Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

KajiKita

I never, ever watch or read any kind of horror. Even Mr KK’s war films become too much for me. I literally ‘feel’ some of the physical violence - very distressing. 

KK

killerpeaty

I love horror movies but I don't know how I would be with the theatre show. Can't play horror video games because I jump far too easily and violently!

LadyWithAPlan

I have actually seen the West end show - and yes its as scary as you think. Plus I was sat up in the cheap seats - the gods and you know how many haunted theatres there are in London - all those actors wanting one more monologue !

I avoid horror or extreme violence  given half a chance .. I scream like a girl very loudly

Merlin's_Beard

Speaking of horrors, my student loan interest has now gone up to 6.25%. Wildly disheartening to see that in the just over a year it's taken me to knock £3,500 off the total my monthly interest has gone from £24 to £81 a month. Looking forward a lot to paying off a lump sum next month when the FD regular saver matures. If I've got my sums right (there is no guarantee of this) then hopefully that will take the total debt to under £12,000 and the monthly interest back down to £60ish a month, so back to March levels.

I have finally - finally - cleared the garden of the giant weeds that were as big as me. Picked Saturday on the basis that it isn't getting any drier until April, and ended up so incredibly muddy. It was so stuck to the bottom of my shoes that I got 2 inches taller. I hope the bin men don't actually look at the ratio of claggy soil:plant the next time they empty the garden bin because all the roots came out completely caked. The garden path is horrifically muddy. But it is done.

Now I need to find larger bushes/plants that fit my wants (colourful, wildlife friendly, preferably native, provides some height, and happy to live in a tiny square on horrible clay soil). I'm not really sure it's big enough for trees, especially  with a wall to be avoided down one side. The neighbours have planted a skinny teenage silver birch right up against my garage which wouldn't have been my choice, so I already have my full dose of future tree root peril to deal with.

The general budget is feeling relaxed for the first time since I booked the garden at the start of the year? I didn't have to dig into my emergency budget in October and built general savings instead. I've had that tax rebate and a regular saver has matured as well. I haven't had any expensive unexpected spends. I'm not desperately budgeting for an expensive big thing. I even had enough spare that I've started kitting the house out with thermal linings for the curtains without scraping from other parts of the budget and it's so ridiculously nice to be able to think about the little bits and pieces. I was looking at light fittings! (and realised I have no clue how anything other than a non traditional lampshade fits onto the ceiling or the existing dangling bulb so that's an internet wormhole for another day)

rtandon27

Please don't worry overly about your neighbour's birch tree as it has deep roots that don't generally affect structures around them.  It has a sparse leaf canopy that gives shade but does not block out too much sunlight, so an added bonus if it will eventually overhang any part of your property. The roots also help to improve soil by bringing nutrients to the surface, as do decomposing willow leaves, especially if you leave them on your beds as a mulch1

That being said, it is truly impolite to plant up against another person's building!  I'd be miffed too! 😉

LadyWithAPlan

Wow that’s a high jump in student loan .. luckily mine got paid off quick as I had a high paying job straight after uni - I didn’t appreciate it at the time nor the DB pension - it’s not huge but when I am older I will be v grateful ! 

Great you have a plan to pay it down 

I look forward to the day I have a garden to plan and wrestle with 

Merlin's_Beard

@rtandon27 thanks, that's reassuring. Sadly no other benefits to me - my garage sticks out into their garden so all I'll get is the leaves in the gutters and on my drive!

@LadyWithAPlan you're getting closer and closer to that garden! Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Perils of a long course (six years) is twice the student debt of everyone except the doctors and dentists (and they get NHS bursaries for their clinical years!). My first job also had accommodation included as part of my package, so I was paid less and repaid barely any student loan for the first few years - wasn't even paying off the interest at that point.

Had a very spendy week - dishwasher has been ordered. It's arriving on Wednesday. I'm exceptionally excited, both because I don't like washing up, and also because this is the first thing I've got for the kitchen. Having a mini panic that it won't fit (I've measured, it's a standard size going in a standard space, but try telling my brain that)

And I've booked to see a band next June as well. For me these are very expensive tickets, but they're what I would call a legacy band that was big in the 90s, so I'll take the chance before they decide they've had enough and retire.

