22 Foxhole East

mark55man

Hi f0xh0les PMd you some thoughts on pensions - just turned into too long a post for your diary. I'm not a money professional, so not soliciting/cold calling. But have done some homework and our home circumstances are similar (me & my OH + 15 years on you)

apple_muncher

Congrats to your dh for the payrise and moving up a grade.

f0xh0les

He has not got it yet Apple, the whole process is ridiculously slow and convoluted. The application form alone is 17 pages long. and he has just announced next year he will go for full professorship. That will wipe out all Child Benefit!

I have spent a fun and thrilling evening searching out FENSA guarantees for the poxy windows, having to set new passwords for the house insurance, so I could get in and find out we are insured for an unlimited sum, and all so the conveyancing can begin. We have printed it all out and will find someone off the street to witness our signatures and send back in the morning before last post, they should have it by Monday (13th) and then they have 19 days before the rate changes. Wonder if they can do it quickly when they want to? It all seems so old fashioned and silly. They want £10 if we want them to send us documents, and £17 if we want copies of blah, and £30 for a copy of bleh, plus £22.50 for transferring money (each). So silly. Still, it is a fee free remortgage, and we are good at jumping through hoops.

Homework for this weekend is to review the life/sickness insurance policies and what is on offer through cashback. We have not looked at them in 4 years and we can probably save on them now. And continue with the cleaning and clearing quests.

Renovation fund now stands at £10,600.
So there is progress, things are moving, I am just an impatient mare.

in_need_of_direction

I get free life insurance up to a certain figure, that I’m not sure of, by having £50 savings in a credit union account. It maybe worth looking into as tying up £50 could reduce ongoing life insurance costs

kerri_gt

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I get free life insurance up to a certain figure, that I’m not sure of, by having £50 savings in a credit union account. It maybe worth looking into as tying up £50 could reduce ongoing life insurance costs

The free CU insurance seems to be a loan protection and savings insurance, is that different to what you have?

http://gatewaycu.co.uk/free-life-insurance.php

in_need_of_direction

It is linked to savings. However, i only need to have either £50 or £100 saved to gain £15k of cover.

f0xh0les

We need to have enough cover to pay off the mortgage - so £94k

Cornish_mum

Hi foxholes if DH is USS for his pension, checkout their death in service and retirement because of ill health benefits PDF... you might find you only need insurance for you, as it’s quite good.

PS well done on DH going for promotion, it’s a mind numbing awful process (and unis have a habit of mucking it up... my first promotion took 18 months but they did agree to back date it 6 months because of an admin mess-up.) Also if DH does hit the CB threshold you might want to look into AVCs via USS for extra pensions (there is quite a good modeller on the website if you can get hold of DHs logon) . They have an ethical fund choice which is fee free too (it’s what we did when DH got his promotion).

Sorry if you already know all this. Best wishes CM

f0xh0les

Thanks CM, I know nothing about pensions, additional voluntary contributions, nuclear physics, or anything like that.

I got very excited today when a parcel arrived for me, for me!! oooh! I knew I had not ordered anything so it was all very ... oh yeah, hoover bags for my Henry. I know how to live!

So, did another split shift at the foodbank, it was tipping it down tonight so we only had one client. Very odd. We blamed the weather. It was very nasty. Nobody would venture out unless they absolutely had to.

Spent a good two hours nearly completing the Kitchen Cleaning Quest, have about another half an hour and it will be completed (tomorrow after dropping the kids at school) then I will begin Laundry-Quest, which is a space of all of 2m2, so really should not take much time, as most of the space is covered in a washer and dryer. There are 4 shelves though, and a lot of empty boxes which should be able to be repurposed or dismissed. I am really hoping tomorrow will be the day I only have the Bathroom of Doom to beat into submission.

While I have the desire and the ability to get it done, I really ought to get it done (while I wait for the mortgage to complete.... not that I am actively waiting - oh, yes I am!!!)

badmemory

I agree with CM, but in addition, if you decide to cancel the money claim to CB, don't forget until your youngest is 12 you can still use it to claim the NI benefits for your state pension.