rotfl:I'll see how it goes at the till.

frugalfrog

Weronika wrote: »

I also printed out 2 coupons yesterday for Huggies newborn pack, each worth £5 so well pleased with it. People reported that the packs are on offer from time to time for £3 so they were paid £2 to take them from the shop:rotfl:I'll see how it goes at the till.

Just hide it with a few other items & hopefully no-one will notice

Weronika

The packs were not on offer anymore:( BUT they were £5.47 so with a £5 voucher made it still a pretty good deal for 27 nappies and pack of wipes:j

on the negative, we spent £5 on sandwiches & muffins etc
and £9 on seabass. Fresh fish is so expensive now, when I was a kid we had fish when my mum was short on money!
Than food shopping was cut short coz I started having contractions again and we need another trip tomorrow:(

The bank visit to open (yet another:D) 5% reg saver was a non starter. When I was making appointment I asked 3 times what documents I would need and I was told passport was enough. At the branch though the proof of address was req as well:silenced:

Will try again next week, but I hate it that my cash for initial deposit just sits in my purse now:mad:

gallygirl

Weronika wrote: »

The bank visit to open (yet another:D) 5% reg saver was a non starter. When I was making appointment I asked 3 times what documents I would need and I was told passport was enough. At the branch though the proof of address was req as well:silenced:

Will try again next week, but I hate it that my cash for initial deposit just sits in my purse now:mad:

Is that with Skipton? Walked past a branch today and did a double take . Opened one last year at the same rate, but had to close 2 months later when we bought the 'accidental house' .

Weronika

gallygirl wrote: »

Is that with Skipton? Walked past a branch today and did a double take . Opened one last year at the same rate, but had to close 2 months later when we bought the 'accidental house' .

No, one of Nationwide group branches. Lady was lovely and apologizing and said that person I spoke to over the phone is new and all that, and I understand that - I should have remembered they always ask for some bill as proof of address and take one just in case.

But I had contractions again and back pain and I just smiled politely and what not and left fuming inside! I hate when it happens, when there isn't anybody to blame really.:mad:

I am so tired and weak and in pain and if the next 6 weeks is going to be like that everybody is going to hate me (if not already) for wingeing and complaining and being a pain in the backside

On the positive, if I manage to open this account, I can move my emergency fund there - £500 each month after 12 months if we won't touch it (1 withdrawal is allowed and 1 missed payment only, so fingers crossed) I would have extra £125:j

While on MA I do not pay tax, so it's better option than ISA.
I have FINALLY convinced OH to open new ISA account to get £10 in M%S points. Probably only coz he was eager to come back to his tv and just wanted me to shut up already:rotfl:

getmore4less

Weronika wrote: »

The bank visit to open (yet another:D) 5% reg saver

Thats better than the mortgage rate even after 20% tax.

Might be worth diverting the overpayments.