Statement of intent

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

Remember this thread does not constitute financial advice!

Just realised one positive thing about H1N1; it saved me 6 days of commuting so about £52 of petrol.

Good savings:D Don't worry I'm still sitting in cash.being an ultra cautious type - which is why there has been a massive rally The Dow and FTSE have been partying without me:p

RosieTiger

StuartGMC wrote: »

Remember this thread does not constitute financial advice!

Just realised one positive thing about H1N1; it saved me 6 days of commuting so about £52 of petrol.

Thats dedication for you - Roy Castle would have loved you !

StuartGMC

setmefree2 wrote: »

Good savings:D Don't worry I'm still sitting in cash.

Is that the MSE equivalent of a pig in muck? :rotfl:

being an ultra cautious type - which is why there has been a massive rally The Dow and FTSE have been partying without me:p

Yes, but in August you'll be saying how little you've lost in contrast to those of us who continued to invest during July... as someone noted to me today, you could lose it all Stuart in the markets.

Who can tell, all I can say is the present investments are 13.58% down (so you are still making more money at 1% interest rate than we are) on the present investments, but 16.35% down if you include the loss we took in early 2008 when we got out of Schroder UK 350

I think we'll likely end up with more % cash in our overall savings and investments than the "recommended" values somehow as only 10% seems too low to me. This is threatened only by the fact I've been looking at the new Jaguar XJ model; OH reacted odd when I said I spec-ed one online and it was well under £60k - it may mean I'm not allowed one (well actually I couldn't afford it but it is a beautiful car and so well equipped, ahh well just a dream)

One thing I did today annoyed me; my local petrol station (TOTAL) has put their 97RON Excellium petrol on a pump that has always been standard 94RON so I paid £1.109 per litre not £1.039 per litre :mad: However, online their web site says if I don't see an improvement in economy I can claim back the 7p per litre difference on £25 or more. They claim you should see it on one tank but two may be required. So I may just fill up once more, but I need to see at least a 6.7% increase in mpg to make it worthwhile (in my case about 1.9mpg). Car was just serviced so I'll see what it turns in and need to do so while weather etc remains constant. She did seem to run a little better so I'll see what it feels like the rest of the week.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

twinklie wrote: »

My OH is contemplating doing a PhD....
It also needs to be funded, which is a problem.

Depends on the subject to whether funding is already in place.
Many PhDs advertised by unis, particularly maths, engineering, science areas already have funding attached.

If it's not a subject where that happens then the best bet is to come up with the idea for the research and apply for the grant/funding directly. Once you have funding try approaching local uni with your funding and ideas. They're very welcoming if you already have the money.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Sorry to hijack your thread with PhD chat Stuart.

The 'lure of money' as you put it! Thats a funny one. I decided a PhD straight after my undergrad degree was the best way forward. A small step up moneywise (huge when you realise you don't pay back the PhD money) and I don't think I'd have ever gone back if I'd gotten used to working life first.

I still won't be bribed. My mum calls it stubborn-ness though!

Can't remember the last time I looked at my spreadsheets. Maybe I'll go check the E.On ones now!

StuartGMC

MRN
No problem, this thread often drifts off topic :rotfl:
Well I need to look at the markets now for the situation on our funds; not expecting it to be very good though today.

StuartGMC

Just read the meters for past two weeks.
Data now are as follows from Oct 08 based upon our estimates
Avg daily Day rate electricity 12.73kWh
Avg daily Night rate electricity 2.86kWh
Avg daily electricity consumption 15.59kWh

Avg daily gas consumption 37.16kWh

I'll do a full check in late September which will be the first annual period with BG and the new meters. Hopefully holiday will help to pull down average for electricity. I think the slight increase in the past two weeks is due to me being home with H1N1 and then working from home for a further couple of days - computers, TV and kettle all adding to energy used above normal.

evab_2

Hi Stuart, just popping in to see if you are making a good recovery.

Best wishes Eva

StuartGMC

We've just returned from our holiday in Mexico (Yucatan peninsula) where we enjoyed initial R&R in a wonderful 5* resort on the Maya Riviera, then a four day tour covering 1000km (625miles) across the peninsula from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Mexico via Tulum, Coba, Uxmal and then Chichen Itza. Absolutely made our holiday visiting the Mayan sites with an excellent guide and only a total of 9 (Brits) on the tour. :j:j:j

So, I've obviously much to catch up on here but we need to go and collect the cat from the cattery now (having used a taxi for the 2hrs from Gatwick earlier and refreshed to be safe to drive a short distance). Anticipate he will not be too pleased with us; it's the longest we've left him since we re-homed him in late November (after he was abandoned in a cattery for 15months by previous owners :mad:) and he does like his open space so I think he'll be grumpy.....

I'll catch up on the diaries just as soon as I can but I can note that our ISA S&S Funds seem to have done well in the past two weeks which is great to see in summer.
TTFN

chirpchirp

Great to see you back Stuart, you've been missed!

I got some unhappy ISA info earlier today, glad yours is doing well!