The Beginning

Until very recently I believed that investing in the money markets was an obscure science, its secrets only accessible if you were prepared to become a numbers “bore”, obsessed with charts and percentages. Left brain stuff, even geekier than the world of IT in which I spend my days. Dull, cold and devoid of creativity.

But I've had to reconsider. I've realised that I need to take a serious look at how this investing business works because I dearly want to retire before I'm 66 and I won't be able to do that unless I get my savings into some sort of order. The only way I'll fund early retirement is to grow them as much as possible inside a S&S ISA for the next 5 - 8 years. I need to take what I already have and nourish it, so that I have enough to be able to stop work at 60 (give or take a couple of years) and defer taking my pension until state retirement age.

So I've made a start. Three months ago I started reading, researching and gathering together the basic ingredients - knowledge and cash. Now I'm ready to start putting together my own particular recipe for success. Some would call this mixture a "portfolio". I like to think of it as being more like a magic potion, carefully blended from a little bit of this and a little bit of that (wing of bat and eye of toad) with all the ingredients coming together to form a powerful whole. 

My ultimate aim is to concoct a potion capable of turning the base metal of pounds and pennies into the gold of "time to call my own". I'm pretty sure I won't get it right first time but, fingers crossed, I'll learn from my mistakes, adjust the balance when needed, keep my stirring hand steady and come out the other side with something that works.