First Financial Advice Now Cake
Visit From Financial Adviser Over
For years I've been burying my head in the sand regarding financial matters. Living from month to month with the occasional investment here and there but no overall strategy.
Today, I finally took the first steps towards bringing that to an end by seeing a financial adviser.
To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be and I really, really liked him. He was referred by a friend and came with great credentials.
He was very positive and encouraging but now I have all sorts of homework to do which I'd really rather not have to do but which can no longer be avoided. No point in paying someone and then not following up.
Rather than post a boring picture of some money or some accounts here's a picture of some chocolate brownies. Just what you need after a visit from a financial adviser.
Sadly we don't have any in the house.
Be sure to click on the image to view it full screen!
Never mind.
I'll make do with a glass of red instead! 😂
How about you? Do you manage your finances well or prefer to bury your head in the sand?
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Thank you to @juliank and @photocontests for the daily photography contest even though they no longer seem to be running. 😂
I've had a couple financial advisers come to our home over the years and so far, I've not been overly impressed with any of them, though I did sign up for one thing or the other. None of them gave me homework, and I'm not currently contributing to any financial fund or portfolio. My wife is through her work, though.
I guess I probably should keep looking if good ones do exist. Of course, yours is in the UK and I'm not. :)
Just what kinds of things does he have you doing?
Being young, we used to recklessly waste money during our trips abroad - we were going somewhere new every 3/4 weeks just to see each other. It was the best way to get around visa issues, but we went through £11,000 of our savings in the first seven months. We justified it as being the price of making a long distance relationship work in the beginning.
We still spend a lot of money on flights and visas which can be annoying. Documents for the little one are also expensive - dual citizenship for example. I also have a proficiency test to sit, and resident permit to apply for soon which will cost a fair bit of money. We've always anticipated these costs though, and there's nothing we can do about them. But it makes us regret the reckless spending in the earlier parts of our relationship to a certain extent. The most annoying thing about that period is that we were both students and not replacing the money.
We're much more sensible now, especially since getting married and bringing a little one into the world. Sometimes we go through 'lazy' periods when we eat out a lot, order food too often, or struggle to walk past the store on the way home without buying a bunch of junk food.
We're trying to buy a house now, so we're definitely much better at penny pinching!
I'm not sure I would call that reckless @seanreilly and certainly not a reason for regret. When you're young is the time to do such things and enjoy it while you can, knowing that you have years ahead to make it up.
John and I just enjoyed ourselves before we had our son and then took a long hard look at the credit card debt we'd created. At that point, a long time ago, it was £11,000.
We saw that we were spending way too much on ready make meals, take aways and DIY. We cut those out or back and were able to pay off the date within 18 months.
Then we lived "sensibly" until the investment that went horribly wrong, through no fault of our own.
It was supposed to be our retirement fund but since then we have been working to pay off the debt to get back to a level paying field. I couldn't bare to look at the figures all in one go and put off getting professional advice.
However, the years are running out and we needed to get a reality check and now I'm glad we did. At least we can make future plans from here knowing what the really situation is instead of covering away from it.
It looks like we were fortunate in that the loss was early enough in our lives so as to be paid off while we are still working.
It's quite a challenge though, not going to the place, of "if only". For example, without that crash in the 80s we would probably have retired early by now. But it is as it is and I try not to visit that place in my mind.
it sounds to me like you're managing your finances optimally - having fun while your young and free and reigning it in as you get older.
Are you buying your house in Russia or the UK?
There's a big misconception that instant meals and microwave dishes are for eating on a budget. It's actually amazing how much money I save when cutting those out.
A pot noodle with fattening calories costs £1 and takes minutes to eat, but a packet of 6 healthy bananas for the same price might last 3/4 days! For so long I was buying 'ready to eat' chicken chunks for £3, but then discovered I could buy a kilogram of fresh chicken breast from Asda for £5 which lasts 3/4 meals - I just had to cook it!
