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 !!!!

@Stormyday34 this is really interesting, I've seen a lot of negative press about Law for long hours and difficulty getting training contracts. Are there any particular areas you would recommend?

paying £40k per year into my pension for the 5 years before retirement- I got £80k in tax rebates and as a high earner regained my tax sllowance due to the contributions so saved £142 k overall as well as having a healthy pension for retirement.

-Doing a career i didn't love for a few years to earn enough to get a mortgage and save for a deposit
-Buying a run down house that no one else wanted to buy with previous structural problems (already fixed though) in a very nice area and doing it up ourselves. (This was the biggest one.....sold it for an astronomical profit 20 years later.)
-Not spending on thousands of different consumables over the years eg make up, skin care products, fancy hairdressers, latest fads eg kitchen gadgets, not signing up to mobile phone contracts but buying a cheap phone and pay as you go, always taking sandwiches and a flask, not buying useless insurance or financial products, etc etc. basically resisting all kinds of advertising and spending
-only using a credit card for things i already had the money for and paying it off each month
-getting my son an ehcp when he was little
-fitting my lifestyle within my means and accepting i can't have everything i want

i have also made some poor financial decisions but those will have to go on the other thread 😂

virgin Offset mortgage, enabled us to pay off a significant loan amount in 11 years, you needed to be disciplined but it worked well, also stooged monthly expenses on various 0% credit cards which kept our money in the bank which reduced the interest on the mortgage. We were late to the housing market in our 40’s but were able to downsize and be mortgage free in our early 50’s.

Choosing a lifetime base rate tracker mortgage in 2006. When the 2008 financial crash happened my monthly payments dropped a lot and remained low for years. At one point base rate was 0.1% so my interest rate was 0.5%. I inherited some money just as interest rates started to rise a couple of years ago so was able to pay the rest of the mortgage off.

Overpaying my mortgage during covid, I went really extreme and saved every penny I could to put towards it. Becoming mortgage free earlier than expected has been brilliant. It has allowed me to put more into my pension.

I used that mortgage letter too I think. Got a refund from the higher costs we’d incurred.

I also got Woolwich shares and sold them for the deposit on our first flat - that was a good financial decision as housing really went up in value after we’d bought it.

Good decisions;
Always paid into pension even from teen job.
Bought the worst house in the best area and did it up to increase value before moving where I really wanted to be.
Drive an old car instead of a lease.
Automate every payment possible.

Bad decisions/lessons;
Still paying off debt, was never financially savvy around debt and have learned the hard way.

on this thread to learn from all you savvy folks!

I’d recommend overpaying the mortgage. I tell all my young colleagues that even if they’re skint, use the 2 months that you don’t pay council tax to overpay the mortgage. It makes such a difference.

All of my pay rises since Covid have gone as overpayments to the mortgage and it will be paid off next year while I’m still in my 40s.

Pension - join the pension scheme if there is one and pay as much as you can afford. I started a pension for DS when he was 5 as I thought it unlikely the state pension would be around by the time he was the right age!

Buying a flat literally the first day that I could, after living in horrible accommodation to save up. 12 years ago now. A 2-bed ex-council in an unloved bit of London. I have kept it and pay the mortgage down aggressively. It's rented out at a fair rate now that I have a family home, maintained well and allows me freedom and security.

Saving early regardless of how little. Pay yourself first and do without other things if necessary. You can’t make up for a long investing horizon, so telling yourself you will save when you are older and established is a massive and irrevocable mistake.

Buying a smaller house than I could theoretically “afford .”

Small, modest cars (Ford) kept for 15+ years. Keep them clean and maintained.

Buying most things other than mattresses, upholstered furniture and underwear/shoes second hand.

Paying for absolutely everything using a credit card for the air miles.

Never getting into the habit of takeaway/dining out.

Transferring my Career development loan to a 0% interest credit card (thanks to a loophole) and paying it all off in 2 years.

I also got various bonuses from woolwich/barclays which funded travel.

Intentional:
Chose to do a degree, went into education.

Top of the payscale teaching is well paid for the area I live in.

And it means I've built up a good pension.

Bought a house through my grandfather's estate so no big fees and they offered it to us at £8k below market rate to shift it quick. It cost £25k.
Mortgage free due to DH having had an accident at 18 and being awarded compensation.

