A journey to financial security

ElmoR

Hello MMM!

Good luck with the various seeds - I've been trying quite a few different varieties/plants for the first time too. It can get a bit emotional when a hard frost or strong winds take some from you!

Understand the joy of two jobs too. I've also had at least two jobs for much of my life - with three as a teenager!! It wasn't until late 40s that I had to retire from my second job - it was too hard on the body (with lots of running around and carrying weight). I really miss having that alternative work world which was a complete contrast, and a salve, to the main job.

Good luck with your MFW journey,

ElmoR

MissMoneyManager

Hi @ElmoR and thank you.

We are getting more used to losing some now unfortunately. The only thing that has been a total failure so far is the courgette seeds which I thought were meant to be one of the easier things to grow is it possible to get a packet of dodgy seeds?

I sometimes call my part time job my therapy it is that beneficial for me. I know it wouldn’t work for everyone but from my experience a lot of people won’t seriously consider a second job because they say you get taxed more. I hear it from people all the time when they find out about my two jobs.  They think that there is some extra kind of tax levied on second jobs.  It’s sad to know that so many people believe things like this which really highlights how important financial education is!

MissMoneyManager

 It's Friday again already! I have progressed with my tax return this week.  I have conducted quite a lot of research to make sure I am filling it in right. One bonus was that I had heard over previous years that mortgage interest was being phased out as an allowable expense which obviously means more tax to pay. However I did not realise until this week that you can claim basic rate tax relief on the mortgage interest. This feels like a win to me as I had accounted for paying tax on my receipts less allowable expenses and therefore the relief will mean a slightly smaller tax bill than I had expected.

According to the weather forecast it’s going to be a wet weekend so I’m hoping for another no/low spend weekend. I guess this is the silver lining of bad weather and not being allowed to do anything inside. This will also mean I should have time to get some more deep cleaning/tidying jobs done inside before I start weekend work again next week. Only £3.50 made on Pr0lific this week but every little helps! This week I ordered two new baby gifts on sale from J0ule$ for two expectant ladies I know, however I also ended up adding a dress for myself.  The dress was heavily reduced but did I really need it?! 

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend 

MissMoneyManager

Well I managed another low spend weekend! Saturday was an early dog walk to the bakery £2.85 spent on a few treats. After that I went to a local small town with my mum. Usually I am very tempted to spend as there are lots of lovely clothing and houseware shops, but I did not buy a thing! Yesterday the weather was a little better so there was a dog walk in the countryside and a stop at the pub for a soft drink and shared nibbles £5.00 spent there. Also my first ever sale on eb@y came through last night. It was for a cuddly meerkat the ones that come free with certain insurance purchases. I found it a little bit of a faff sorting the labels and packaging. I had advertised as dispatch within 2 days. Luckily I managed to find a box that I could cut down to make the size of a small parcel and free collections by RM at the moment. After fees there should be a net profit of just over £8. I think in future to take the pressure off I will only list things where I already have the packaging sorted and see if I can change to a longer dispatch period as I can foresee it being difficult to get to the post office in time. So all in all it was an MSE friendly weekend and despite not spending a lot I also feel It was an enjoyable one. Hope everyone else had a good one!

 

willowparrett

Hi @MissMoneyManager, enjoyed catching up on your thread! 
We were in a really similar position, buying our 'forever' home with a chunk of land at the beginning of last year.  Both owned properties on our own before, and were similarly horrified by the stamp duty costs on the new home if we kept these to rent out!  Our solution was to sell one of them (my partner's) - making him no longer a second home owner, so having normal stamp duty to pay, and rent out mine.  The new house is entirely in his name as a result, but we had a separate legal agreement drawn up that entitles me to half of the equity after our deposit contributions in the event that we sell it - this had to be agreed by the mortgage company and is attached to the file at the land registry.   We split bills/have a joint account for the main mortage as if it were in both of our names.  At some point we might buy another property to rent out to replace his old one, but it would be cheaper/less of a second home stamp duty burden than this place!

