watchesandwhisky

Thats what the pirate said in the bar with a steering wheel down his pants!

Never had a problem myself..
 

Just starting out

I am kind of the opposite, I dossed around during my 20s (and most of my 30s) and have to now pay the price of not being willing to accept a long standing self employed "business" never really was that. I'm nearly 39 and I'm just staring. Better late than never though. 
 
I think its tight but doable, Whisky is my luxury I guess, I cant drink often any more but I have enough supply and variety of quality aged single malt to last me for many many years - as in at least over 25 years supply  
Clothes is low I guess, but most of my time is spent in work uniform that is provided free - so my non work cloths get very little use and I am not fussed about fashion or trends. Shoes is my biggest cost as I wear through tread quickly - So probably do need to up this. 
 
Buildings insurance is in service charge for some things, but i also need home insurance for burst pipes ect - when i did a quote it was cheap so didnt include it - but it is a cost. 
I work for the Royal mail, and being a unionised company I feel I am protected better than most - our union is the CWU and they are currently doing BT pay rise and have flat out rejected a £1500 year increase for them - stating a 10% increase is needed before industrial action is taken - the royal mail should be the same, they have just had a bumper year and payed out shareholder a ton in dividends - I Believe they will want the same for us. 
For fun we just go for walks in nice weather really, get some sun! but I also have a top spec gaming pc that will be good for years and a nice tv and entertainment system all paid upfront, plus a sizable physical media collection. So I feel im ok for entertainment, luckily we dont go out much and when we do its cheap. 
Cheers for the imput and thoughts, there sure is a lot to think about! 
 

Cheers @GoldDiggerDave , yeah I think you are right there - We have to do something and it feels like now or never. Will take each day as it comes and work hard to get it cleared! 
For now I am putting all overtime earnt into a stocks and shares ISA, and putting a tenner here and there into a Lifetime ISA for when Im 60. I am hoping that will be a lump sum to help us clear a different mortgage in the future. 
the royal mail pension should grow at the rate of roughly 4.5k a year for 30 quid out my gross pay packet so thats pretty reasonable. It wont be enough but at least we are building equity in a property too. (and without children will be able to use it to fund later life potentially )

I am kind of the opposite, I dossed around during my 20s (and most of my 30s) and have to now pay the price of not being willing to accept a long standing self employed "business" never really was that. I'm nearly 39 and I'm just staring. Better late than never though. 
 
I think its tight but doable, Whisky is my luxury I guess, I cant drink often any more but I have enough supply and variety of quality aged single malt to last me for many many years - as in at least over 25 years supply  
Clothes is low I guess, but most of my time is spent in work uniform that is provided free - so my non work cloths get very little use and I am not fussed about fashion or trends. Shoes is my biggest cost as I wear through tread quickly - So probably do need to up this. 
 
Buildings insurance is in service charge for some things, but i also need home insurance for burst pipes ect - when i did a quote it was cheap so didnt include it - but it is a cost. 
I work for the Royal mail, and being a unionised company I feel I am protected better than most - our union is the CWU and they are currently doing BT pay rise and have flat out rejected a £1500 year increase for them - stating a 10% increase is needed before industrial action is taken - the royal mail should be the same, they have just had a bumper year and payed out shareholder a ton in dividends - I Believe they will want the same for us. 
For fun we just go for walks in nice weather really, get some sun! but I also have a top spec gaming pc that will be good for years and a nice tv and entertainment system all paid upfront, plus a sizable physical media collection. So I feel im ok for entertainment, luckily we dont go out much and when we do its cheap. 
Cheers for the imput and thoughts, there sure is a lot to think about! 
 