KajiKita

I always thought vets coined it in, but reading your posts has made me realise that it’s perhaps not how it was. Would it take a lot to set up your own practice or partnership? (Is that something you would even want to do?)

KK

Merlin's_Beard

KajiKita said:

I always thought vets coined it in, but reading your posts has made me realise that it’s perhaps not how it was. Would it take a lot to set up your own practice or partnership? (Is that something you would even want to do?)

KK

Firstly you have to remember that I'm on a single income, and that skews all perceptions. I stretched myself three ways from Sunday getting a >4.5x mortgage and then still putting down a 25% deposit to make up the shortfall because we definitely live in a world that assumes two incomes. Also I was massively underpaid until recently so I'm sort of playing catchup. As a profession, we always look enviously at doctor/dentist salaries and I think people assume that that's where we are when we're definitely not, but we do earn well above the national average (maybe twice as much if very experienced), even if it's with appalling (non existent) benefits and generally terrible working conditions (but there again if I'd gone doctor I'd still be dealing with understaffing and terrible working conditions so swings and roundabouts...).

General rule of thumb for vet bills once you've removed VAT is 20% vets, 20% nurses/reception/cleaners/admin, 20% to the building and keeping it running, 30% consumables like cleaning/meds/bloods/equipment, 10% profit or reinvestment.

There are a few ways to get into practice ownership.

Traditionally, you'd buy into the practice where you worked, but this is increasingly unachievable (corporates have driven up the prices to a point where you can't get a business loan for the free market value, so you'd need someone(s) who really believed in independent practice to give that profit up and sell for a reasonable price).

You can franchise one of the big corporations (there are a few corps that do this, they call it something fancier) - everything I've heard says that those contracts are horrible, and anecdotally there seem to be a lot that close down because the principal vet goes off sick (and the rumourmill always says stress). Advantages of that are no need to put up the initial money yourself, and a network of people to call for second opinions (I don't think people really get how collaborative it has to be with the complicated things when you need extra brain cells or paths forward, it's hella lonely when you have no second opinion on tap)

Or you can set up by yourself, which is a massive bank loan and a prayer and no backup and scrounging for staff and equipment.

And I don't want to do any of them, to be honest. Running a startup practice means horrible hours- you do all the clinical hours because otherwise you're hiring another vet, and you have a legal obligation to offer 24/7 coverage (which means that any time the emergency vet isn't open - every weekday until 6 and every saturday am for the biggest national provider - you have to be there and capable of providing emergency aid at least and I don't want to spend any time doing 8-6 5.5 day weeks.) And then you have the actual business running and HR stuff on top of it as an extra half job in your evenings. And none of that latter stuff is anything I would be good at.

Not that that necessarily stops people - I've worked for plenty of amazing clinicians who are terrible managers and they just plough on creating resentment and terrible working environments - but I wouldn't enjoy it either? Even if I learnt to be good? And I definitely wouldn't enjoy the managing the broken boiler or heating or what have you.

And if you get your practice in the right place at the right time and get the right staff then yes, maybe after 10 years you get to take your foot off the gas and do a few days a week, but it's not a guarantee. There have been about four practices or branches in our local area that have shut down recently, and it's not because there isn't enough work out there, it's mainly because of inability to get staff and retain them.

So in short, no. Too much stress, too little consistency, too much eroding any semblance of a work life balance because you're never truly 'off' and you've always got final responsibility. Don't get me wrong my boss has an absolutely lovely life and is going to have an amazing retirement, but I would burn myself out and have a mental breakdown if I tried to get there myself and it's not worth it, because there are lots of things more important than money and my sanity is definitely one of them.

savingholmes

I too realised I am better suited to being an employee. No shame in that.

Well done on the garden. Dishwasher will be well loved I am sure.

Bah to the interest rate on SL