It was annoyingly complicated to set up, but works well now.  Worth speaking to a couple of property lawyers to see what they'd advise.  

Looking forward to hearing how you get on - it sounds like an exciting plan!

WPx

MissMoneyManager

Hi @willowparrett,

Thank you for sharing! It sounds like you were in a very similar position and this is definitely food for thought. As I have mentioned before I would not be willing to sell my house more due to psychological reasons than financial BUT I am more willing to go for an intermediary house than OH. This means I could always float this as an option, perhaps if he really wants the dream house next year he would be willing to sell his current house?? The main thing is you have shown that there is a way to get round the stamp duty issue if necessary and still protect my own financial interests. This will open more options for us, we are very set on moving next year so perhaps we can keep an open mind until then and see what is for sale.  If a good intermediary house comes up which we think we might be able to make some money on we could go for that but if the perfect dream house comes up we may be able to take a similar route to yourselves which may make the difference between being able to afford it or not.

I’m sure I can find out the answer if this did not apply to your situation but when your partner took out the mortgage in his own name were your earnings and the fact you would be living there paying half bills etc taken into account? This is the only obstacle I can see as I know his earnings alone would not be enough to get the size of mortgage we predict we will need.

Thanks again,

MissMM.

MissMoneyManager

Just dropping in because I made my second eb@y sale. Some old market leading brand hairstraighteners that are broken.  They do not turn on and fuse change didn't work so I advertised them as for parts/spares at £15.00 inc 2nd class postage. They sold within an hour! I feel chuffed as I would usually just chuck something like this but I think I heard a few years ago that some people repair them.  More space in my cupboards and money in my bank 

willowparrett

Hi MissMM, 
Ah you're right, the mortgage is only in his name; with the sale of his property we could afford to have the mortgage just based on his income. You'd need to speak to a mortgage advisor to see if other household income could be taken into account; it's possible I expect, the mortgage company would probably make you sign something to say you wouldn't make a claim on the property above your equity share - or words to that effect.  
WPx

Sistergold

@MissMoneyManager
Hello there! I like the progress you are making so keep it up! I am impressed at the research and the great feedback you are getting from other people who have done property the way you are trying to do it like @willowparrett. 

Well done on the eBay sale! I must confess I am a “Chuck/give it away” person! When the children are older I will see if I can sell on eBay or Facebook! Well that’s my excuse for not selling for now! 🙈 

I know the reasoning sometimes in house buying is to sell everything and save on stamp duty if buying together. If one person can not afford to get the mortgage as done by @willowparrett the honest truth for me now I would rather pay the extra stamp duty and still keep my individual property. This is because if (unfortunately) relationship goes south it’s more painful and so traumatic to start organising mortgage at a time you are most stressed! If it happens when you are much older organising a mortgage might even be impossible! At the end of the day most people do try to have an investment property so high stamp duty is one of those things one might just need to accept! 

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you, that it can all work out for the best! XX 

MissMoneyManager

Thank you @willowparrett I will investigate further, I’m grateful to now have another angle to explore!

Hi @Sistergold.  I agree I feel glad to have joined this forum, in real life there are limited opportunities to speak with people who have a similar mindset when it comes to finances!

In the past I have thrown much away but I started using gumtr33 to sell furniture which was too good to dump. I moved house 4 times within 7 years and so there were always things which did not work in the next house.  It also helped me to get rid of bulky things which I would not have been able to transport by myself to a tip so that is something to bear in mind.

Yes I would keep my personal property like WP did but If my partner wanted to sell his that would be his choice. Despite being in a good relationship now I still have a fairly negative view when it comes to the longevity of relationships. Therefore I hope that it will last but if not I will be financially secure by myself anyway. It can be a difficult balance to strike between planning for a joint future but also organising my finances so that I can be confident that if the worse were to happen I could still thrive on my own.