Countdown to retirement.... oh dear

vintagebrighton

vintagebrighton wrote: »

Ironically, one of my original debts was for NI as I hadn't got round to applying for the small earnings exemption....turns out that if I had I wouldn't have any income at all! Bear that in mind all you low earning self employed people, you never know when you might need your contributions to count I have a full contributions record of 35 years for my pension but that won't help if I don't make it to pension age!
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This now seems a bit garbled..... soooo

What I was trying to say was it seems that if you qualify and apply for a small earnings exemption from NI contributions then of course you don't pay them. What that means though is that if you suddenly have health problems (which we all think isn't gonna happen to us) you then aren't able to claim anything except income based benefits. With ESA, income based means if your partner earns over £7000pa you don't get anything. But, if you have paid your NI contributions in the correct years then you could qualify for ESA/JSA contributions based. For ESA this is up to 12 months depending on your health issues. I had to pay the NI contributions I owed (which I knew was a debt anyway) then once I wait 6 weeks I can make a claim. If I had ever got round to claiming the small earnings exemption then making up the payments wouldn't have been an option. Thank goodness for procrastination.....

Now I've sorted that I'm off to bed. If I'm ok tomorrow I'll update..... you never know, it could get interesting:p Nite x

nannygladys

Hi Vintage,
All my plans went up in smoke when I walked out of a well paid job a couple of years ago and kept spending like I was still earning, and as I wasn't entitled to any benefits (made myself unemployed) all my savings went as well, my own fault. Anyway I now work p/time (well 30hrs) in a very low paid job, and although I now have some debt I don't have the stress I had before, so for me its worth it:o

The house is very nearly paid for, I have three lovely DD's who Im very close to and Im not yet sure how I will manage on the state pension as I have no private pension:( but I will cross that bridge when I come to it!!!! since coming on MSE I have shaved loads off my spending and I see the challenges I have joined as that - challenges:)

Anyway that's enough about me, I hope everything is going OK with you and it all works out fine, I will keep following and reading and commenting from time to time, so lets get on with the rest of our lives:):) onwards and upwards as NinjaKat says
nannyg

vintagebrighton

Oooh you're so right, we only live once and it's not worth sticking in a soul destroying situation at the expense of your quality of life! Sounds like you have what's important.... the rest can be muddle through and cobbled together

Well, am over my last chemo session... just had number 2 of 12 weekly sessions. The steroids that I have to take for the 3 days following mean I can't sleep much so I'm trying to utilize my extra time as effectively as I can. It's good that I'm having weekly sessions in a way as it means the single doses are lower, although the overall doses have a cummulative effect and add up to more chemo than I would've had if I had one big session every 3 weeks x 4. So I'm getting up about 5am and pottering, having breakfast about 9am then going for a walk.. then I crash in the afternoon. But in between I can work a bit on the computer, read, make stuff etc.... as long as I'm near my sofa I'm good!

Things have massively changed since I started this diary so it's been a bit of trying to sort out the best way forward given the circumstances whilst also looking towards the long term finances.

At the start of the year OH was paying £200pm in fees for his Masters and was facing the prospect of redundancy from his Welfare Rights job. The situation has massively improved which is excellent ~ 1) He now has a 3 year welfare rights job for 2.5 days a week 2) He has been offered a PHD place at St Andrews, Scotland, which although isn't fully funded does have full fee remission We can't move from the south coast at the moment but I'm sure we can work something out! So, £200pm saved there :T

Think that's enough for now... I'm flagging a bit

Good Points
1) Have made lots of notes for my business
2) Have started gathering paperwork for Tax Credits renewal ~ I'm notoriously bad at paperwork, loathe it, will do anything to avoid it

Bad Points
1) Spent £4 on cheer up choccies which made me feel ikky

Will update plans tomorrow(ish)

Nite all xx

nannygladys

Hi Vintage
Glad everything is going well for you at the moment, keep positive. Today has been brilliant for me, I have been to see DD3 and DGD3 who is only 5 weeks old, so Ive had plenty of cuddles:) we took her a walk into the local town which is very old fashioned and they an event of for the Forces and it was all vintage and old fashioned singing, Vera Lynn etc, it was great and the sun shone the whole time so we stopped for a drink and lapped up a bit of vit D:rotfl:
Anyway back to reality tomorrow - work!!!!
nannyg

vintagebrighton

Gosh, have I really not posted here since June?????

Quick update then I'll try and keep on top of this from now on

I finished my first lot of chemo in August then had my op in September. Five weeks recovery time then the second lot of chemo started So, from October I've had chemo every 3 weeks... due the last one next week. BUT, I've decided I'm not having it next week, I either won't have it atall or they can reschedule. It's worse than the first chemo, I'm sick and nauseaus for 10 days no matter how many anti sickness drugs they give me!

