Statement of intent

StuartGMC

EH
Thanks; that'sin my mind too. Expect some cash returned from present supplier of about £155, so may just pay straight into savings (offsetting) or to BG but this doesn't go well for us....

StuartGMC

Checked with NatWest and was advised that if set the direct debit to pay in full they take it 10 days in advance, only the minimum payment will be taken 2 days before.

As we offset, this represents 6 days less offsetting of some £2000 per month (if business expenses on there too), so not happy to do this and thus will continue manual set up on online payment per month.

StuartGMC

Well, as per my present sig and page #1, you'll know I have been planning on hitting 100% offset by Dec 2010.

Looking at our present position and assuming the worst increases in costs are now in the system, I think we can improve on this significantly. Having increased our OP on the mortgage and deciding to defer major spend on refitting our lounge (daughter wants a cat so seems sensible to see how well it behaves before replacing items!), I think we may get to 100% offset in Sept 2009... and will be disappointed if we haven't achieved by Dec 2009 (assuming we can defer drawing on savings for car replacement etc).

Our OP only equates to about £2200 per year, (much less than many of you) but see page #1 on our thoughts on balancing mortgage and other items.

Our original mortgage term of 25yrs ran to Oct 2019, so this would be almost 10yrs early and I will "only" be 44 rather than my original target to be financially "free" by 48 :j :j :j

Of course, we'll need our cash reserves built up behind this before paying off the mortgage but we won't incur interest after this date (so a not-quite-MF by then)

So, continuing this theme, we would aim to rebuild instant access savings by Dec 2010 (whilst continuing our S&S ISAs of course), then switch more money into Cash ISAs. At this stage we could clear the mortgage, 8yrs and 10mnths early :T

This is going to be a tough target overall and I don't intend to make cuts to our lifestyle to achieve it, but, it is a real eye-opener to see it is possible, and it would start our saving towards dd's needs when she is 18, even earlier

shopgirl2512

Hi!

Hope all is well!

I have every intention of sorting out my finances, but instead of doing it, I have spent many a fascinated hour reading about how you all have been doing...all of which is very interesting, but has done nothing for my bank account or my mortgage! I have never posted on here before - infact, I'm not convinced this reply will end up in the right place...:rotfl:

Stuart, I was hoping you could help me out...? Is there any chance you could send me your spreadsheet please? Hopefully this could get me started and I will become a spreadsheet addict and my mortgage will disappear before my eyes!:T

Many thanks.

Shopgirl

Optimisticpair

I would like a copy of your spreadsheet too please Stuart if you wouldn't mind. I just hope it is easy enough for me to use.

Now that things are levelling up and after we have moved I will have more time to pay attention to the nuts and bolts in greater detail.

StuartGMC

shopgirl2512 wrote: »

I have every intention of sorting out my finances, but instead of doing it, I have spent many a fascinated hour reading about how you all have been doing...all of which is very interesting, but has done nothing for my bank account or my mortgage! I have never posted on here before - infact, I'm not convinced this reply will end up in the right place...:rotfl:

Welcome to the "family", I am sure you've seen some great tips and ideas to collate and allow you to plan to tackle your finances, and of course, you've found a friendly group who are happy to help

Stuart, I was hoping you could help me out...? Is there any chance you could send me your spreadsheet please? Hopefully this could get me started and I will become a spreadsheet addict and my mortgage will disappear before my eyes!:T

Of course I can; I'll PM (personal message) you my e-mail address so you can have Excel and OpenOffice versions. You'll need to click on "User CP" in the pale green menu above to get to your messages if you don't have the pop up set.;)

StuartGMC

Optimisticpair wrote: »

I would like a copy of your spreadsheet too please Stuart if you wouldn't mind. I just hope it is easy enough for me to use.

Now that things are levelling up and after we have moved I will have more time to pay attention to the nuts and bolts in greater detail.

Good to hear you are making such progress :T

As for reply to Shopgirl, I'll PM you, please don't be overawed initially when you see it.

The spreadsheet is a budgeting sheet not a mortgage sheet, and it has grown over a few years to the present state. I've created a blank version to send out in OpenOffice and Excel formats with lots of annotation so I hope it is now clear to follow with the dummy data in there too. Have a play around and you'll soon get the hang of it; it includes the offset calc, but you can ignore if not relevant.

Enjoy it and I'd welcome feedback :beer:

shopgirl2512

Hi there Stuart! Thanks very much for the welcome - you all seem to be a very friendly bunch!

Just a quick note to say I have messaged you re: spreadsheet and I look forward to sorting myself out...fingers crossed;) .

Thank you ever so much the the speedy reply and for helping me out. I'll let you know how it goes (cheeky question...if I get confused can I bother you with questions?!?!).

Have a good week!

shopgirl2512

Evening!

Got your spreadsheet - thanks very much! Just one problemo...excel shuts down whenever I try to open it. Can't see what I'm doing wrong, but it's probably something blatently obvious .

Will keep trying! Thanks again - I'll let you know how I get on.

StuartGMC

Not sure what may be causing this, others have the xls version working ok I think. Try opening it from within Excel?