Part 244: Red Lobster and Crimson Brow

Hello and welcome back to Mortgage Advisor on FIRE.  This week I discuss universal financial advice and provide positive updates on our BTL sale.  Also, some thoughts on the elections both here in the UK, and across the pond in the US. 

Weekly Update

On Sunday Oana and I went for a long walk around the city.  The original plan was to follow an augmented reality art trail, but some locations were closed and the ones we viewed weren’t grabbing us.  We decided to have a walk instead, with some lunch along the way.  However, the place we wanted to try for food was also closed so we went for Mexican at Street Food Chef. We shared some tacos and a quesadilla.  The food, as always, was amazing.

After our meal, we walked down Ecclesall Road and took a few detours before arriving at the Botanical Gardens.  It’s been a little while since I’ve been at the gardens when there’s not been an event on.  It’s so nice and well-maintained, but unfortunately, it was so busy that I didn’t get to feed the squirrels.  They are so tame that they will literally climb on you to be fed. 

We looked at the various plants and flowers before leaving to visit another park where we bought a whippy ice cream. Overall it was a great day but when we got home we realised that we were pretty sunburned, and my alter-ego Red Lobster made an appearance.

Red Lobster and Crimson Brow

Back in 2017 Oana and I spent some time travelling around the US.  We visited New York, Boston, Washington D. C., Niagara Falls, and a few other places.  It was a fantastic trip in many ways with some great memories made.  One of the days we were in New York we took a boat trip around Manhattan.  It was scorching and very sunny.  The boat was delayed at a bridge which had to be raised so we could pass.  However, the bridge had to stay down to allow a freight train to pass.  So, we sat in the sun for ages. This was the result…

I am Red Lobster.

On Monday I had to go for a CT scan which is always fun.  I don’t mind the scan itself, but I find the journey to and from the hospital stressful.  As I was having this done privately, the hospital I was attending was pretty far out on the edge of the city.  So it’s either a bus or a cab. 

I’m not too fond of most public transport.  It’s sensory overload, lots of people invading my space, and buses especially are filthy.  With a cab, I just have to hope I don’t get a chatty driver as I really can’t do small talk.

I ended up getting an Uber to the hospital and a bus back.

If public transport was better, more people would use it.  There are many countries out there that have modern, clean, efficient, reliable, and cheap public transport.  It can be done, but in the UK we seem incapable of doing anything well when it comes to infrastructure.

Cattery Recommendations

The cattery we have used for Poppy, and our previous cats Sweep and Bobby, has closed and we will soon need to use one again.  On Saturday we viewed a new cattery and it was nice but small.  Also, it was mostly indoors whereas our old cattery was outdoors with lots of plants and wildlife for the cats to enjoy.  

We are going to book Poppy into this one for our time away in December as it’s only a couple of days.  In 2025 when we go on our cruise we will need to do some more research though.  If anyone has recommendations for a cattery in Sheffield, please let me know.  

Poppy has been enjoying this warm weather recently, and she’s taken to staying on our beanbag which we have to move outside for her each morning:

Theatre

On Saturday evening Oana and I went to the theatre to see Urgent: A Timely Play.  It was not good, and that’s me being extremely polite and restrained.  The premise is a young man finds out death is coming for him, and he ventures through time to make the most of his life.  Sounds interesting but it was badly written, poorly acted, and the singing… oh my word, the singing…

I applaud the performers putting themselves out there but I can’t lie and say I enjoyed this play.  The only positive thing I can say is that it was only an hour long.  

Euro 2024

On the subject of national underperformance, I can’t not mention Euro 2024.  I saw a post on Facebook which stated;

I think Southgate is a decent guy, and I get the impression he genuinely cares. The main issue is that our players are not as good as we think they are.  We have some talented individuals but I suspect their ability is being enhanced by playing for clubs that stack their squads full of world-class talent. 

A basic way of explaining what I’m getting at is to imagine building a squad made up of the worst players from the best squads.  This newly assembled squad would be decent, but not all-conquering just because they have a few players from Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool. 

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 gone 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

Election 2024

The election draws ever closer and this is the last regular post under the current government.  It’s looking like a Labour win but where it gets interesting is how the opposition parties will split the remaining seats.  

I’m not a fan of Nigel Farage, but like a broken clock, he is sometimes right.  One issue I fully agree with him on is the future of our energy infrastructure.  We need more nuclear power.  Renewable energy has its place but the time, effort, money, and resources needed to introduce huge amounts of renewable energy into the grid is huge.  It’s not a fast process.  Planning a new wind farm, for example, and then hooking it up to the grid, can take decades.  Once it is up and running it can provide power intermittently, and may struggle when demand increases.

A nuclear power plant can be brought online in less time and provides a much more stable and reliable method of energy production.  As I’ve heard stated before, we don’t have a choice between nuclear and renewables because the real choice is between nuclear and coal.

Recent polls suggest that the Tories may be broken for the foreseeable future and that Reform UK and the Green Party together may have more seats than the Conservatives.  We’re at the stage where anyone who votes Tory should probably seek deprogramming therapy.  

Across the Atlantic, we are seeing a car crash of an election with it looking increasingly likely that Donald Trump will return to the White House.  Sometimes I think that human stupidity may have bottomed out, but then I look at a typical Trump rally and feel like crossing myself.  

