Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

My rat man was £165 for as many visits as it took (five visits) and blocking up the holes. You should be able to find a local pest control service where you are not paying a premium. I remember my Mum was quoted £7 k for a new boiler but the local plumber did it for £2600 - same thing really.

The local ones I contacted haven't come back to me today and I'm not at home til Wednesday now. DH has been round the downstairs with the expanding foam to block up holes and I will chase up the professionals when I am back. I was expecting to pay about £180.

XSpender

Bit more digging done on the pension front.

Of the 5 I have:
1) 2 pay out at 60, 3 at 65
2) 1 is a DB and 1 is a DC. I can't find enough info on the rest but assume they are all DC as 2 date from 2014 or later and one was an opted out of Serps thing that seems to be doing OK for the little that it must have had in it when it was transferred to Aviva in 2006.

The DB one had a fund value of under £1000 in 1996 having only worked there under 3 years so I can't see me retiring in luxury with that one :rotfl: I should receive an updated statement this week.

I've been browsing the pensions thread but the only advice I have picked up is that we need to save a lot more!

Suffolk_lass

So definitely look to keep the two that pay out at 60 separate to any rationalisation of pots. Normally you can transfer DC pots but more often than not, employee schemes today align with State Pension Age. I know you are considering working until then but it is a good idea to keep a couple of small pots in your back pocket (as it were) so you can access them early. You can elect whether to take them or not at 60 (and they may be index linked, so would depend on inflation and relative wealth, health etc at the time) whereas the others would take a financial hit if you accessed them early. Of course if you have a SIPP you can take 25% tax free at 55 (current age, the Chancellor may move these goalposts), but then the rest would be taxable at your prevailing rate, so if you were working, you might want to take the 25% TFLS to reduce your mortgage (we did this, last Feb) but it does change the status of your pot when you take it.Lots of options to consider.

Although lots of people have opted out of the pension their employer provides, this does mean they are cutting some of their employee benefits. All the time you are in it, they must contribute and your own contribution is deducted before your PAYE is deducted, so easy. Anything else makes your tax return that bit more complicated.

XSpender

I could do with a really simple guide/book to follow on pensions SL. I am sure there is a gap in the market for noobs like me. All the blogs I look at are where their income is massive and they have a net worth of squillions. I need to be like Dora 'just keep saving, just keep saving'.

We were both paid today so DH got his bonus and I have been given a weird tax code which meant I came out with £200 or so less than usual:eek: I've updated my company cars online with the tax office but they can't give me UTD figures until it is updated at their end on Monday. I usually get a letter saying I have had a tax code change but have had zilch and it changed in Jan but didn't impact my take home pay.

I have cut the budget in all sorts of places and used the £60 I had put away for the house insurance and used the £100 I was hoping to squirrel away towards our break next month to ensure that I could stick with the £1200 repayment to DPIL. They were not expecting this amount, I just had it in my mind that this is what I wanted to repay and it means I only have a small amount to find next month along with our holiday spends.

I still have CB to come in, a little TCB to claim and MSE cashback on it's way from changing energy supplier last month so should be able to put the £100 back in the holiday pot.

It's a tough one this month as we have DMIL birthday, mother's Day, a rare night out with friends and we are off to see England play Rugby.

DH wants to paint the dining room this month but if it ain't in the budget it ain't happening is March's mantra.

We did really well on our grocery spends this month coming in under £400. Last month we were on £550! There is still plenty in the freezer and neither of us have felt deprived. DH has had a couple of kebabs but I have not eaten takeaway since an awful Chinese last month. DH has also spent £50 buying food at work but has offered to cover this from his personal spends going forward. DH has also suggested we do a couple of YS runs to the local co-op as we have grabbed some bargains there recently. I'm aiming for £300 this month which will be tough. I have gone bank to basics have meal planned, written a list and taken the week's money out of the bank and put it in a separate purse to focus my mind.

I updated my linked in profile when I was on the train this week and loaded my CV to another agency. No interesting jobs have popped up yet in my area.

DH has had a really successful month at work which should secure another bonus next month

apple_muncher

That's a great reduction in the food spends - well done! And good luck for an even massiver drop in March!


And well done to dh for such a good month at work.

enthusiasticsaver

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

So definitely look to keep the two that pay out at 60 separate to any rationalisation of pots. Normally you can transfer DC pots but more often than not, employee schemes today align with State Pension Age. I know you are considering working until then but it is a good idea to keep a couple of small pots in your back pocket (as it were) so you can access them early. You can elect whether to take them or not at 60 (and they may be index linked, so would depend on inflation and relative wealth, health etc at the time) whereas the others would take a financial hit if you accessed them early. Of course if you have a SIPP you can take 25% tax free at 55 (current age, the Chancellor may move these goalposts), but then the rest would be taxable at your prevailing rate, so if you were working, you might want to take the 25% TFLS to reduce your mortgage (we did this, last Feb) but it does change the status of your pot when you take it.Lots of options to consider.

Although lots of people have opted out of the pension their employer provides, this does mean they are cutting some of their employee benefits. All the time you are in it, they must contribute and your own contribution is deducted before your PAYE is deducted, so easy. Anything else makes your tax return that bit more complicated.

This week I think they have moved the age from 55 to 57 from 2028 as the earliest date you can access your pension. I also would urge anyone who has opted out of employers pension to thoroughly research that. Not sure if Suffolk Lass knows the answer to this question but presumably if you opt out of a employers pension that also means the death benefit scheme is no longer active?

Suffolk_lass

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

This week I think they have moved the age from 55 to 57 from 2028 as the earliest date you can access your pension. I also would urge anyone who has opted out of employers pension to thoroughly research that. Not sure if Suffolk Lass knows the answer to this question but presumably if you opt out of a employers pension that also means the death benefit scheme is no longer active?

I have not seen that but there was a consultation on bringing it in line with State Pension Age from 2028 (ie no more than 10 years before SPA) - the Pensions Advisory Service is still saying no legislation has been brought forward yet (link here).

I agree that normally a death in service benefit is part of the pensions benefits package and it goes to your death benefits nominee, so opting out of your employers' pension scheme is also removing the safety net from under your dependents. For sure this is the case in the Public Sector.

enthusiasticsaver

Lots of confusion out there I think re the increasing age as this link says it is rising to 57. https://www.pensionbee.com/pensions-explained/pension-rules/pensions-age. I have read it somewhere else this week as well but cannot find it now. Not surprised they have not got any legislation sorted as I think the government have worked on nothing other than Brexit since 2016.

Suffolk_lass

I think we should look out for the Chancellor's Spring Statement - there is lots of speculation about what he might include ahead of that but normally the policy changes are announced at one end of the year (used to be Autumn but it has swapped over to Spring now) and the money crunchy changes in the budget (now Autumn). The way Government make laws is to issue Policy change proposals - a consultation, green paper, white paper then announce it (some might say, wait for public and press reaction) then legislate, followed by an implementation date when it comes into force.

Sorry to divert your diary XSpender

enthusiasticsaver

Good idea to wait for Spring statement.

I apologise for taking your diary off topic Xspender. Well done on coming under on groceries and hope your DH bonus is a good one.