Hello and welcome back to Mortgage Advisor on FIRE. This week, I discuss investing in Lego and review the recent Fantastic Four movie.
Weekly Update
It’s been a month since I left my job at IMH, and I don’t quite know where the time has gone. I think it’s a case of Parkinson’s Law, where work expands to fill the available time. I need to be a bit more disciplined with my time management, as there are things I want to get done during my time out of employment.
Plumbing Issue
You may remember that we’ve been trying to get a plumber out to sort a few issues in our apartment. Well, we finally had someone turn up. For most other people, this would probably result in the work being completed and everything being great. I’m not “most people.”
When we booked the job, we did a video call with their office to show what needed to be done. Our guy turned up and got to work. The main job was to replace the flush on our en-suite toilet. The first issue was that the new flush would not reach the button, meaning we’d have the wires stuck up through the tiles. Not too happy about that, but whatever.
The second issue was that the guy had the wrong parts with him, and so he took a trip to some place to get the right parts. When he came back later that day, it was without the part because the shop didn’t have it. Now we have to wait for the part to arrive and for them to come and fit it.
When the job was agreed, we were given a quote for the parts and labour. However, because they ordered the wrong part based on the video call they asked for, they are now saying the new part will increase the quote by roughly £30.
I hate dealing with tradespeople because, for the most part, it’s a fucking stressful experience.
Pizza
We went for a meal with a friend who lives in our apartment complex to a local place called Be Reyt Dough. It was a good time, with great food and company. We had a good laugh about a few different things, and it was just a nice, chilled evening.
Bonfire Night
Bonfire Night has come and gone again, and honestly, I still think it’s one of the daftest traditions we keep going. Every year it’s the same: loud bangs, scared pets, and wildlife bolting in panic for the sake of a few minutes of noise and smoke. I’ve never really understood the appeal.
Don’t get me wrong, fireworks can look great, but there’s just no need for the volume. Silent or low-noise fireworks exist, and they still light up the sky beautifully, just without terrifying every animal in a five-mile radius. It feels like such an easy win to make that the norm.
Between the stress it causes for pets, the environmental impact, and the general disruption, I can’t help thinking it’s time to rethink how we celebrate. Keep the light, lose the noise.
Biking and Gym
I finally managed to get some proper bike rides in on my new bike this week. Oana and I rode along the canal to Rotherham and back, and on the following day, we rode around the city completing a few errands here and there. I have to say I’ve enjoyed biking more than I thought I would.
I’ve also been back to the gym a few times following my cold, which kept me away for a week or so. I’m still easing into it very slowly as I don’t want yet another injury.
Job Search and Interviews
I’ve had a couple of great calls for a potential self-employed position within a brokerage. I’m just waiting to hear back about the next steps, which I think are a contract offer and a visit to their offices.
On the flip side of the coin, I had a call that was not so great with a different company. It was a video call with two of the directors, and from the start, the vibe was off. They seemed more concerned with selling themselves to me, and that was the first red flag. Following that, they started talking about how I would have to work in a specific area of mortgages, and it felt like they were talking me down. It was almost as if they were trying to condition me to think I’d be lucky to work in such an organisation. The final set of red flags came when they said I’d have to attend an in-person training course for a couple of weeks, and then work in the office on a hybrid basis for a while after. This was advertised as a fully remote role.
At that point, I called an end to the call, explaining I didn’t think it would be a good fit. One of the directors didn’t seem too pleased and said something along the lines of, “Well this clearly isn’t going anywhere.” I mean, she wasn’t wrong, but it still seemed a bit unprofessional.
Lego Enterprise-D
Lego have officially announced the first-ever Star Trek set, and it’s the Enterprise-D from The Next Generation. At first, I wasn’t too keen on the design, but it’s grown on me. It’s 3,600 pieces and costs roughly £350. I’ll be buying two.
What I’m Doing
Listening: nothing at the moment.
Watching: Invasion (Apple TV), Fantastic Four: First Steps (Disney+).
Reading: nothing at the moment.
I really wanted to like Fantastic Four, but it was awful. The opening scenes were decent, to be fair, as they showed a montage of how the titular team came to be. The plot, though…
I can handwave away a lot of magical or science bullshit when it comes to entertaining stories. However, if the story tries to explain something and fails, it just puts a spotlight on how ridiculous the whole thing is. In short, the science wasn’t sciencing.
The plot is basically that Galactus wants to consume the Earth, but is willing to spare the planet if the FF give up Reed’s baby son. They, predictably, refuse. Had they agreed, I wouldn’t have had to sit through another ninety minutes of this dumpster fire, and I am still salty about it.