For context to the below that I'll add in...
My mortgage is currently £430/month. Was a fixed 5-year mortgage, ends shortly. It'll be the 7th year I have had a mortgage (previously had a 2-year deal). It was a 28-year deal. I'm very early 30's. I have about a third left to pay off of what I took out, as I focused on always getting the 10% overpayment that my bank let's me have for Jan-to-Jan, each year, of the remaining amount. I relied on overtime (my last job came with an unlimited amount) and not going on holiday at all - lockdown was a bit like how I would holiday over the past decade, case in point. I basically viewed my 20's as being the sacrifice to enjoying my 30's and beyond. If the bank has it their way, I will only have a mortgage of circa £215/month from here on, as I have eaten such a huge chunk out of the interest they would have made from me to date. However, my plan is to be mortgage free in about 2-3 years (I will ask to change the term length, or go elsewhere if they refuse).
I am increasingly tempted to pay off my student loan (was plan 1), as I don't have any credit cards/other items on credit. Everything I have I own outright.
My food bill, each month, is equal to that of my mortgage. I budget for £15/day for myself. You need to basically decide what your "luxury" will be. For me, good food is my luxury.
Clothes looks a bit low. For example, a new pair of boots/trainers will blow that limit you have set. Even just buying some new socks will eat 1/3 to 1/2 of that amount.
I don't see entertainment in the above list. Even my boring self has a budget for this (say you watch a film, buy a game, or have a gym/club membership).
The unexpected seems low but, as anyone here will also mention, it's impossible to account for how much this should be. I would say it's lower than mine, but that I rarely end up needing to use it.
Maybe I'm being dumb, but I can't see home and contents insurance anywhere? Is it included in ground rent/service charge?
Have you got an inflation factor in there? Without being rude, are your pay rises keeping up with inflation? I would track that somewhere too. Your overtime might get sucked up holding back the pain of inflation.
The rest are what they are, some vary from what I have too (as I'm sure is the same for everyone).
(Where's your TSF membership allowance...?!)
 
Top tips (even if obvious - and makes it sound like we're housewives sharing housekeeping tips on how to suck eggs!):
Don't use the tumble dryer unless you really need to. Invest in 2-3 heavy duty clothes racks and hang all washing up, even inside (takes up to 2 days to dry, but its free). Big saving on elec bill.
Use a dish washer - ignore doing it by hand - but don't let it run the dry cycle. Use a cloth to dry or let it air dry.
Making your own meals is much cheaper than buying them - duh, but still (eating out is more what I refer to).
You need to consider what "free time" you have and how you use it. If you aren't working, what are you doing? You shouldn't do too much overtime, or you burn out quickly - so, yes, you need to sacrifice some salary for fun too. Then again, if you find that you need an extra £x.xx per month to fund your entertainment, how many hours is this and is it there to be had? If the overtime is not there to be had, where from your budget can you "borrow" this from?
Set a goal of how much you want to repay each month (this will help you see if it's realistic or not). There are spreadsheet examples you can use for this which will take into account the amount you overpay plus what interest is applied to your mortgage (will calculate how many months/overall interest you will shave off your mortgage). Some people use their overpayments to counteract the interest applied each month. I.e., if the bank adds £200 of interest that month, they overpay by £200. Some people have fixed amounts (always pay £200/month). Some have seriously bad OCD (like myself) and like to see the numbers always rounded to the nearest £100 after overpaying by a certain amount each month, so the value wildly varies. Always keep track of it though, you don't want to overpay and be charged by your bank for early repayment - some will also say that you have to overpay in a minimum fixed amount (say £500 in one go), so read the terms properly. One strategy is to build up a big overpayment for the end of the year and "drop the hammer". This allows you to have some float, but to also make the overpayment that works for you and your budget. This is more expensive than doing smaller bits throughout the year though, as interest is calculated on the number of days each month and your interest rate (Feb will be the lowest interest rate you pay each year, as an example).
Pick what works for you and change it as you go if needed. Remember, 10 years is a long time to project into the future (I wonder how many of the more "silver" of our silver apes on TSF will be dead by then, for example - sorry, chaps, but time waits for no man!), so having a game plan that is multifarious and adaptable is the way to go - remember, it's not always the strongest or smartest who survive, it's the ones who can best accommodate and adapt to change.
Hope this helps. Good luck to you, sir, having your own castle is certainly worth it!

Consider term time 25 years was the norm but I'm seeing more taking 35 years and this begs the question will you ever own it especially if you re mortgage at some point within the 35 years.  I got friends of the same age who bought around the same time as us we overpaid and paid off 8-9 early at 38 years old today they still have a 22 year mortgage and will be 67-68 years old before they have paid theirs off.  
Service charges and ground rent can be a real stitch up, so if you are buying an apartment or new build home you really need to look into this.  I've seen horror stories where service charges jump in price and you have no option but to accept them.   Ground rent/lease hold can be a total ripoff in some areas some doubling every 10 years without the option to buy the lease.  

