Turning Straw into Gold: Creating Long Term Security & A Solid Home

MillQueen

@Dakota_Rose if I could do that every week I’d be flying ahead with the debts, but both finding freelance work and my energy for taking it on are sporadic.

I think my plan going forward needs to be to stick within the confines of my basic job tasks and stop going above and beyond, to leave more energy for extra earning.

Dakota_Rose

That sounds sensible! It’s important to balance your energy and not burn out x

MillQueen

I have got my P60 now and the task now is to go through that and my taxes to make sure I have enough set aside to pay them. I am hoping I will have most of it, as I usually set aside 50% of my self employed earnings for tax and student loan, but I had a shaky period after moving house where I couldn't as I had all the big bills together in the same month I moved. I've tried to top it up since so hopefully there's enough money in there. I will keep it as long as possible in the savings account as I get a bonus if I keep it in there.

MillQueen

Grrr, I actually don't have enough set aside to pay the taxes, as they are wanting half of next year's taxes upfront that I haven't earned yet along with this years too, rather than the obvious thing of just taking what was already earned. My tax from the last year is £2388, which I was on track to have ready to pay, but they want an extra £910 as an offset future payment for the 2026-2027 tax year, so the total bill is £3298.

I've only got £1621 in my tax account (because I had to use some when I had to make two mortgage payments on both mortgages in the month I moved house, as all the moving costs came all at the same time). I'm a bit irritated at myself for doing that now and taking money from this account, as I'd normally have had the exact right amount in it for this year's taxes, so that extra £910 wouldn't have felt like the end of the world. I've got until the end of January to pay it, so I need to set aside an extra £200 or so a month until then in that account to settle it.

Better get on with that plan of taking on more extra work outside of work 😬.

MillQueen

I've had to add extra line to my signature 😂

MillQueen

Finance Joke: If you're lonely, buy shares, and then you'll have a bit of company.

(Also pretty useful 😂)

MillQueen

In other news, I have just recalculated my mortgage and net wealth and added those to my signature. The mortgage as well as the postgrad loan will both go under the next thousand within the next month - I like it when that happens. I've got a load of work to do now and I'd like to take a nap, but need to get on with it.

Blackcats

you've reminded me to gather my papers and motivate myself to do my self assessment. It's annoying having to pay in advance - HMRC inflicted that on me last year.

MillQueen

@Blackcats - it's very cheeky of them, as it's more for their benefit than ours. I would usually gradually add the money in an account and keep it there for the full year to get interest until it's time to pay it - heaven forbid anyone should benefit from their own money! It's also ridiculous, as their forecasted figure will be inaccurate because I have no idea how much I will make a year before I have made it. The following year bears no relation to the previous year when self-employed and I'm sure that's the case for many folks.

Chocolatefund

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81984791#Comment_81984791

I'm thinking of making a little net worth spreadsheet for myself. Some internet research shows they can be simple or quite complicated. I also have a DB pension which I'm not sure how to work out. Do you include your pension in today's money in your calculatioms?