Breaking Through, Travelling On

themadvix

Hey KC - did you do the pension call? I totally agree with Betterthannever about getting it out of the way!

Just catching up after long weekend away - CBC the house martins were in full force in Norfolk - it was gorgeous watching them flit around!

On the food bank front, when I won some GF pasta recently I donated that to the food bank - just walked in the front door of the supermarket, no one seemed to care (recycled my shopping bags at the same time and didn't spend a penny there - I doubt many people do that!)

Karmacat

:eek:

Nope. Nopetopus, as Captain Awkward would say ...

I did a lot on Tuesday, and went out on Wednesday, and those are my excuses, and I'm sticking to them, religiously, fanatically, and la-la-la-ing my way back to the kitchen for another cuppa tea
:coffee:

It *has* to be done, by 1 October, and preferably this week. I give in. Went and found what papers I could (not much, I've stashed them in the famous "somewhere safe", instead of where they're supposed to go, so of course I can't find the bulk of them. It's not going well so far, is it :rotfl:

I need to eat something now, but I promise I'll do the phone call today. And will report back today, as long as my wobbly connection lets me get online.

xxx

Betterthanever

Make the call....you know it makes sense!!

Karmacat

Oof, I was so, so close to not making the call and ducking out, cos I really, really hate talking to these peeps.

:j:j:j but I did it :rotfl:

Betterthan and madvix: thank you for the push! This is what diaries are for :kisses3:

Two calls, in fact. And asked for both of them to send me letters confirming what they said: that the merger doesn't mean my policies will be merged, and that (for Friends Life, at any rate) if I *did* go over £30k there's a way round the "you must talk to an IFA" - you can sign an execution only disclaimer. Hurray! I explained I was leery of making such a big financial decision on the basis of a phone call, which is why I want the letters. Also that I have two highly qualified IFAs in the family, so I don't want to pay for an external one :rotfl:

I also:
- paid my two credit cards - think I'm going to find another Visa card, it used to be a charity card but the Coop stopped giving the charity the dosh, so no point staying with them.
- sent £2k to France, it might be the last time I do that, more likely the next to last time. Mortgage finishes in a year's time! :j

While I'm on a pension roll, I may just phone Aviva about how I can cash in that pension eventually. The FL one is too old a policy to include the option of drawdown - it'd have to be 25% cash plus drawdown elsewhere (oh what a hardship! Like I'd go straight to the company! Pah!).

Am very pleased. I really want to eat something disgustingly unhealthy as a reward, but those days have to be done - am determined to regain energy and health. Maybe I'll buy an exotic fruit salad at the local convenience store

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beanielou

:j :j :j :j :j

Betterthanever

:T Such a fab post!! Hurrah :T

Karmacat

Thanks! Yep, it felt good all the way round

The decisions about how best to get value from the pension funds is kicked down the way a little bit, but thats fine.

Happily, I can think back to my "September" list. Here it is, pared down a little cos I rabbit a lot:

- I'm in the middle of updating a master document of addresses and accounts, that needs to be finished.
carrying on, fishing about on the pension and the French malarkey helped this a lot.

- decluttering: shredding, the couch & cushions nobody wants, hedging prunings and the ordinary garden rubbish.
carrying on, I'd like to have got more garden rubbish out this morning, but at least I got rid of two of the big old cushions, after snipping nice big patchwork samples of the lovely materials.

- related to that, I need to prepare for the builders; although there's very little inside work being done this time, my three main rooms will be affected :eek:
Absolutely no progress on this one though I've spied a few more glasses for the charity shop.

- pension research and action, including derisking.
Woo hoo! Done, except for derisking. As I say, ultimate decision merely delayed, and I do want to crystallise gains before a stock market crash, but not *quite* the same urgency now.

- birthdays! Four big birthdays next month.
Nothing yet.

- weeding/navvying. Oh god. Ogod, ogod, ogod :eek: please don't let my garden descend into chaos yet again.
1.5 bags gone, since I wrote that post.

- kombucha and kefir. My SiL gave me the cultures. The kefir has died, I think :eek::( got to find more and become better at culturing.
I know why it died: I was doing it on my SiL's timetable, not mine, and lovely as she is, I need to do it on *my* schedule. And I'm still not quite ready, to be honest. I think the kombucha might still be alive, if it is, I'll keep it going.

I'm off out this morning to have a play in the next town over, mostly window shopping, but keeping an eye out for any of the things I need (a lightweight fleece, for one) especially on sale

Hope everyone's doing great

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themadvix

What a great post! Well done on the pension calls and exciting that the mortgage ends next year! :j

Have a nice morning window shopping - you deserve it after the pension call. Don't forget you're looking for birthday pressies for people too

Karmacat

A very good point! I'm off soon too, thanks for that

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Well done on getting the pensions sorted. My oh is terrible for putting off phoning these people. He emails instead and they never answer. Sometimes I have to give him a Chinese burn to make him do it. Xx