Future Proofing my life: Deposit saving then MFW journey in under 13 years

Suffolk_lass

I suspect the fact that your Mum gave a valid bank account to the first Scammer has resulted in her name, telephone number and bank details being circulated around the community (they will have been sold on). To stop this and protect her from future approaches, she would need to change things and possibly screen calls, even if she changes her telephone number

badmemory

If she has a BT phone she can block calls after they have called by dialling 1572.  It is really easy to do.

LadyWithAPlan

@Fortune_Smiles thanks for the links, very helpful.

@SandyShores Tx for the pricing help. I remember moving after 15.5 years from a one bed  with family help and it was a monster move,  I paid for a friends lorry (!)  just at a lower rate ... My BIL has a white van but will be if he has time as he super busy but I can no doubt plan it  as I will keep my rental across the house moving/decor  period .. have a 28 day break clause so... 

@Sistergold I have a lot of one off pieces and  antique  furniture - my last '3 men and a van' ended up trashing a couple things  but I have had decent experiences as well on that. Definitely with you on the declutter - its why I started ebaying last month - got to do a few more things as way too much stuff and pointless dragging things around I dont use. When I did my move after 15.5 years in one place I made about £1600 ebaying which covered lots. This time around it is about £240 so far

@Suffolk_lass that makes sense that they have colleagues who will also try...

@badmemory she gave her mobile  but that is good to know for her home one.

NSD  3/13 (M/T/W)

I have just cooked a delicious red cabbage and apple dish - I have loads apples - both cookers and normal from family - so using them up wherever I can. Plus cabbage is delicious and good for me - will try freezing some of it as did way too much - I assume it should freeze OK as fresh ingredients.

I went out last night to an infamous London members club but due to who was there plus bumped into some friends who were out celebrating, my bar bill was pretty light despite the champagne. My black cab was the most expensive thing home. They want to try to fix me up with a relative I met at their wedding so we will see Plus I have been invited out to dinner tonight to somewhere very lovely by a couple who are bringing a friend - I have a suspicious feeling they may be trying to fix me up as well. 
I am assuming I will pay for my own dinner but the way it was phrased makes me think not. Either way I have my London girl entertainment budget to cover it.. I upped it last month as I blew through it in September - have to see how it goes as I need a life - I am single and live alone, and often wfh now so.. Trying to balance fun and seeing friends  with that house deposit  - I try to not do too many dinners out  though - I learnt that years ago when I started budgeting - as dinners always blow the budget especially in London.


Programme - I have worked on my programme M/W/T this week and hope to find an hour to do today as well. I am nearly at the end of part A final edit - plan is that is finished and part b started which will be a much bigger edit by Sunday.

Grogged

The programme sounds to be coming along nicely.
Perhaps you could take this on your next night out?
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/300884/blind-date

LadyWithAPlan

@Grogged oh dear lord )
Instead maybe I should take the 'Act Like A lady, Think Like A Man' Steve Harvey questions such as what are your long term and short term goals!! - I love the film version  .. if anyone has not seen it its v funny and fabulous.

FIRE thoughts

I have finished reading the @SuperSecretSquirrel blog, wow what a journey, so inspiring and his chats on becoming FIRE and his calculation and tracking has motivated me to look at my FI figures. When I started this diary less than 2 months ago I was not even thinking of FIRE but ..

Of course I don't have a house at present so have done a new spreadsheet with lots of scenarios, none of which will be correct but.. I will start tracking these figures at the end of each month as motivators. Currently most my savings are going to the house deposit, only added £3,372.51 this year + £843.13 hmrc Contrib = £4215 plus I should hit HR again (I personally contrib £15800 last year)

As I have a DB pension of £6637.31 pa as Sept 2020 figures and I should get the full SP AT 67/8

Excluding home rent/mortgage in the future   and using only my Sep 21 SIPP values - so not my net worth (see below) but  excluding  EF, home deposit, sinking funds which should definitely not be excluded but I am looking at house buying as this current focus and unsure on costs. Plus I will need a big sinking fund but...

on £12k/year  (very lean fire)             8.93% FIRE
on 16k/year                                       6.69% FIRE
On current spend  inc my rent          7.65% FIRE already
Including £1700 future home pmt     3.31% FIRE

This means to hit 100% FIRE exc rent/mortgage I need in the next 8 years to save £16,727 p.a on lean fire (13,381 + hmrc) or £29,227 p.a on more chilled FI £23,381 + hmrc). Of course additional HR hmrc contrib and mkt movements will make that less

On reaching SP I am  already (exc housing costs)
on £12k/year  (very lean fire)         131% FIRE
on 16k/year                                   98.57% FIRE

Turns out that looks way healthier than I ever expected  once I hit 68 (although that assumes I have a home paid off by then)

On current Net worth £120,458.79
on £12k/year  (very lean fire)             40.15 % FIRE
on 16k/year                                       30.11 % FIRE
On current spend  inc my rent          34.42 % FIRE already
Including £1700 future home pmt     14.87 % FIRE



CONCLUSIONS
I am doing much better than I thought  - I figured this was impossible at my age - thanks DB pension and my budgeting
Don't buy a wildly expensive house as that will limit my FI progress,
Use my time wisely and earn either from passive income, or working more days to ramp up the income/savings in next 8 years
Get house sorted soon so then I caN focus on s&s isa, cash savings and sipp on fire and also the OP on mortgage

Suffolk_lass

Don't forget your state pension forecast is predicated on you having full contribution years for every year up to the start of April before the contribution year in which you reach State pension Age (68) -

so basically, if you stop work for FIRE you either want to pay some contributions years from capital (most expensive is Class 3 Voluntary) or there are Class 2 Self Employed (beneath the SA threshold) or receive credits (younger folk get these for Child benefit years, assuming they claim, even if they don't claim the benefit) and older folk for care - it can be a relative or neighbour, but they should be claiming Attendance Allowance to demonstrate they need care support , or child care for grandchildren- I'm just listing for completeness.

