Prosperous soul embraces creativity & mortgage neutrality

savingholmes

Well I've updated my £ figures and am still more than debt neutral (based on cash in the bank) although not by a lot. I get paid in a week and plan to make my food stretch. Doable as long as I'm not fussy and helped by DD being away for the weekend.

So Fire / Mortgage neutrality calcs

Mortgage valuation £253K although I felt it should have been £270K
Mortgage £202K
Equity £51K

If I'd stopped all pension contributions in April 21 my pension figures would be roughly
£4K p.a. at 65 first DB pension (already shifted from age 60) - not paying in
£0.2K p.a. at 65 private pension - ad-hoc payments 

£8.4K p.a. at 67 State pension - risk age could shift to 68 - still paying in
£9.5K at 67 second DB pension - risk age could shift to 68 (may get part unreduced at age 65) - still paying in

So at £21.9K p.a. at 67 if I don't reduce them by retiring early or converting to lump sums. This would meet my bills with no lifestyle change - as long as mortgage, life insurance, pension etc were no longer being paid for.

I just paid an extra £50 into my private pension. With the uplift from the tax man that will become £62.5 which is very nice. The OP calculator suggests if I'd paid it off the mortgage instead it would have been worth £25 in saved interest (probably because I'm right at the start of my term). I am gambling on the pension going up more in value than the price of my mortgage interest - although I may do some mix and matching so I can see visible progress even during stock market turbulence. I'm working on the basis my private pension is inheritable and can give me passive income where the house is unlikely to be income producing unless I get lodgers, rent it out or downsize.

1. My private pension now stands at £3681. It is this that I plan to track as part of mortgage neutrality.
2. Plus any capital repayments to the mortgage from standard payments and OPs.
3. At 55 I hope to transfer my first DB pension. It's only of use with the mortgage neutrality goal if I am able to transfer it.
4. I am also in a second DB pension that I plan to leave as long as possible - so that will be excluded from the mortgage neutrality calculation.

SandyShores

Hi Saving, I had a meter box propped up by a piece of wood for a long time.  The plastic bit of the hinges were broken off so I couldn't repair it with the repair kits.  I did find something to do with making some leather hinges and screwing it onto the box and the lid (or maybe I made it up) anyway I didn't do it as I was scared of cracking the whole box, which is expensive.  It probably depends on how you want it to look and how secure it needs to be.  I found this on fleabay, which is a potential cheap solution https://rb.gy/npk1c8

With carpets, I would recommend having a look at offcuts if you can.  I did almost a whole house out of them - as off cuts can be huge and they often have several - it depends on your preferences etc.  I would also recommend getting your own fitter, who will pick up the carpet for you.  And they will supply the underlay, door bars and gripper much more reasonably than buying it from the store.  I had a small room done recently and thought I'd take the stress out of it all and go through the store for everything - it was only after I'd paid they then told me I had to pay the fitter myself and it would be a separate transaction/risk.  Oh well, you learn don't you.

savingholmes

I get paid in a week. My financial goals for December pay period:

1. Stay debt neutral
2. Make first mortgage payment!!
3. Pay at least £200 off my CC debt
4. Use freed up cash from switching bonus, gift vouchers and hopefully lower gas/elec bill than budgeted towards pension, mortgage and CC debt

My long term goal is to use a 25% tax free lump sum from my pension towards the mortgage - and hopefully knock at least 5 years off the term. This should be easily achievable if I was able to transfer DB pension 1 based on cash equivalent values I received as part of the divorce process.

savingholmes

SandyShores said:

Hi Saving,  It probably depends on how you want it to look and how secure it needs to be.  I found this on fleabay, which is a potential cheap solution https://rb.gy/npk1c8

With carpets, I would recommend having a look at offcuts if you can.  I did almost a whole house out of them - as off cuts can be huge and they often have several - it depends on your preferences etc.  I would also recommend getting your own fitter, who will pick up the carpet for you...

Hi Sandy

That solution looks fab. I will get that after payday and ask BIL to sort it for me at his leisure. On the carpets - I'll bear your advice in mind but am shelving it until more like Easter at the earliest as I want to get on top of my £.

