First Steps to Solvency

PassElephant

Reckon your son would rather a walk in the woods with you and his mum all holding hands and laughing than going out for dinner again.

alt80

@PassElephant ha he probably would lol.

strawb_shortcake

@annabanana82 didn’t realise it was possible to earn well in armed forces tbh. 

Re Bentley - anyone who knows their cars will be aware of it’s approximate age. Even the general public will have an idea as styles change etc. The Chryslers pretending to be Bentleys are just tragic imo. Mind I don’t like body styling kits on cars generally nothing quite says doorman more than an aging diesel RRS with the Overfinch kit lol.

Yeah, the officers can earn good money but quite high up for your level of salary. But it's more about the training that can lead to consultancy work after, I know someone on £1500 a day 5/6 years back

alt80

No way should I have made myself a three shot coffee to power through some work stuff tonight lol. Should have left it for tomorrow really. Actually went to bed at half reasonable time for once wife decided she wasn’t so bothered about me owing the banks ha. No sleep whatsoever wide awake so got up and spent the last hour putting things up for sale on wife’s list. Honestly don’t know what my life has come to. 

Got a massive amount of work tomorrow to deal with tomorrow going to have to try the sleep again or be wired on caffeine all day tomorrow lol.

getmore4less

I think you need to work on 6-12month consolidation and fret less about not making it. 
The long game is 10y+ the short game is this time next year. 

Stick with the current budget, and let that run working down the debts. Do more of what you have been doing enjoying your family. 

Get the BTL business on a growth path reinvesting within the business as opportunities present themselves. 

Main business needs to start growing again this might be a bit harder as it will need some strategic thought and most likely more people and resurrection of the mentor network.
Maybe some longer term goal like what needs to happen to double the business with some intermediate milestones to make that happen. 

Doing this now while there is a lot of uncertainty over how parts of the economy will perform will also help making the business more resilient and if growth is not possible put it in a good position to capture any return to normality. 
Is a recession going to increase the need for your services? 

Primary goals 
Live to budget reduce debt. 
Increase main business ability to fund you. 
Reduce the dependence on the BTL business so it can grow faster and reduce its gearing. 

RelievedSheff

Glad you have had a nice weekend with the wife and your son. Sounds like you all enjoyed it.

We will find out today what is happening with the garage where the other half works and if it is staying open or if he is going to be put on furlough again. It isn't the end of the world if he is furloughed again. We managed last time so we can manage again. We can always scale back some of the credit card repayments if needs be for the short term and the house is well stocked up with food.

You really do need to try and get a good night's sleep. Everything will feel less stressful after a proper night's kip.

Andyjflet

Nice to see you are evolving, got a couple of e cars my end, GT etron coming in the new year, 0-62 in 2.4 secons with german build quality and weve just got our etron s arrived, 500 bhp in a standard SUV.
Had a good month myself September, registration month and 5 figure salary for the month but I still stopped myself buying the new Iphone 12, sticking with my 7 for now, as much as it kills me, keep going I can read that your mindset is slowly turning for the better. 

alt80

@getmore4less I wish I could get into that mindset mate. At the moment all I see is less than not enough - failing. Thinking 10 years+, long term really difficult for me now with age thing. Said to my wife this morning son going to start judging me on usual measures of success sometime soon. He’s 7 today, opened his presents stopped shopping for them September so not as much as usual tbf he didn’t say anything and is happy. Not going to go out for dinner wife is making his favourite and get out with dog after. 

I want to put business first can’t seem to get beyond my life racing in front of me panicking about the age thing.

Usually recession isn’t very kind on my line of work. However, I built it during the last recession and as a result multiple streams of revenue some will decrease, some stay the same and some increase. Generally overall decrease likely unfortunately but a lot better than those purely focusing on the parts that decrease only (fair fee of those). Will be in a position to pick up the work that decreases as some very small operations / self employed and some very large firms are likely to move away from the work or be forced into bankruptcy. Makes sense in my head - can’t really say too much more on an open forum iyswim.

@RelievedSheff thanks and hope he’s not furloughed this time. 

I know re sleep need to stop having 10.30pm coffees might help haha. 

@andyjflet my wife has tried to win an iPhone 12 on radio lol. Know what you mean, we have the previous 11 pro each and don’t feel too annoyed with them right now but if we maybe keep them for another 2/3 years will definitely be ready for replacement. 

