Middle Class Caveman

You suck at COD? You'll fit right back in then 🤣

In the end I went to CEX and traded in my old iPhone 11 (which I upgrade this week to a 13) and use that credit to grab a second hand PS5 (disc edition) and a copy of MW2! Got a great bargain as I only had to part with £300 of my own money!

Well, i'm finally back to COD after a 2 year break and I have to say - I still suck at it! However, getting to use the MP7 on Dome today brought back some great MW3 nostalgia!

Well, i'm finally back to COD after a 2 year break and I have to say - I still suck at it! However, getting to use the MP7 on Dome today brought back some great MW3 nostalgia!

In the end I went to CEX and traded in my old iPhone 11 (which I upgrade this week to a 13) and use that credit to grab a second hand PS5 (disc edition) and a copy of MW2! Got a great bargain as I only had to part with £300 of my own money!

Oh snap!

@Middle Class Caveman, a few deals on Game currently:
 
PS5 with Hogwarts and free extra game - £515 - This bundle saves about £15 quid on Hogwarts as its £48 on Amazon separately right now.
 
https://www.game.co.uk/en/playstation-5-console-hogwarts-legacy-free-human-fall-flat-2908755
 
MW2 is £40 separately so even though there is another deal on Game with MW2 and a free headset thrown in, i'm not sure how good it actually is and saves around £5 if you forget the headset in the deal.
 
 
If you wanted the console on its own, looks like BT are selling the physical version for £10 less than most places at £469 right now
 
Queue | BT
SHOP.BT.COM  
I'll keep a look out for other deals...you may be able to haggle a way to swap God of War in a deal for one of the games too perhaps?

Hey gang, in May I am going to pick up a PS5 (once the exams are out the way) so I would love for you to post any deals you see online etc in this thread. I'm after a disc version please as I want to use it as a dvd/blueray player also as the wife and I own a large collection.
 
Oh, i'm after COD and Hogwarts too! 
 
Also, do normal headsets work on the  PS5? I have a USB Turtle beach set i've had for a long time, is that going to be ok?
 
Thanks
Elliott

I’ve seen some really good deals in game etc so push comes to shove I’ll grab one from there

Not sure about the deals to be honest mate. 
 
The old headset should work fine imo. The input is just the same as standard. 
If it works on a PS4 it will work for PS5. 
 
Hopefully you grab COD. 
Maybe a bundle deal will have it. 
 
As far as I know the prices of PS5s are dropping or have dropped. 
The supply is better than the last couple of years. 

Hey gang, in May I am going to pick up a PS5 (once the exams are out the way) so I would love for you to post any deals you see online etc in this thread. I'm after a disc version please as I want to use it as a dvd/blueray player also as the wife and I own a large collection.
 
Oh, i'm after COD and Hogwarts too! 
 
Also, do normal headsets work on the  PS5? I have a USB Turtle beach set i've had for a long time, is that going to be ok?
 
Thanks
Elliott

It's a funny story actually because I didn't ever plan to buy a Merc. I had a Ford Ranger for work before this car but it was no longer needed so I wanted to part ex that in for something the wife and I could both drive. I tried to buy a Mini estate but those fuckers would not sell me a car. Our budget was £25k and the clubman fit in that budget beautifully but they wouldn't part ex my van. They kept telling me to go down to we buy any van and part ex it there......I was like 'um that's a you job, not a me job'.
 
Anyway, one of my clients owns a Merc franchise and I was telling him about the interaction at Mini and he was losing his mind so he said, I will sell you a car. I told him my budget was £25k max and that wasn't going to get me a lot of car but he insisted. The  next day, knock at the door and there's a C class AMG estate at the door - please use this car for a week and see if you like it. So we did and we loved it. 
 
Drove it back to the franchise and said, yeh we love it but the price was £47k!, he said what did you like about it? I said the size and the colour but I didn't need an AMG.....long story short we get the C200 Sport Estate brand new for £27k, he gave us a £12k discount using the friends and family scheme etc etc.....absolutely mental.
 
It's defo the best car i've ever owned and it's super safe and the wife can drive it.
 
Winner.
 

2019 Mercedes C200 Sport Estate in white, aka the 'Dad-mobile'
 
 

I just completed this quiz.


My Score 37/100 My Time 229 seconds  

Some well deserved winners there! Congratulations to all! 

Some well deserved winners there! Congratulations to all! 

Some well deserved winners there! Congratulations to all! 

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.