Just wanting to say hi!

atypicalblonde

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update from me. I am planning on doing some more number crunching this evening, and I have decided that having a MF date in mind will really help me to focus upon overpaying. Our original end date was June 2032, and my aim is to have paid it off it full by September 2015, giving me just under seven years.

Achievable? I think so! I am going to amend my signature now, wish me luck! x

staceydaisy

hi just wanted to welcome you remember everything helps. When i decided to op mine i read up that for every £1.00 we borrowed we pay back £2.64 great incentive eh. My mortgage is also due to end 2029 my apr is 6.94. i am aiming to have mine paid by the time im 35 which gives me and my partner 12 years but we also want to upgrade too eventually.

setmefree2

atypicalblonde wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update from me. I am planning on doing some more number crunching this evening, and I have decided that having a MF date in mind will really help me to focus upon overpaying. Our original end date was June 2032, and my aim is to have paid it off it full by September 2015, giving me just under seven years.

Achievable? I think so! I am going to amend my signature now, wish me luck! x

with that

SmlSave

We do essentially live quite a frugal life for our age, the one main expenditure being our lovely car which OH is crazy about. I just get so excited about the prospect of owning this house, and being able to rejoice about the amount of interest that we have saved, that I feel we should be trying harder to overpay more sometimes. I know that I am being too hard on myself, and that what we have achieved already is fab.

Well I think you've being doing wonderful! :T

Good Luck with the 2015 target!

atypicalblonde

Thanks again for the encouragement guys. I have done really well on ebay and have managed to clear the CC, which is great news x

setmefree2

atypicalblonde wrote: »

Thanks again for the encouragement guys. I have done really well on ebay and have managed to clear the CC, which is great news x

Well done on clearing the cc...:D

atypicalblonde

Hi everyone

Quick month end update frome me - is anyone else unbelievably glad to have January out of the way?!

I have achieved my list of jobs for January which is pleasing. The plan for February is as follows:

1. Look at changing existing savings accounts due to shocking interest rates on them (see below for more on this);
2. Increase our standard OP by £150 to £550 per month - I did my budget and realised we CAN squeeze this into the monthly SOA without too much pain, so am going to go ahead and do it ; and
3. Continue to keep grocery spends low.

Re the savings - I have been umming and aahing about these for a while. I essentially have about £3.5k in savings, which is my 'rainy day' money. I was going to make a 'spare cash' OP onto the mortgage of £1000 last week from this. but have now decided that I will leave it where it is for the minute.

Quick question re pensions (StuartGMC I really hope you read this as you are the pensions guru to me on here!) - I currently contribute 5% and company 6%. At my age (23) and due to the fact I have a mortgage, am I better to cancel my contributions in the short term and bung it all onto the mortgage, or continue with it?

Thanks guys xxx

StuartGMC

atypicalblonde wrote: »

Quick question re pensions (StuartGMC I really hope you read this as you are the pensions guru to me on here!) - I currently contribute 5% and company 6%. At my age (23) and due to the fact I have a mortgage, am I better to cancel my contributions in the short term and bung it all onto the mortgage, or continue with it?

ATB
I don't think I'd describe myself as a pensions guru
I am also not an IFA, but, I believe it is commonly held wisdom to contribute to your pension alongside your other investments and to do so from your early 20s. Continuing now means the "pot" grows, but if you defer then proportionally you'll need to pay even more when older. Remember you get tax benefit from the pension contribution too, and it won't be "savings" if the worst happens and you need to claim benefits.

As I'm in the old-fashion final salary scheme I can't comment on the proportion you are saving to the pension, you may want to read up on that. However, to stay in the scheme our own contributions went from 5% to 8% then 10% due to the issues of companies having adequate cover (their contribution increased too, and for me is now 25% of salary; their limit on money purchase scheme is to double staff contribution upto 4% i.e. they'll pay 8% max which I understand is still good).

You are doing extremely well, do try to look at the "big" picture for a balanced portfolio of planning for the future, and do please, have some fun along the way; holidays are very different once you have children so make sure you have some now with OH and enjoy them together whilst you have "free" choice in destinations and time of year to take them.

It is worth noting that I am sure we could have paid back much earlier if we really pushed harder, but, we have had a balance of hitting an early repayment and other things in life, although not to excess. I'd recommend a route which gives you funding into pensions, savings/investments, a few nice treats along the way and the mortgage.

Remember you never know what's round the corner, I had a major car accident at 27 just 5wks before our wedding, then went back to living away in the week as the job market was so bad. Within 4months I was made redundant with no redundancy pay as company went bust then after 2 further months was commuting 120miles a day to get to/from work. Within 2 yrs we were at last able to afford a mortgage! Life's like that :rotfl::rolleyes:

setmefree2

ATB

I think (though I'm no expert ) you should make the maximum personal contribution that gets the maximum contribution out of your employer.

Most employers have a ceiling on their contributions - presumably your employer's is 6%? In order to get 6% you have to contribute 5% - is that correct?

Regards

SMF2

atypicalblonde

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the wise words Stuart, they are greatly appreciated and are food for thought. OH and I are both lucky to have very well paid jobs for our ages - well, I say lucky, we have both worked very hard to get the jobs we have and for that I am very proud. Rest assured that fun is still very much on the agenda - holidays are something that we will never compromise on, and we know we need to make the most of these now when it comes to choice of location and time of year. We have just spent £1600 on a week's break for us in summer to a fabulous resort, which will be a fantastic holiday.

The OPs we make don't leave us short in any way, and I will ensure that if I ever feel I am stretching us too much I will take a step back and re-assess.

Re the pension - at my level in the company the maximum we can contribute is 5%, for which the employer does 6%. In a few months though when I go up a level, I can opt to contribute 6% for which my employer contributes 8%. I have had a good think and have decided to leave it well alone - the contributions have been made since I joined and as such the money isn't missed in any way.

Thanks again guys xx