Nice one on the fee earners... really you want to keep the idiots like me getting the finance ha. 😉

Have briefly looked at the etron since you mentioned it. It looks very smart but is a 4x4 isn’t it? Not sure I want 2 4x4s on my drive... also think you’re trying to deal me up mate. 🤣 Not really the point of me being here to get dealt on more stuff lol. 🤔

ryanm8655

alt80 said:

@ryanm8655 yeah just years away which tbh really gets to me. Thought of being 45 before I get my first AM makes me quite angry. Bad life choices and paying the price for it. Joy. And as much as I love my RR for everyday it’s hardly a car to go for a drive in. If I could add a brand new DBS I’d feel like I had it made but no chance. Wouldn’t personally pick a DB9 unless it had the manual ‘box which is rare but they are gorgeous cars. Driven a few AMs - V8V with the manual is a brilliant sports car. 

Not going to lie I’d rather buy new whilst we can still get V8s and V12s. Had plenty of used cars and never really liked the idea that you don’t know what the previous owners have been doing in it. Could be known on the dogging scene for all I know lol. Seriously I mean if they’ve been drinking coffee in it or had a series of small bumps that have been repaired well etc. 

I swapped a 997 in for the F-Type, it was a good car - watch out for ones around the 70-80k miles mark though (inherent issues). How are you so chilled about it? Appreciate I’ve got a few years on you but you (presumably) won’t be looking for a while with it being after house from what you say.

DB7 is a very good looking car - good value too. I had a 10 car dream garage growing up, can remember them all and exactly where they’d go in the underground garage of the house I’d have built in the South of France ha - DB5, MG SA, Diablo, ‘88/89 V8V, Ferrari 348/355, XJ220, Bentley S1, Jaguar Mk.VII, Series I E-type and an XK120 FHC. Still my dream garage but would add a few more newer cars too. No way did I think I’d be 40 without a car collection and just about hanging on to a RR. FML.

I went through a phase of being bothered that I was never going to achieve the lifestyle I want in my current career. Focussing on all the things I couldn’t have and might never have. Thinking about the things others have at the same age etc.

Ultimately though that doesn’t help me get there, it just makes me miserable and more likely to spend to cheer myself up, which takes me further from those goals. It also put me on cruise at work, just doing enough to keep my job and not having the drive to seek out the changes that might lead to things changing in terms of lifestyle because everything I wanted seemed unachievable and my career pointless.

Ultimately I am where I am and moping about the past and where I could be with different choices isn’t going to change that. 

This process has also helped me to think about priorities, if I want to have the nice things in the future and not on finance then I need to be disciplined now and have to prioritise and make sacrifices.

I could get a nice car on finance now, could even plough my savings into getting a car and be resigned to renting (lifestyle would look good to others as they wouldn’t know I was renting, they’d just see I live in a central London flat) but my priority is get the debt completely gone, get a place to live and then think about the car. 

I’m not really obsessing over how long things are going to take. I’m just taking it one goal at a time and thinking about the bigger picture.

Since I’ve had that mindset I’ve found things have improved in terms of getting closer to the prize. I got a promotion and relatively hefty pay rise at work, which I hadn’t even bothered going for before. Debts are almost gone and even when back in London I’ll have more disposable income then I’ve ever had. For the first time in my adult life I won’t be making payments to debt each month. 

You’ll find once you reach that mindset (you are getting there) that you’ll have far more energy and clarity of thought to devote to your business. When that happens your lifestyle goals will just happen. 

Happy birthday to your son!

alt80

Thanks mate. That post has made me think a bit tbh. I’ve had every excuse in the world over these past few years for not really working on the business or portfolio just coasting along and getting more angry I haven’t got stuff usually revolving around an AM or a 7 figure house (buys something very nice around here). Not even sure I want a bigger house for the ‘right reasons’ tbf more just obsessed with wanting to own a 7 figure house as a big f**k you - sort of you want to check land registry records go ahead it’ll show I paid 7 figures for it. Madness. I live in a nice area, nice house, plenty of space etc

Past can’t be changed, that’s very true. Dread to think how much money I’ve frittered away tbh. Would actually be amazing to be making no payments to cards or on any car for a bit. First time in my adult life too if I ever get there ha. Definitely less stress and allow me to think about what to actually do with the disposable rather than never having any disposable income.