Likewise, a £1 packet of pasta lasts a week and beats the plastic tasting microwave dish at £3. The best example has to be spending £2/3 every day on a poor quality sandwich for lunch! When I'm not going through a lazy period I save so much money avoiding these items.
I did my fair share of partying, but I was never a huge fan of frequently hitting the clubs. I'd much rather save for my travels than waste £60 on a hangover and sore ears! Gadgets are another problem for some people. I don't have the newest iPhone, but at least I own my phone and don't have to worry about paying a contract off. These things are not so important to me, and it means I have extra money in my pocket for the family.
We want to have a home in both countries, but we will buy an apartment near Victoria's family first. We're trying to put down as big a deposit as possible so that we can pay off the mortgage quickly. That way we can comfortably settle in the UK when the little one is of school age. We like the idea of the Scottish borders - affordable, green and reasonable commute distance to Edinburgh.
The only other parts of the UK I like are the Highlands, Northumbria and the South of England, but the first two don't offer much in the way of work. I have a friend working with a very nice job in Surrey, but even she struggles to make ends meet down there.
We found the same. Making a weekly meal plan and doing a main shop once a week (rather than dropping in for stuff every day) saved us loads. We've slipped a bit with this lately and are just trying o get back into making a weekly plans.
I was having a conversation with my son recently who said that he spends about £60 on a night out. I was gob smacked!!!! I had no idea.
Same for me on this one too. I have a Samsung A5 and my pay as you go is so old I actually get it for nothing because I get a free coffee from O2 every week (which I would normally pay for). 😂
Sounds like a good plan regarding property.
Prices in the South of England (at least where there are jobs) are nuts. My daughter can't even afford to rent in Brighton and Hove and has had to move further an further out of town.
I think Northumbria is probably the cheapest of the places you mention but a friend of mine moved back there from here some years ago and has really struggled with local attitudes etc., even though she is from there originally.
She's hoping to move closer to Edinburgh next year and it can't come fast enough as far as she's concerned.
Where are you're wife's family Nearer Moscow or St Petersburg or neither? 😊
For a while, there wasn't enough left to worry about what to do with it...so... no worries... right? Amazingly as far as investing, those were the easy days because there was nothing to work with.
Now, I wouldn't say I'm organized about it, but I listen to everyone and then do what feels right to me, not that I would advise anyone else to do that.
Yes, I am living proof that you can still make it through life, flying by the seat of your pants. LOL !!
Exactly @jacey-boldart.
We were flying by the seat of our pants until we got caught out in the banking crisis and then lost our pants. We've been trying to cover ourselves up every since.
The business we invested with went bankrupt and we were left with a hefty debt although the guys that went bankrupt came out of it OK as they'd put everything in their wive's name.
It was a very difficult time for us and we just put our heads down and worked to get back on an even keel.
Now it's time to look up and see where we actually are rather than living in denial or fear.
So, yesterday's meeting was the first step towards that. 😊
Sorry to hear you lost so much and have had to work to climb back up. That happened to so many people.
Yes it did @jacey-boldart. And that helped a bit. And at least we didn't lose our home. 😊
Can the financial adviser be trusted? I think I can manage fine without financial advises., and it doesn't feel like I'm burying the head in the sand.
I think this one can @tobixen. He already pointed us in some directions we didn't know about.
It's only burying your head in the sand if your're not doing anything and pretending that there's nothing that needs to be dealt with. That's what we've been doing for years. 😢
Sounds like your on top of your situation. That's great! 😊
It looks really delicious ... I like that.
I'm glad you liked it @naldykendo. Thank you for stopping by. 😊
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how about me? I could do with a glass of red! hey I thought steemit was your retirement plan! lol.
So did I @janton, for about six months. Then I realised just how hard it is to earn Steem nowadays and came back down to earth with a bump. 😢
Although, if Steem prices rise it still might be of course. I'd prefer to create regular income though. Maybe something new will come along on the Steem Blockchain that will allow me to do that. 😊
howdy again gillianpearce...well..or maybe the price of steem will sky-rocket and then you won't have to! unless you want to like you said. lol. God bless England!