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Increasing your Net Worth
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- Lemon Pip
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Best financial decision was setting up my own business.
Best 'tool', by far, Excel.
Must add that Lemon Fool has been a great resource in helping the establishment of and the building of my finances post retirement.
Best 'tool', by far, Excel.
Must add that Lemon Fool has been a great resource in helping the establishment of and the building of my finances post retirement.
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Aminatidi wrote:Spend less.
Save more.
Invest more.
Don't underestimate the difference not buying all that Manure you don't really need can make.
This, plus
Be born relatively late in life to 'comfortably off' parents.
Marry someone in a similar position
Don't breed.
Obviously it might be a bit late for some or all of these.
TBH for us it was a house sale falling through in 2004. We really wanted the new one so begged, borrowed, and Stoozed 5x joint salary. For over 6 months the interest payments were more than my takehome. Then the old place sold, the mortgage plummetted, and we realised we hadn't really missed out on much living on one salary. So we continued to do so.
Fast forwards 16 years, a few payrises later and haing 20x annual spend in savings was quite feasible, and that was before a couple of nice inheritances.
But those 6 months or so were the one where we realised there was a lot of stuff we just didn't need to spend on.
Paul
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
katie wrote:What’s the best financial decision you’ve made that helped boost your net worth? Also, what tool do you use to keep track of your net worth?
There have been many over the years (Moving to France then Switzerland, then California, saving constantly, buying a house at the right time etc.) but the one key financial decision I took was in my mid-teens.
I invested my entire net-worth at the time (~£50) in a Sinclair ZX81 computer kit and a soldering iron. Everything else is a direct(ish) result of this decision.
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
What’s the best financial decision you’ve made that helped boost your net worth?
Company pension
ShareSave second
I use Excel to track everything - not perfect, but it's what I use in my 'day job' so I know my way around it
Company pension
ShareSave second
I use Excel to track everything - not perfect, but it's what I use in my 'day job' so I know my way around it
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Lootman wrote:dealtn wrote:pje16 wrote:Thre will be some (probably more than few) Fools who will benefit (greatly) from the higher rate tax relief on the way into their pension and pay only basic rate on the way out
The richer, and more successful ones, will pay more than the basic rate though.
Yes, my pensions alone would be almost enough to push me into higher-rate tax. There is also the risk that income tax rates will be higher in the future. Of course there is also the risk that the tax benefits of iSAs will be diminished.
Yes and not only that, but it seems in retirement we will in future have to pay NI too! How does that work then? Isn't NI the whole point of NI to fund our pensions?
Or have I got that wrong too...?
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Mike4 wrote:Isn't NI the whole point of NI to fund our pensions?
Yes and other benefits as well
https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/w ... nce-is-for
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
1) Finding TMF about 2002/3 and having a lightbulb moment that spending more than I earned wasn't going to end well long term and taking in the collective investment wisdom there and here.
2) Dragging myself off the tools and into a management position. Bores me to death some days but the doubling of income and being able to comfortably invest >25% of my income makes up for it.
2) Dragging myself off the tools and into a management position. Bores me to death some days but the doubling of income and being able to comfortably invest >25% of my income makes up for it.
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Taking out Permanent Health Insurance for both my wife and myself on starting a mortgage. We had to claim on the policy within 2 or 3 years of starting it. Without its payments over a period of 28 years we would have been close to destitution, as opposed to being moderately comfortably-off.
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- Lemon Pip
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Didn't know what I wanted to do in life so got a physics degree, since I reckoned it would keep my options wide open.
Five years later left employment for contracting. That step precluded me from the management ladder, but did allow me to retire 26 years later. I realised very early that saving a little more than the next man, each month, let me feel more and more financially secure. During one contract, a colleague ventured that she'd decided to take taxis only having just landed a well paid job. Meanwhile I stuck to LBYM with apartment rentals, cars and fashions. Never skimped on food or wine, though. But to each is own. Fortunately married a very well educated woman who came from a poor background, and has always watched the pennies.
