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Progress on debt and savings

May 3rd, 2011 at 10:26 pm

Our mortgage payments hit today:
US: $413 to principal
UK1: $262
UK2: $56
UK3: $58

So that's $789, $211 to go on the May debt-repayment goal.

The UK flat payment had semiannual management fees taken out of it, so after paying the mortgages I only had 20 pounds ($40) to transfer into savings. Still, progress is progress! That's $1916.71 in EF savings so far this year; total EF is up to $10,428.66.

I set the mostly random goal of $7000 because it seemed reachable just with UK income plus the $50 I put aside each month in the US account. However, the UK flat has been hit with expensive repairs a few times, so we may be a bit off schedule with this one. Well, we'll see how it goes. I'm kind of comfortable with our EF now, and part of me is tempted to start paying down the UK mortgages instead. They're our lowest-interest debt at 1.49% (variable), but on the other hand the UK savings account is earning us a few pence a month.

Bringing the money over to the US to pay down a higher-interest debt doesn't make too much sense to me because we'll get hit with exchange and transfer fees. Maybe if the exchange rate goes crazy again and a pound is worth $2, we'll think about doing that. Right now it's worth about $1.60. Plus, whether I'm putting the money in the UK account or paying down the UK mortgages, it feels like I'm working toward our future, when we'll move to England and need to purchase a bigger place than NT's teeny flat. It'd be nice to have a ton of equity and/or a nice down payment. Down payment probably even better since we may keep renting the place out; who knows?

It seems nearly impossible to think about getting the money into a smart investment vehicle in the UK. The tax complications might more than outweigh any profit we could see.

Any thoughts or opinions on what I should do with that money?

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