Financial Freedom For Doctors

Reasons to be Financially Free: To pay for school fees.

“But we have no intention of paying for school fees!” I can hear you say.

So, what if circumstances change? They did for us…

In 2005 we made a definite decision. We felt we had to decide then & there whether our financial targets should include saving for a private education for our kids. We looked the pros and the cons, and the financial viability of both options. We have an excellent State primary school by us (village schools have so much going for them!) and the son was happy there. Our daughter would start there in a year.

What of the secondary schools? We heard of the bad press, but kids tend to survive them, don’t they? Numerous success stories abound.

We decided to stay with the state system, after all, private education is massively unaffordable…

So – what changed our minds?

Daniel, aged 7, was a fun-loving clown, who tended to not sit still in class, and lacked focus – in common with many boys his age. In addition, he had an exceptional talent for singing. His voice (as we were about to find out) was of a different quality to the rest.  His violin teacher had pointed this out to us when he was 5.

At a parents evening, a teacher whom we knew and trusted told us again of his exceptional voice. He would benefit from this being brought on, she said, and he would also benefit from the stricter discipline in the private sector. Just see if he can get a scholarship, she suggested.

We were open to the idea, and started to explore the options. We were shocked at that Christmas performance, when Daniel’s brief solos in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” did indeed demonstrate that he had a different voice. He managed a scholarship at one, very strict school, but we opted for another, less strict, more fun, more suitable for his personality.

The fees are – well - high, but we saw a change in his focus immediately. He grew up – but not in a bad way. He took 2 terms to settle in, but is very happy there, with countless musical and sporting opportunities that would be unavailable in the State sector.

Of course this decision is up to the individual family, but maybe private education is something you would aspire to?

A friend of mine, a stalwart supporter of the State education, interviewed students for the new Brighton and Sussex Medical School a year or so back. He was quite taken aback by the difference in kids from the private and state sectors. The private kids were better-prepared, more able to think through a problem, and more self confident.

Surely a good baseline for the future?

Here’s to a financially free future!

Alison

Buy to Let Teleseminar!

Hi there!

The teleseminar on Thursday was interesting.

Mark Homer came up with the goods, 20 minutes discussing buy to lets, focussing on reasons why now is a good time to invest.

The long term growth of property is approximately 10% per annum, although most people use a conservative 8.5% when estimating future gains/ losses. Currently it is easier than usual to source below market value property deals, as motivated sellers (those who need to sell rather than wait for the market to recover, which it inevitably will) are getting more edgy. 

Mortgages are available, although on less good terms, which makes it even more important to source good BMV deals, as a lot of the gains in property are made in the inital deal.

There are currently fewer investors trying to buy, which may mean less competition for the good deals, but also may mean that some investors are put off by the current climate.

Mark does not seem to have had any problem with rentals at the moment, with rents rising faster than usual (usual rate 5% per annum, currently increasing at 10% pa), although we have to question whether this is sustainable when the cost of living is increasing so rapidly with the oil prices.

The next teleseminar is on 18th June when Marcus de Maria will be talking on an introduction to stocks and shares.

See the teleseminar page for details!

http://www.financialfreedomfordoctors.com/teleseminars.html

Regards,

Alison

Financial Freedom for Doctors can help you to work out how soon you can be financially free, enabling you to work part time, take better holidays or plan for an earlier retirement. Find financial freedom through property investment, the stock market and the internet.

Property Investing DVD set

Hi there!

Just a quick post to say that my friends Andy Shaw and Greg Ballard have now produced a fantastic DVD set to take you through the steps of property investment.

This is an amazing opportunity to find out how to do it yourself, if you do not want to let them do all the work for you.

If you are *serious* about wanting to create wealth in your life, just take a look at this page. Soon.

Andy & Greg are multimillionaires, and they have created this product to help others follow in their footsteps. It is amazing how rapidly they came to be owning £300 million worth of property. They are helping me with mine, too.

If you are interested then I very strongly suggest you stop what you are doing right now and visit this page.

(Visit it NOW because it just went live, and may not be online much longer... you'll understand why when you click on the link now).

Regards,

Alison

Financial Freedom for Doctors can help you to work out how soon you can be financially free, enabling you to work part time, take better holidays or plan for an earlier retirement. Find financial freedom through property investment, the stock market and the internet.

Teleseminars!

Hi there!

Life is very exciting, challenging & busy here....

The first of my teleseminars is booked for this Wednesday, 21st May at 8p.m. (British Summer Time).

Wednesday 21st May 2008

Mark Homer from Progressive Property - 7 Reasons to Buy to Let Now!

