Part 241: “He’s my property advisor.”

Hello and welcome back to Mortgage Advisor on FIRE.  This week I discuss some changes to my FIRE plans and how I’m tracking my journey.  Also, thoughts on the election debate, and a bizarre incident on Twitter/X.

Weekly Update

The week started with some stress as our washing machine broke down.  We’ve had it for three years, whereas our previous machine was good for almost a decade.  There’s an appliance repair place around the corner from us so I had a chat with them, but the cost of the parts and labour was almost the same as just buying a new machine, and so that’s what we’re having to do. 

Part of me suspects planned obsolescence as it broke just after the warranty period ended.  It could be a coincidence but I’m increasingly dubious about the practices of many manufacturers.  

Based on the assumption that manufacturers are generally a bit shifty, we had a choice between buying a quality piece of kit or spending as little as possible on something basic.  We opted for the latter with the understanding we’ll probably have to replace it in a few years, but that would also probably be the case for something more expensive.  

Fortunately, the installation of the new washing machine went mostly to plan.  I had to take some holiday time at short notice from work as there was likely to be some disruption as the guys completed their work.  It’s all fine now and a batch of laundry is on the go as I’m typing.  

Another little thing that sucked this week was that one of our bird feeders fell.  We’re a top-floor apartment and we have small bird feeders that stick to the glass.  They’re transparent and are only big enough for small birds to land, snack on a few seeds, and then fly off. 

This was fine for months until a pigeon decided to land on the feeder causing it to unstick and fall.  It’s annoying because I loved seeing the birds come to eat as I was working.  I’m hesitant to buy another in case the same thing happens again.  

I do enjoy looking out over the river and on our balcony, especially when our flowers start blooming:

Who is David Scothern?

You might need to buckle up for this insanity.  

I received a new follower on Elon Musk’s clusterfuck, also known as X, this week.  There is nothing strange about that, but the guy tagged me in a tweet;

“Hi, can I ask if you recognise this face?  Please DM if you do, thanks.”

It was an AI-generated image of a man in his 60s.  Sort of like a cross between King Theoden, and Konstantin from Killing Eve.

Anyway, I replied stating that I didn’t, but something caught my eye in a linked tweet; my name and someone claiming that I advise them on their properties.  

So, allow me to introduce the players in this weird AF game…

**EDIT – some of the people involved have asked to have links to their details removed. After listening to their explanation I agree it’s better to remove identifying info. They have also agreed to remove my info from their online back and forth.**

I’ve tried to get to the bottom of how my name was dragged into this, and so far as I can tell my website was somehow or other linked to the AI-generated image of the face I was sent.  Both of the people involved are making claims against each other for this and that.  

Anyway, for the sake of absolute transparency I have no idea who these people are, or what is going on between them. 

Just a quick point about my decision to name them.  I did consider redacting their names, but I figured all of this is playing out in public anyway so there’s little point.

**As stated above, I have now removed their names**

Diabetes UK Step Challenge

From July 1st until September 30th Diabetes UK are running a step challenge to raise money for their cause.  There are three step targets to choose from; 500k, 1m, or 1.7m.  I’ve one for the 1.7m target.  It’s a tough target but I’d rather set an ambitious goal.  Also, I have some time off work during those three months to hammer out the steps.

If you’d like to follow my progress or make a donation, it can be done here:

https://step.diabetes.org.uk/fundraising/david4047

This Week’s Tory Clusterfuck

We had the first debate between Starmer and Sunak and I don’t think either of them came off particularly well.  It was just childish shouting with little substance and lots of volume.  I would much prefer politicians to engage in meaningful and civil debate, but it seems our model is based on who can shout the loudest for the longest.  

I don’t think many people will have come away from that debate with much clarity over what the main positions are for each party.  It really was something of a clusterfuck.

If I could make just one change to these debates it would be to mute the microphone for each participant when they’ve had their allotted time to speak.  If they run out of time, it’s tough.

£2,000 Tax Increase…

One thing that Sunak kept banging on about was a claim that a Labour government would see taxes increase by £2,000 a year.  It was repeated several times during the debate and it got me thinking about the phrase, “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.”  I think it was a Nazi who said it; maybe Goebbels.  If a Tory politician told me the sky was blue, I would have to look up just to double-check.

Following the debate, and the £2,000 claim, there was a funny interview on Sky News (I don’t watch this channel but someone shared the clip) of the reporter asking the Tory rep to explain why taxes rose by £13,000 for the average household during the last Parliament.  He claimed he didn’t have these figures.

I don’t know whether the £13,000 claim is true either, but it speaks to a wider problem that politics is not accessible for most people.  It’s all about sound bytes and, I say again, who can shout the loudest for the longest.  

Rishi Sunak was the subject of a fair amount of criticism this week as he was pictured leaving the D-Day commemorations early.  This was to attend an interview with ITV where he was to apologise for misleading people about opposition plans.  In the end, all everyone was talking about was how Sunak disrespected the memory of those who fought and died, for which he’s had to apologise anyway.  

