Money is Abhorrent.

Am I enough? Part 4.

I am in a hotel near Heathrow, T3 (not Rise of the Machines, {ha ha so witty}) and in the morning I am getting a flight to Boston, affectionately known as BTown between Sam and I as Portsmouth, where he first lived, is known as PTown. Sam came up with those, he is so inventive, no wonder he went into marketing. I have a beer. a Cruzcampo, one of those 'native European' beers that are flooding the UK at present.

Think Birra Moretti, Madri etc, it is like the 1980's again when Australian beers took over, everyone wanted a Fosters. Excuse please, can you tell me the way to Cockfosters? Yeah, drink it warm mate. Funny question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBilVD-oU98

£7 a pint! Seven Bloody English Pounds

For a pint of 'Spanish' lager.

A small cappuccino in this bar is £4.10. 80% of that will be profit. I know this. A dear old mate of mine, who recently turned 60 jumped from the rat race a little over ten years ago and got a coffee van. His empire is expanding!

He told me that his cheapest coffee, (the figures are not accurate, they are illustrative) a simple small black coffee, which I think at the time he sold for around £1.75, costs him as little as 40p to make that includes the cup and a portion of the van running costs. 77% mark up. Fair play. I drove down here this evening, I have a Jaaag as the ever faithful will know, it is a diesel and has a three litre engine, it is a beast. As The Orange One from across the Pond I am flying over tomorrow is playing War, I paid £1.79 a litre for my fuel.

Good job we are not going to Washington now, I may have ended up in jail.

That is around £9.85 a gallon. Let's call it a tenner and effectively that means when I attend a pay at the pump only station, where the card limit is £99, I am not filling my car up from empty. I had around an eighth of a tank left, chucked £40 in and the 'needle' (showing may age here) hardly moved.

165 miles to Heathrow and I suspect I will have to put more fuel in to get me home in nine days time even at 51 miles to the gallon. I have just checked the cost of an Uber from my hotel to Terminal 3.

It is 1.8 miles in total, door to door.

£15. FIFTEEN! Time to throw in a favourite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SnuM7cRwww Rant over.

My father always had a saying about me, 'If he has five pounds in his pocket he will spend fifteen'. And that is true. I do not care about money. It comes, it goes. I work hard, yes colleagues I can hear you, pipe down. I do work hard and I earn quite well, I am certainly in the region of the top 12% of earners in the UK for example. I never have to worry about checking my bank account towards the end of the month, despite having quite heavy outgoings at present (more on that in a bit) and I don't worry about having the odd takeaway or bottle (or three) of wine at the weekend. I am fortunate. And I am a bit reckless at times. But, I am frugal in weird ways. When I first left Nikki and moved in on my own, I suddenly only had myself to rely on for money, for the first time in my adult life, no second income from my wife as a backup and it made me change my ways and I maintain those now.

If I make a hot drink using a kettle then I fill the kettle with the exact amount of water from the cup I am using.

I do not fill the kettle and try to boil the Pacific for one cup of coffee.

I switch everything (save the fridge, WIFI and Alexa's) off at the wall when not in use.

I will walk anywhere I can and the car has become a tool for work.

I do not own a freezer so only buy the food I need and can eat before it spoils, I hate food waste. In one of the houses I lived in, a two bed, I used to put the oil filled radiator near me and put a blanket over it and me, thereby warming the air around me, not the whole room and certainly not the rooms I was not using, that's simply a waste.

The bedrooms were freezing, ha ha.

My current home has water filled underfloor heating, it is superb, but is also over the whole (large) apartment and cannot be zoned, so it rarely goes on.

Granted I am top floor (Penthouse darling) and benefit from the neighbours below me heat so don't always need it.

Blankets are a god send! Yet, on a night out I am flashing the bank card like it is a warning signal to stop a plane crashing into the ground, spend spend spend! I am my own contradiction. People often say that 'Money is the root of all evil' but that is a misquote, the true saying is 'For the love of money is the root of all evil'.

It is from the Bible. The love of money. That is the evil, not the money itself.

That is so accurate. I think that money is likely the biggest reason for jealousy over anything else. You can be jealous of somebody's looks or physique, but I bet you would covet their bank account more. If someone is successful, or has been left a decent amount or come into money in some fashion it is rare that people celebrate that, they will find reasons to put that person down. They are jealous. I find that strange. One of my personal sayings is 'Jealousy is a cruel mistress' and she is. If I win big, then so do all of my nearest and dearest, as I said here. https://www.my11yearplan.com/post/the-big-lottery-win So, I earn well, I have disposable income, I can and do spend.

Easily.

Yet, I also have considerable debt. Car finance Personal loan

Credit cards

I rent my home, I do not own it. If I could wipe those debts out (not the rent of course) I would be around £1300 a month better off.

OK, a couple of them (car and loan) end soon and that is a huge chunk of the above so once settled and there is no need to take more out then I will have more disposable. I may upgrade the car of course, but that is essential. But I only pay the minimum on the cards, so they will likely die with me.

I have some savings, not a lot, and I have personal pensions, but I am not about to retire before I turn 55 in thirteen months time on them! Hey, that was the point of this blog after all.

I suspect some of you are twitching and feeling triggered at that amount of debt and lack of future proofing my life.

I am not. I sleep soundly. I do not fret. I have always had this outlook in life and to date it has seemed to bear fruit,

'It will work out'

And it does. It has.

And it will. Money is fun tokens as someone who was once very dear to me used to say and they were right. It is. It can bring a lot of joy. But its very existence brings more desperation and sorrow.

It is abhorrent.

I despise it.

I hate people who chase it. I hate that people have to decide on heating or eating. I hate people who boast about it.

I hate that people look down on those who do not have it and even more so on those that do.

I hate seeing people worrying about money.

I hate that some will take the last penny someone has, despite the hardship it will bring that person, for their own gain.

I hate that we use it as a form of punishment in the guise of fines. I hate fraud. I hate bailiffs (I have never met one in fairness).

I hate that it can destroy friendships that have lasted for years. I hate people who are given it for nothing and then lie about the reasons they were given it. Buy a fucking Ferrari then you slimy frog faced fascist. (Bit of politics there) Uh oh, he is back! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SnuM7cRwww

Oh, my ever faithful I can rant huh? Maybe I am mad. Ha, maybe.

This is part four of the five dissections of Paul Getty the person and his life. It is not always about finding the answer, because how can we know what is around the corner? What tomorrow brings.

We can't.

In a little under three weeks I am 54, not too old, but certainly closer to a potential retirement than some of you.

Am I ready, financially?

Fuck no. Do I have a Plan?

Ha Nope.

Am I worried? Not even slightly. It will work out...