Anyway, as Galactus approaches Earth, he flies past Jupiter. Fair enough, it’s a cool-looking planet. He then completes a flyby of Mars and finally Luna before entering Earth orbit. Now, either he took the scenic route through the solar system, or it was a huge fucking coincidence that this set of celestial objects happened to be lined up neatly for Galactus on his angle of approach to our system.
I feel dumber having watched the movie. There’s a scene where the Human Torch absorbs a raging fire. That’s a useful way to think about this movie sucking out my intelligence as I sat there refusing to believe the clusterfuck I was witnessing.
Galactus was in no way menacing after his first three seconds of screen time. His introduction was cool, as you just see two eyes glow in the dark of his ship. That, admittedly epic, intro aside, he was subject to a huge amount of villain decay with each subsequent scene. He is supposed to be a god-like being, a universal force of nature, yet here he is trying to make a deal with four heroes.
If I were able to change the plot, I would have him portrayed as a relentless threat. The heroes try to talk to him and are ignored. They try to fight him and are swatted aside. They try to run, but he just keeps coming after them. You can still have him tricked by the magical bullshit teleporter, but this would keep his mystery. Instead, after one film, he’s just not a threat any more.
The casting was all wrong as well. I like Pedro Pascal, and he was the least offensive member of the main cast. Vanessa Kirby, who was excellent in The Crown, was grating on me in this film. All I can say about Joseph Quinn is that he was definitely in this film. Ebon Moss-Bachrach played The Thing, but it felt like the wrong fit.
Quiero un cafe sin leche
According to the science of FF, if you have a tiny snippet of a language, you can use that to learn the whole thing. I can order a coffee in Spanish; therefore, I am fluent.
What the shit?
I facepalmed so hard at this, I think I gave myself a concussion.
Anyway, I nodded off a little in the final few minutes of the film. The whole thing managed to feel rushed, but also like nothing happened. This was a movie that had a lot of potential, but I think it’s just killed any lingering enthusiasm I had for the MCU.
Financial Update
Assets
Premium Bonds: £23,000.00.
Stocks and Shares ISA: £126,502.84.
Fuck It Fund: £1.60.
Pensions: £109,179.37.
Residential Property Value: £243,430.00.
Total Assets: £502,113.81.
Debts
Residential Mortgage: £175,046.60.
Total Debts: £175,046.60.
Total Wealth: £327,067.21.
Lego Investing
I’ve been thinking more about Lego as a form of investing lately. It’s not as daft as it might sound, as some sets appreciate surprisingly well once they retire, especially the popular or limited ones. I’ve been keeping an eye on a few upcoming releases with the idea of buying multiples, holding them for a few years, and then selling once they’re no longer available at retail.
The beauty of this little scheme is that it can stack up a few different benefits. I’d buy the sets on my credit card, which earns Avios points, and if I order through the BA e-store, that’s another layer of Avios on top. Then there are the Lego Insider points, which can be redeemed for money off future purchases.
So in theory, I’d get:
- Profit from selling retired sets at a premium.
- Avios points from the card.
- Additional Avios from the BA e-store.
- Insider points from Lego.
Assuming I buy the Enterprise-D for £350, I would get 350 Avios from my credit card, and 3,500 Avios from shopping at Lego via the British Airways e-store.
From Lego, I would receive 2,800 Insider points, which could be redeemed for £17.50 off a future purchase.
It’s basically the financial equivalent of an inception scheme earning rewards inside rewards inside rewards. Obviously, it’s not without risk (there’s always the chance a set doesn’t appreciate as hoped), but as far as hobbies go, it’s one of the more enjoyable ways to diversify. And let’s face it, if it all goes wrong, at least I’ll have a small fleet of starships to admire.
I’m not looking to do this on a massive scale, but even on a smaller scale, it can work. For example, the UCS Star Destroyer (75252) retailed for something like £650. Months after retiring, sets that are still unopened are being sold for over £1,000. Had I bought two of these, I could have built one and kept one to sell. Then, when I sold the spare set, it would have almost paid for the one I’d kept. On top of this, I’d still have the Avios points and Insider points. This example would have earned me 1,300 Avios from my credit card and 13,000 from the e-store, as well as 10,400 Insider points worth £65.
There’s money to be made here for little work, and it’s a way to make the hobby pay for itself. The only problem is having enough storage space for the sets. I reached out to some storage companies, but their fees are way above what I’m willing to pay. If anyone has any out-of-the-box ideas for storage, please let me know in the comments.
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions in this blog are my own, and do not represent the views or opinions of my former, current, or future employers, 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:
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bio.link/davidscothern.
Very interesting, I’ve always known lego has a big following, but I didn’t realise quite how much people were willing to pay!