I’m going to make a bold prediction; one of Biden or Trump will drop out of the election.

Letters to Oana

If you missed it, Part 2 of the series Letters to Oana is now live.

Looking Back

Part 13 of the Looking Back series is also live.

What I’m Doing

Listening: Earthburst Saga Book 5 by Craig A. Falconer (audible).

Watching: Euro 2024

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Financial Update

Assets

Premium Bonds: £13,450.00.

Stocks and Shares ISA: £74,786.05.

Fuck It Fund: £145.69.

Pensions: £79,466.32.

Residential Property Value: £229,818.00. 

BTL Property Value: £148,301.00.

Total Assets: £545,967.06.

Debts

Residential Mortgage: £172,098.97. 

BTL Mortgage: £104,864.820.

Total Debts: £276,963.79.

Total Wealth: £269,003.27.

No major changes in my finances this week.  Next week’s post will see my mortgages come down slightly.  I’m impatiently waiting for my pensions to climb above £80,000 but it keeps getting close and then dipping slightly.  My ISA is not too far behind, so it’s not unrealistic to think those balances will grow beyond £80,000 in the coming weeks.  

BTL Update

I mentioned before that I’d set a deadline for the buyers to get their mortgage offer in place by Friday 28th June or the deal was off.  Throughout the week I received messages from the agent saying that the deadline couldn’t be met as mortgages take longer to arrange. 

I didn’t buy it because, well, I know about mortgages.  I simply reiterated that mortgage offers can be agreed upon quickly if everyone is motivated and that the deadline I’d set was a hard deadline.

It would appear my stance was correct as the agent revealed on Thursday that she had a mortgage offer for the buyers.  We’ll never know if this would have progressed so quickly had a deadline not been imposed, but my gut feeling is we’d still be seeing this dragging on and on.

Now that we’ve got to the conveyancing stage I’m hopeful this can all be done and dusted before too long.  I’m eager to get this place sold, get the money, and pay our CGT.  That should be the end of our BTL experiment.

Universal Financial Advice

I was chatting with a friend this week about financial management.  One of the topics we covered was the idea of universal advice, i.e. advice that is good in any situation.  

Quite often when people find out you are interested in money, and you work in the field, they will start asking questions about what they should do.  This can be difficult when you know nothing about this person, their history, or their circumstances.  It’s also not helped by the fact there are no magic wands.  The key to building solid wealth is to start with simple actions and grow from there.  

The first thing to understand about building wealth or achieving FI is that you can’t get there if you are spending more than you have coming in.  If your expenses are greater than your income, then the inevitable result is bankruptcy.  No amount of financial wizardry will turn £100 into £500.  If you are consistently running a deficit with your personal finances then you need to address that immediately.

Some people will, unfortunately, have nothing they can cut from their budget.  I’m talking about the people who find themselves in situations where they literally cannot afford to eat.  These people need more help and support than I can offer and should seek out one of the organisations listed at the bottom of this post.  It’s not fair to judge people in this situation as many things can happen that leave people in massive financial difficulty.  

One example is a stay-at-home parent with a partner as the breadwinner.  One day that breadwinner is hit by a speeding car and dies.  The partner may have had life cover which takes the immediate financial worries away, but once that has worn off, there are still costs of living for the surviving parent and children.  If that parent has been out of the workforce for a while and has no immediate family or friends, then they could be facing a difficult and lonely time.  

Judging someone in that situation feels wrong and wholly unfair.

Assuming that you are not in this situation, but you are earning decent money and find yourself with no savings, then there’s a good chance it’s down to a lack of budgeting and prioritising.

Car Finance

I will never understand the obsession that some people have with cars.  I get that cars are a useful tool, but that’s it.  They’re not a fashion statement or accessory.  I’ve never looked at a car and thought more of a person, but I’ve seen plenty of cars and thought less of someone.

I’m about to quote some very rough and ready figures to illustrate my point.  The average UK monthly salary is approximately £2,300.  The average car finance payment is between £300-£400 per month, with the typical cost of running and maintaining a car costing a further few hundred a month.  I’ll be generous and ignore additional costs and focus just on the cost of car finance, which I’ll assume is £300 per month.

Research suggests that the typical car is used for less than 5% of the time; approximately one hour a day.  In a month of 31 days, this means the car is costing just under £10 a day to mostly do nothing.  Almost £10 a day to just sit there, and you have to pay for fuel, insurance, and tax to drive it to a place where you may then have to pay again to leave the car for the working day.  To me, it is simply insane.

Some people need cars and I understand that, but I don’t understand why an office worker on £30k would need to spend £400+ on car finance when a car costing half that amount will do the same job.  

It’s like buying a top-of-the-range Macbook to browse the web and play chess.  It’s just not needed.

Spend less than you earn, and keep investing simple…

This is ultimately what FIRE boils down to.  You need to spend less than you earn and keep investing simple, by using low-cost global index funds.  If you invest regularly for long enough you will eventually build wealth.  It’s not flashy or exciting, but neither is 40+ years of working in a job you hate.

Linked to this point is a warning to avoid get-rich-quick schemes or anything that sounds too good to be true, such as crypto or NFTs.  Whilst I’m on the subject of NFTs, I came across a brilliant post:

That’s all for this week.  Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great week ahead.  Please remember to like, share, and subscribe.  Also, I always enjoy reading your comments and messages, so please keep them coming.

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.