@watchesandwhiskygood luck to you mate sooner or later you’ll have to take them leap.  Sometimes over planning especially long term is as bad as having no plans at all.  Look at 18-24 month plan and if it’s working for you in the shorter term odds are it will also work longer term. 

Hi Roy, I think i have it mostly worked out, i did this pre mortgage application so I could show them I knew what my expenses would be. Let me know if any of these stick out as off, I think I have overestimated on some to be on the safe side.
Per month
Water and sewerage - £31
shopping - £140
Car maintenance, fuel ect £100 (not a lot but a 2 year old honda so reliable and cheap to run)
holiday fund £50
sim contacts £14
mobile phone replacement money £10
internet £25
electricity £150 (its a 1 small bedroom, 1 open plan lounge/kitchen type flat - with electric boiler, flat is EPC - B )
clothes £20
Life insurance - £50
unexpected (prescriptions, medicine, whatever else ect ) - £50
council tax £108
ground rent/service charge £100
Mortgage repayment - £550
Total bills and everything £1400, say £1500 to give some leeway. 
My basic salary just about covers this, but overtime will be needed for savings or overpayments for sure! I guess a figure of £7500 would be good for a 6 month all in emergency fund. 
 

Bet that feels great! 
Yep I think interest is going to be a lot more by the time the ten year fix is up for sure. 
 

That is the future and the metaverse will skyrocket these ‘services’:) you wouldn’t even need robots (there was a cool series of Black Mirror on that)
re SIPP vs stock ISA, not a financial advise  I have both and use SIPP to get 8% from my employer on my gross salary before tax (but will pay income tax normally when i withdraw and only after I reach 55, can’t use it before that). I also contribute 8% so 16% in total. My bet is when I’m old I will need less income than now (might be totally wrong though)
for my share ISA I put money myself (from my after tax income) but I will not pay tax on any capital gains or dividends. I can withdraw at any time but can not pay more than 20k per annum (hard to reach that) 
hope that is helpful but ping me on PM if any questions 
 
 
 
 

In my view SIPP is the most tax efficient vehicle in the U.K. at the moment (especially if you are a high tax earner). In salary sacrifice when you put funds in SIPP you are net of tax and get taxed after you start withdrawing, with ISA/LISA you put funds post tax and not taxed anymore 
both work ok for me, but depends when I plan to spend the money
one rule I have for everything I invest in: I don’t invest until I understand what it is to the last detail (that means, funds, single shares, ETF/ETC, crypto, NFTs, PM, property, Pokémon cards or playboy magazines
until I get absolutely clear 120% clear idea of
1) how it makes cash / profit 
2) what are its risks
3) how much it will cost me to acquire it
4) why someone will buy it from me
i don’t get involved 
Hope that helps 
 
 

Just done the same - 2.08% for 10 years. Great move I think - cant see it getting much lower?? 
Im only a few years older & dont have that much - but it adds up. 
I estimate I have saved about 20k in the last year. 

I think I will overpay the mortgage if I get to a certain level of savings & investments. `
Would be nice to own the house at 52 especially if interest rates go up considerable. 
Imagine another period of 15% the average hope with car loans and stuff will be screwed!! 
I spend all day trying to work out what to do - literally & im still confused. 

We are in an everything bubble & as much as there are beaten down stocks - its a tough call to invest in to equities!! If i had a choice right now it would be GDX, Wheaton & a basket of emerging market ETF's, but even they could tank on a mega downturn as they are listed on the FTSE or US exchanges!! 

The only thing IU can personally see worth investing is Silver, Rum/Whiskey, watches, Lego sets, art and other tangibles. 
Commercial property might have some deals as a lot of people are working from home, but thats mega money. 

Your best bet is to focus your energy on another income stream or several? Vending machines, digital courses, side business. 
Seeting up a very profitable business thats recession proof is probably the best thing & convert it to metals. 
One that requires minimal time to run, is scalable & has little opperating or purchasing costs. 

