£15,000 to 0

EssexHebridean

Ouchey! Are you slightly wishing you'd not added all that up now?! :rotfl:

enthusiasticsaver

Good idea to add it all up and it almost always ends up more than you think. We have stopped buying presents for much of our family other than immediate - DH, DDs, SIL and DGDs. I do get my mum a small token present but at 84 she insists there is little she wants or needs. I feel I should though as she is so generous with us. Money rather than gifts as that is easier for her but still

Silver_Queen

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Ouchey! Are you slightly wishing you'd not added all that up now?! :rotfl:

As always! Gotta get my head out of the sand though

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Good idea to add it all up and it almost always ends up more than you think. We have stopped buying presents for much of our family other than immediate - DH, DDs, SIL and DGDs. I do get my mum a small token present but at 84 she insists there is little she wants or needs. I feel I should though as she is so generous with us. Money rather than gifts as that is easier for her but still

I buy presents for as few people as I can get away with, and not risk upsetting people! OH's family are notoriously bad and hardly ever buy gifts for each other, but insist that they "owe" each other gifts. His sister "owes" him a pair of shoes from about 12 years ago...since he's the eldest, he's used to not getting things from the younger siblings but there's an underlying expectation of receiving something from him. I've decided it's not worth the grief and would rather take the hit financially to buy the presents and not have to stress or cause family drama!

Plus...to be honest, I just love gift giving :rotfl: I'm definitely better at giving presents rather than receiving them. It makes me feel so awkward :cool: There's nothing I need and the things that I want are generally out of a normal person's gift giving budget, and there's nothing that I hate more than clutter...

enthusiasticsaver

So where is the missing £50 going to come from to make the budget up to £100?

Silver_Queen

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

So where is the missing £50 going to come from to make the budget up to £100?

It'll have to be ignored until I get my pay rise in two months' time :cool:

Silver_Queen

I read an article that really resonated with me today. It was about having an emergency fund - or as the article put it, a f!ck off fund. Of course, I know the importance of an emergency fund but the way the article spelled it out really helped me realise how important it really is to have one.

I have one, but it doesn't really feel like I do - mostly because I still owe people so much money!

In a similar vein, I've decided I'm going to try to up my pension contributions because I know that the earlier I put the money in, the bigger the pot will be. My pension is pitiful right now because my and my employer's contributions are so low. I'm going to try to put an additional £100 per month in so will need to rejig my budget accordingly!

DrSpendLittle

I agree with the pension idea. The money will grow overtime and it makes sense, if you can, to put more in now to reap the rewards later. Compound interest is magical! If that extends your debt free journey by a few months and you're confident it won't derail your plans or appetite for getting the debt paid off asap, then go for it.

I increased my pension contributions from 8% to 9% about 18 months ago as I get them matched (up to 9%) by my employer. Best decision I made. That extra £600 could have been spent paying off my debt, but instead, my pension is now £1200 greater in value, which will compound nicely over the next 30 years.

You're in a great position - you've the rest of your working life to build up your pension. You've got your financial head screwed on, you're in a good career field and you're becoming debt free. It's all positive for you and I'm sure you'll build wealth successfully.

Homegrown0

I always begrudge pension contributions Silver - I'm 30 and it seems like a lifetime away and when I'm at such an expensive time in my life (mortgage, two kids etc) it seems like I could do with the money more right now! I've been paying into a pension on and off for the last 10 years but when I started my most recent job (2 years ago) it's the first time I've taken it seriously. My employer matches it up to 5% so i put in the 5% every month so 10% + tax relief goes in there.

Once the childcare noose is looser around my neck then maybe i'll increase it but i think it's definitely good to start thinking about these things sooner rather than later. Good for you

DrSpendLittle

p.s. I love the idea of EF being a f*ck off fund!

DrSpendLittle

Homegrown also makes a really good point about pension contributions and the tax relief. You pay less tax as its based on your net income after pension deductions, so effectively, you're putting more aside. Martin Lewis wrote a good article on it - I think this is it. This other one by the money advice service is also really good as you can calculate your target retirement income based on your current income and intended lifestyle and then calculate how much you need to put aside.

Sorry for pension spam! I just feel strongly about people paying into pensions as soon as they can afford to because the longer you leave it, the less the interests compounds and the less choice you'll have at aged 60. You don't want to be eating cold baked beans and living off your £9K per year state pension