Five years later left employment for contracting. That step precluded me from the management ladder, but did allow me to retire 26 years later. I realised very early that saving a little more than the next man, each month, let me feel more and more financially secure. During one contract, a colleague ventured that she'd decided to take taxis only having just landed a well paid job. Meanwhile I stuck to LBYM with apartment rentals, cars and fashions. Never skimped on food or wine, though. But to each is own. Fortunately married a very well educated woman who came from a poor background, and has always watched the pennies.
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Is excel always everyone's tool of choice? Has anyone tried any budgeting apps or are they just not worth it
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
chair wrote:Is excel always everyone's tool of choice? Has anyone tried any budgeting apps or are they just not worth it
I used Microsoft Money from 1995 to 2009 and have been using YNAB since then.
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- Lemon Slice
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
chair wrote:Is excel always everyone's tool of choice? Has anyone tried any budgeting apps or are they just not worth it
No. OpenOffice Calc is free*.
Other people's software never seems to do exactly what you want. Spreadsheets are configurable to do everything.
* Actually Calc does have a few annoying foibles compared to Excel. Particularly the need to click to click twice before typing in an inactive window, and illogical keyboard navigation. But not so much I would pay the ongoing subscription fee for Excel.
Gryff
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
gryffron wrote:chair wrote:Is excel always everyone's tool of choice? Has anyone tried any budgeting apps or are they just not worth it
No. OpenOffice Calc is free*.
Other people's software never seems to do exactly what you want. Spreadsheets are configurable to do everything.
* Actually Calc does have a few annoying foibles compared to Excel. Particularly the need to click to click twice before typing in an inactive window, and illogical keyboard navigation. But not so much I would pay the ongoing subscription fee for Excel.
Gryff
Have you tried Libre Office? I used Open Office for many years before reading that it was no longer being developed, whereas its offshoot, Libre Office, was. I admit to mainly using only the Word function, but found it a huge improvement, so maybe the Excel bit is as well?
Steve
PS Not sure about the UK, but in Italy, you can legally buy Microsoft Office licences on Ebay for 5 - 10€. These are the older standalone packages, not the 365 versions.
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
stevensfo wrote:Have you tried Libre Office? I used Open Office for many years before reading that it was no longer being developed, whereas its offshoot, Libre Office, was. I admit to mainly using only the Word function, but found it a huge improvement, so maybe the Excel bit is as well?
Steve
Now converted to Libre Office (running on Linux Mint) and am very happy with it.
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Becoming a contractor abroad for a while. Discovering the High-Yield Portfolio (HYP) on TMF and implementing it. Living largely frugally.katie wrote:What’s the best financial decision you’ve made that helped boost your net worth? Also, what tool do you use to keep track of your net worth?
Use Excel for the flexibility it allows in calculating and presenting things just as I want them.
C.
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
Darka wrote:I use Excel for tracking our portfolio and YNAB for budgeting.
$84 a year, does it go down on you too or just help you track your budget?
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
katie wrote:What’s the best financial decision you’ve made that helped boost your net worth? Also, what tool do you use to keep track of your net worth?
I decided to invest in equities, keep my costs low, and trust in time in the market rather than driving up trading costs by trying to time the market. The trick is not to win, but rather not to lose the game of investing.
I haven't never calculated my net worth although it's not difficult as I have a spreadsheet that tracks my investments current and historic value as well as calculating what salary I shall pay myself and tax on that salary (it was Excel when I worked, it's now Libreoffice Calc) so I could just add my non-investment assets to get a net worth and subtract my debts (two holidays booked but not paid for).
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Increasing your Net Worth
AWOL wrote:Darka wrote:I use Excel for tracking our portfolio and YNAB for budgeting.
$84 a year, does it go down on you too or just help you track your budget?
It's even worse now, they have just increased the price to $98.99 per year, or if you pay monthly then it's "only" $14.99 per month.
I get a lifetime 10% discount (as I used ynab 4) but even so, this is pushing it and the app is not that good.
I just wish there was a better UK option.
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