From -£1,523.00 to +£50,000

Hello folks!

I am starting this thread as a follow-on from a thread I started on another board here that ended up a bit of a mess due to other people's pessimism. Mods, please do not move this thread as I don't want it on the 'up your income' boards etc as it's intended as a bit of fun and I want it hosted somewhere that it will be treated as a bit of fun and (hopefully) will provide the readers with some entertainment.

Here is the story: -

I am 31 years old.
I own no property.
I share a flat with the flat's owner.
I own very little possessions. I am not a materialistic person at all.
I am a professional, earning in the £20,000-£25,000 banding.
My current finances are -£1,523.00

I realised recently that it was time I stopped playing around and took my life seriously. Specifically, I really needed to get some money and property.

I've always been quite a bright fellow (as many people here are), a good planner, problem solver and I am generally very analytical. In the organisations I have worked in, I have often been noted for my ability.

So, here goes - I am going to try and turn my finances around. Specifically, I am going to try and have £50,000 banked 12 months from now. I will do anything legal in order to get this money - financial loopholes, salary, ebay, second job etc. Anything and everything. That's it right there - if there is anything, no matter how big or small that will help me, I am going to take it. I expect the next 12 months of my life to be a period of hard work and achievement.

I also have several major goals I want to achieve on a personal level but I will not list them now. I will, however, list them at the end of the 12 months whether I achieved them or not.

My point here is not to draw attention to myself nor am I doing this out of desperation. I am doing this because I want to be occupied and I want to show to myself that I can - at last - make use of my intelligence and achieve the things I wanted to on a personal level.

If I end up with nothing much after the 12 months, I won't really care. I am not trying to get out of depression. I am pretty happy but I just know that there are certain things I need to do to make myself happier and more secure. However, I If I end up no better off because of my own apathy, I will be deeply disappointed with myself.

One of the problems I will have with reporting everything is that I am not going to go into details about many of things I will be doing. This is because the business model I will be using can be easily copied. Also, certain things will be slightly private.

Again, I am not here to glorify myself at all. It's a bit of fun. I hope I have the trust of the readers and contributors here. I will be bringing across several people form the original thread that PMed me to request updates - c18drm, pink princess, KaBlam, luverlyjuberly, Ben1982, DireEmblem. The support and encouragement you guys have offered has been invaluable.

So I may get this done, I may not. Just to save any disagreements here, I declare it can't be done. So, there - it's 26/02/10 and I have failed to achieve it.

Now, flying back in time, it's 25/02/09 and tomorrow I will attempt to change the future.

Constructive criticism, helpful comments, questions, tips, advice etc are all welcome. If you are just going to be negative about it, please don't bother - this is as much about fun and adventure as anything else.

So, with that said, tomorrow I get cracking...

Edit:

BTW I respectfully request that no arbs are posted on this thread as I don't not follow publicly broadcasted arbs. If you have one though, feel free to PM me!

Latest update 16/03/09

Total figure aimed for: £51,523.00
Starting finances: £-1,523.00
Money pooled so far: £ 2,345.00
Current finances: £ 822.00
Revised figure: £49,178.00

This week's thoughts

Not terribly much to report really. The money is still (slowly) trickling in to the pot but I realise now that I absolutely need to start a new approach to this, which I have had in mind for a long time. One of the "problems" I am having right now is finding enough hours in the day. Unlike before I started this, I spend all day being constructive towards my goals. Perhaps most importantly, I continue to study language everyday. I am so much happier with myself and the direction of my life now that money is not always on my mind but it's the point of this whole thing and, realistically, most important right now.

Next update will be the first complete month of this blog, and I will need to take a long hard look at the direction of this whole thing and look towards making massive changes to my income streams.

* Debt free for the first time in 5 years or so on 16/03/09


Personal objectives/timeline: -

Complete 4 mile cross country running route (date for completion - 27/04/09)

It's been a long time since I was in good shape. I used to be a health freak and would run this (extremely gruelling) route 4 times a week. I am totally out of shape now and I have been for some time. I started running again for the first time in ages yesterday (15/03/09) and I am giving myself 6 weeks to get into shape to complete this route for the first time in years. BTW one of the main reasons it is so difficult is because it is on a hellish gradient right from the start. Just to be clear here - the ability to simply complete the route without stopping is not the aim - I want to able to complete it without stopping, with a good time and not feel like hell the next day from it. I want to be fit enough that I will not suffer lasting physical stress/exhaustion from it. One major roadblock with this is that I will be have a 1-2 week holiday in the coming 6 weeks in which I will be letting myself go (not had a holiday in 18 months+) and I will be smoking and drinking heavily. I think I can still do it though.

Certified Fluency in 5 languages (date for completion - 26/02/10)

Languages aimed for - English (duh!), Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian.

I grew up monolingual (English) but learned Spanish 7-8 years ago (for the hell of it). I have since learned bits of Portuguese and Italian and have been working hard on my German with the aim of becoming totally fluent in all of them. I seem to have the ability to learn a new language completely... like I was born speaking it. Spanish is like that for me but I do not have the versatility I need with it as I simply haven't studied/spoken it enough. I am currently studying language for 1 hour a day, focusing on German. I have a very good friend (best friend, I think) that is German and who is going to help me when I visit them and when we chat on email/MSN.

Spanish is almost done for me, it won't be long. Portuguese is right behind it (I am not anywhere near as good as I am in Spanish but they are very similar and it *should* come quickly once I concentrate on it) and Italian I have done bits of. Really simple language, very similar to Spanish and Portuguese.

It is my aim to complete official certification in all these langauges, probably through the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

Tasks ahead for me in the coming week or so: -

Ebay anything I don't need, get Nationwide account, more MBing, study languages and 1 other skill I am working on, get serious about setting up another source of income I have been researching.

Please not this is still a bit ad-hoc at the moment. I am still working on the structure. This goal was started on a Thursday so I will be looking to post weekly updates every Thursday from now on.

BTW it does look like the original goal of £50,000.00 is not going to be achieved but I am still going to try everything I can and I am loving doing all of this!