Karmacat: I'm passionate about my DFW journey to riches

elantan

youve really taken to the mbing karma well done you ...it's all good money at the end of the day

Karmacat

Thanks El! Its still tough, there's so much I don't understand, and I've really struggled to understand what I *do* understand - which is why I prattle on about it on here, each one is still a real victory to me. Its great money! I've decided to do what Keeping Motivated mentioned on the last page, which Taxi and Hypno both do -i.e. get a fund going for house improvements. Its reinforced by something Martin was saying yesterday on IPTW, he was referring to student loans, but the principle is the same as with my N Rock loan - don't pay it off fast in order to borrow more later on. I'd only pay that off when the trading starts to work, by then it would be silly not to.

So: I have a "spare" savings account at A&L, from when I opened that account to do the m.b.ing. So I just put £100 of the m.b. money into there! Thats the beginning. Its nicely linked, and very easy to do, so all is well. Better go off and do some real work now.

I hope everyone has a good day.
x

Karmacat

The fund thing gave me an idea - I regularly update what's in what account where, so I did that yesterday and also added in what the interest rate is. The new saver account wins, at 5.5% - not fantastic, but not bad either. For now, I'm going to shove money over to that one, then I'll have a proper look when I come back from France (oh, it is so *nice* to be able to type something like that again!).

Today, no paid work, so I'm buying little bits for the trip, packing, stocking up on stamps (cos they're going up), doing some virtual trading, I think thats it.

Karmacat

I've just been going through 7 year old accounts, from 2000 - and you know, if the *only* thing I'd done was to make £50 a month overpayments on the mortgage, instead of spending it on books and videos, my life now would be completely different, even if I *had* made the (temporary) booboo of buying the French apartment.

elantan

you know you could always join us on the mfw board we have a 2008 challenge your welcome to join ...

Keeping_Motivated

Hi Karma do you see the French apartment as a booboo? As I said in a post a couple of days ago I really admire that you are managing 2 mortgages and everything else on your own but obviously it must be hard at times.

KM x

Karmacat

Hi El, hi KM

KM - Its only a booboo cos I didn't cost it properly - I should've gone up to London, for instance, and sat down with my lawyer and got her to go through the exact amounts, or even gone over to France to talk to the French bank. But I didn't!

Its a good deal, under the French leaseback system, and I regard it as part of my pension - except its an asset I'll be able to sell, not a pot of money that the pension companies will take from my estate when I die (in 2080, aged 150, of course. On Mars). Anyway.... its a good long term investment, but its crippling because of the lack of calculation on my part, and my income has been dropping over the last few years.

Elantan - I sort of am on the mfw board, but I also sort of dropped out - I was paying off some of my mortgage with savings, partly because the endowment won't pay off my mortgage anyway, and partly cos of what Martin writes about having savings while you have debts. And with the credit crunch coming, I might start doing that again, instead of using the savings to cut down on the Northern Rock loan - paying *that* off would make a bigger difference to my cash flow, but its not secured, and if push came to shove, thats more important, I wouldn't lose my house cos I didn't pay that.

I think thats what we call "catastrophising" - a worst case scenario thats really, really unlikely to happen, but I'm wary. And like KM said, I'm on my own, its up to me to juggle it all.

Hi ho. Oh dear! This is very dark. I don't see things going there. If I'd had the sense I was born with, I would've done my real trading this afternoon - at £10 a point, I'd now be sitting on a profit of £290 in half an hour. *Thats* where my energy is! Just not quite enough yet.... If I have the courage to do that, like I had the courage to do the matched betting, I truly would be on my way to "riches", as in my thread title.

But thank you for posting!

ZTD

Why don't you like to do the trading?

Karmacat

Oh, Zed, thats a *really* good question. I don't know what stops me. I have great software, I have a thousand pounds in my spreadbetting account, I have a good knowledge of technical analysis - my virtual trading, not retrospective but real time, is a thing of beauty, with virtual thousands of pounds coming to me every week. I have no clue why I don't, but I have some ideas. I'd be interested in feedback from you:

- scared of failure - i.e I lose that thousand pounds.

- which leads on to, loss of hope. Trading is my ace in the hole, if it doesn't work, what then? Sitting in this house that needs thousands of pounds of structural work, what then?

- scared of success - i.e by the end of April I'm trading regularly at ten pounds a point, 150 points a week (i.e. £1,500 a week), have paid off my Northern Rock loan in a month - an identity crisis looms. Who am I if I'm not that one that got the calculations wrong and is trying really hard to put it right? I'm already a working class girl made good. Am I supposed to have more? My grandad was a communist who worked on the River Mersey all his life, what the h*ll would he say if he could see me? (actually, I know - he'd have a good laugh, and tell me to stop being so stupid).

- all my life, I've been the one who works hard, thats what I'm known for in the family (until I got into doing this job, as it happens). The trading is "easy" - I've already done the effort of learning the technical stuff, as well as the mechanics of how to use the software and how to spreadbet. Thats all behind me, and I feel odd at pressing a button and having that money pour in (or pour out! actually).


Just writing that has been a help - thanks, Z - I'm *not* the one known for working hard, not any more - my sister does that, two kids, long commute, full time job, husband away for 5 days at a time on business, now looking after two properties. I'm the one with the easy life! Oh! Well, maybe I should live up to that and just make a living from pressing a button on my computer! That would be very cool.

f/b < ...

ZTD

Karmacat wrote: »

- scared of failure - i.e I lose that thousand pounds.

Well I presume you set up stop losses etc? Are they guaranteed?

What is the minimum stake you can trade with?

Karmacat wrote: »

- which leads on to, loss of hope. Trading is my ace in the hole, if it doesn't work, what then? Sitting in this house that needs thousands of pounds of structural work, what then?

It's no good having an ace - if you can never use it. If you have something, but can never use it, then you have all of its liabilities, and none of its assets.

Karmacat wrote: »

- scared of success - i.e by the end of April I'm trading regularly at ten pounds a point, 150 points a week (i.e. £1,500 a week), have paid off my Northern Rock loan in a month - an identity crisis looms. Who am I if I'm not that one that got the calculations wrong and is trying really hard to put it right? I'm already a working class girl made good. Am I supposed to have more? My grandad was a communist who worked on the River Mersey all his life, what the h*ll would he say if he could see me? (actually, I know - he'd have a good laugh, and tell me to stop being so stupid).

It's only money. It isn't you. If the only way to stop money changing you to someone you don't want to be is to keep it away from you - then you have greater problems than a lack of confidence.

Karmacat wrote: »

- all my life, I've been the one who works hard, thats what I'm known for in the family (until I got into doing this job, as it happens). The trading is "easy" - I've already done the effort of learning the technical stuff, as well as the mechanics of how to use the software and how to spreadbet. Thats all behind me, and I feel odd at pressing a button and having that money pour in (or pour out! actually).

All of the learning is behind you. But that doesn't mean it wasn't hard. Everything is easy when you know how to do it - the knowing how to do it is always the hard part.

Karmacat wrote: »

Just writing that has been a help - thanks, Z - I'm *not* the one known for working hard, not any more - my sister does that, two kids, long commute, full time job, husband away for 5 days at a time on business, now looking after two properties. I'm the one with the easy life! Oh! Well, maybe I should live up to that and just make a living from pressing a button on my computer! That would be very cool.

Ignore other people's expectations - and live up to your own.