Statement of intent

StuartGMC

SMF2 - thanks :rotfl:

Well, now back in the frame with MSE and planning for the final stage to MFD. Firstly, investments have continued to show growth in the past few weeks (red). I have also corrected the data for the amount invested (yellow) as this somehow was about £1000 less than was actually the case. That means it is even more gratifying to see the reduction in the loss we still have versus the sum invested (blue). As always markets can drop, but it seems to be indicating that my faith that things would improve was a reasonable one. What fun it will be to turn to consider how we than realise the gains in a few years time and take these into less risky assets...



Turning to the mortgage, as noted before we incurred interest of 66p this month, but I've made an additional OP of £100.66 (total payment £750.66 vs the £211 minimum payment). So mortgage is now only £14600 :j

We continue to only pay a total of £300 per month into the S&S ISAs (it will increase in 2010), but I am pleased to have also put £811 into our savings today which will be supplemented by the £101 on SO on 28 Aug.

OH is paying in the travellers cheques from holidays (didn't need them but they are useful as fallback), plus the Mexican Pesos and US Dollars. This should allow me to add more back to the savings which is good as OH car insurance was incurred this month and we've had the extra costs of DD's new school sport wear and uniforms etc.

Finally, further good news is that I've been awarded a pay rise (in addition to the rise we had in January) which was unexpected but more than welcome especially in the present economic climate. I can't yet judge how much this will be net, as 10% will go to pension, NI take % and I think it may incur tax at higher rate (need to check threshold to see if it trips me over to the 40% band).

So, I came back from holiday feeling positive, have tried to maintain this view this week despite some pretty demanding items from my staff. I've now got 3 more staff with PhDs in my unit, and had confirmation a previous colleague is returning to work for me part-time in the autumn having had a career break for her family, so I'm very pleased with the new challenges all this brings. Finally, this weekend is starting well too on the financial front, TopCashBack shows two referrals will accrue to me soon at £2.50 each, have had the 15% cashback for Teleflorist flowers ordered Thursday for my mum for her birthday confirmed immediately plus I should get the Google Ads £60 very soon for past 12months web site adverts... happy days! :j:j:j

Hope you are all also in a positive mindset too :beer:
Edit: Now have holiday comparative costs. These include all costs from leaving front door and return.
2008 - Half-board in Crete £4321
2009 - Mexico all-inclusive in 4 day tour £4508

However, this year we have the cat, so his time in cattery was £97.50 so the difference was £90 (and in effect that was the departure tax of US$52 each of us to come home).

So, 5* all-inclusive on Maya Riviera with a 4 day tour of the Mayan sites did indeed work out to be very close to the costs last year! Just shows how the strength of the Euro impacts on prices in Europe. All we need do now is decide on next year's trip......

RosieTiger

Stuart,
I also think the comparative flying cost between Europe and across the Atlantic never make sense in any case, even before changes to the FX rates.
Sounds like you enjoyed your holiday so worth it whatever the price!

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

So mortgage is now only £14600 :j

Good Luck you are getting so close

StuartGMC

Markets good again; so we now have a loss of only 7.14% on the funds as they are presently and a total position of 9.84% loss when I add in the small loss we took when choosing to cash in Schroder UK 350 Co Fund in July 2008.

Now that all looks nice against the back drop we had last year; if we consider performance over the past 6 months for the holdings we have (not quite accurate as we pound-cost average so these funds accumulate each month) we would have a 42% increase in value since January... if only! However, the real gains as per previous graph are actually reducing the deficit position the funds had been at in late 2008.

However, I read yesterday the Money Observer article commenting upon some pundits stating the recovery is over-done, fundamentals aren't there, v-shaped recovery is built in to expectations which Q3 results won't live up too leading to 50% drops in the major markets.... (article online ahead of magazine being published but only to subscribers).

So, which way to turn?
In reality our options are limited; we are still in negative territory which would be crystalised if we cash in now. However, we may drop back to 50% value if we don't....

My view, is that we are in this for the long haul, so like late 2008 to now when we've continued to invest, I think we'll continue to do so unless things get really bad. One thing to think of is that much of the growth we've seen in our funds has been in the amounts we have invested in the past 10months really.

Anyone want to make a call on the above?

Optimisticpair

StuartGMC wrote: »

So mortgage is now only £14600 :j

.....

You are doing wonderfully well. Not so long to go now! :T
I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday too.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

StuartGMC wrote: »

So mortgage is now only £14600 :j

That's less than our wedding budget... wanna swap?!

StuartGMC

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

That's less than our wedding budget... wanna swap?!

MRN - there's several ways to read that offer

Actually it highlights to me the future costs we'll need to consider for our DD, just hoping to have a few years between MFD and when she needs to call upon some degree of support of a significant amount.

StuartGMC

Markets are up again, so for once I'm happy to see a repetition of the previous few weeks.

I've had my payslip with new salary on it which drops a nice extra into the account tomorrow. Won't change the ISA contributions etc as we're running very tight in terms of when we can pay off from Oct onwards. Also, my pension at 10% is set each Jan, so contribution will be higher in the new year and of course take-home drops. So meanwhile I'll try to build our savings in offset plus OP a little more.

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

Anyone want to make a call on the above?

The crystal ball says....

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

I've had my payslip with new salary on it which drops a nice extra into the account tomorrow.