Sitting on mountain of cash is not abad idea right now you have a plan to execute - I am & so is warren Buffet..  
Crypto, stocks, property you name it should theoretically be on fire sale within a decade if history is anything too go by. 

I dont like the idea of a pension btw. (unless your employed as they add to it, but its still fiat locked with governments)
Look at interactive brokers new ISA - learn how to invest in stocks and bide your time. 
That way your proficient at reading charts / balance statements and knowing whats what. 
 

as Roy said, factor in 6 months worth of running costs and overtime is not a gauranteed income, if you plan on overpayment on your mortgage its something like a max of 9% of the balance per year (may be wrong, but not far off) the way the economy and world politics are going you have locked in for 10 years which is great but assume an increase regularly over that period and by the time you need to look for another product the interest rates may have jumped, lowering your mortgage balance can counter-act increases so you wont get stung with a payment you might struggle with.
I'm lucky as mortgage paid off two months ago and all of my property is now an asset i can utlise fully if needed. 

Yay! Congrats on the mortgage approval!
I think all your ideas are great BUT I'd come back to this in 6 or 12 months time.
You know what the mortgage cost is but you've yet to work out gas/electric/council tax, ground rent (if app), water, internet, car cost, etc. etc. (and the etceteras will multiply!)
Plus there will be increases this year. Now add in food and fuel. Patter of tiny feet?
It will take this long to work out your monthly costs and never rely on overtime to pay bills, that's for the pleasures in life.
Good luck on your new adventure 😀

I'm looking for ideas or tips on things I can do, and opinions on my plans. First a bit about my current situation.
Ok so now mortgage approved assuming the sale completes I will have a mortgage to pay at approx. £580 a month. 
I have practically zero pension provision (as in about 900 pounds!) and I am 39 in June. 
A place to live that is my own has to take priority over pension. So i used a sizable deposit and got a loan to value of 70%.
I have an emergency fund of 4 months full bills to include everything and the mortgage in cash.
I have secured a ten year fix mortgage at 2.59%
I plan to do overtime where possible - and use that money to long term overpay the mortgage...
With a ten year fix I'm thinking I may be better served putting all overpayments into a stocks and shares ISA on some low cost index trackers - ten years is plenty of time, and if the market takes a major dip when its close to re-fixing I don't have to cash out then - I can always get a new fix...
As for pensions I also need to do something, First I thought SIPP, but that is only tax free for the first 25% at 55 years old, then taxable. 
So I am thinking a stocks and shares Lifetime ISA, cannot get until 60 and can only pay into for the next 11 years but its completely tax free. 
I want to clear mortgage, but i also need to make pension provisions (I do get a workplace pension I am maxing out but as of now thats only adding £37 a week - from December i get a much better rate and it will add about £60 with no extra cost to me)
So instead of making overpayments to the mortgage provider I am thinking for every £50 i clear in overtime put £35 into a stocks and shares ISA, and the other £15 into a lifetime Isa to add to pension fund. 
Thanks for reading, what do you think of my plans?

So i've been staying over at one of my very best friends while my bathroom was having a refit. A gold stacker to be sure so i thought while i'm here i'll be useful. 
So yesterday i found his hidden gold stack! in an old broken vaccum cleaner, wondering if i could fix it i came across about 15 Troy Oz of assorted bullion 9999 gold. So i cleaned it  out and put the gold free cleaner outside for the bin men. 
On his return from work he passed the offending article in the street and didn't notice it. I decided to casually tell him over a beer that the cleaner had been picked up and taken away, but he noticed it had gone when he went to get a bottle of scotch out the cupboard. He went pale then very quiet. Realising he had lost quite a lot of bullion i sat him down and told him that the broken cleaner was gone and that he would have to find another hiding place for his Oz's. He finally realized i had indeed found it and i was holding a little bag with over £22,000 pounds of bullion in it.
Not even a little angry he went away a hide it somewhere else in the house and said i bet you can't find it now.
Thankfully my bathroom will be ready on saturday!

