Penny by penny...brick by brick!

PennyJar

Good news - Pinecone Research have got back and I've got £9 for 3 surveys. So really pleased with that :-)

MissCreative

What ZC is saying is with £750,000 in the bank you could live off the interest at 3% (because she's calculated how much they need per month to live on)

Basically, if you had £1.5m in a bank account with 3% interest, you'd be able to take out the interest (£45,000 a year) and live on that, without ever touching the £1.5m itself.

If £45,000 is enough for you to live on and you have £1.5m in the bank, then that's great. If you only need half of that to live on, you could only need £750,000 in the bank.

BUT, if that capital is also locked away in a house, you can't live on it because it's not earning you annual interest you can live on.

Even though you don't like planning ahead, if you want to be financially independent you need to read up on the basics. A lot of blogs explain it in simple terms so it would be good to start simply and work up to understanding more and more.

You just have to know about compound interest and investments to actually take action.

I'm in the process of learning a lot about this myself and starting to take action, so you're not alone

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

Loving the thread and everyone's financial endeavours

Have to echo the thoughts of others in that pension is the first consideration of financial planning and security. It may be the best way of saving anyway with the tax relief.

When I was your age PJ I never thought about the future but now i'm 50 I cant tell you how quickly that time has gone and thank goodness I have a solid pension behind me.

It really bought it home to me a few months ago when I was in our local supermarket , Mr T, and there was a guy who looked about late sixties early seventies scrabbling on the floor with huge heavy boxes of large soft drinks and this baco suited kid came over and said ' come on hurry up with those thers's more out the back' and the guy turned round and looked absolutely broken. I vowed I would never be that guy.

Saving for a forever home is great and you need to think about how you are going to run it on nothing but a state pension ( if its still around ) when you do retire. Otherwise you will have to sell the home you are saving so hard for just to have money to live.

You are in a far better situation than most with your disposeable income and presumably even more when hubby gets back to work I think you should get some sound financial advice to really make sure you are doing things the best way.

Good luck I'm loving your enthusiasm and I really believe if you want something badly enough you'll always get it. xx

PennyJar

Thanks for all your advice ... really appreciate every ones input. I'll have a look into a pension when I return to work from Mat leave.

Hope all is well with everyone.

PennyJar

PennyJar

Hi all,

Been away for a lovely week away in Cornwall and really enjoyed myself...savings this month will probably be minimal - but I did manage to clock up some good pounds on the surveys when I had a spare (6hrs stuck in traffic! LOL!

Also I've been accepted to be a mystery diner hooray...so looking forward to my first venture out there ha ha.

Hope all is well,

PennyJar

lincoln-potter

Hey Penny,

I've been a little lazy and not come online for a while and just seen your message on my diary so thought I'd pop along and see how you are getting on.

You mentioned LED bulbs, did you end up getting yours sorted in the end?

Diary looks to be going well though!

All the best
LP

PennyJar

Hey,

I'm ok - I've been really quiet too...I had a tough couple of months because my maternity pay dropped well below what I had anticipated. We also had quite a considerable number of expected costs which wiped us completely out (one of the main reasons I am determined to get my emergency fund in place)...to be honest it felt like we were going a million steps backwards and each day away from pay day seemed like a lifetime away...but thankfully I'm now back to normal pay (hooray!!!) and back on track with my goals.

So plans still are to get £3,000 emergency fund by December

One new goal is to save £1, 500 towards legal fees towards a new house...

Then to start OP mortgage in January...

Loads more to update on but will do a few posts over next couple of days...

PennyJar

PennyJar

Hey all,

Been so busy since returning to work and juggling being a new mammy.

On track with the savings plan now despite set backs, but I've slightly changed my goals. I want to save £3, 000 contingency fund (as a starting point) and £7, 000 (legal/moving fees). Then when £10,000 established I will look to start overpaying the mortgage.

I've also made a 100 squares chart with 1% being £100. So me and DH will be colouring them in as we go.

Like to do a big shout out to MSE and say a big thank you because we also recently qualified for marriage tax allowance as per MSE Newsletter and have just had £211 transferred to account for 15/16, with a further £232 less tax to pay between now and April! So grateful and it all helps - 4 more squares to colour in - fab!!!

Mystery Dining Company - I had two lovely meals at Zizzi and Prezzo and was refunded £70 for two short reports - so pleased for that. No other mystery dines are available yet - but will keep you posted.

The envelopes are still working well for us...

I'm itching to OP, but if we move within next year I don't want to add any fees to the existing mortgage. Think I'm doing the right thing here...but would welcome any advice!

Hope everyone is well and on track with their financial goals...

PennyJar

PennyJar

Hey all,

So this week I've put my old mobile on eBay and should hopefully get about £100 which I'll add to the savings pot.

Also we've been really careful this month and have no unforeseen expense - hopefully (as you never know).

I've been progressing well with OnePoll and I'm hoping to cash out £40 in next week or so. Also, I did two questionnaires with Pinrconeresearch and have £6 to cash out too.

Also just to update you - I finally got my free smart meter installed to help with gas elec bills. But I've still not cracked being able to use less - other than keeping heating on minimal levels and changing some bulbs to LED.

I keep focusing on 1%s (£100) as it feels more achievable...

That's all for now.

PennyJar