Here's to the Fools Who Dream

scrooge2008

I will be 60 on March 2nd 2026 and I am an old fool who is dreaming that the best is yet to come!  I loved the film La La Land, always felt this song was about me .......  

The Fools Who Dream (Abridged Version)

"She captured a feeling

A sky with no ceiling, the sunset inside a frame ....

A bit of madness is key

To give us new colors to see

Who knows where it will lead us?

And that's why they need us.

So bring on the rebels

The ripples from pebbles, the painters, and poets, and plays

Here’s to the Fools Who Dream"

My Dream

·       Debt free at 60

·       A job that brings me joy and gives something back to society

·       An artists studio, set in a meadow, overlooking the sea

·       A daily spiritual and physical routine designed to keep me healthy, wealthy and wise

·       An attitude of gratitude for the riches life has already blessed me with

I will start tomorrow with the big reveal - MY DEBT - not even taken a good look at this myself yet, just peeped, but unnerved enough to get back on here ..... one step at a time.

Brie

Loving the range of things in your dream.  I'd love an artist's studio but might go for a meadow at the edge of the woods.  All I've got so far is a cluttered desk that looks out at the junk stacked up in the car port! 

vampirotoothus

Morning, I love your dreams. Looking forward to seeing your plans and how life unfolds. V x 

scrooge2008

Thank you for your posts fellow dreamers .

A bit of background ....

I am a married nurse and an artist, who owns and manages a care company and a number of rental properties.  On paper quite well off, but the issue now is cash flow and debt. 

18 months ago I rebelled against a lifestyle which was becoming a 24/7 vampiric drain on me.  I was caring for everyone else and neglecting my own dreams.  I was resentful and frustrated and suffering from Long Covid.  I read a post on the MSE retirement thread about 'quietly quitting' and that is what I have been doing ever since (although not always quietly .)

I started by moving my three most profitable and demanding clients on to other care companies and have taken on no new business since.  Fixed costs have remained the same and income has gone down, but I have had 18 months to repair my body, mind and soul, becoming an expert at saying 'NO' and discovering the beauty of boundaries.  I feel my spirit of adventure, 'Joie de Vivre' is returning to me, at long last and I want to dance my way through whatever time I have left on this beautiful planet, so I am ready for a realistic plan.

My debt is as follows:-

Pulse   -   £6,662.60  - interest rate - 2.4%
Virgin   -   £6,000.00 - interest rate -  0.0%
HMRC -   £5,712,99 - Interest rate -  7.0%

Total - £18,375.59

Estimated June 2025 tax bill - £8,000.00.00 total debt then £26,375.59

I was debt free before my melt down, so this equates to around £1,000.00 a month, for the privilege of taking a good, long rest. It was worth it!
 
Plan to start tackling it though tomorrow.

vampirotoothus

I'd recommend doing a statement of affairs to see where you are with income and expenses. Also use the Snowball calculator to look at the repayment of your debts. Good luck V x

scrooge2008

Thanks vampirothoothus,

I will try and do some sort of Statement of Affairs tomorrow.  The reality here is that household finances are healthy and run by DH.  There is no debt and an emergency fund.  Three of the properties are jointly owned with the money going to pay off the mortgages completely, before we both retire, so they will form a pension.  I give DH a fixed sum each month to cover my share of household bills.  The other two properties are owned by my business.

The business debt, on analysis, is a combination of a very high tax bill and a conscious choice to take a semi-sabbatical for 18 months, to recover my health and I did not budget for it.  I do not want to confuse the two and DH has largely been on side, trusting the process, so the SOA, tomorrow, will cover the income and expenditure I control.  

Today I am posting my SWOT analysis and a debt repayment plan for the outstanding debt and an estimate of my next tax bill, which is due in June 2025.  I have been behind the curve with my tax bills and I want to be paying on account by next March 2026.  The estimated HMRC bill has upped my total debt to £26,712.00.  

Virgin CC	HMRC 1	Pulse CC	HMRC 2	Month	Repay	Total Debt
						£26,712.00
£600.00	£816.00	£700.00		April 25	£2,116.00	£24,596.00
£600.00	£816.00	£700.00		May	£2,116.00	£22,480.00
£600.00	£816.00	£700.00	£800.00	June	£2,916.00	£19,564.00
£600.00	£816.00	£700.00	£800.00	July	£2,916.00	£16,648.00
£600.00	£816.00	£700.00	£800.00	August	£2,916.00	£13,732.00
£600.00	£816.00	£700.00	£800.00	September	£2,916.00	£10,816.00
£600.00	£816.00	£700.00	£800.00	October	£2,916.00	£7,900.00
£600.00	£0.00	£700.00	£800.00	November	£2,100.00	£5,800.00
£600.00	£0.00	£700.00	£800.00	December	£2,100.00	£3,700.00
£600.00	£0.00	£700.00	£800.00	January	£2,100.00	£1,600.00
£0.00	£0.00	£0.00	£800.00	February	£800.00	£800.00
£0.00	£0.00	£0.00	£800.00	March	£800.00	£0.00
£6,000.00	£5,712.00	£7000.00	£8,000.00

scrooge2008

SWOT Analysis

Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats

Strengths of the Plan

My business can currently support the debt.

The business has £83,000.00 in assets, although illiquid property, it could be re-financed/sold if absolutely necessary.  

The repayment plan could be extended over a longer period of time.

I am physically and mentally well again and beginning to feel a desire to captain the ship, steering it off the looming rocks.

