Middle Class Caveman

Some well deserved winners there! Congratulations to all! 

It's interesting to read others views on finances, I've been known to splash the cash on a whim( especially during Fg Fridays😉) However I had a good decade where I literally lived hand to mouth when the kids were young, the ex never worked either, such a great help, so when I started earning decent money I just blew it on whatever, didn't care about my debts and for a long time lived in an overdraft, the thing is I couldn't get loans but still wanted the bikes and the trips. That changed a few years back and I decided I'd at least get out of the overdraft, and once I'd done that the lifestyle though still not frugal had meant that I could continue to save and now after the savings due to covid sees me in my best financial position which means I can turn down overtime and if work drys up I can survive for a while. Now I want to look towards early retirement, not sure how feasible that will be post covid.

Nice work @Middle Class Caveman , I've actually been doing something similar on eToro, dabbling in a little bit of stocks and crypto but mostly into index funds such as S&P500. Similar to you, I started with £250 in September and then added £100 monthly. So I've invested £450 so far, and its now worth £461, so nearly a 3% increase in just 2 months. Like you say, much better than the rates you get at banks etc.

Hey all, seeing as I’ve not played many games since Maddison was born it’s been hard to really contribute on here. So I’ve decided to do a post about money instead because I’m a shallow husk of a person and that’s all I can really talk about 😢

In all seriousness though, as we make our way out of what has been a really tough time for most people I felt like this might be a good time to offer some advice or at least my experience when it comes to securing financial freedom.
 
There are so many ways to do this and I could go in for pages and pages but today I want to share what I’ve done for Maddison since her birth. I’m a fan of the low and slow investment method and I’ve been using a company called Wealth Simple for almost 5 years now. When Maddison was born I set her up a JISA for stocks and shares, Wealth Simple do the investing on my behalf.
 
Essentially any money you put in goes into the big pot of everyone’s money and they invest it into a diversified portfolio for you based on a little questionnaire you take when you register about your level of risk. 
 
They manage the first £5k free and then it’s a 1% fee each year for any monies after that.
 
The picture below is of Maddison’s account I started when she was born, I put in £500 to start, £50 each month and then £100 for Xmas and her birthday. You can see over the last 19 months her account has grown by 12.7%, which in simple terms is about a 9% return each year. You won’t find that in the bank. For some perspective if her account continues to grow at 9% and I continue to put in £50 a month her account will be worth £29,000 when she is 18. This is a speculative figure of course but imagine
being able to hand over £30k to your kid at 18 to help them along their way.
 
I have my own account too (as well as a lot of other investments on other platforms) but I use wealth simple for my pension fund as I don’t intend to touch it, it’s growing at 9.5% a year. 
 
If you are coming to the big FG meet up, why not use wealth simple to
save up for it? £10 a month in there over 10 months and you could have £109 rather than just £100.
 
Obviously with any investments there is risk but the longer you invest for the smoother the edges become and the better the returns. For reference I’ve been ‘investing’ in my long term plan for over a decade now (on Vanguard platform first, now wealth simple) and even the lows of the last recession and COVID haven’t stumped my growth.
 
Here is my link to wealth simple, if you register with it we both get some more cash managed for free! 
 
Wealth Simple
 
 

@phil bottle @techno  @J4MES OX4D
 
i get what you’re saying, I actually skipped Cold War. I bought it and played for a little bit but literally put it down before Xmas. So I think I’ve had my break from cod.
 
Fortunately for me, this one doesn’t ‘feel’ like any of the others where as Cold War just felt like MW.
 
By all accounts they’ve done a good job, the maps are good, the guns handle well and have up to 10 attachments, they’ve made changes to the game modes so you can play up to  10v10 on all of the different game modes.

It’s no Black Ops 2 but then no game ever will be. 
 

You’re spot on here @GazzaGarratt, you and I had many conversations about struggling when Maddie was born and we dropped to one wage with multiple mortgages etc! You have to pick and choose your moments.
 
I love kicking out direct debits! I’m always surprised at home much goes out each month that I’m not thinking about. 

Some really good advice from everyone here.
I'm not extremely frugal with money, but I'm not completely wasteful either. I don't tend to spend much money on clothes and shoes etc. If I need something I will buy it.
 
It's more having a child and my wife's wages have effectively halved since she went part time. I cover the mortgage as I always have. Since her income is lower I took on the council tax which is about £150 a month. Also I don't work a Friday as over time a 6th day. Which is a drop of over £200 a month. So even with that I'm down £350 a month than I was. 
I don't have any debts or loans etc, but just losing a chunk of money makes things a bit tighter.
I finish work and come home and my wife goes to work, I can't just stay on a bit extra or pick up hours because I've to look after the wee one obviously. We value spending time with our girl than having more money or going through the child minder or babysitter route. 
 
I wouldn't say I struggle, all bills and everything is paid, but just not a lot leftover to effectively save or play with for luxury items or things to do.
 
I do believe there is always savings and ways to keep more money, but it's all subjective to everyone's circumstances. 

You’re spot on here @GazzaGarratt, you and I had many conversations about struggling when Maddie was born and we dropped to one wage with multiple mortgages etc! You have to pick and choose your moments.
 
I love kicking out direct debits! I’m always surprised at home much goes out each month that I’m not thinking about. 

