Get a grip woman!

Busy_Mee1

No you are spot on Suffolk Lass. The regular saver thing is only really beneficial to those that have a really low interest rate or those who don't have a mortgage and want to max out their savings income on something relatively risk free.

In my case we have a very low mortgage interest rate of 1.43% ( it was even lower at 0. 93 % before last year's increase in base rate) So we try and max out out interest on savings on a mixture of static savings (4 Tesco accounts @ 3%, various fixed rate ISAs 2-3% and then a number of regular savers). It is a bit of a faff to set up but once everything is in place it doesn't take much maintenance.

I will obviously review this on an ongoing basis to see whether it continues to be worth it.

redofromstart

We use the regular saver for annual bills rather than as a mortgage overpayment pot. I should cycle the emergency pot through too.

Your post on XSpenders thread about retirement planning has really got me thinking - very much appreciated.

Suffolk_lass

redofromstart wrote: »

We use the regular saver for annual bills rather than as a mortgage overpayment pot. I should cycle the emergency pot through too.

Your post on XSpenders thread about retirement planning has really got me thinking - very much appreciated.

Thanks redofromstart, much appreciated. Do ask, if you think I might know - I will say when I don't - BTW I found silently reading on the pensions board on the forum was helpful to improve my understanding - there are one or two good people who really know their stuff but also some rather blunt know-it-alls IYSWIM. xylophone always posts links so you can make up your own mind. Funny, the different "personalities" across the boards really

Suffolk_lass

Thanks Busy Mee1 - that is what I thought - some really good rates there. Our mortgage is 0.49% above the base rate on a tracker - so very similar to yours. My husband was very dubious when I said "let's get a tracker" when the rates were starting to drop dramatically. We ported it from our old house to this one so it is well over 15 years ago and has really worked for us - especially since we went IO back when DH was training to be a teacher on a 2 year OU Post Grad course with no income!

We used my salary to pay the mortgage and the bills for the first year and then went IO - supposedly for a year or two. Still, no consolidation and no extensions to the term.

I have put this year's ISA allowance into our respective S&S ISAs so we shall see how they compare over the periods. I have bought to try for regular decadent or income from the different funds. I might go and look for 3% now you have mentioned your Tesco accounts.

By the way, one of the Regular Savers is with Nationwide and is max £250 a month at 5% but it has a maximum investment total of £5m :eek: - we thought this meant you could leave your so-far total (based on £250 a month) in there to roll forward but sadly not. The conditions set out that after a year they move the money somewhere piffling so it is rather misleading really

Busy_Mee1

Gosh your tracker is better than ours which is also a lifetime portable tracker. I thank our lucky stars everyday ( and our mortgage broker who unfortunately isn't with us any more ). We ended up with a very hefty mortgage when we built our house and thankfully the base rate hasn't moved much in the subsequent 10 years.

I think we will be paying a chunk off the repayment mortgage when Mr Mee gets his TFLS, simply to reduce our monthly outgoings. We will keep the IO going until the end of the term (2024) unless anything dire happens with the base rate.

We can either offset the rest of our capital in the linked offset account or wring as much interest as we can out of ISAs and regular savers.

It sounds like you are settling into retirement OK ?

Suffolk_lass

I am starting to settle - I have no trouble filling my days (with the wrong things) and not much getting on with it going on. I am helping organise a major (for our Village) event in May that should all be outdoors. It will involve additional seating in my garden so after going for a look-see at the local (20 miles away) auctions rooms on Saturday (there was a bygones sale), I went back yesterday to bid in the general sale on some furniture and china. My first time attending in person and just so much fun.

The china was all listed at £10-20 or £20-40 estimates but the set I wanted went for £70 so I did not bid on it in the end. In contrast, I got 6 sturdy garden chairs that really only need a good clean for March (and a full sand and oil/varnish afterwards, when I have more time) for under £10 each (but then there is 18% buyers' premium and then 20% on the lot so £55 turned into £77.88. I also bid successfully for an oak elbow chair for £10 (needs TLC and reupholstering) and some shelf supports DH wanted. these brought my total up to £96.06.

I found the day insightful and so interesting, watching other people and how they operated. Lots of dealers were bidding on lots where nobody else was interested, in itself this was interesting for me, so I cam in at the end of that process for my lots. There were also mixed boxes and trays. One was priced at £10-20 but made £95 with two dealers going for it in the room. It was obvious something nice was in the box and had been missed (it was supposed to be costume jewellery). I can also tick off auctioneer as something I would not want to do. Watching the room, keeping up with the Commission bids and the internet, remembering where you are up to, and which lot, what has a reserve. Nightmare, or at the least, specialist skills. As I say, so much fun.

In money news I ordered £1000 in euros when the exchange rate increased yesterday - I had set €1.15 in the market as my trip point - and when I went on to MSE Travel money and then the Post Office site yesterday after the markets closed they were showing 0.24 more than MSE suggested. I will be donating about £100 of this to DS for his skiing holiday in April but the rest will go for our hols when DH finishes in the summer. Also DH has been paid (yippee!) so am off to shuffle and allocate before I join a friend at Costco later today. Like I said, all the wrong things involving spending...

Busy_Mee1

It all sounds really interesting Suffolk Lass. And think the "interesting" bit is the key....I can think of lots of manual labour type activities that would fill my days...gym, garden, dog walking etc but it will be the mental interest and stimulation I will miss from working and will need to find a replacement for.

I think the perceived wisdom, is not to put too much planning and structure around the first 6 months of retirement. You need to "find" the non working you so I wouldn't worry about "not getting on with things"

Homegrown0

The auction sounds fun Sufolk! My Dad took me to an auction once (I was about 16) and I found it fascinating! None of the items up for grabs were really of interest to me as a young girl but i liked the excitement and wondering what the buyers were planning to do with what i saw as 'junk'.

Suffolk_lass

Thanks both - I remember doing a boot sale with my Dad way back in the 80s before they moved to Scotland - we were virtually attacked by the dealers as we arrived, opening the boot while he was still parking, and starting to rummage through - I leapt out of the car, slammed the boot shut and told them to clear off in very vernacular style (IYKWIM) and we were left with a pile of broken terracotta pots behind the car where they had started to pull things out. I hated it and it really put me off.

DH and I have sold a few bits through the online options with no bad experiences but buying and selling at the auction is definitely my fave so far. And actually being there. Yesterday, there was a good quality set of eight garden chairs (all with arms, in carver style) and a large table, listed at £80-£120 - I watched the auctioneer try and get it going at £150 and he was down to £50 in the room (very tempting but would have involved hiring a van to collect them too) when someone bid £300 online and that was it. Not sure if the online portal would allow "up to" but they did not use it, if it did! :eek:

Karmacat

Viewing an auction sounds fascinating - how horrendous your teenage experience was though! That would put me off too. And your oak elbow chair sounds wonderful.