Only freedom will do

Karmacat

Ooh, I have to go catch up with Monevator

Hope you're good, Ed.

edinburgher

I am great thanks KC, but getting very little sleep! DD is disturbing our rest with her (admittedly cute) antics - I swear she was doing the worm half an hour after we put her to bed yesterday :rotfl:

I am also an uncle for the 5th time, but I am going to be uncharitable and say that the novelty has worn off Mrs E is arranging a gift, we only see the parents maybe twice a year, so a bit doubtful as to what role (if any) we will play in new relative's life?

Quite a bit of change in the financial world. I have slimmed down my P2P lending to just under £10k and over 50% of it is now secured against assets. I have almost entirely disposed of any holdings in Funding C1rcle, for example. This was a combination of risk on/risk off factors. Falling stock markets meant that it seemed an opportune time to have more money held in S&S ISAs, this led to a natural reduction in risky P2P lending (as total risk needs to remain roughly static), but we also faced a lot of bills for house projects (£4.5k or so, all paid for now). The net effect of this tinkering is that P2P is now acting more like well behaved fixed income investing and less like speculative S&S investing, which I can live with.

Mrs E is now no longer earning a wage, it will be 3 months before she contributes anything to the household bills, trying to remain sensible in the interim. We have had a couple of £££ expected windfalls (ticket sales, factor refund) which are helping to keep things ticking over. Really need to sell off some whisky and look at eB@y again, as well.

Slowly paying down our 0% credit cards as well (just the minimums at this point) so as to reduce leverage and exposure to debts.

Excuse the boring post :rotfl:

misscousinitt

Hi Ed

Glad things are moving along for you.

Best to adjust things to suit the current environment and as always, you seem to have the right mix of risk and safety.

MCI

edinburgher

Slowly but surely MCI, look forward to NW going up, not down in a few months time :eek:

Karmacat

That's not boring, Ed, I'm fascinated by your regular re-assessment of your P2P loans, I think its great. Considering when to sell the whisky is good too - not that I ever had anything at that price, but selling my SF-fan purchases should have been timed much better - timing the selling is just as important as timing the purchase.

So cute to think of your DD doing the worm :happylove

It's so tricky with becoming an auntie or uncle. But I'll tell you one thing, thats probably very self serving, but its really about helping your DD: these are her cousins. You just don't know, especially in the economy the way it is, how they might need one another. Of my five nephews and niece, the eldest is an international computer whiz who stayed based on Merseyside. The others are all in London, and the oldest of *those* started up his own company, and the younger three all had internships with him, which enabled them to go get proper jobs. I kid you not - it's been really important.

Even for my generation - I have cousins who live and work all over the world, and I've stayed with some of them for holidays. Had some of them stay with me too.

smallholdingsister

As I get older I can see the value in SOME contact with any family members unless they are blatantly objectionable.

edinburgher

We're all busy people, but after several years of being 'the one who gets in touch', I am changing tack. I don't disagree with your sentiments KC, but that applies equally to my siblings and the future success of their children, not just DD's prospects!

It is quite draining being the person who puts in the effort to keep in touch with siblings with very different temperaments while 'getting' nothing in return. You know the sort of thing I mean? Choosing people thoughtful gifts and not even receiving a text on your birthday, emails unanswered for weeks/months at a time, Facebo0k announcements instead of a quick phone call for major life changes etc. etc.

Life is busy enough without sinking energy into relationships that should be effortless, but all too often become a slog. Which is a real shame.

SueP19

edinburgher wrote: »

Mrs E is now no longer earning a wage, it will be 3 months before she contributes anything to the household bills, trying to remain sensible in the interim. We have had a couple of £££ expected windfalls (ticket sales, factor refund) which are helping to keep things ticking over. Really need to sell off some whisky and look at eB@y again, as well.

Slowly paying down our 0% credit cards as well (just the minimums at this point) so as to reduce leverage and exposure to debts.

Excuse the boring post :rotfl:

Don't do it :rotfl::rotfl:

Kaishaku

How complicated was it to get your money out of FC? They put ominous messages about phoning them on their website when I click the wee "Transfer Out" link.

Karmacat

Ed, I see what you mean - and I agree completely. Your original post that I commented on mentioned about being in touch twice a year? That's way more contact than 99% of my family have with one another. And when you're the only one doing the contacting, that gets old *really* fast. I don't have much contact with my brother for that very reason, though its all perfectly amicable.