After chemo, I then have radiotherapy scheduled sometime in the new year but I'm sure it will be far more doable than chemo..... I'm even hoping to get some sort of life back.

Apart from that I have plans which I'll elaborate on later ~ If I remember to come back!

dogcat_2

Hi...I've been reading your diary.....sorry to hear of your health problems...but as least you're staying positive! I'm around your age too.....and also no private pension....yikes....!

vintagebrighton

Is this 3rd time lucky???? I'm back anyway

After 14 chemo sessions, 2 ops and 20 radiotherapy sessions I'm done with treatment (for now). I have check ups to come and obviously the aftermath of the treatment (physical and emotional) to deal with but I think I can work towards getting my life back!

Physically I've put on nearly 3 stone over the year which isn't good. I also have neuropathy, fatigue, painful hips and shoulder and other 'niggles'. I've been assured that given time all these things 'should' improve so I'll just have to be patient.

On the plus side, I have a head of hair for the first time in a year still waiting for the eyebrows....

Financially things aren't as bad as they could have been thanks to ESA. We haven't accumulated any more debt so that's good.

I've managed to figure out where to go from here so will update soon with where I am now, where I plan to go and how I plan to get there.

VB x

vintagebrighton

So this is where I try and make sense of my 'plans'. Not sure if they'll work out (what does!) but I want options and choices ~ something you don't have when you're working to pay debt and living costs.

My bankruptcy is set to drop off my credit file in November (YAAY). It hasn't affected us too much as a family financially. I did learn a couple of very hard lessons.... to ask for help before the SHTF and to live within my means. I did the second before my mental health problems and since the bankruptcy, the first has been much more difficult. Certainly having cancer it was much easier to ask for help because it was a physical illness that everyone 'gets'. For whatever reasons, I didn't feel that with with mental illness but at least I now have a very close, supportive network around me. Priceless

My debt is just what I owe my family now and I'm paying that £140pm for 4 years then a lump sum of up to £5000 to clear the lot. My OH has an overdraft which stood at £1500 last year and is now £750. Very pleased with that. If they should demand the money back immediately we have it.

We have £1200 saved with the credit union, £1052 in an ISA and £100 in premium bonds (just started). So we're in an okay financial position.

I'm desperate to get those savings up though. My OH is studying for his PHd at St Andrews and now the plan is to live up there for his final year. That will cost. We'll have to cover a year's income for him which is approx £10000 :eek:

It'll be a challenge but hey, what's life about?

Dinner time now but will be back to elaborate on the grand plan

VBx

vintagebrighton

Morning

I've been self employed for 10 years, since just before I took my youngest DS out of school to home educate. Where's that time gone? He's at college taking A levels now but that's another story!

I used to have an online business and a dozen people I cleaned for. Unfortunately the online business took a massive dive ~ a combination of neglect due to illness and the economic situation I suspect. The cleaning I'm only managing a couple of mornings at the moment. It's hard work physically and I'm just not up to it. Luckily all of my clients have been very flexible with my time off and what I can and can't do but I've had to 'give' some jobs to another cleaner. The few I have left pay me well so I'll keep them on as long as possible. Clearly, that's not going to work out when I'm in my late 60's though, waiting for my pension...... so the only option is to retrain. I've done it twice before but I never, never want to work full time for someone else again. I'm probably 'unemployable' anyway :rotfl:

The plan is to start retraining, work for myself and pick up agency work if and when there's any available.

My OU short course starts tomorrow and in a couple of weeks I'll be applying to college for the second course I need. Apparently employers/agencies want bits of paper... who knew? Gotta get lots of them cos my old ones are over 25 years old!

Plan for Today

Work out the finances for this month ~ how much can I put away?
2 hours study
Try and sort pile of paperwork that's staring at me
Find something to wear for going out tonight. It's a friends birthday but after putting on 3 stone nothing fits me!

VB x

vintagebrighton

What I have Achieved Today

Found something to wear... decided that no one really cares if things are a bit tight
Money to go to savings this month ~ £500
Nothing else

What I didn't Achieve

Sorting my paperwork (but I'm sure it'll still be waiting for me another day)

I do need to keep making extra money if I can though so will look at what else I can do before payday on the 20th. The last few months I've ebayed, sold books, taken a few hours extra cleaning to cover one of my old jobs (but that nearly killed me) and got rid of half my dvd collection. Managed to pay for my OU course with that lot but still more needed.

I've also got a friend of my son's who's a graphic designer, working on logo's etc for my new business. Then comes the cost of website, advertising, stationery etc. I'm wanting to be up and running in the summer cos it'll take time and patience to build.

Seem to be spending a lot of time reading diaries today... lot's of inspiration though so can't be bad!

VB x