Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy

Whilst I'm back i thought i would post an update of where we are upto, with some of my key markers. This will help to formulate plans for 2019. I'm also going to produce a 2018 report in the next week or so.

• Starting Balance - £136,000 (March 2015)
• Payments Made - 45
• Cumulative OP's - £26,599.31
• Cumulative Reduction - £48,346.70
• Current Balance - £87,653.30
• Average Monthly OP's - £591.10
• Average Monthly Reduction - £1,074.37
• % Loan Remaining - 64.45%
• LTV - 39.66%
• Daily Interest Now - £3.94

lippy1923

Amazing progress SJ. My daily interest is only £3 something a day as well..... much better than £10 a day it used to be

Suffolk_lass

That is brilliant progress. How I wish I had been savvy enough to do what you are doing at your age. They do say wisdom can only be learned, not taught. I am one of those who was completely dismissive of what I could do because I could not afford it and it was so far ahead. Here I am now, fewer than twenty days left in the office and still got a lump to finish paying. We will be fine, but it could have been so much better!

therocket_2

Darts, World's Strongest Man, Beer and snoozing sounds bloody perfect!! Have a cracking time off and look forward to reading next year's installment.

Great to have you back. Have a good Xmas and New Year!

shangaijimmy

Suffolk you are where you are now, and things will be better from what you have learned, 'self-taught' and understand. I suspect we all wish we'd have started earlier or done things differently. I actually think that hindsight is a terrible thing as it only ever shows us where we have done wrong. Quite philosophical thinking also, is that we all have regrets about things and that comes from self reflection. However we shouldn't dwell, we shouldn't be hard on ourselves as its all learning/feedback. And the upshot...we are where we are!

Apologies for the ramble...

The dreaded dread has happened this morning. Mrs SJ car in for service and MOT. £250 of work needed to pass and so close to Christmas, grrr...

Rocket - evening 1 of the darts did indeed consist of beer and chocolate!

shangaijimmy

Little bit of glee at lunchtime, as our mortgage offer off FD (existing provider) arrived. 5yr fix @ 2.08%. I'll have a quick scan round now and see if we can beat it significantly. If anyone knows of any sub 2% 5yr fix offers, please let me know.

Suffolk_lass

Skipton BS have a 5-year fixed rate of 1.79 where LTV is 60%

shangaijimmy

Thank you, I'll go and have a look now.

Edit:
High fee at Skipton is a stumbling block.
For the one with a £1,995 fee Skitpon (1.79%) works out at £1 more expensive than FD (2.08%) over the 5yrs
....... £995 fee Skitpon (1.89%) works out at £95 more expensive than FD (2.08%) over the 5yrs

FD have one with a fee of £490 (1.99%) which works out at £37 cheaper than their no fee (2.08) over the 5yrs.

shangaijimmy

I need to be cautious on the those with OP allowance of 10% of balance as well. For the first year we wouldn't go over, year 2 we would be borderline, but 3,4 and 5 we would go over. I know i could put OP's into savings but i have got used the freedom of unlimited OP's and enjoy sending small amounts across and seeing the balance fall.

Progress on finding our remortgage is that i've found a few that are comparable. Some beat FD by a few pounds here and there, but nothing so far that makes the whole rigmarole of switching to a new provider worth the effort it takes. There's something to be said about 1 phone call to accept a new rate that is very appealing, not least because of the panic that Mrs SJ has when she has to do her phone interview type thing! I still remember the last phone call - "I don't know, my husband does all that" was her main answer!!

Karmacat

It's a good point, SJ, opportunity cost isn't only about money, its about time. When my mortgage was ending, I remember staying with my then-provider precisely because the fees were so high. Not as high as they are now, but still crazy. Keep going!