1900 Half Crown.
 

1916 Half Crown.

 

Howdy all!
We have an exciting new project that I am happy to formally announce in partnership with some incredibly talented UK Silver Pourers .
@StBeesSilver @RiverbankSilver @SilverAngel @LiquidMetalsUK @AtomicSilver @GeordieStacker and myself are going to be creating a collaboration Silver Bar to raffle off to raise funds for The Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal. @ChrisSilver Has approved this to be managed and run via The Silver Forum, a big thanks for that!
We are looking at adding additional UK pourers too - any new confirmations will be shared out here on this thread in due course. 
The Red Cross Appeal is a very worthy cause right now and one that will bring a lot of much needed aid to a lot of people. 
https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal
Check them out and please feel free to donate outside of this raffle too!
Now, we are working out all of the particulars and this thread serves as STAGE 1
STAGE 1 - Adding Weight - 1 week 
Each UK Silver Pourer is donating 1 ozt of silver but we are open for anyone else to donate additional oz's of silver to make more bars and bigger bars. 
The plan is to get up to 50 ozt (this is a decent weight to be posting in one go around the country) and have 5 or 6 bars of 8 to 10 ozt each.
So, if you would like to donate an oz of silver then you can do so one of two ways:
1) Please DM me (Backyard Bullion) and I will give you my PO Box address where you can physically send your silver. 999 fine silver only please and preferably coin form 
Option 1 is only available to UK based members. 
2) Purchase an ozt of silver directly from me to be added to the pot. I will be sourcing silver coins from the forum to add these to the pot, a good guide right now is about £23 per oz.
Option 2 will be best for NON UK members to donate silver - no long shipping or Import tax issues. 
At the end of Sunday 20th March I will know how much Silver we are working with and I can pour some big boy bars for us all to stamp!
STAGE 2 - Hallmarking - 1 Week
We plan to have a big feature laser hallmark applied to these bars. As big as we can get that fits well and shows off the wonders of UK Hallmarking
STAGE 3 - Stamping - 1 to 2 Weeks
After Hallmarking is done we can all add our logos and stamping flavour to the bar(s).
We have 6 pourers confirmed right now, that might increase so getting it posted around the country might take a week or two.
STAGE 4 - Raffle
The exact date of the raffle closing and draw will depend somewhat on the timescales from the above. 
We plan to have tickets cost £5 each with as many entries as you like per person. Entries will be payable to me (Backyard Bullion) with ALL proceeds going to the Red Cross Appeal after the raffle closes. 
Multiple bars means multiple winners so the more silver we can raise in week 1 the better. 
MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW IN DUE COURSE
This is all an evolving project plan but because of the time it will take to get these bars made we wanted to start the ball rolling right now. 
I will be sharing more information about the raffle tickets in due course. 
What YOU need to do right now
If you would like to get involved by donating an ozt of silver (or more that one single oz!) please let us all know by sharing here or DM'ing me for details of how to donate or send silver. 
 

This is my most prized piece, weighs about 100 grams but its value (of what I am unsure) is certainly well in excess of the silver content, I just think its such a cool peice of modern military's history. Purchased from the man himself who was relocating to Australia. 
I have a digital copy of the citation - this was taken from that.
"Royal Signals RSI silver medal awarded to SGT RH Richardson in 2016. Awarded for his role in providing close communication support during civil unrest and the conduct of flawless tactical operations to preserve sensitive material frequently whilst under direct personal threat."
 

Fax machines?

Thanks sixgun & watchesandwhisky - it looks like the mystery has been solved ☺️

This is my most prized piece, weighs about 100 grams but its value (of what I am unsure) is certainly well in excess of the silver content, I just think its such a cool peice of modern military's history. Purchased from the man himself who was relocating to Australia. 
I have a digital copy of the citation - this was taken from that.
"Royal Signals RSI silver medal awarded to SGT RH Richardson in 2016. Awarded for his role in providing close communication support during civil unrest and the conduct of flawless tactical operations to preserve sensitive material frequently whilst under direct personal threat."
 

This is my most prized piece, weighs about 100 grams but its value (of what I am unsure) is certainly well in excess of the silver content, I just think its such a cool peice of modern military's history. Purchased from the man himself who was relocating to Australia. 
I have a digital copy of the citation - this was taken from that.
"Royal Signals RSI silver medal awarded to SGT RH Richardson in 2016. Awarded for his role in providing close communication support during civil unrest and the conduct of flawless tactical operations to preserve sensitive material frequently whilst under direct personal threat."