PositiveBalance's Positive Postings on the Path to Paying off Peter & Paul and...

PositiveBalance

SueP19 wrote: »

SOA would be a great idea, even if its just an estimate for the time being, the great MSE'rs will help you look to what you can cut and improve

Will follow, as like you we have old debts too..........if you can negotiate them all to 0%

:j

Hi SueP19!

Nice to meet you, too! :beer:

An SOA does need doing. I've sort of got one rumbling on in the background, but it is has several holes. I think these are potentially where I am losing ground. When I get the chance I will get it in shape and post it. Alas, some of my annual expenses are running seriously higgeldgy-piggeldy at the minute so it won't happen quite as smoothly as it will look on paper this first year, but hopefully I can smooth it out as I go.

My debts are all technically 0% but I may be the only person in the world who may be happy to pay the lender a percentage rate over and above what has been asked (which was nothing). How do I figure out the overall amount of interest due on several amounts of money lent at different times, I wonder?

PositiveBalance

Hi all,

So, concert tickets available on BookFace but no noticeable interest. I'll have to list them on fee-paying sites soon. Boo! They had better sell!

Deposit and hopefully other money being dealt with by the landlord's company.

I've been reading blogs. Boy, are there some knowledgeable people out there! Some of the advice has been a bit contradictory, especially about paying off mortgages early, but I think I have found my current balance: the opportunity costs of paying it off early are not worth it for me right now if as I can find a better savings rate for any spare cash I can dig out from the back of the sofa (only joking - I raided that ages ago!), so long as I can hit the 80% L:V for when I need to remortgage in just under two years. Then I'll see what the financial situation is at that point and adjust my plan accordingly.

I'm off to bed now before I cause poor Karmacat to break out in more shocked smileys.

Take care one and all and don't let the bed bugs bite!

gallygirl

PositiveBalance wrote: »

Would opening an ISA, saving my money in a higher interest rate account then transferring it into the ISA on the last day to take it forward to the next year be a potentially good idea?

How much more does the savings rate have to be pre-tax to figure out if it's a better deal than an ISA? There must be a formula, but I am too wool-brained to think about it?

20% tax is taken off at source from savings accounts and if you're a higher rate tax payer you have to pay an additional 20% as self-assessment. Assuming you're a basic rate payer and get a Santander123 account, you'd get 3% gross interest - 20% tax, so 2.4% net. No ISA will beat that I believe so better off keeping in Santander. Even better gains if you do a 5% regular saver account. ISA's only really come into their own if you are investing the max every year (whether cash and/or S&S) with a view to building a very large pot to draw on tax free in retirement.

SuperSecretSquirrel

Probably worth mentioning the personal interest allowance from April 2016. You'll be able to earn up to £1,000pa interest tax free in taxable accounts from the next financial year onwards. Realistically that's 20k-33k saved in 3%-5% current accounts.

Now that the annual ISA allowance is so high, there's probably no need to shift money from say S123 to ISA towards the end of the financial year. If you're saving a huge amount e.g 15k a year then yes it would make sense, but if you're saving say 5k a year, stick with the higher interest non-ISA accounts short term, then when rates start improving you can shift 3 years worth of savings into an ISA in one fell swoop

edinburgher

SuperSecretSquirrel wrote: »

[STRIKE]when[/STRIKE] if! rates start improving you can shift 3 years worth of savings into an ISA in one fell swoop

Fixed that for you

hiddenshadow

PositiveBalance wrote: »

My debts are all technically 0% but I may be the only person in the world who may be happy to pay the lender a percentage rate over and above what has been asked (which was nothing). How do I figure out the overall amount of interest due on several amounts of money lent at different times, I wonder?

You can use a snowball calculator - this one has the option to include a temporary 0% interest rate. It should spit out a table showing your payments (either minimum or extra, depending on whether you're OPing) and when interest kicks in and how that affects the total amount owed.

PositiveBalance

Hi guys,

I'm still reading. There are lots of fascinating blogs out there. The more I read, the more financial independence seems totally possible with some foresight and planning. This is very interesting and very encouraging. I'm no maths genius but I think so long as I put money to one side and save/invest it wisely with my eye on the long term, I should be fine.

The more I read the more I realise that I don't necessarily need to have millions in the bank for this to become reality.

Cogs are whirring. Ways of thinking are changing.

This could be interesting.

hiddenshadow

There is loads of great info out there. (I still have several books/blogs on my to-read list.)

My main takeaway on the FI front is to 1) figure out what spending really matters to you money-wise (vacations, gifts, whatever) 2) figure out how you can maximise the value for those things and minimise the costs for everything else. Once you've got those two, then adopt the save/invest strategy until you're got enough passive income to sort those out.

Of course that's easier said than done, but a surprising amount can be done just via lifestyle changes (to reduce expenses and lower the threshold for FI).

gallygirl

PositiveBalance wrote: »

The more I read the more I realise that I don't necessarily need to have millions in the bank for this to become reality.

Lesson #1 learnt :T.

hiddenshadow wrote: »

My main takeaway on the FI front is to 1) figure out what spending really matters to you money-wise (vacations, gifts, whatever) 2) figure out how you can maximise the value for those things and minimise the costs for everything else.

Read and digest Lesson #2 :T.

SueP19

I thought there were brilliant lessons too :j:j:j:j:j