Hurrah, my MFW quest has started

abouttimetoo

Hi Lulabelle

Yes, I know what you mean and from time to time I see posts on here (and slightly critical posts about our board on other boards) around how we all seem to be mindlessly focussed on just paying off the mortgage rather than seeing MFW as just being part of the grander plan which is to maximse and improve all our wealth by paying attention to all the other things such as the things you mention like pensions, investments etc

How did you get on with the IFA? I'm in the same boat and really need to spend some time looking at my pension situation as I have an unfortunate habit of a) relying on it being a nice old fashioned final salary scheme and b) getting distracted by something more interesting such as filing my nails :rotfl:I don't know what it is about pensions but I just can't seem to get excited about them and in fact I'm pretty cynical about the whole things and have seen a lot of people burned by schemes. I'm sure in my posting history I have stated 'I must look at my pension' but have I done it yet, nope! Mind you, I did get my annual statement this month and read it avidly and I'm pretty happy with it I just have that nagging doubt of should I be doing more!

The shares money is still sitting in my account and still burning a whole in my pocket

abouttimetoo

Hi all

Well, I've had a very mixed week. Work wasn't too bad but I caught some bug and I'm still feeling rather pathetic and my brain is quite mushy so I'm staying away from complicated work things this afternoon and I'll do a few hours over the weekend when hopefully I'm feeling more sparkly

I've had 5 NSD's on the 'normal' spend front though the minor car repairs I mentioned turned out not to be so minor so that was an unexpected bill of £205 but at one point I feared it was going to be higher so I guess I'd just better be thankful

I've also made another OP of £86.83 which means I've made a capital reduction of a nice round £1000 this month and I think in view of the car bill that will be the final OP of the month. I'm really miffed about the car as I had my eye on that money for either extra money to the parents or to the stooze CC but now it's that point in the month where there is nothing more that can be done until pay day, don't you just hate it when that happens!

Regards
ATT

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi ATT, firstly hope tomorrow finds you feeling more sparkly. I now have a picture of you in a glittery frock !

On the pension front, I guess we each have to do what works for us. I have gingerly looked at other boards but they seem SO aggressive that I quietly retreat back here. Yes we could probably all do more but knowing that we will reduce our mortgage is a big step in the right direction. We still have time to build other pots up and I guess there are probably smarter ways, but for me I need to see that mortgage number come down - having a bigger pension wouldn't help that aspect. I hope that makes sense.

You may need to get a needle and cotton out soon and mend the hole in your pocket.....

Have a good weekend and hope you feel your normal self in the morning. Best wishes Tiily x

lulabelle1

Hi there....

It went well - I was really pleased that he told me I was doing exactly the right thing by paying down the mortgage and seemed to share the opinion that being free of the mortgage should be the first priority and then look at investments a little bit later.....

I'm going to change my pension, at the moment I have a stakeholder pension but I'm going to change it to a pension where I can elect funds and go for something a little riskier as this more suits my outlook. I shall increase my payments slightly but nothing exciting until the mortgage is cleared.

I agree - I'm super sceptical about them and can't get excited at all. It's just one of those things that i guess needs to be done. Once I have changed the type of pension that I have I will be able to take money back from it (unto half of the amount invested) and I can invest it in commercial property which could then be let out. Clearly, I would need to do much more research in to this before any decisions are made but its something that I like the idea of. It might be an idea for me to do this through my pension rather than investing in traditional B2L.

Best of luck in getting excited enough to look at yours!!

abouttimetoo

abouttimetoo wrote: »

I've just seen an email pop in saying my quarterly gas and electric bill is ready so must have a look at that. They will be the last quarterly bill as I'm now on a new tariff with monthly bills and I think I'm going to prefer that.

Just to add that the gas bill will be £144.11 which is a bit higher than I was expecting as I we haven't had as bad a winter as we had last year and I didn't think I'd had the heating on anywhere near as much, that said, it's still in the right ball park area so not too bad all things considered and I do like to be warm!

The electric was £47.92 which is totally in line with the norm

Regards
ATT

abouttimetoo

Hi Tilly

Yes, that makes perfect sense and is line with my own thinking too; the mortgage is the biggest thing for me and is where I concentrate my efforts as the other things are ok/stable and in time I will turn my attention to them

lol re the sparkly dress, old jeans was as good as it got on Saturday and didn't even get dressed properly yesterday I'm feeling much better now though

PS, that hole in my pocket is now half stiched up :rotfl:

abouttimetoo

Hi Lullabelle, sounds like the meeting went well and great to have the validation from the IFA that paying down your mortgage is the right thing to be doing.

Investing in commercial property sounds interesting, keep us informed!

Regards
ATT

abouttimetoo

A quick update on spending: I spent £35 on a massage at the weekend but in my view this is more of a need rather than a pamper as they keep me ticking over! I also spent £25 in Mr T but I combined my shopping with my mother, this meant that I paid for it all on my CC, got the clubcard points, got the £5 off next shop for spending more than £40 and got the 10p a litre off fuel as we spent more than the required £60. I don't need fuel for a while so I've given the voucher to my mother as she really does go through it at a rate of knots. I also used a £1.50 Mr T voucher that had come through the post that very day

Yesterday was a NSD. Today I've paid £15 to three leaving gifts at work although this is a very rare occurence. So after that I'm pretty much expecting the rest of this week to be NSD's.

Get paid next week :j

abouttimetoo

Hmm, famous last words, guess who ended up doing more miles than expected and had to put £25 of fuel in today but had already given away my petrol voucher

So Tuesday and Wednesday were NSD's and to-morrow will be too. I've got a dentist check up and polish on Saturday so that will no doubt be expensive.

I've also realised that I need to renew my passport which is £77 :eek: I plan to do that at the weekend as I'm going to need it

I got the Paris trip booked up and upgraded on the Eurostar bit so I'm really looking forward to it :jnot going for a few months yet though and i can see that as long as you have less than 9 months less on your passport (which i have) they will extend your new passport by the amount you have left

Can't wait for next week as will be able to make my next OP but can't wait to get the next two weeks out of the way work wise

Hope you are all doing well with your plans

Regards
ATT

TallGirl

Wow £77 for a new passport I get mine in Denmark and they are about £60 always thought the UK was cheaper. Paris sounds lovely and no hanging around airports is going to be fab.