Statement of intent

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

So, still things to do once MF, but where will I post my musings and mad ideas?

Here of course - we will give you Honorary Membership

StuartGMC

setmefree2 wrote: »

Went uniform shopping today - cost for 2 boys £250:eek::eek::eek:

Seems to be about the cost for one girl

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

Seems to be about the cost for one girl

Eldest son didn't need trousers and both didn't need shoes or a coat, and we only needed a small amount of PE kit - so I suppose we're lucky! If I'm really, really lucky this might be the last "big load" of uniform that we have to buy as most six forms these days seem to have a non-uniform policy. (This Autumn we will be "going around" sixth forms - doesn't feel like 5 minutes ago since we were looking at High Schools:o).

StuartGMC

SMF2
I firmly believe that time seems to pass much faster now than it ever did once it is marker by terms, half term breaks etc, whereas BC (before children) you simply marked time by holiday and Christmas....

However, it isn't possible for us to do a control experiment to prove the fact, but it gives us an excuse!

As you note, very soon need the funds for their support at 18 irrespective of what they pursue in terms of education or training etc, let's just hope the economy turns round fairly quickly in respect of job and training opportunities but also that the next generation adopt MSE approaches to finance and wealth planning.

StuartGMC

Just requested a further £2.25 from TopCashBack to be paid.

They are looking into the LateRooms missing cashback; I'm hoping it is ok as we had a booking we took in May (which is when cashback should then show up) plus made a reservation at a similar time for the Rat Trap Inn in Usk (lovely name ) where we'll stay soon for a family wedding nearby.

Meanwhile, just realised earlier we hadn't booked cattery for the time away for the wedding, but no problems they have space.

Interestingly after Next, the next best payer for us on TBC is Teleflorist and yet we spend so much more at Next. Just shows how good the Teleflorist deal is.

StuartGMC

GoogleAds payment has just dropped into current a/c at £63.82 which covers about a year as it seems Google cut the per click revenues to sites with the recession. However it still more than covers the web hosting and domain name registration per year so it is fine.

Also updated budgeting spreadsheet as we have lower childcare costs now DD is at secondary school, but I have lifted the allowance for annual school trip costs to £350 pa

Quick update; Anglian water bill arrived for last 6months during which the standing charges and water costs have risen. In Feb we were £31.60 in credit, presently £21.40 in credit but they wanted to raise monthly amount from £36 to £39. I queried this as it didn't seem necessary yet as we remain in credit, so they agreed to leave at £36 and we can call to raise it in six months time if we are then in deficit otherwise their system would do so in a year's time.

StuartGMC

Well I'm back from business trip to Nice, and it was all business before you gainsay me! The €uro is soooo strong; glad we holidayed outside of Europe this year.

I haven't had any break from work since Bank Holiday Monday, into work as normal for 0630hrs tomorrow morning but think I may well slip away a little early in the afternoon (can't do too much as it's not in my ethics plus I don't want my staff getting the wrong idea!).

Finance-wise; well firstly go stockmarket bulls, go! Our total loss on the ISA funds is now only £810 which is rather nice when you realise on 24 Feb it was a loss in excess of £4700:j:j:j

If we had all the monies in from 1 Jan (obviously not as we pay in £300 each month) then it would have been a 55% increase in value which is rather nice to see. Hoping to have the graph lines cross-over soon into total profit for the portfolio.

This also of course highlights need to look at where we're putting money presently and as there seems a movement in commodities and oil hovering just above US$70 then I think it may be time to start contributing into our Neptune Russia and Greater Russia fund which we stopped doing in Dec 2008. Others also need a little tweaking I think and it may be time to get into some EU fund plus commercial property fund to build a position before the latter picks up?

Turning to the mortgage position, OH is paid on Tuesday, and it looks like we're remaining >100% offset this month, so no interest to pay there. In terms of paying off the mortgage though, it is going to need a very careful check on monies in mid-October. My gut feeling presently is that we'll have too little emergency cash then so it looks like a little push back but nothing too significant in the grand scheme of things.

Jaguar sent me another letter about the great offers they have on new and used cars with up to £13000 off... but both OH and DD chimed in with "but then you won't be able to pay off the mortgage!"

Just updated spreadsheet, and having been away since Friday of last week, my spend will be low (few calls I won't claim back, the odd drink etc) no petrol for a week etc etc It all helps!

I'll try to catch up over the weekend on those threads I've not dipped into tonight

SmlSave

Welcome back Stuart

As always your very organised and I'm afraid that the girls are right and you'll have to put the Jagguar letter aside for now....

StuartGMC

SmlSave
Thanks but the apparent organisation is not a feature in everything I do (unfortunately!).

An interesting article for those of you looking at which regions to get into for your funds highlighting Latin America has out-paced Asia in the past decade:

http://www.trustnet.com/News/Research.aspx?id=38934

Will it continue to be true?

Have to say that for us the Threadneedle Latin American fund, which we didn't get into until March 2008 through June 2008 with major amounts and regular monthly thereafter (think about that and then the recent collapse), has swung round and is now just 3.7% down in terms of monies invested over past 18months.

However there is a lot of volatility in the values so the £100 increase in portfolio value in one day today, has to be seen in the context of the overall long term position. At this time therefore the funds are probably still some margin behind the returns we'd have received if placed solely in savings/Cash ISAs, but hopefully we have started to create a diversified spread and long enough hold to give real returns when we choose to capture profits in say, 5-10yrs time during which time being MF we can also build Cash ISAs (needed to fund DD at 18) and lower risk items too.

Do remember though, we also intend to see earlier benefit from being MF than at retirement and will take more weekend breaks, short holidays and such as a "reward" plus "that car"



So as you can see the snapshot looks quite nice now (yellow is amount invested, red is the present value; blue is profit/loss on righthand axis).

Yippeee FTSE closes above 5000! http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/articledisplay.jsp?section=MarketReports&article_id=10050777

StuartGMC

OH converted some Tesco Club Points to vouchers for clothes so got herself some basics for free We're not penny pinching in everything we do and i think it could be tricky once MF not to have spend on frivolous items rise. Need to ensure the spreadsheets stay active!

I've been looking at XF prices online and for the older 2.7 diesel they're about £24-28k whilst the newer better 3.0 diesel (lower emissions, better economy and performance) are still £30-35k...

...needless to say, I'm not getting one now but the 3.0 should be about £25k in a year or so when I can look to buy one (although we have quite a bit of spending to do on the house too (new furniture in lounge and bedrooms, replace gas fire in lounge, then a lot of carpeting to change) so this may be as big a challenge as MFW in terms of getting cash available :rolleyes:

Meanwhile, my new salary has kicked in but the pension is adjusted on 1 Jan, so whilst I can up our investments it will be limited. As funds need £20 min and we run an identical portfolio each, each new fund means £40 per month increase in the investments. So I'm looking carefully now on the changes I may make.