Only freedom will do

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Well done! Excellent progress and it sounds like 2017 will be an interesting year for you.

edinburgher

January the first and I have made my first (and second last) SIPP payment of the year, another wee £80 into my B3st Invest account. I'll need one further payment to tidy up the government's contribution, that will probably be round about the end of the financial year.

Mrs E and I have discussed raising pensions to 25%, she is ok with it, so we'll be making the necessary requests through our work HR once we go back. I'd thought about waiting until April, but what's the point in delaying freedom by another 3 months?

Like a lot of people on these forums, we don't really discuss finances per se, one person takes the lead and is largely left to it bar a little sense checking. It used to bother me, but not so much any more. We have wills now, so everything will work itself out if I kick the bucket. I am sure there are a million and one things Mrs E sorts out without my intervention, so no harm in finances being 'my thing'.

Greying_Pilgrim

edinburgher wrote: »

and I'll be making sure that we try and give back as much as we can, we are very grateful for what we have.

Happy New Year to all the MFWers and your families

And don't forget to count in what you *give* to others here ed - I've benefitted from your wisdom, and remain appreciative for it

All best wishes for 2017, for you and yours backatcha

Greying X

AlexLK

Happy new year, Ed.

I would be weary of the 0% cards: they only stay 0% for so long and deals may not be so generous when time for renewal comes. If you're on track to pay them off before the deals run out, then please do ignore me.

Everything else sounds good and the overall upwards trend in net worth is excellent.

edinburgher

Thanks Alex and Greying

0% Cards mostly expire November 2017, I have a plan in place to pay them off in full by then. If not, I have £8,000 in a S&S ISA that can be used to pay off any outstanding balance, it's worth considerably more than the total debt.

I also started my journey on DFW, no plans to go back, unless it's to offer a friendly ear!

AlexLK

Glad to hear that, Ed.

Sometimes I think we can all get tempted by shiny new things and if you have a plan and contingency to pay the 0% debt, I can't think of any reason not to use it. Your money can be tied up in things that will make more rather than spent on things for that period in time.

On another note, how do you calculate your personal net worth?

edinburgher

Our net worth is simply the sum of our assets and liabilities (liabilities entered as negatives on the spreadsheet for the sake of simplicity).

So it's: Home equity + Defined benefit pension*25 (career average/FS pensions are worth a fortune) + 3 Stakeholder pensions + 2 SIPPs + S&S ISA + Cash held + P2P monies

Minus Mortgage + Credit cards

For home equity calculation, we use the mortgage vs. the midpoint of the last valuation and the Zoopla figure. Last valuation was £200k, Zoopla says £242k, so £221k seems perfectly reasonable based on improvements and a recent sale on our street at £250k for a house that was maybe a teensy bit better finished.

A lot of people on FI journeys won't count their home equity as part of their net worth, but as it's one of our 3 largest assets, I can't see why not. The argument is always 'well I need somewhere to live'. That's a very valid point, but Mrs E and I would be perfectly happy in a 2 bed tenement flat or a small cottage at £100k or so if we didn't have DD's schooling to think of. So for me, it's just another asset, if someone makes me the right offer they are welcome to it

edinburgher

£500 paid into S&S ISA, just over 1% of our gross salaries for the year. This + pension payments will give us a savings rate for the year of 26% gross (or 36% net, which is a nicer way to think about it, as I'm only trying to replace net earnings!) :dance:

A good start, will need to try and find a few ways to top up our savings and investments for the year.

edinburgher

I have listed a stupendously overpowered blender on eB@y, here's hoping someone has the green smoothie bug :rotfl: I think we paid about £180 for it, used it all of 5-6 times

NorthernMonkey1

I've been ebaying loads of crap recently. It's really satisfying seeing old junk being replaced with overpayments