Opportunities

From 9th August 2025 I intend to start working part-time too, PAYE and this is not factored into the cash flow.  I will begin at £300.00 a month and increase this by 10% each month.

I have some new business ideas which could prove profitable and enjoyable in the longer term.

I am starting to cut costs, the lease on my office (£500.00 a month/includes internet/gas/electricity) ends in August 2025.  I intend to work from home after that and my next ‘office’ will be my art studio in April 2026 ……

Weaknesses

My health may fail impacting on my ability to implement the plan effectively.  As I take up the business reins, I need to be incredibly conscious about balance and self-care.  I do not wish to fall back into old 'saving and rescuing' patterns.  I am very conscious of the new buzz words for nurses ..."I Matter Too".

My motivation may collapse and I risk continuing my unaccounted for sabbatical extending D Day into the mists of never land.  I plan to post regularly on here to keep me focused and to mitigate against this eventuality.  

I have no emergency fund and wish to build this up to £5,000.00 before March 2026 (Seperate plan).  

I have not worked out how profitable each section of the business is and I am not adequately prepared for repairs on properties and other risk factors.

Threats

My year end accounts are due to be filed shortly.  Last years tax bill was astronomical, approaching £20,000.00, and a major factor in my debt, This was 250% higher than it had ever been in the past.  Accountant said it was down to increased turnover, taking me over certain thresholds.  I have no idea what I will be hit with this year, but hopeful that because turnover has been significantly reduced that it will have returned to normal levels of around £8,000.00.  I have budgeted for that, but fingers and toes are crossed here.

I may lose clients and this is not factored in.  If this happens before March 2026 I would need to adjust the plan according to the profit lost and increase my PAYE work.

vampirotoothus

All sounding really positive and good to have the plan in place. Maybe it's worth asking the accountant to explain more re the thresholds as you need to build them into your business plan if they have that much impact. V x

scrooge2008

Yes,  I agree, that is really important.   My year end is 31st August of each year and my accountant has got into the habit of giving me accounts to check a few days before they need to be submitted on 1st June of the following year.  The huge one relates to 31st August 2022 - 31st August 2023 which I learned about on 30th May 2024 and HMRC offered a repayment plan for it, recognising it was far larger than normal.  I just finished paying that off last month. 

The current HMRC repayment plan relates to my self assessment, which the accountant also did at the last minute although he had the information for it about six months before.  This includes a £2500.00 payment on account, so I will be getting that one back on track by September. 

I phoned the accountant yesterday, as he has had all my information for company accounts since September 2024 and promised it would be done that month and yet it is still outstanding.  He has now promised it will be done before the end of April, which will give me time to go over it with a fine toothcomb.  I will also insist that the next one is done in September at which point I am considering moving accountants to one who can help me to understand it all a bit better.  The current accountant is a young graduate, in a big firm and I have very little confidence in him.  The older guy he replaced had been doing my accounts for many years and I never had any shocks ..........

in_need_of_direction

You absolutely need an accountant you can work with. A smaller practice may be a better option for you 

scrooge2008

Business SOA April 2025 

Thanks INOD, I agree with you.  I should have sorted this out, sooner and I have started looking now.  My current accountant does my wages/invoicing/year end accounts and self assessment for £150.00 a month.  

The turnover for the business now, is half what is was 18 months ago, at that point there was a very healthy profit each month and I was lax with watching the pennies. 

Well that was a sobering exercise.  There is no wiggle room here and I have had my eye totally off the ball for 18 months.  I now realise that a factor that has contributed to the debt are expenses at properties that are not adequately factored in.  For example, I was informed of a blocked drain, yesterday and that will require a Dynarod visit and at least £250.00.  There was also around £1500.00 in damage from recent storms, tiles lost on all roofs.  It cost around £350.00 for each property, which was too small for insurance.  There are regular small repairs, but these add up.  This SOA does not factor in my next HMRC bill, but at that point there will be no rent to pay and I have targeted myself with an additional £300.00 of income.

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2 

Number of children in household......... 

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income ................ 12941 (Business Income - pre tax and expenses below)

Partners monthly income after tax....... 

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 12941[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 525

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 894.3

Rent.................................... 365

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 0

Electricity............................. 40 (Business Premises)

Gas..................................... 40  (Business Premises)

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 0

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 15

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 600

Clothing................................ 20

Petrol/diesel........................... 150

Road tax................................ 17

Car Insurance........................... 30

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30

Car parking............................. 10

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10

Haircuts................................ 60

Entertainment........................... 50

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 20

Dividend (paid to DH)................... 950 (Paid for my share of Household Expenses)

Life Insurance.......................... 9.75

Licenses................................ 20

Bank Costs.............................. 30

Accountant.............................. 150

Wages................................... 6704.84 (Includes payments to HMRC)

Gym Membership.......................... 78[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 10838.89[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 180000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 18000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 198000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 29000....(525)......2.5 (Rental Property - Capital Repayment)

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 18000....(359.3).... Car 

Mortgage.......................48745....(535)......2.75[b] (Rental Property - Capital Repayment)

Total secured & HP debts...... 95745.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Virgin.........................6000......600.......0

Pulse..........................7000......700.......2.15

HMRC...........................5712......800.......7[b]

Total unsecured debts..........18712.....2100......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 12,941

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 10,838.89

Available for debt repayments........... 2,102.11

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,100[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 2.11[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 198,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -95,745

Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,712[b]

Net Assets.............................. 83,543[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com. 

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]