Only freedom will do

Karmacat

Thanks Gally - Ed's post prodded me to see what Martin had been writing, there's an update that it was closed at midnight on the day the last newsletter was written! Bah humbug. I wanted that specially because I didn't want to close my current a/c, as I've just started another regular saver with them. I'll watch out for a similar deal elsewhere, but I can't do the "old time" switch that Martin also writes about, so for now I'll make do with the Regular E Saver from Virgin, which is 2.25 ... better than a slap in the face with a wet fish got to put a note on my diary tho, or I'll forget that too

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edinburgher

SSS - all cards were opened on the same day :rotfl: I dread to think what has happened to my credit 'score' since then!! :eek:

The Ford RS thing was a debacle, a prime example of the tragedy of the commons, with a bunch of barracks lawyers misinterpreting some pretty obvious T&Cs and ruining the possibility of a decent return on a few ££££ for thousands of other people :mad: I suspect that Ford will tighten up any future offers they make, because people will just take the !!!! otherwise.

edinburgher

We have been doing a few wee household jobs today, the sort of stuff that doesn't seem that important, but makes a huge difference to the ambience of a home

Finished tidying away all random crap from the kitchen worktops (80% completed by Mrs E yesterday), put up curtains and a light shade in the 3rd bedroom and have bought a small LED light strip with a PIR sensor to put in the dark kitchen cupboard so that we can see what we're up to without putting on the 8 down lights in the kitchen. This cupboard has had a mini makeover, I also removed some grotty Jerry-built shelving and replaced it with some industrial strength plastic stuff that is tethered to the wall. It's not the prettiest, but it's a lot sturdier and your 'pantry' doesn't have to be all pretty little whitewashed walls and shelves if you don't live in a country cottage

smallholdingsister

Sounds very productive Ed. I am in the telly doesn't do kids any harm camp, though I try to keep them off the channels with adverts.

Suffolk_lass

Nothing wrong with white walls in a country cottage! Our larder shelving is all oak floorboards and a marble hearth from a reclamation place that my husband worked up to fit the space. I have the advantage that he teaches Design and Tech (that's woodwork and metalwork to those of us of a certain age!).

I was just going to say you can check your credit score (should you want to) using Martin's credit club, without it taking a further dip. You are braver than me. I have one 0% card that I used to move cash to our C/A to pay for the replacement car last year (after husband wrote ours off). It runs out in September and I am on-track to pay it off then. You put my savings returns to shame.

Have you considered another option for your FIRE plans if the Pension age were to increase again and the current age 55 for drawdown were to be pushed back or be withdrawn? I was reading another article suggesting 67 SPA might go out to 70 in the next 10 years. Conscious you are likely to be affected, I wondered if you had considered this. Very few pensions have reserved rights to a particular age (my original CS pension does)

edinburgher

I already assume that draw down will be from age 58, so the idea of it being later (not earlier) is never far from my mind. In any case, my retirement income will be lumpy as I (currently) expect something at 58, then another few ££££ at 65 (preserved DB pension) and then a full state pension at 68 (assuming it's still a thing).

As I've discussed with SSS in his diary a couple of times, I expect to slam the brakes on pension investing once we hit a meaningful amount and to try and fill ISAs from that point. By then, hopefully the pension snowball should be big enough to take care of itself and we'd just try and maximise the employer match. What point will that be? Not quite sure yet, maybe £150k or so (depends on whether we want to own our current home/whether we plan on moving to a lower cost of living area).

Alternatively? If that doesn't quite pan out, I'd have no problem using credit card borrowing to smooth income to retirement by say stoozing 3 year's worth of income and paying it off out of PCLS.

Lots of options, nothing that worries me particularly. Worst case scenario is that retirement can't be quite as early as we'd like and that we end up retiring closer to conventional age with more money than we know what to do with

SuperSecretSquirrel

Hi Ed, I'm back with another stoozing question. The mule card, can you rinse and repeat it over and over again? Say I got myself the 0.5% money transfer card with a credit limit of 1k, and a single 0% for three years no fee BT in first three months card with a credit limit of 10k... Could I money transfer 1k from mule to current account, transfer the balance over to BT card, then over the next few days/weeks repeat 10 times, end up with zero balance on the mule, 10k on the BT, and 10k on hand in current account to shift to savings/investments?

I understand there may be limits on money transfers and balance transfers e.g. up to 90% of credit limit, so the above may be a little simplistic, but what I'm really getting at is does the mule credit limit really matter all that much?

Thanks

edinburgher

SSS, your interpretation is correct. Think I've made 5 money transfers with my mule card now. Starting to run out of homes for the money, so will probably rein things in soon.

Ps. Accidental pun

SuperSecretSquirrel

Excellent, thanks Ed

I don't have any homes for extra cash right now, but no harm in getting the theory straight ahead of time

Then again, 10k would only cost £50, minus any cashback, plus small amounts of interest while the BTs go through. I know you will likely disapprove, but at that price it might be worth going for it regardless and parking it all in PBs short term, odds are good that you'd come out the other end better off Once a better home is found for the cash, shift out of PBs.

Guess I might give it a go this weekend. Of course this all assumes that someone is willing to offer me another 0% BT card with a nice big limit on it!

Thanks for all your help

edinburgher

You're welcome SSS. I don't have any axe to grind re. PBs, you're basically having a small flutter with someone else's money and no risk