Thursday, March 13, 2014

Current Net Worth (In Pounds)

My net worth as at today is as follows

Fixed Assets        120
Cash                    70
Bank                    10

Total                     200

Liabilities               0
Equity                   200

Total                     200

As you can see above I am worth just a paltry 200 pounds. The fixed assets in question includes a laptop that I have prudently undervalued at 100 pounds. The good thing about this set up is that I am absolutely DEBT-FREE and will stay absolutely DEBT-FREE.

Monday 17.3.14 I have a job interview for a better paying job at an FX company. By the way I have an honors degree in Finance and Banking and experience in Equity analysis and management strategy consultancy. Last week I applied for the ACCA designation and I was given exemptions in nine subjects. I hope to finish ACCA this year at the latest next year June. The catch is that I have to pay 69 pounds (sorry my laptop does not have a pound sign) for the three first exemptions. Let me be clear from the onset: I do not hesitate to invest in myself after appropriate research about particular course curriculum. The best investment you can make is in yourself.

If I have a net worth of 200 now then its 999,800 to go!!


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Ways to save money in London

There are a lot of ways to save money. I will be sharing you practical ways that can help you live frugal and save more as Dave Ramsey says "Live like no one else so you can live like no one else".

I should say that you can still be happy as you live a frugal life. Many people confuse happiness with fun. Money can buy fun but not happiness. Saving money does not mean a miserable life and lack of basics. It simply means you focusing at alternatives that conserve hard-earned cash.

1. Cycle to work (that is if you stay at considerable distances)

I stay about 5 miles from work and it takes me about 30 minutes to cycle to work. This is also a way to exercise and do free workouts. Hitting rather three birds with one stone. Waking to the station and getting to work before today was costing me 45 minutes (more than the cycling time) and train tickets of 3 pounds a day. By the way if you live far from work you may consider shifting to a house closer to work. I used to stay in Slough commuting to Reading everyday and it would cost me 8.30 pounds a day which translated to 50 quid a week. Since I moved it costs me nothing except energy to get to work.

For the bikers just make sure you have the biking accessories like helmet, reflective jacket, bike light (if travelling at night), warm outfits and mudguards if its raining. Leave home early for easy cycling that does not make you arrive at your place of work sweaty.

2. Drop the gym membership

Gym is great for workouts but unless you are a serious bodybuilder or "looser" you are wasting money and time (registering). I was going to the gym and discovered that I can do workouts that keep me in shape and give me the six-pack that I am after without giving away my hard-earned  192 pounds per year. There are apps that you can download for free that can give you perfect abs in 42 days. One such app is "Caynax A6W". By the way putting that 192 pounds every year for 25 years in a mutual fund that pays about 10% p.a (which is very possible) will give you 19,071 pounds.

3. Sharing rather than renting a full house

Rent is one of the biggest expense that gobble up Londoners' money. Rents that range from 600-800 are considered modest to most people but outrageous to me. Sharing a room will probably cost you from 250 -400 depending where you are. If you save 500 pounds by not treasuring privacy over the scarce pound you would have put 54,590 in a fund that pays about 10% p.a in the space of 25 years. (By the way look out for my post on finding the best mutual funds or ETFs).

4. Sack the fuel guzzler

Personally I do not have a car. Firstly the insurance payments make me groan and the need for it is very small. But for those with big pockets, no claims bonus and a genuine need I say small fuel economic engine saves the day. Diesel engines also tend to do better fuel consumption. Better still to those who are very wealthy, you can get the new hybrids that combine fuel and electricity. Not forgetting that even the red hybrids are green since they produce less CO2. Terminology!!! So ask yourself if you really need that "thirsty" tank.....


More tips to follow.Saving takes a resolve to silence "the baby" in most of us. The baby that screams wanting extra candy to feed the doll. Most of the things we buy we never use them, thus making the owners of ebay rich by listing our unwanted items there. Remember if you do not buy the things you do not need, you will not have to sell the things you need!!! Enough said.....

How I plan to make a million pounds in ten years

13th March 2014

I am a young old man aged 31 turning 32 on 19 October 2014.

I have decided to document my ascend to millionaire status. I am as sure as I am typing that it will happen. I moved to UK from Zimbabwe with nothing. The main reason I came was to be with my wife whom I legally married on 3 July 2013. I arrived in UK on 29 November. Before I left, I borrowed a friend of mine $1400 at an interest of 10% fortnightly to be able  to pay for my visa application and travel ticket. I paid it back in about 5 months with interest and grillings :). My wife helped me especially the first part of my stay, she was very supportive. Tip your hats!!! ;)

I stayed with a dear friend for about 2 and a half months after which I got a job that paid a basic salary of 12,084 pounds before tax a year. The first pay check i received was 850 pounds.

Here is how i used it:

Rent and deposit       510
Debt repayment        200
Mountain bike            70
Charity                       70
Total                        850

I had moved into a single room in Reading. The room cost me 340 and with a 340 deposit worked out to 680 (sorry no pound sign on my computer but everything else is working). I negotiated to spread the rent over two months hence it was 340 x 3 = 1,020. Meaning I would pay the months rent plus half the deposit which would work out to 510. The debt repayment was for money borrowed by my wife. She was stressed today because she has no transport money to go to work so she is sleeping over at work to be able to go through the period. I offered her my remaining 70 but she refused it she feels its inappropriate following the conversation we had.

I bought a bike today! Yeah! Now I can save about 864 per year that is the opportunity cost of going on the train. The daily fare to work was 3. This year im targeting to save about 6120 quid which is $9180. Above that I would like to make an extra 13,600 quid. The total income i will make and be able to save will be 9,146 + 10,212 = 19,358. The next year (2015) I would like to double it to 38,716 then the following year (2016) double it again to 77,432.

What remains will be seven years. I bet you would be laughing at me if you had read this before it happened but this is how i plan to snowball:

Year 4: 154,864
Year 5: 309,728
Year 6: 619,456
Year 7: 1,238,912
Year 8: 2,477,824
Year 9: 4,955,648
Year 10: 9,911,296

I am confident that I will become a billionaire in my lifetime using simple concepts that i will disclose later


I have listed a calculator on Ebay. It is a financial calculator that can fetch me about 20 pounds so hope that gets bought sooner rather than later.