The problem is these politicians are ignorant about what life is like outside their own bubble.  Most of them have been raised in that bubble through school and university, and then into the world of work.  The sooner this election is done the better, and I’m hoping it breaks the Tory party for a generation at least. 

Letters to Oana

If you missed it, Part 2 of the series Letters to Oana is now live. The latest entry in the series takes a deep dive into the ISA bridge concept.

Looking Back

Part 12 of the Looking Back series is also live.

Lego

I mentioned in a recent blog that I was fortunate enough to be gifted some expensive Lego sets, including Rivendell.  After a week and a bit of building it, Oana and have finally completed it.  We agreed that it’s our favourite build so far and it was such fun to complete.  It looks great, as you can see below:

Next on the list is my Venator-class Attack Cruiser, but it means I’ll have to move my Imperial Star Destroyer model to make room for it.  

What I’m Doing

Listening: Lost Connections by Johann Hari.

Watching: Cool Worlds (YouTube), various videos by JTVFX (YouTube).

I’m going to go on a bit of a TedTalk about Star Trek for a few moments.  Star Trek has been going for sixty years now and has spawned twelve series with a combined episode count of almost 1,000.  The lore is vast, sprawling, occasionally contradictory (although some excellent theories explain this), and a source of constant creativity with fans producing some quality content.

I wrote my own Star Trek fanfic a few years ago that got a lot of positive feedback.  I forget how many words it was; but with a small font size and 1.5 line spacing, it’s 335 pages on Microsoft Word.  It was called Where Were You? and was written as a series of interviews with the survivors of a major war.  

Anyway, there is a person on YouTube who has made some fantastic Trek-related videos.  One series is based around a pivotal event in Trek history; The Battle of Wolf 359.  This event was never shown in full on screen but it had a huge impact on what came after. 

The battle was part of a two-part episode of The Next Generation released in June 1990, and over thirty years later it is still being referenced in the latest Trek series such as Picard.  

The video made by JTVFX is called Wolf 359 The Massacre – Part 1.  It is just over ten minutes long and combines footage from two different series, a Trek computer game, and original effects by JTVFX.  Part 2 should be released in a few months, and the reason I’m mentioning this now is because a preview of the upcoming video has just been released.  It looks incredible.

Support Mortgage Advisor on FIRE

If you would like to show your support for my blog please comment, like, share, and subscribe.  All these things help the blog to grow.  If you want to make a financial contribution towards the running costs of the site, please use the donation form. below:

Financial Update

Assets

Premium Bonds: £13,400.00.

Stocks and Shares ISA: £74,822.18.

Fuck It Fund: £45.69.

Pensions: £79,167.01.

Residential Property Value: £229,818.00. 

BTL Property Value: £148,301.00.

Total Assets: £545,553.88.

Debts

Residential Mortgage: £172,098.97. 

BTL Mortgage: £104,864.820.

Total Debts: £276,963.79.

Total Wealth: £268,590.09.

You might have noticed that I’ve not included my income figure this week.  This is part of a general change in direction in which I’m focusing more on growth than income.  I have two balances to consider moving forward; my ISA and my pension.  For the ISA, once I reach £200,000 I will have my bridging fund.  I can realistically get there in seven years.

For my pension the growth phase is broken into two smaller phases; there’s the part where I’m still working, and then the part where it will need to compound in the bridging phase.  If I can get to £250,000 in my pension when I’m ready to start the bridging phase, I should have enough value for it to compound to £500k by the time I am ready to start drawing it down.  

Percentage Complete:

ISA: £74,822.18 of £200,000 = 37.4%

Pension: £79,167.01 of £250,000 = 31.7%

ISA Cap

There’s been some rumours going around that we could see a cap on ISAs soon.  A limit of £100,000 has been suggested, but I can’t see this happening as it would only target a minority.  The average ISA balance in the UK, depending on how you split the age brackets, is between £30k-£60k.  It is thought that approximately 1.5m adults have a balance of more than £100k, but these are mostly people aged over 60.  

Introducing a cap like this would be counterproductive.  Many people are saving for retirement and if their ability to do this is restricted it can only result in a greater strain on the welfare state.  Another key point about ISAs is that they are generally easy to understand, use, and access.  There’s no benefit to making them more complicated just to secure an extra drop in the UK’s budget bucket.

BTL Update

It is still progressing slowly.  Our buyers should have recently completed their valuation on the property so we are just waiting to hear back about that.  I’m getting impatient to have the deal done so that I can get my money and lump it in my ISA.   

The Week Ahead

I’ve now got a week of leave from work to look forward to.  I’ve got a few medical appointments to attend, and I plan on catching up with a few friends.  Also, I’ve been roped into doing something on Wednesday that could be good fun, embarrassing, or possibly both. All will be revealed next week.

I hope you have a great week ahead, and as always thank you for reading.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

The views and opinions in this blog are my own, and do not represent the views or opinions of my employer, nor should they be considered advice.  

If you want personalised financial advice, seek an appropriate professional.  If you are in financial difficulty, seek advice via the resources below:

StepChange

MoneyHelper

Biolink 

You can now find all my social media pages by checking out my Biolink:

bio.link/davidscothern.