I have had a quick look and don’t think it’s possible. I think it was about 23 years ago so I don’t even know if newspaper were online then.

These are eye opening

Very much appreciated

Buying solar panels in 2012 just before the feed in tariff rate dropped.
They have paid for themselves and we have low utility bills.

Due the exceptionally sunny weather this year we have paid out £301.28 in gas and electricity so far this year, and our provider has dropped £1,081.21 into our bank account. Obviously, we have November and December to get through, but I think we will be ahead this year.

1. Divorcing my financial drain exH
2. Getting rid of debt bar the mortgage
3. Having savings (started with £1k emergency fund, now £10k emergency fund. Whenever life has thrown me a lemon, having funds to be able to deal with it has made life hugely easier
4. Living within my means
5. Only buying things if I have the money to pay for it in full
6. No flash cars, just a 5 year old car bought outright and kept until it dies

Thinking about it, marrying my DH. He had no money, savings or a job when we met but then got a job and became a high earner over time.

It wasn't a decision, but I had a crappy financial services call centre job in my early twenties. I didn't appreciate it at the time but I learnt about savings, pensions, mortgages. Completely understand that it's not school's job to teach this stuff but I learnt so much in that miserable 9 months I worked there and I would not have learnt this stuff from home.

Working abroad for 10 years. I was paid at the UK rate but the cost of living in each country was much lower. I saved a lot plus travelled and experienced life in different parts of the world.

Putting money into pensions since my 20s.

Meeting my DH, he inherited a lot of money meaning we have no mortgage or any other debt.

Always spending within my means.

Not following my dreams to work in the arts but instead training in an extremely lucrative career so that I could be financially independent.

Paying into a pension from the beginning.

We remortgaged in the summer of 2022 even though it meant paying £3k early repayment charges, because I feared massive interest rises (proved to be correct!). I got a 5 year fix at under 2% which has saved me c.£40,000 as compared to if I’d waited until our previous fix expired in April 2023. Only wish I’d got a 10 year fix!

I’m a corporate lawyer who trained in a city firm. So in my 20s I did very long hours and it was very hard work. But I could do it then easily because I was young and enthusiastic and didn’t have kids.

After a few years in private practice, I went in house and worked less hard (but probably still harder than most jobs, it’s never been a 9 to 5!) This meant by the time I had my first child at 33 I was in a senior in house role, with a decent size team and could go down to 4 days a week.

After my second maternity leave, I took voluntary redundancy and went freelance. I easily earn as much money as when I was employed and I can work from home whenever I want/go to London whenever I want.

It’s the perfect job for when you have a young family and a husband who works shifts, it’s so amazingly flexible.

The only downside I can foresee, is that I live in a reasonable central area of London which I was lucky enough to buy into years ago when it was manageable. That makes a huge difference because I can pop into London to see clients and still be back to pick up from nursery. My work has always been and is still very London based.

Unfortunately I've started too late to make any meaningful difference to my life but investing.

I have a figure that I'm happy my ISA is at and when stocks go high i can take that difference off
We are talking small numbers here but doing that will pay for the travel aspects of this year's holiday .
When it goes up again I'll just leave it.

Opening up a sipp as well ,again too late to give me a good pension buts its doubled in 7 years and it's certainly better than nothing.

Now passing on, drumming this into DC.

Splitting all money and allocating it somewhere every pay day. So it's all working somewhere.
Slightly over paying the mortgage again less than 100 month but over time it helps to chip away

Leaving a DV relationship when pregnant and applying for a council house in the 90s. It meant I've had my own place at cheap rent since my teens, and I exchanged it for a council flat in zone 1 London a few years later, which I was then able to buy at a big discount before they reduced them. I have friends who thought I'd made an awful decision at the time, but they are either still not on the housing ladder (in our 40s), or live in much cheaper areas with less career opportunities.

Meeting and marrying my lovely DH, who is very brainy and is well compensated for it.

Living within my means was always drummed into me by my parents. So I’ve always saved where I could.
Worked hard in my career to progress by additional study etc and saved into my pension.
However I’ve never been so focused on savings haven't enjoyed life too as that’s not a fun way to live!