Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

chumpy45

Sounds like a fab day out. Your description of the car journey and I Spy brought back many funny memories of journeys with the 4 DSs when they were younger. "road, car, lorry, another car ..............."

shangaijimmy

Favourite time of the month, and this month seems to have flown by.

Monthly Figures

• Closing Balance - £80,513.92
• Total OP's - £477.17
• Net Reduction - £871.17
• LTV - 36.43%
• % Diary Remaining - 59.20%
• S&S Isa Deposits - £300

Diary Totals - 52 months

• Mortgage Balance Reduction - £55,485.79
• Ave Monthly Reduction - £1,067.03
• Total OP's - £30,669.05
• Ave Monthly OP's - £589.79
• Total S&S Isa Deposits - £2,550.55
• S&S Isa Value - £2,652.67 (+9.02%)

* I have £300 in my buy order for the ISA, so will update tomorrow when it completes.

We're on target to get rid of the £80k's in July. A lovely big 10k milestone to smash through, which means a celebratory takeaway from our favourite Indian...Or (babysitter permitting) we may even live dangerously and head out for a sit down meal...

lippy1923

Great figures SJ. Total OP's are awesome.
Are you still aiming for 2025? It seems like yesterday we started our MF journey with similar targets. Im secretly aiming for 2021 now (if I dont move house that is)

shangaijimmy

2021...so envious of that! I'm still aiming for 2025 but have become a bit more relaxed in my targets over the last 6 months or so. I suspect we'll be somewhere in the middle of 2026, however I can't predict how aggressively I'll attack the last £20k or so!!

A major reason for this whole approach was to reduce our mortgage commitments to a more acceptable level by 2021. At this point my job may be vulnerable due to funding commitments. We're now at the stage that I know we'll be around £55k remaining and this takes pressure off if I need a new job in same field, or to have some space to go in a different direction. If our funding gets renewed (which the early signs look highly likely it will) for a further 7yr cycle (I know 7yrs is an odd figure!) then my job will be secure and I can really make plans for finishing the mortgage and preparing for retirement etc...

shangaijimmy

In other news Mrs SJ phone is due for renewal. Thankfully her handset is in very good working condition so we can switch to a SIM only deal this time. £8 a month will do, and be a nice saving of £10 per month. No ridiculous phone contracts in our house!

chumpy45

I think I will copy you with the sim only idea in September when my contract renews. My phone is still in great condition (and the very small scratch and crack is covered by a case !!), so makes sense to save some more ££££ and redirect it to my OPs instead of greedy phone company :T

shangaijimmy

I've updated my monthly post to include our S&S Isa value and pasted it below:
Total S&S Isa Deposits - £2,550.55
S&S Isa Value - £2,652.67 (+9.02%)

Not much to report so far other than a few TT's, and that we've kept up with our 1p a day challenge. The pot is filling up nicely and I'd think we have about £50 in it so far.

Suffolk_lass

Well done, as always - 9%+ growth in your S&S ISA is very impressive - better than ours. I am thinking of simplifying DH's ISA as he has quite a few share holdings and I think we might be better in more funds. He has one low performing fund (yes, it is the suspended Woodford one) and two loss-showing share holdings (unfortunately quite a large proportion of the overall portfolio and quite large losses). We need to talk it through together as he has only two more salary payments before he finishes (and just over two weeks until he stops work).

Re phones - I tagged mine to DS's - he uses lots of data and I use very low amounts now I am not working - so he gifts me data above my 2gb as I need it and it is all on a SIM only deal. I think my bit is £10 and his is £35 for 100gb data. I think we need to bring in DH and possibly the broadband, although DH has just renewed his sim only for 12 months at about £9 less than before. Our phone and Broadband all finishes in September and is with Plusnet - We will look when we get back from our hols.

try_harder

Wow .All brilliant numbers as always , you are doing so well.

shangaijimmy

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Well done, as always - 9%+ growth in your S&S ISA is very impressive - better than ours. I am thinking of simplifying DH's ISA as he has quite a few share holdings and I think we might be better in more funds. He has one low performing fund (yes, it is the suspended Woodford one) and two loss-showing share holdings (unfortunately quite a large proportion of the overall portfolio and quite large losses). We need to talk it through together as he has only two more salary payments before he finishes (and just over two weeks until he stops work).

Re phones - I tagged mine to DS's - he uses lots of data and I use very low amounts now I am not working - so he gifts me data above my 2gb as I need it and it is all on a SIM only deal. I think my bit is £10 and his is £35 for 100gb data. I think we need to bring in DH and possibly the broadband, although DH has just renewed his sim only for 12 months at about £9 less than before. Our phone and Broadband all finishes in September and is with Plusnet - We will look when we get back from our hols.

My S&S Isa is very much early days and I'm acutely aware that +9% won't be consistent. I have just gone for a low cost tracker through Vanguard, and it really is a deposit and leave it type approach. I have no intention (famous last words) to dabble!!

As for phones thats a good idea gifting data, and may well be a good idea for when the dreaded phone is needed for DS1 (mere months away :eek:). I have a work phone with an allowance of data, but as a non social media person I reckon i would be less than 1gb of data a month anyway! :rotfl: