Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

cfw1994

MallyGirl said:

michaels said:

MallyGirl said:

I am about to start on the next chapter of finding out what our number really looks like. After 20 odd years of offset mortgages and no savings, which meant everything went on a credit card to maximise the benefits, we are moving to a 5 year fix normal mortgage which should see us through to retirement. I have also closed all the bouncing bank accounts that used to support regular savers and am going for a simpler life - since there is little benefit to be had any more. With a 2 year fix on energy as well this will be the most regimented our finances have ever been.

Will the mortgage be paid off when you have retired as then it sin't part of your number. Also I think you are supporting a child through Uni that will presumably end eventually (?). And of course there are all the costs that only relate to going to work and saving that will end.

Against that may be more heating if you are not WFH and more spending on holidays etc when you have the time...

We will still have 5 years on the mortgage at retirement unless we overpay - which I hope to be able to do when sharesaves mature or we get bonuses.
Uni support will end in 5 years which is why OH wants to carry on that long (when I would rather go a year earlier).
I WFH and OH has done since Covid - his employer is trying to get them back in the office 2 days a week but not many people are keen on it. After retiring I won't have to heat my office at the bottom of the garden any more - expensive electric UFH - and we won't heat the top floor (OH's office) so that will reduce fuel bills a bit. We should be able to move to just one car plus camper at that point but OH will resist.

Energy costs are top of mind for many right now….only suggestion is to see if there are any more things you can do over the next few years to help lower the need. 

We’ve had solar panels for 11 years now, but in the 5 years before I stepped away, we did a few things:

• Replaced our aging windows with some decent ones
• Replaced the draughty front door
• Installed a Hive thermostat to make temperature tweaks easier
• Bought our first electric car: stupidly expensive up front, but an absolute revelation in running costs, plus we love the driving experience 👍
• Bit more loft insulation round the edges (main part is boarded for Stuff2Live™)
• Replaced the solar inverters this year: we’d seen numbers steadily drop….instantly 25% more generated

We do like lists….planning this stuff is half the fun!

We are now investigating battery storage possibilities.  Currently still on a low cost Octopus Energy tariff, but if we get taken off that to one that would be available now, it looks to me like battery payback (at current high costs) might be 5-6 years.  The price-cap will probably stop that, & the battery then looks more like 10-15 years payback, which is less appealing.

Personal heating is a thing to consider ❄️

My study (now the Craft Room 👨‍🎨😜) was a big room over our double garage, & pretty chilly in winter (due to the daft vaulted roof we factored in).   I used a small oil heater half under my desk, heated just that space.  Heck, I once worked from home in an arm+leg sleeping bag…partly for laughs, but it really works 🤣
My sister currently has a boiler on the blink, & has decided not to do anything until next spring (she knows that prices and plumber availability would both be Bad™ right now)….wooly jumper for Christmas for her!

On the car front…we still have a car each plus fun-car-Figaro.  The fun one costs relative peanuts to run.  If your OH wants to keep a car, I’d factor in keeping it if possible.  We didn’t want to make any immediate changes to ours, although I am now considering losing the Figgy.  Will see how next summer goes!

Here we are….6 months in, still obsessively tracking spend v TheNumber closely 🤷‍♂️

Stubod

..I think "personnel heating" is something worth considering....(although I thought we would never do it), we recently got a heated under-blanket for the bed that we put on for 5 mins before getting in, and an electric overblanket that we use in the evenings to sit in and watch TV. I find this very sad,  but so far this year we have yet to "engage" our crappy economy 7 heaters which normally get cranked up early October. (Admittedly it has been very mild, and we do have a log burner in the living room which has also been in operation...).

I have been looking for some sort of battery operated heated jacket (I may trip over an extension lead), but these seem to be restricted to workwear and motorbikes?...not sure I want to sit watching telly in a florescent jacket ..perhaps a good business opportunity for somebody as I am sure personnel heating will be more efficient...?(welcome to old age....wonder if anybody does heated slippers  ...? 

Wednesday2000

I think my husband needs to call up his pension advice service but we don't want to bother until our house move goes through. It has been dragging on for 4 and a half months and the couple we are buying from haven't even found a house yet. They have been gazumped several times now.

If it falls through then we will have to look for another house and that might mean getting a mortgage which would disrupt our retirement plans. It would mean taking the lump sum rather than the pension to pay off the mortgage.

We were thinking of downsizing to a flat to free up money for retirement but this experience of moving has really put us off that idea!

DT2001

cfw1994 said:

MallyGirl said:

michaels said:

MallyGirl said:

I am about to start on the next chapter of finding out what our number really looks like. After 20 odd years of offset mortgages and no savings, which meant everything went on a credit card to maximise the benefits, we are moving to a 5 year fix normal mortgage which should see us through to retirement. I have also closed all the bouncing bank accounts that used to support regular savers and am going for a simpler life - since there is little benefit to be had any more. With a 2 year fix on energy as well this will be the most regimented our finances have ever been.

Will the mortgage be paid off when you have retired as then it sin't part of your number. Also I think you are supporting a child through Uni that will presumably end eventually (?). And of course there are all the costs that only relate to going to work and saving that will end.

Against that may be more heating if you are not WFH and more spending on holidays etc when you have the time...

We will still have 5 years on the mortgage at retirement unless we overpay - which I hope to be able to do when sharesaves mature or we get bonuses.
Uni support will end in 5 years which is why OH wants to carry on that long (when I would rather go a year earlier).
I WFH and OH has done since Covid - his employer is trying to get them back in the office 2 days a week but not many people are keen on it. After retiring I won't have to heat my office at the bottom of the garden any more - expensive electric UFH - and we won't heat the top floor (OH's office) so that will reduce fuel bills a bit. We should be able to move to just one car plus camper at that point but OH will resist.

• Replaced the solar inverters this year: we’d seen numbers steadily drop….instantly 25% more generated

We are now investigating battery storage possibilities.  

Why? Was it that you were able to split the array of panels into separate units?
My inverter is 9 years old and I was advised that I’d get marginal increase by updating as the array is split into two, not in shadow and all facing the same way.

I looked at batteries a few years ago and ended up going for a diverter. When the system is ‘due’ to send back to the grid is diverts to heating our hot water cylinder which has an electric override.
Minimises gas consumption throughout the Summer. Payback I think was 2 to 3 years.

MallyGirl

Stubod said:

..I think "personnel heating" is something worth considering....(although I thought we would never do it), we recently got a heated under-blanket for the bed that we put on for 5 mins before getting in, and an electric overblanket that we use in the evenings to sit in and watch TV. I find this very sad,  but so far this year we have yet to "engage" our crappy economy 7 heaters which normally get cranked up early October. (Admittedly it has been very mild, and we do have a log burner in the living room which has also been in operation...).

I have been looking for some sort of battery operated heated jacket (I may trip over an extension lead), but these seem to be restricted to workwear and motorbikes?...not sure I want to sit watching telly in a florescent jacket ..perhaps a good business opportunity for somebody as I am sure personnel heating will be more efficient...?(welcome to old age....wonder if anybody does heated slippers  ...? 

I have been looking at personal heating for camping. It certainly exists. OH won't let me have a heated camping chair as they are too bulky and we try to travel light.
Instead I am looking at heating me with this sort of thing: 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313257994900?hash=item48efa1aa94:g:Y30AAOSw8MVf9mhl&fbclid=IwAR2WZwDwT413Y2Gf5Mw5CyZXIUR45feqp3adIeYF0KsEqRZXeuWQiFHvc9I
I already snuggle in a blanket in front of the TV - a habit I started when the old boiler was failing. I also keep my feet on a cushion as there is a 4 foot deep, very cold, crawl space under the floor.
A combination of 11ft high ceilings, single glazed sash windows and no cavities to fill in Victorian walls mean that bills are large even though we only heat the rooms we use regularly. OH is a hardy Northerner - I am not.

bluenose1

My heated throw when i am WFH and watching TV etc is really cheap to run and whereas before it was always me putting the heating on it is now my husband who normally likes it a bit cooler than me.  I refuse to sit feeling cold so if I think it works it definitely does, very snuggly and relaxing. I got mine from John Lewis  with a 2 year warranty but noticed Lakeland do a greater selection with a 3 year warranty. I really, really  would like this one but cant justify it as nowt matter with mine
https://www.lakeland.co.uk/63622/Lakeland-Sherpa-Electric-Heated-Throw-Dark-Emerald-120-x-160cm?src=gfeed&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkNiMBhCxARIsAIDDKNXTqn8OvkqR9-bLKZjpFHZfukfhlhvp3p_KQO77tGTH3RxWYg0qZ5EaAk7XEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

michaels

MallyGirl said:

Stubod said:

..I think "personnel heating" is something worth considering....(although I thought we would never do it), we recently got a heated under-blanket for the bed that we put on for 5 mins before getting in, and an electric overblanket that we use in the evenings to sit in and watch TV. I find this very sad,  but so far this year we have yet to "engage" our crappy economy 7 heaters which normally get cranked up early October. (Admittedly it has been very mild, and we do have a log burner in the living room which has also been in operation...).

I have been looking for some sort of battery operated heated jacket (I may trip over an extension lead), but these seem to be restricted to workwear and motorbikes?...not sure I want to sit watching telly in a florescent jacket ..perhaps a good business opportunity for somebody as I am sure personnel heating will be more efficient...?(welcome to old age....wonder if anybody does heated slippers  ...? 

I have been looking at personal heating for camping. It certainly exists. OH won't let me have a heated camping chair as they are too bulky and we try to travel light.
Instead I am looking at heating me with this sort of thing: 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313257994900?hash=item48efa1aa94:g:Y30AAOSw8MVf9mhl&fbclid=IwAR2WZwDwT413Y2Gf5Mw5CyZXIUR45feqp3adIeYF0KsEqRZXeuWQiFHvc9I
I already snuggle in a blanket in front of the TV - a habit I started when the old boiler was failing. I also keep my feet on a cushion as there is a 4 foot deep, very cold, crawl space under the floor.
A combination of 11ft high ceilings, single glazed sash windows and no cavities to fill in Victorian walls mean that bills are large even though we only heat the rooms we use regularly. OH is a hardy Northerner - I am not.

When we had victorian windows and not allowed to change them we had secondary glazing perspex sheets that went on every autumn and came off every spring, definitely helped.

DairyQueen

bluenose1 said:

My heated throw when i am WFH and watching TV etc is really cheap to run and whereas before it was always me putting the heating on it is now my husband who normally likes it a bit cooler than me.  I refuse to sit feeling cold so if I think it works it definitely does, very snuggly and relaxing. I got mine from John Lewis  with a 2 year warranty but noticed Lakeland do a greater selection with a 3 year warranty. I really, really  would like this one but cant justify it as nowt matter with mine
https://www.lakeland.co.uk/63622/Lakeland-Sherpa-Electric-Heated-Throw-Dark-Emerald-120-x-160cm?src=gfeed&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkNiMBhCxARIsAIDDKNXTqn8OvkqR9-bLKZjpFHZfukfhlhvp3p_KQO77tGTH3RxWYg0qZ5EaAk7XEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thanks for the recommendation and the link. I was wondering what to buy OH for Xmas and this will solve the problem with the difference in our internal temperatures. He's the chilly bones who turns-up the heat whilst I resort to my summer PJs in my efforts to cool off.

We will also save a chunk on the heating bills - win/win.

MallyGirl

michaels said:

When we had victorian windows and not allowed to change them we had secondary glazing perspex sheets that went on every autumn and came off every spring, definitely helped.

we have secondary glazing upstairs - it stays on all year as it is heavy and huge but it is really ugly. I am sure it does help in the bedrooms where the look matters less.
I am liking the heated blankie concept - maybe that is my Christmas pressi sorted

cfw1994

DT2001 said:

cfw1994 said:

MallyGirl said:

michaels said:

MallyGirl said:

I am about to start on the next chapter of finding out what our number really looks like. After 20 odd years of offset mortgages and no savings, which meant everything went on a credit card to maximise the benefits, we are moving to a 5 year fix normal mortgage which should see us through to retirement. I have also closed all the bouncing bank accounts that used to support regular savers and am going for a simpler life - since there is little benefit to be had any more. With a 2 year fix on energy as well this will be the most regimented our finances have ever been.

Will the mortgage be paid off when you have retired as then it sin't part of your number. Also I think you are supporting a child through Uni that will presumably end eventually (?). And of course there are all the costs that only relate to going to work and saving that will end.

Against that may be more heating if you are not WFH and more spending on holidays etc when you have the time...

We will still have 5 years on the mortgage at retirement unless we overpay - which I hope to be able to do when sharesaves mature or we get bonuses.
Uni support will end in 5 years which is why OH wants to carry on that long (when I would rather go a year earlier).
I WFH and OH has done since Covid - his employer is trying to get them back in the office 2 days a week but not many people are keen on it. After retiring I won't have to heat my office at the bottom of the garden any more - expensive electric UFH - and we won't heat the top floor (OH's office) so that will reduce fuel bills a bit. We should be able to move to just one car plus camper at that point but OH will resist.

• Replaced the solar inverters this year: we’d seen numbers steadily drop….instantly 25% more generated

We are now investigating battery storage possibilities.  

Why? Was it that you were able to split the array of panels into separate units?
My inverter is 9 years old and I was advised that I’d get marginal increase by updating as the array is split into two, not in shadow and all facing the same way.

I looked at batteries a few years ago and ended up going for a diverter. When the system is ‘due’ to send back to the grid is diverts to heating our hot water cylinder which has an electric override.
Minimises gas consumption throughout the Summer. Payback I think was 2 to 3 years.

No, not that - you mean micro-inverters.  We are not shaded, and they wouldn't help.  

I've been tracking our generation for 11 years....and a while back noted the numbers were decreasing.   
Got to the point we just decided to get someone on.   Chose ThinkGreenPartners - they are a pushy company, BUT very efficient (sic)....came and rightly identified that the original inverters were actually a little underspecc'd for our 4kW array: their single Growatt has proven it's worth (albeit will be a year or two to recover the cost!)

On the personal heating....I once bought some fingerless heated USB connected gloves (I said the study was cold ❄️)...what a load of rubbish!

Oh yeah: that arm & leg sleeping bag jobby?
 

Admit it, you all want one!

(also great for sleeping in a hammock!


🤣