First OP made. We're on our way!

Ellie78

killerpeaty said:

That's a lot to put into investments each month! Have you looked into FIRE and can I ask what your target is?

It's not very high really.  I only started my pension at 40 so have a lot of catching up to do.   I'll be upping the DD amounts once things are a bit more settled.  I have briefly looked into FIRE.   I don't like the idea of having to scrimp and save every penny and not enjoying life as I'm living it though.  I don't really have a retirement target.  I work for myself so I don't have the desperation of escaping office life!  
I've seen the term CoronaCoaster used a bit online and that's pretty accurate.  I was really enjoying the sunny weather and being out in the garden.  It's been raining here for days now though.  Weeding isn't as much fun in the mud!  

killerpeaty

FIRE isn't all about scrimping or even retiring very early, I'm in this facebook group where a significant proportion of people just want to be able to have options to be able to work part time, take extended breaks etc. I stopped reading the more extreme FIRE blogs because I did not think it was conducive for my plans, one feels a bit cultish.

Totally with you on CoronaCoaster. I hate weeding at the best of times, don't know why you'd bother in the rain!

Ellie78

Yeah I definitely agree that having flexibility and open options is a great goal.   I'm lucky in that the work I do now is fairly flexible and taking days off when I want so I can do something else is fine, as long as the work gets done.

Ellie78

-UPDATE-

OPs so far in 2020
Jan - £100
Feb - £100
Mar - £51.92
Apr - £249.86
May - £235.04
Jun - £283.02
Start of MFW - £49,127.89
Current balance - £31,050.00
Daily interest - £3.05


We're so close to the 20s I can smell it!   Last night I "borrowed" £1,000 from my emergency fund which should appear in my account on Monday for another OP and I'll find the other £50 by moving some money around.  

FINANCES
Emergency Fund - £10,000
SIPP - £6,600
ISA - £3,600
The SIPP and ISA will have another £5,500 added (split between them) in September when a 5% regular saver and 5% bank account mature.

Brindlebabe

Hi,
Just found your diary and read from the start. 
Amazing overpayments. I get it that when you've got a load of savings to chuck at it it feels easy, and then normal life kicks in and you have to be happy with any overpayments. Sometimes even the smallest ones.. If you're paying a small OP then it shows that you've not got lots going spare at the moment but you're still making progress and keeping up momentem so it's really important too.

I recently investigated paying off my student loan  - still just over a year away but it was so exciting that it was realistic to pay it off in the relatively near future! Congratulations on getting yours gone! 

Looks like your investments/savings are really sensible. Particularly with the unpredictability of the moment, and being self employed. I have so much respect for people who are self employed. You have your job to do, plus the marketing of it, plus the business side. I would find it terrifying.
Anyway, just wanted to say hello and cheer you on.
Bb

Ellie78

Hi Bb   
How weird, I've just started reading your diary     

Getting rid of the student loan is a lovely feeling.  Even though it was very low interest not having that extra cost added onto my tax return in January will be great! 
Going fully self employed 7ish years ago was the best decision I ever made.  I love being my own boss.  But recent events have made things more stressful that's for sure.  I have two separate "jobs"/sources of income.  One of them came to a crashing halt in March and probably won't be back up and running until early next year by the looks of it.   Thankfully the other one (which earns me more money) has carried on so I'm not in as scary a position as a lot of my self employed friends.   And I was able to claim some money from the SEISS grant to cover some of my losses.  I'm definitely being more careful with my money at the moment!

Thanks for the cheering on, I appreciate it!  

Ellie78

We made it into the 20s!

The £1,000 I withdrew from the EF cleared into my bank account earlier so I transferred that, along with an extra £60 from another account onto the mortgage.  

Our balance now stands at £29,990.    Daily interest has also dropped under £3, to £2.95. 

With this payment I also hit my £2,000 target on the MFW2020 thread so have upped it to £3,000.   It'll be good to have another goal to aim for in the next 6 months.   
That's probably the last OP for this month.  Back to little bits of bank account interest, TTs and raiding the coin jar next month!

ruby_eskimo

Well done on paying off the loan and getting the mortgage to under £30k!  I've just started on the MFW journey and the saving for retirement journey too.  Luckily I've had a workplace pension that I've been paying into for 11 years already but I'm still thinking of what can I do over the next 30-ish years to make sure I'm in the best place possible!  Look forward to seeing youhit your £3000 target in no time I'm sure!

Ellie78

Thanks @ruby_eskimo !   Well done for getting started and good luck sorting your retirement savings out.   I'm finding it difficult balancing payments into retirement/mortgage, especially when the mortgage OPs have more instant satisfaction, you can see the effects straight away.     I'll go and have a read of your diary 

ajmoney

Hi,  I have just read your diary and love the enthusiasm you have towards it all, OPs, savings, retirement.