MFW by 50?

gaffel

Hello everyone, been reading for years and finally decided to take the plunge. Read some very inspiring MFW diaries (and did that calculator on interest saved) and it has inspired me to go for it!

Updated to exact figures :
Mortgage amount at 31/5/15 : 151097.80
Mortgage term remaining : 17 years and 10 months
Montly mortgage payment : €895.49
Mortgage rate: 2.75% (very suprised by this as it is classed a 'sub prime' mortgage.

About me: 42. Married to Mr.Gaffel, 4 kids, 2 dogs. Own a few business, but 2 main ones, one in ROI, one in UK. Uk company owes us money.

Have £50k emergency savings. Earning 0.5% interest on H$BC 'premier' account :eek:

New target date for MF : 31.12.20

gaffel

OK a very delayed update but here goes.

DD went to university. We did not get any grant but give her £300 a month. This will continue for next 2 years.

Current mortgage is €151097. LTV 63%

Mortgage rate 2.75% but company just bought over so suspect a rate rise is imminent. Looking around in ROI and nothing beating this at present.

Got a pension quote from last job and I'm destined to get £182 a year... hmm. Once we sort mortgage, pension planning is on the cards!

Now have £50k savings. Given euro rate and paltry savings rate I plan to trim this down to £15k this week and pay a massive OP. Big move for me, but will knock €48,500 of mortgage and edge us very close to sub €100k.

Montly payment dropped to €895 but has been as high as 1200, so plan to just OP to 1200 each month.

New mortgage company confirmed no penalties for OP'ing.

DH still burns cash like it is going out of fashion and still has no idea about my savings.

We own several companies, hoping to take some dividends this year and get some loan repayments.

gaffel

Just been playing with the mse mortgage savings calculator (sorry can't link)

by moving £35k from emergency savings to mortgage I will save €22,258 over the life of the mortgage. Wow. Very very eye opening! :eek:

gaffel

And inspired by that I have just done an OP from current account, and did a 'tidy' OP of 3097.80 bringing the mortgage down to 148,000. Monthly payment due out tomorrow.

That OP, per MSE calculator has saved €1,819 and chopped 6 months off mortgage end date.

Luckyinlife

Great over payment :]

gaffel

Thanks for stopping by Luckyinlife, reading your diary now

gaffel

Started doing some basic stuff. So much harder living in ROI, nowhere near as much choice.

Applied to move bank account, saving €360 on fees per year.
Looking at moving electricity, one company doing €100 cash back plus an annual saving of c.€210

I don't have a personal credit card as they charge €40 pa for having one in ROI and looking around none that would suit me. A few 0% transfers but as I have no debt (other than mortgage) none suited. No decent rewards scheme either. Really miss living in UK at times for choices on cards!

I've been thinking long and hard and 20 years ago, when I was a penniless single mom, I was so on top of financial savings. Now, with a 'cushy' lifestyle, I have become very lazy and complacent about checking this stuff.

Aims for June :
Move ROI current account to one with lower fees (and look at business accounts as well!)
Move majority of savings to offset mortgage, taking it below €100k :j
Look at utilities savings. Electricity and telephone/broadband. (on oil heating system and gas bottles for cooking)
Look at getting better rates on UK savings. Currently earning 0.5% on a HSBC 'premier' account. Annoyingly HSBC premier credit card offers excellent rewards, but on ringing up as I am an expat, whilst I can save and current account with them, cannot have debt :mad:
[STRIKE]Get rid of[/STRIKE] Sell 2 old vans which have been sitting on my drive for 2 years. Whoops.

gaffel

Mortgage payment went out today so new balance is €147,104.51

Found out term left (was unsure) and as of today it is 17 years, 9 months.

gaffel

Decided today to start a spreadsheet keeping track of OP's interest saved in total and time knocked off mortgage.
2 years ago I OP'd 13527.83, according to MSE overpayment calculator this saved €13,917 in interest and knocked 2 years and 4 months (rate was higher then).
Last week I OP'd € 3097.80 saving €1,954 and knocked 0 years and 6 months

So to date I have OP'd €16,625.63 and saved €15871 interest and knocked off 34 months :T

Today had to spend £121 on much needed clothes for the growing mini gaffels. But have 2 bags of clothes sorted for sales/charity.

gaffel

I've been thinking a lot about this over the last week, and finding how I am changing the way I do/think about things. It is easy to save money sometimes without thinking! Did a small show at the weekend for work. Normally just eat there at huge rip off prices and don't panic as company paying. However this time took a daily living allowance and a bag full of food!

I have made some little sales and have a paypal balance building up, about 300 in there right now. Lots more 'junk' to sort through and flog off!

Got a date for MOT test for one of the vans on drive. Aim is to get it back on the road and sell it on. We will see how that goes...

Got some great news on tax. Had to collate last 5 years UK personal tax payments for ROI tax Inspector and noticed a couple of things on them. I had been given a wrong tax code last year, and mr gaffels was still charged for a company car for 8 months. Both of these will lead to a nice tax refund each, I am thinking it will be about £1500 in total. :j
Mr ROI tax man is a different story. A mistake on UK dividends received means we owe some tax, but not sure how much yet. Goes back to 2009 onwards. We have put money aside for this so should all be fine. Another meeting 16th June to finalise and agree whats due.

On utilities, found out mr gaffel locked us into an expensive 12 month broadband contract in May, without looking around. Its about 240 dearer over the year. :eek: :eek: :eek:

No OP's to report but building little stock piles so should have more by end of month.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Whoops to the broadband, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Sounds like you are making some really good inroads.

An unexpected side effect for us of having gone through the mfw journey is that our lives are hugely simplified. Over the five years since we began, we have shed all our clutter, got the bills down to the minimum and have very few direct debits or bills to pay. This frees up time mostly to enjoy life, but also to focus fully on the few financial commitments we have and ensure that we get good deals. And once a month we shuffle all our money around several different accounts to maximise interest and rewards. But it is no hassle once it is a routine.

Very good luck on your journey,

Squirrel x