Calling those with a "high" level of savings/investments! (£50,000+)

latecomer

I have a couple of friends who are very "successful" and have worked extremely hard to get where they are. They have different outlooks in life - one of them sees picking up his little boy from the child minder as a chore that gets in the way of work.....

I work hard in a reasonable paying job but recently changed jobs to improve my work/life balance. We have a good level of savings and will be using most of our cash to reduce the mortgage in in a couple of months to leave us a smaller LTV on our house. We are careful with money but not miserable (well OH isn't ; )

Life is too short to be only focused on making money - you need time to enjoy life too.

YoungBusinessman

Good story, some great posts here. A lot better feedback than I thought would be achieved.

Our mortgage has been declined. Looks like need a massive step up on savings front!

latecomer

But with your income it shouldn't take long to flip the figures into a more favourable state.

gadgetmind

latecomer wrote: »

Life is too short to be only focused on making money - you need time to enjoy life too.

To be honest, it's those times when I've relaxed a little and stopped focussing quite so much on money, and more on exploring new niches and creating new things, that I've actually done the best.

ILW

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

Every man needs a decent clever woman behind him to succeed though!! I'd rather lose half my wealth- a few million, than never make any million!

I will read up on that article and similar. Living within my means by also going to try living on a percentage of income.

I dream to own a few successful businesses, while having my own little property empire. I don't plan on being in the "rat race" much later than 30. I'v 9 years to use my money to provide incomes, businesses, shares to provide dividends, a company that "runs itself". I know it's all a "dream" but planning will prevail. I will succeed at least and be a success. I don't want working life stresses, working to someone else's timetable all my life. I want to live life and have all the "good" things while not having to worry about costs.

Sadly, those with that attitude seldom do achieve it. The real successes are the ones that just love business and the money is just a way of keeping score. They tend to go on working 80 hour weeks until they drop.

gadgetmind

ILW wrote: »

money is just a way of keeping score

Attributed to H.L. Hunt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunt

rich11

latecomer wrote: »

I have a couple of friends who are very "successful" and have worked extremely hard to get where they are. They have different outlooks in life - one of them sees picking up his little boy from the child minder as a chore that gets in the way of work.....


I have worked hard to get where I am.Moderately successfull is how I class myself.One of the best things in life for me is knocking off work early(because I can) and picking my kids up from school.

Simple things in life are sometimes the best

mulronie

Al_Ross wrote: »

My wife says I treat every penny like a prisoner.

And the pounds are in the maximum security wing?

osian

Sorry for the boring answer but I think it's just a case of putting money aside each month. We did this from our early/mid twenties. As we've got older the percentage of income we've saved has got bigger.

I found that keeping track of our savings has helped, I've been pretty disciplined with keeping a spreadsheet over the years. Also keep an eye on the interest rates and make sure that you are getting the best return on your cash. Don't get into the mindset of 'ohhh I've got £X in the bank, what shall I spend it on', equally don't do that with your salary either. Having a goal of what you'd like to achieve with the money helps. I've always wanted to buy a holiday home to use/ rent out but with the uncertain property market at the moment I think that idea is on the back burner.

Ten years later we're in a fairly good position with decent savings and our home paid off but I would never call us rich. Our home is ordinary, we drive older cars, I have a £7.50 payg phone, we don't have sky, wear supermarket clothes the majority of the time. We're willing though to spend money on good times - holidays, days out, meals/ going out with friends as I think those are the most important things.

We were lucky to get into a decent position before having a family, I'm fortunate that having a bit of financial security gives some choices in their upbringing.

Good luck! I'm glad we started early on but make sure you enjoy yourself too!

lisyloo

care to quantify what rich is? I bet I can name a person for who that certainly is not rich.

For me personally (and I agree totally subjective) at my age (44) it would be about 2 million, because that the size of pension fund I'd need to retire and have a good income for the next 45 years.
I totally agree it's completely subjective.
I don't need a luxury lifestyle but would love not to work, so it depends on what motivates you. For me it's freedom and meterial things are of lesser importance.