Had a mortgage too long - it's going, going, gone!

Ali-OK

Thanks DFOD...Christmas bonus to mortgage might be as good as £1300 end of this month

OCC - you and me both It's really hard and can't afford to get it wrong. I've been looking at S&S ISAs and FC today as well - I think I might start to trickle a bit into those as well as up pension to an affordable amount.

Goldie - I've been bitten so many times (without redress :mad:) it has made me over-cautious in taking 'professional' advice so I've posted on the Pensions board too. Seems the award winning or best pension funds are via IFAs only - unless I go the SIPP route, but that's really beyond what I feel comfortable doing - too much money at risk. Might be back to the IFA for me then..

Cash savings are up to £11,250, £7k earning decent-ish interest, the rest is shared between Cash ISA and a measly paying 0.75% easy access account - that's funding the TSB 5% reg saver.

Slowly on my way...retirement will arrive before I get sorted at this rate :rotfl:

Ali-OK

Still researching other investing/saving, but daily life goes on and interest in current account of £13.79 has arrived :j. Not sure when the T$B interest gets paid, so will keep a check on that too.

Learnt today that the extension planning application was validated on 23rd October and neighbours should have their letters from today. All showing on local council website now, so am tracking it for comments which close on 1st December.

Garden completely finished and patio furniture in there for the winter. A good job jobbed that has taken close on a year but so worth it. Can't wait to enjoy it all properly next Spring, in the meantime enjoying the colour from the pansies and watching the borders for signs of life from all the bulbs planted.

Financials:
- bank accounts checked
- Inbox Pounds up at £10.82
- Qmee pot up at 39p

Was out with DS's friend and his family for a birthday meal last night, so contributed to that and DS is off with them for the day on Saturday coming.

He got his paperwork completed by his teacher for the work experience placement so we'll email that off tonight.

To Do list is looking reasonably short for a change, but plenty to do on the work front and home preparation for Christmas. And spreadsheet fiddling - sure I get withdrawal symptoms when I miss a day or 2 of changing scenarios/payments :rotfl:

hiddenshadow

Ali-OK wrote: »

Not sure when the T$B interest gets paid, so will keep a check on that too.

I phoned them yesterday to inquire and they said it's midnight (pm) on the first banking day of the month - so should have gone through last night for October.

Still need to figure out when cashback gets applied though.

beanielou

Cashback is near end of the next month.
So near end of November for October.

Ali-OK

Thank you

Interest is in :j £3.22 for half a month-ish .

Goldiegirl

Ali-OK wrote: »

Goldie - I've been bitten so many times (without redress :mad:) it has made me over-cautious in taking 'professional' advice so I've posted on the Pensions board too. Seems the award winning or best pension funds are via IFAs only - unless I go the SIPP route, but that's really beyond what I feel comfortable doing - too much money at risk. Might be back to the IFA for me then..

Yes, I know what you mean- it's such a large sum of money, and you don't want to make a mistake with it. Perhaps it'd be worth 'shopping around' for an IFA to find one you feel comfortable with

Ali-OK

I have a clearer direction in which to go now thanks to a very kind and qualified MSEr clarifying some things behind the scenes, so am upping to tortoise pace

Pot will remain where it is for safety (from myself :rotfl:) and then I have some options to explore and decisions to make, which I'm making progress on with research, plus some changes for tax advantages.

I feel officially mature in that a) I understand what I need to do and b) am interested enough to do it :rotfl: All sprinkled with alot of caution, as that's just me.

Luckyinlife

Where are you thinking about investing ali p2p ?

IM trying to keep my saving as safe as possible Ef needs to be easy access and returning ok rates for me

Now you mentioned the garden i need 2 jet wash around my mums place and mine grrrr lol

Ali-OK

Probably a 2 prong approach of S&S ISA and P2P - I've been reading articles on the site, so am working my way through the recommendations to get a feel for what I like and ease of use.

With P2P, I'm quite interested in the 2 that are secured on property (Funding Knight and Assetz Capital Lend to Let) as slightly less risky which plays to my nervous streak a bit better, but rates will be lower because of that, how much lower I don't know yet as haven't been onto their sites to look at the detail.

With S&S ISA, I'm looking at the MSE picks so Cavendish is the likely candidate (can use Fidelity platform which I've used their HeadStart and PathFinder guides to get some idea of which funds to pick).

I will dabble and build for the long term, so I am working out my strategy of mixing risk and for how long and when to change it for income. All good fun in the virtual world, reality will be a bit scary I suspect

debtfreeoneday

All over the top of my head! I can't even think about Pensions properly, probably not the right answer, but we just don't have the cash to do anything to one other than what we are already paying into them!