We will be paying Class 3 voluntary Cont's for the gap years because although we have the years, many were in an occupational DB scheme that was opted out - so they qualify for the Basic State Pension, not the New State Pension.

I used to read Mr Free at 33 who is an American FIRE achiever for an extreme view of what is possible in 7 years. Now he writes the odd paid article and chooses what he does.

LadyWithAPlan

@Suffolk_lass thanks, good to be aware of that.
I am planning to dial it down in a decade  rather than stop as already self employed but was v useful exercise to look at actual figures projected for the next 8 years - gives me hope, a goal and motivation as well as v rough figures



Spending
I was invited out to dinner Friday and the way it was phrased ' we would like to  invite you out to dinner to x..'  sounded like I was not paying - however even though I only had 2 glasses of the cheapest wine (@£12 each)  the split bill came to £81 each! This was very annoying given I only budgeted £180 this month  total for entertainment and the food was not that great...so  I stayed in the rest of the weekend and went to lidl.. 
I always try to get out of dinners as London is super expensive and I have allergies so it is a pain ordering.. I will have to start telling people no dinners as house buying ... it feels embarrassing as I do earn enough  but I am just happy with drinks. Unless it is v close friends then I will making an odd exception.
I can see how I used to spend so much money but I have been budgeting monthly for a decade and it does keep me on track. I am happy to spend money on going out - I was out Thursday and it was so much fun and worth it but Friday was more of a case of overly expensive restaurant. I will probably end up going over budget on entertainment again this month so watching that fiercely as my flat deposit is the focus.

Luckily - I did very well on MB this weekend including on the F*ry fight, had a couple free accas that came in to over £160 win plus casino wins of £80. I am being gubbed more and more so I will need to start doing more trading. However making £160 on f*ry made my £80 restaurant spend feel better

Oct  Groceries Challenge    £49.99 of £160
Lidl and some coffee/yellow stickers from Tesco
plus £1 sweets from my spare cash
Have also got 65p of the £10 spent of  bulk other purse (as recommended in Grocery challenge) but not sure how I am tracking/using  this as yet

I just tried lidl earl grey and I am not enjoying this down brand. I really notice with coffee beans/ground coffee and earl grey that I am really aware of the taste difference, I cant 'brand down' and I don't drink instant.  However the lidl fresh houmous, salsa, aioli  and guac is fabulous and much cheaper. 

Free money  £42.28/ £180

ebay £19.15 profit

Ubereats voucher £10 - need to use but not overspend - I am eyeing up a pad thai

H2B Int £5.83

£7.80 Tesco gift card used against food

Only doing odd Populus survey to get to the £50


NSD  5/13 (M/T/W/S/M)

I am working on my programme but definitely procrastinated the last couple days. So will do at least one hour today.
No ebaying at present apart from whats on there already.l I plan to have a go at VINTED this week.

themadvix

You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about saying no to dinners out because you’re  house buying. You’re buying a property on your own in one of the most expensive cities in the world on a self employed income. That is a huge achievement! And we’re not talking about a £20 pizza express dinner here, either.

 If it’s easier, maybe rather than saying you can’t afford it, say it’s not your priority at the moment? That a) implies better budgeting (which is entirely the point - you are good at it, so have changed your priority) and b) makes it sound short term, which it may or may not be, depending on finances after you’ve bought.

LadyWithAPlan

themadvix said:

You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about saying no to dinners out because you’re  house buying. You’re buying a property on your own in one of the most expensive cities in the world on a self employed income. That is a huge achievement! And we’re not talking about a £20 pizza express dinner here, either.

 If it’s easier, maybe rather than saying you can’t afford it, say it’s not your priority at the moment? That a) implies better budgeting (which is entirely the point - you are good at it, so have changed your priority) and b) makes it sound short term, which it may or may not be, depending on finances after you’ve bought.

Thanks for the reminder , you are correct actually -  It is a bit of a miracle and I am indeed self/employed and on my own. I will use the 'I am buying a flat so its all focus on that in the short term...' next time.

Chiglepig

themadvix said:

 If it’s easier, maybe rather than saying you can’t afford it, say it’s not your priority at the moment? That a) implies better budgeting (which is entirely the point - you are good at it, so have changed your priority) and b) makes it sound short term, which it may or may not be, depending on finances after you’ve bought.

Bloomin' brilliant advice from @themadvix there.

The thing I've noticed, going out after the last 18 months of restrictions is that I no longer have patience with things I could cook for myself. So I'm prepared to pay for some ethnic cuisines, becuase getting all the right spices in would be expensive and possibly they'd be out of date before I used them all, but any where that serves things I could cook (even if I don't ) is just not worth it. I was really disappointed to read that Vanilla Black in Holborn closed in 2020 - I should put MrC on one of their cookery courses.