Checked my credit report. It's not showing my new mortgage or my 2 new accounts yet so still have a perfect score on here. I told Exp about the mortgage a couple of weeks ago but it's not changed anything yet. Still showing as associated to Ex.That should disappear now mortgage gone and fin order should protect me. Need to chase Ex re life insurance policy as there is a second form I need him to complete.

Asked DD to get me the l1d1 voucher for free as she's off on a train today. I had to be up super early to take her. Still waking up.

My mattress should arrive this afternoon. Need to wash the bedding. 

Waiting to hear from the Will people. They say they've drafted something and it's gone for checking.

Definitely counting down the days now until I finish for xmas. Planning to book a couple of half days next week as I have appointments during the day and it will make it easier rather than trying to catch up.

EssexHebridean

Happy new mattress day SH! 

savingholmes

Thanks EH. Not arrived yet - but am washing the bedding ready. 

I rang my mortgage provider - they don't yet have a portal to view my mortgage balance. I literally laughed down the phone and said I hadn't realised I was switching to the dark ages. In better news I can do bank transfers so don't have to ring up or use cheques. 

Made my first £20 OP on my new mortgage and set up a regular £20 OP on top of the direct debit as a starting point. That will knock 6 months off the 22 year term if I keep it up. According to the OP calculator if I added another £16 to that each month - that would then mean I'd knock off 1 year overall. Shows the value of even small payments. Still debating pension / OP split. Paid  £20 today - the calculator said it would save me £10 in interest over the term! Pretty good return! Excited.

So if my mortgage was £201999 - treating it as now £201979.

In terms of mortgage neutrality if I take 25% of my private pension value currently at £3681 that = £920.25 which is almost equivalent to 1 month's mortgage. So where I would have been due to make 264 payments - between the OP and pension I should now only have to make 263...

Happy

LadyWithAPlan

Your art and the glass bottles sound fabulous.. and yes my 10 year prediction is accurate if you get your art sales moving forward  Focus and a doable exciting  goal makes everything acheiveable
I think a one-off or shared stall one time might be a useful thing , I think Wimbledon do a local art fair but maybe a small local art  or crafts fair rather than a monster market? Never done one but i do have friends who had a stall in Cov Garden for many years and they did well

jwil

Just catching up, lots going on as usual.  Great progress, and hurrah for the cleaner as well

MovingForwards

I get an annual paper statement for my mortgage, makes it feel like I'm dealing with a quaint BS or something. 

Set your lender up as a faster payment payee, transfer money as and when you've got a bit extra. 

On the valuation point, see it as a bonus. When it's revalued in the future there's even more equity just for you.

Would you have enough paint to do a feature wall in the lounge for now. Again it stamps your mark on the house and would provide a different feel for the holidays. 

savingholmes

LadyWithAPlan said:

Your art and the glass bottles sound fabulous.. and yes my 10 year prediction is accurate if you get your art sales moving forward  Focus and a doable exciting  goal makes everything achievable

Thanks for the encouragement. I am thrilled at the difference just £20 a month makes. I will look into how to sell stuff and one off markets when I'm off over xmas. jwil said:

Great progress, and hurrah for the cleaner as well

I was so thrilled at the difference the cleaner made. She even moved some of the boxes from the loft that had been put in my bedroom out on to the landing. That then made me move them into the spare bedroom before my mattress came. I may carry on decluttering while I'm on a roll.

EssexHebridean said:

Happy new mattress day SH! 

EH - the mattress arrived early afternoon - and seems great. I am debating whether to wait to unwrap it yet as I think I will paint my bedframe while DD is away. I can potentially sleep in DS's old room while the paint smell goes.I may then go on to paint the rest of the room. A lot cheaper than new carpet. The topaz colour I did the chair matches perfectly with one of the blues in my new quilt cover so thinking of using that colour on my bedframe. I may then paint my bedroom white. Not sure if I have the energy for painting the ceiling though - but it desperately needs doing... There's a few stud type holes that need filling too. I have plenty of filler - and a scraper things - just need to get around to using it. Apparently you can also paint curtains... Not sure if I'm brave enough to try... I may buy a few different colours as at around £8 a pot it was great value and I can use it on other projects.