For those of us that don't manage to block out the media's fear-mongering (after all, if they can't tell the truth about General Practice, why would they tell the truth about property?) mark is going to give us some food for thought about why now is THE time for investing in buy to lets.

I have managed to combat the technology a little, and have added a page to this site:

http://www.financialfreedomfordoctors.com/teleseminars.html

Soon there will be a left hand button to lead you to this page.

The teleseminars are a bonus for those who have joined my Email list, so if you haven't done so yet, add yours to the box below:

Add your Email here so that I can let you know about our next expert  teleseminar full of information to help you set yourself free!
Email:

This first teleseminar will be packed full of information on buy to lets in the current climate - so don't miss it!

If you can't make the time, however, you will be able to listen afterwards for a few days.

This information is priceless - my future teleseminars will be priced at up to £29.97, so take this opportunity while you can!

By the way, in case you were wondering, my first buy to let is now rented out at the price that was originally estimated in September, and my property investment company in America is now set up & ready to go..... don't you want to know more?

KR
Alison
Dr Alison Grimston
www.FinancialFreedomforDoctors.com

Financial Freedom for Doctors can help you to work out how soon you can be financially free, enabling you to work part time, take better holidays or plan for an earlier retirement. Find financial freedom through property investment, the stock market and the internet.

Reasons to be Financially Free: To set your children up for university

Another major financial spend is university. Now, I am no longer of the belief that going to university is the be-all and end-all of life. Having spent the first half of my life focused on achievement, I am now able to sit back and say that intelligence, training etc are not the most important focus in the world.

However, I am sure I am not alone in the world in aspiring to university or college for my children, in whichever subjects they choose to focus on.

Gone are the LEA Student Grants. Gone are the non-means-tested, fully-paid fees. University costs an arm and a leg now, and that is before the kids have got to live – possibly somewhere expensive, like London.

This is another thing to save for.

As in the game “Cashflow 101”, those of us without children win hands down! (but those of us with, wouldn’t do without them…)

Here’s to a financially free future!

Alison

Why should doctors aim for financial independence?

Over the last year I have been feeling increasingly despondent over the way the Government has been treating our profession. As a G.P. I felt that the new contract held hope for us to lead the way in improving evidence-based medicine, but not at the expense of holistic, patient-centred medicine, where we involve the patient in the decision – making.

However, it has become increasingly evident that the Government has been using the contract to make us do more work for less pay. Reducing the number of QOF points attached to each target, (so that we still have to do the same amount of work for less money on that target), and increasing the number of areas that we have to work on, often related to patient wants or Government vote-catching rather than patient needs, have eroded our trust in the contract.

The last straw came in December, when the Government railroaded months of careful negotiations to impose their chosen agenda of increasing the hours we work for free (again). All GPs will be aware of the despondency attached to this, and the feeling of being let down by both our representatives and the Government. In addition, the contract repeatedly rewards over-prescribing rather than holistic, patient-centred care, and lip-service is paid to patient-centredness by asking them to complete yet another questionnaire.

I was deeply disappointed when, at our local LMC meeting for GPs, we discussed the coming “vote” . When asked who was up for undated resignation, as helped our cause so much in the 1970s, no one felt able to put their hand up – current employment law means that, in running our businesses, our employees have so many rights that resignation is unfeasible.

Life is equally uncertain for our hospital colleagues, with nobody sure whether DGHs will last into the next decade, and maternity units and A&E departments being merged left, right and centre.

Sorry for the rant! Now for the positive!

If a large proportion of doctors in the UK had invested their money wisely for the future, my dream is that we could help shape the NHS without feeling so beholden to the Government.

 

Here’s to a financially free future!

Alison

The Times Rich List – some surprises!

The Times Rich List came out this weekend, and there are some surprises!

The number of philanthropists has increased massively. The amount given to charity by the rich nowadays far exceeds that given by Governments.

Many of the donors are now recognising that it is not enough to just give to less well off countries – “Handouts breed a dependency culture” says Sir Tom Hunter, who has pledged to give away £1 billion in his lifetime through the Hunter Foundation.

I agree with them that it is no longer best to keep quiet about your donations – telling the world that you have been generous motivates many others to follow suit. Terry Pratchett, recently diagnosed with Alzheimers, has given £500,000 to the Alzheimers Research Trust, stimulating a massive campaign amongst his fans and a further £50,000 initially from them.

The number of women on the rich list has increased, but it is stunning how few there are – 94 out of 1000! Work to be done there, girls!

Do have a perusal, it is interesting work, and remember, one of the differences between the rich and the poor is that:

“Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people” – T Harv Ecker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

Learn from them, try not to resent them, and allow yourself to receive opportunities….

Here’s to a financially free future!

Alison