Best financial decisions

[thetallfairy]

On the back of a fascinating other thread

Would love to know what your best financial decisions are?

I have very few sadly

But I am delighted I did not let my abusive ex pressurise me into marriage even when he went to book a civil ceremony and just expected me to show up on the day to please him

Very little financial advice in school
Had no clue re credit cards and overdrafts
Learned the hard way sadly !!!!

Buying a cheap property that was a full renovation project when I was 23. I learned to do a lot of the work myself and sold it for a profit a couple of years later. I then repeated that many times. I always lived in the properties so had a roof over my head that was earning me money.

Living frugally and making fun hobbies out of doing so. Upcycling, skip diving, charity shops, growing my own veg, keeping hens, camping not hotels.

Learning skills to save money - I repair my own van, make some of my own clothes, do all my own DIY.

Studying, moving job, getting promotion and repeating this over and over.

Alongside my career I ran a small business of buying and selling vintage things (often stuff I'd upcycled). I still do this now I've retired.

When I had spare money I overpaid on my mortgage so I had no mortgage after age 42. Retired at 47,

When I retired I sold the big house I'd worked up to and bought a tiny cottage in a bit of land. It was another renovation project which has taken me two years.

Born 1980. Paid off my student overdraft immediately. Paid off my student loan when I could (had about 6k left). Doing the Rebel Finance School free course. Switching my workplace pension to a low cost index global tracker fund. Opening a LISA before 40. Buying my flat aged 35 after a relationship break down - just doing it anyway. Not being a big spender. Choosing a career path and sticking to it. Getting a rebate on PPI for a loan - bought a massive flat screen TV which I still have.

Every payday since I was 14 I've put something into savings on payday. Sometimes it's was £10, other times it's been £1k. But getting into the habit is key.

Living within my budget each month, big optional purchases I'll think about for a few weeks, if not a few months as to if I really need/want them.
Any money left in my account at the end of the month gets split in half, half goes to savings and half I'm allowed to keep forgetting treats.

I like to enjoy my life, so I don't live as frugally as I can l, but also I don't splurge on stuff I don't need.

I took my share of exH’s pension when we got divorced - a lump sum of £120k, which I moved to a SIPP, which is now worth £400k. That was 14 years ago.

Best decision was coming from a poor background and working my butt off to get a good job . It’s the best thing I’ve ever done leading to financial security.

I came from a very poor background

Worked hard and got a scholarship
Completed my doctorate and my earnings were very good as a result

Very fortunate

Critical illness cover as self employed. £200 a month but paid out £300k when I had a brain haemorrhage and stroke last year.

To be able to pay off my mortgage when I was 50 after several years of over paying and saving hard. I then invested the same amount of money as the mortgage payments into various ISAs and bonds which allowed me to retire at 60 with enough savings to fund a comfortable lifestyle.

Started investing late teens
Started a pension at 21
Marrying a man with the same financial attitude
Paying our mortgage off late thirties
Buying a house in a very desirable neighbourhood
Always paying by credit card but never paying interest. Points and cash back has paid for multiple trips and attractions, free entry to Legoland for instance.

Sending you all the very best wishes

So sorry you went through that xxx

(Thanks to information on here actually)... Increased awareness of possibility of huge interest rate rises so we secured our renewed mortgage six months early (three and a bit years ago) at 2.72%.

We also decided to go with 10 years and are throwing everything at it (well saving in a higher interest account) so we can hopefully pay it off when it comes to an end. (Otherwise we'd still have 10 years to pay).

Picking a lifetime tracker mortgage that was tied to the bank of England based rate, rather than the bank's own SVR. We paid more for it at the time but it saved us many thousands when interest rates tumbled and stayed low.

When picking a mortgage, always do a spreadsheet and look at which one you clear the most debt with, at the end of the 2/3/5 years, not which one costs you the least each month.

I love this so much !!!

I also came from a working class background with a single income which wasn’t high (blue collar worker). We rarely had anything new and never had anything expensive but that’s kept me frugal.
Worked my backside off to put myself through Uni and develop a good career. Stayed financially independent and never shared finances with a man so I always have choices.
Instilling good financial habits into my DC’s so they’re not spoilt and know the value of money and working hard. Although they do get more than I ever did. I help my adult DS because no one helped me but he does have a job whilst at Uni and rarely asks for anything.
Anything left over at the end of the month goes into savings. When my work expenses are paid they do too, every little helps.

Well done

Very powerful

I have no. Desire to be rich

I just wish I had.known more about how to manage money

There was always a feeling I should just not have money as that's how I grew up

@thetallfairy the best thing to do imo is support your dc from early on. Like I said we had 6 fig help to get on the ladder which has made a huge difference to my life options later. I save for my dc so that uni will be cheaper and they will also have a house deposit.

Paying into a pensions from the age of 18.

Getting a tracker mortgage in early 2008 which was .25 above BOE interest rates. . At the same time my colleague whose brother was an analyst for one of the big banks advised her to fix, because mortgage rates weren't coming down. I saved thousands in interest payments.

worked overseas for 25 years, came back to the uk bought a house for cash and Dh retired at 53.

Buying the most expensive house we could afford. Paying the mortgage was akin to enforced savings and the interest was far far less than the rise in house prices so it was a great purchase.

Agree with education & getting a professional career.

Paying extra into my Local Government pension means I will have a very comfortable retirement & will be able to retire early.

Buying our forever home in 1996. (But not spending so much that I couldn't have afforded the buyout when we divorced)

Such a great thread OP.

Agree with others who have said divorce- this was one of the best decisions, it meant I had to start again but I think I learnt loads more about myself, my grit & hard work rather than a keeping up with the Jones and getting into loads of debt life style that my ex did.

Buying first property when I was 22 through shared ownership- I didn't make a lot when selling but it taught me a lot about my own place, managing bills, budgeting and meant when I bought my own home again post divorce it wasn't the first time I had done it.

Paying into public sector pension from first job at max contribution with them and still going.

Lots of poor decisions too though which others have shared- eg credit card debt at university which was pretty much expected almost encouraged at the time with perks for students.

Using equity to make improvements on next house rather than completely getting rid of debt- regret this massively.

Training to be a lawyer. Have always been employable, highly paid and have freedom to work around young children as a freelancer.

Best decision I made in my whole life

Thank you !!!!!

I want them to have a good start

Love all these super helpful

Getting into the savings habit and working out a budget from the word go. My parents instilled a lot of common sense into me when I was a mad young thing just starting out working such as -

Avoid borrowing or using credit cards. Get big ticket items on interest free credit deals (this was back in the 90s, I'm a fossil now lol).

Buy a house, any house and overpay the mortgage when you can. I did that with much scraping together of funds and many tears of frustration, at age 26. It wasn't easy for an unmarried/single female to get a mortgage on her own, but I persisted.

I enjoy life now I'm retired. Savings no longer required, but I still put a bit away for frivolities now and then. It's also automatic for me to budget, Net pay/pension, bills, holiday fund, fun fund. I think everyone should try that even if it's just a few quid per month, it's amazing how it builds up and the habit forms.

Of course every time I accumulate a few bob, off I go and spend it! But it isn't borrowed at least...