Yeh I know what you mean mate, I was having this conversation with my wife the other day. In order to get to a place to put money away you have to strip your life right back and the. Build from there but it’s hard my man. Let me know if I can help you at all, I’m a bit of a money nazi and can often see things others can’t!

Great advice @Docwagon , I've been very prudent over the last 10-15 years but that was more to survive rather than save. I think its also about where your life is too e.g. I could've saved when my kids were younger, but the middle-teen ages are quite tough as you have more new direct debits (phones, data plans, etc) alongside increasing existing ones (e.g. food, etc). I'm not putting myself under too much pressure to save a huge amount right now, more so focusing hard on when's the next time I can get rid of or decrease some direct debits.
 
Also, this is ALWAYS about priorities, as we always have different ones depending who we are and our situation. Personally, don't be scared to cancel Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Disney, and any other rental plans for just one month. You would be surprised how much you can save and how much you don't really miss it. They're made to turn them off or on whenever you want so just do it! I cancelled my Amazon Music 2 months ago and i've seen myself use Spotify free version on my PC for a while and I've not yet come across a song I can't play. Equally the adverts don't bother me that much at all as they aren't after every song.

This is exactly it @Docwagon , I’m a teacher - I don’t make a lot either but it’s about making and plan and sticking to it!

Yeh I know what you mean mate, I was having this conversation with my wife the other day. In order to get to a place to put money away you have to strip your life right back and the. Build from there but it’s hard my man. Let me know if I can help you at all, I’m a bit of a money nazi and can often see things others can’t!

During the first lockdown both of my portfolios saw a negative return but you have to take the rough with the smooth and ride it out!

dam, I’ve been rumbled!

This is exactly it @Docwagon , I’m a teacher - I don’t make a lot either but it’s about making and plan and sticking to it!

One of the smartest things I ever read was from The Richest Man in Babylon.  "No matter what you make, somebody is getting by on 10% less.  Figure out how they do it and you can save 10% for retirement."
 
Maybe it's picking up a part time job, maybe it's eating beans and rice for half your meals, maybe it's cutting your cell phone plan to a minimalist one...but there's a way.  FWIW, in 2003 I had a negative net worth of about -$27k.  Now I have a positive net worth approaching half a million.   My wife doesn't work and I'm a cop, so it's not like we just made a ton salary wise.  It's just not carrying any debt other than the mortgages (primary residence and one rental house), putting back 10-15%, and letting it grow.  We had to be pretty cheap in the early years, but that's part of it.

Yeh I know what you mean mate, I was having this conversation with my wife the other day. In order to get to a place to put money away you have to strip your life right back and the. Build from there but it’s hard my man. Let me know if I can help you at all, I’m a bit of a money nazi and can often see things others can’t!

@phil bottle @techno  @J4MES OX4D
 
i get what you’re saying, I actually skipped Cold War. I bought it and played for a little bit but literally put it down before Xmas. So I think I’ve had my break from cod.
 
Fortunately for me, this one doesn’t ‘feel’ like any of the others where as Cold War just felt like MW.
 
By all accounts they’ve done a good job, the maps are good, the guns handle well and have up to 10 attachments, they’ve made changes to the game modes so you can play up to  10v10 on all of the different game modes.

It’s no Black Ops 2 but then no game ever will be. 
 

@phil bottle @techno  @J4MES OX4D
 
i get what you’re saying, I actually skipped Cold War. I bought it and played for a little bit but literally put it down before Xmas. So I think I’ve had my break from cod.
 
Fortunately for me, this one doesn’t ‘feel’ like any of the others where as Cold War just felt like MW.
 
By all accounts they’ve done a good job, the maps are good, the guns handle well and have up to 10 attachments, they’ve made changes to the game modes so you can play up to  10v10 on all of the different game modes.

It’s no Black Ops 2 but then no game ever will be. 
 

@G_dub52  this one is much faster paced than Cold War. The time to kill is rapid.

@phil bottle @techno  @J4MES OX4D
 
i get what you’re saying, I actually skipped Cold War. I bought it and played for a little bit but literally put it down before Xmas. So I think I’ve had my break from cod.
 
Fortunately for me, this one doesn’t ‘feel’ like any of the others where as Cold War just felt like MW.
 
By all accounts they’ve done a good job, the maps are good, the guns handle well and have up to 10 attachments, they’ve made changes to the game modes so you can play up to  10v10 on all of the different game modes.

It’s no Black Ops 2 but then no game ever will be. 
 

Not a chance I'll go near this filler shite lol though I hear the campaign is relatively decent.

How did we let this bot post up that link?? 😄
 
In all seriousness, cheers for the heads up Elliott @Middle Class Caveman , I must admit that is impressive since the Savings market is decimated with the Bank of Base Rate remaining at 0.1%. Have you seen any decreases in that time with anything else you've used with them at all? I don't any of this crypto-bs but since this is something ideally for the kids future which we're looking into next year that sounds like a good option for sure.

PYRAMID SCHEME! 
 
Only joking mate! Sounds like good returns and percentages and I'm pleased your doing well. The problem is you need some money to accumulate more. I couldn't afford setting aside anything. Just life in general is survival. I can only dream of having money leftover to set aside. 

"Pls click my referral link" 😂