Meandering to mortgage free

sweetdaisy

Re: Baby Savings Accounts

I've been reading the posts regarding the baby savings accounts and find them interesting. I have a savings account for each of the boys in my name. I also have an account (again in my name) which they won't know about to help them out if they go to College/University, help to get on the property ladder etc.

When the boys are older I am going to open a bank account for them and their pocket money will be put into that directly (rather than give them cash) in the hope that it will make them learn about money and as there isn't a local ATM in our village, it should stop them from spending it all on sweets in the shop . This is what my parents did we me and it worked!

I have been warned against ploughing all money into a Junior ISA/Childrens Savings Accounts by a work colleague. They saved for their child in a children's account (a few thousand pounds). A week or so before the child turned 18 they had an argument and the child having had access to the account at 18 went out and blew the lot! This example may seem extreme but it made me think about how I save for the children. I will of course open up an account for them and teach them how to be money-wise and responsible, but you just never know what's going to happen and I would be extremely upset if the boys spent all the money we had saved for them in a few weeks :eek:.

edinburgher

Good points SD, I'll also be relying on a mix of known and unknown monies held in DD's name and in mine. Gifts from family and friends will be paid into ISAs that she can have when she turns 18, the bulk of her nest egg will never be mentioned, will come from Mrs E and I and will live with the rest of our investments until she is old enough/wise enough to prove herself a sensible girl

The example from your work colleague is unfortunate, but I see it as our duty to raise a child who wouldn't do something so daft (or hurtful to her parents). In any case, if she blows some of her savings, she will only be hurting herself. Won't be mentioning the money that we're holding for her so as to avoid an entitlement complex.

I honestly don't think that I would have blown savings if I had received some on my 18th birthday. In fact, because I didn't have any, I relied on debt as a student, which brought its own problems. Then again, if it wasn't for those days, I'd never have got to love MFW as much as I do

TimmySaver

sweetdaisy wrote: »

The College have lost it's FE funding to offer AAT Level 3 in September, so there is a group of us who are going to study ACCA through a private tutor.

A shame about the loss of funding. I hope it goes well with the ACCA - a great way to get chartered

TimmySaver

Excellent points by you both. We've gone for a child savings account because it allows us access if anything urgent comes up for babysaver (I have done the same for my niece) and will help him open an ISA/Saving account for his personal savings and education when he's around 7/8.

Both my sister and I had a savings account each that some money had been put into and then whatever savings / birthday money etc that we put in ourselves.

I eventually used it to buy a car as my first job after college was 30 minutes down the motorway. My sister didn't use it so well and it was wasted.

While we were both given the same opportunities to learn about money from our mum, we both have very different personalities.

I guess it depends why we're saving for our kids. I'm saving so that I can give them (I say them and our first is only 3 weeks old (sorry mrs saver!)) a boost when the time comes. Whether that's uni/house deposit/car/? will depend on who they become, and what they want from their lives. This may well differ from what I want for his life, but I'm here to help him along his way not the way I want him to follow. Hopefully I'll remember this post and re-read it if things get tense in future years!

I can't wait to find out what my little lad will be into! I guess we'll all choose different saving vehicles and differing levels of covertness, but all for the same reason: the love for our child/children.

edinburgher

Another one to add to the list would be the costs of starting a business! I'm not very entrepreneurial, I will be trying to tap all of the sources we know from friends and family so that that's another option when DD grows up.

Your Mum sounds great Timmy, my mother did a wonderful job of raising 5 healthy and well educated kids, but we knew beggar all about money and careers by the time we reached the age of majority.

sweetdaisy

TimmySaver wrote: »

I guess it depends why we're saving for our kids. I'm saving so that I can give them (I say them and our first is only 3 weeks old (sorry mrs saver!)) a boost when the time comes. Whether that's uni/house deposit/car/? will depend on who they become, and what they want from their lives. This may well differ from what I want for his life, but I'm here to help him along his way not the way I want him to follow. Hopefully I'll remember this post and re-read it if things get tense in future years!

This is my thinking too .

TimmySaver

edinburgher wrote: »

Another one to add to the list would be the costs of starting a business!

Yes, that would be awesome. I've always wanted to start a business, but never known what (or been brave enough with any of my ideas).

TimmySaver

May was a brilliant month for overpayments and we're hoping that this month will be able to carry on that trend.
Because of my illness, there are things that I can't do (at least for the time being), such as rock climbing. So I suggested to Mrs Saver that we see what harnesses, shoes, belays, etc, sell for online. She spent ages putting it up on ebay (thank you) and we got over £100 for it all! So that's gone as an overpayment too.

Baby saver is doing really well. Sometimes it feels like near constant eating, but it's good to know that a breastfed baby cannot be overfed - so we're really happy with his weight gain. It's hard to believe he's already 5 weeks old. Feel like I'm going to blink and he's going to be moving into his own home. I'm photographing and video recording as much as I can. In a way I'm really lucky to be ill enough to stay at home as it means I'm always here and can engage with him as much as my pain and fatigue allow. (I keep reminding myself that while pain is real, suffering is a choice - 10 points for anyone who can guess where I got that quote from!).

Mrs Saver is going to call our mortgage provider tonight for a few reasons:
1) How easy is it to port a mortgage if we wanted to move?
2) What is the % of early repayment charge (it must be in the paperwork, but I can't see it)
3) I found in the paperwork that apparently there are 'overpayment offers'. These offers means that you can overpay the offer amount and not pay any early repayment charge on it. This is over and above the 10%. It will be really interesting to find out about this one.

We can only call after 7pm, so the right people may not be available and we might have to go in branch. But whatever we can learn will be beneficial.

Hope you're all having a great week

TimmySaver

TimmySaver wrote: »

Mrs Saver called our mortgage provider and we found out the following:

1) How easy is it to port a mortgage if we wanted to move?
We would be able to take our interest rate with us, but would need to apply for a new mortgage.

2) What is the % of early repayment charge (it must be in the paperwork, but I can't see it)
Mrs Saver found the % and it's 4% until January. At which point it will be 3% for 2 years.

3) I found in the paperwork that apparently there are 'overpayment offers'. These offers means that you can overpay the offer amount and not pay any early repayment charge on it. This is over and above the 10%. It will be really interesting to find out about this one.
It seems that I interpreted this incorrectly as the 'offer' is just the 10%, which is stated elsewhere in the paperwork - and to me, seems standard, rather than an offer we should call them to find out about!?

I also worked out the daily interest rate over the past year. June 2014 was 6.253 and May 2015 was 5.509, which is a change of 0.744. Not too bad. I'll try to remember to do the same this time next year (or maybe around New Year) and see the difference then.

Glad that The Syndicate is back on tv. Only watched the first 30 minutes so far, but it looks like it could be a good one. I also liked In the club last year - as it's by the same people perhaps they could do a cross over of an In the Club Syndicate!? :j

TimmySaver

We've had a bit of a nightmare with our mortgage provider and their inability to provide us with an accurate figure for the amount we can still overpay this mortgage year without any early repayment charge.

We called 3 times and received 3 figures. So I asked for their help via Twitter and received poor responses - but my query was 'escalated' to customer services.

The lady at customer services has been brilliant so far. She calculated a figure, but then called us back to say that there was an internal problem with our mortgage start date. The system was saying 1 Feb, but it should be 1 Jan. So she will recalculate and send us a letter confirming the amount we can pay without early repayment charge.
She's also going to put £50 into our current account as an apology - which is fab because they will now be paying back their own mortgage!

Fingers crossed that this will resolve the issue. If it does we'll make a lump sum payment and then start saving for next year's overpayment.

Hope you're all having a good weekend