Travelling On

rtandon27

Oooo - great reminder about the bus pass KC - another one to add to my list for OH in preparation for his pension eligibility next January!

He won't use the pass where we live but would be very handy for weekend trips in various uk cities when touristing becomes a thing again!

We are currently debating tucking into his savings from June or ekeing it out on my salary until the pension kicks in. Pros and cons to both approaches & lots to think about!

Karmacat

rtandon27 said:

Oooo - great reminder about the bus pass KC - another one to add to my list for OH in preparation for his pension eligibility next January!
That's great I like it when posts on here are useful to others, I get so many tips myself from here.  I've found the right page, and I've got the documents together, but Stargate is on tv right now, and I'm not going to do anything detailed   
He won't use the pass where we live but would be very handy for weekend trips in various uk cities when touristing becomes a thing again!
I'm never sure about that - can we use them in other cities?  That would be **really** wonderful.
We are currently debating tucking into his savings from June or ekeing it out on my salary until the pension kicks in. Pros and cons to both approaches & lots to think about!

I still have that decision to make - ie when to get the money from my private pension.  Ahem, I never sat down and worked it out when I retired - mind you, a lot else was going on.  At the moment, because of lockdown, my expenses are *well* under the state pension amount, though that was unforeseen of course.  In the next year, I'd like to replace all my cloudy double glazing, and in the next few years, I'll go on any flipping holiday I can!  Got to figure out a way to do it without paying tax though.

It's all tricky, isn't it - I intend living to be at least 200, so I need to save as much as possible, but on the other hand, there are things to spend money on It's a good dilemma to have.

rtandon27

...from the pdf on our council website, it indicated that the bus pass was valid in all of England but after rush hour M-F and of course all weekend and bank holidays but not in the rest of the UK (hope that made sense - replying  from the mobile)

Cheery_Daff

Tis indeed a good dilemma to have! Love the thought of you going on any darn holiday you can in the future 😁

Karmacat

RT, you're right, and my council quotes the same, thank you so much: "We can provide a five-year bus pass offering free off-peak (weekdays 9.30am-11.00pm and all day on weekends and bank holidays) bus travel in England for those who are eligible".  I'm building up an imaginary trip to North Wales - my old schoolfriend, an elderly second cousin, and an investigation into a very old pub in Anglesey, I have a lease taken out by a family member on it, dating back to the 1860s.  I'd really like to see it now.

Buses are much more expensive than trains round here, and go to more places of course, although the journeys take longer.  And even though covid is present (its low round here, 16 cases per 100,000) when I look at the buses as I'm out and about, I've only seen two passengers on, maximum, and more often they're completely empty.  That will change as things open up, of course, but still.  And if I can get my folding bike on, when I buy it, that gives more options still.

I *have* just applied for it - I had the documents ready to upload, finally, it just made sense to do it while I remembered which document went in which category.  I'm wondering if they might reject them - the documents are valid, but I didn't scan them, I took phone photos, and they don't look as "neat".  It's a lot less faff than having to use the old laptop and transfer it, which is what I have to do with scans, so we'll see.

Night night all   

Suffolk_lass

Karmacat said:

rtandon27 said:

Oooo - great reminder about the bus pass KC - another one to add to my list for OH in preparation for his pension eligibility next January!
That's great I like it when posts on here are useful to others, I get so many tips myself from here.  I've found the right page, and I've got the documents together, but Stargate is on tv right now, and I'm not going to do anything detailed   
He won't use the pass where we live but would be very handy for weekend trips in various uk cities when touristing becomes a thing again!
I'm never sure about that - can we use them in other cities?  That would be **really** wonderful.
We are currently debating tucking into his savings from June or ekeing it out on my salary until the pension kicks in. Pros and cons to both approaches & lots to think about!

I still have that decision to make - ie when to get the money from my private pension.  Ahem, I never sat down and worked it out when I retired - mind you, a lot else was going on.  At the moment, because of lockdown, my expenses are *well* under the state pension amount, though that was unforeseen of course.  In the next year, I'd like to replace all my cloudy double glazing, and in the next few years, I'll go on any flipping holiday I can!  Got to figure out a way to do it without paying tax though.

It's all tricky, isn't it - I intend living to be at least 200, so I need to save as much as possible, but on the other hand, there are things to spend money on It's a good dilemma to have.

We are taking 25% of DH's private (defined contribution) pension in each tax year between that within which he finished work and that within which he reaches state pension age. His occupational pension is about the same as a full state pension so about £4,500 of each lump is tax free - he will reclaim the tax in the new tax year following each drawdown, if that makes sense.

Our thinking was to minimise the tax rather than try to eke it out, so that we have the capital to enjoy while we are young and fit enough to enjoy it, relying on the higher income the pension will provide to cover emergency things in future

themadvix

Thanks for your comment about 2nd vaccination Karma- I’ve gone and booked mine on the website. Has been worrying  as my first was ‘leftovers’ after a shift but because of the shortage I didn’t want to miss out and didn’t have an appointment booked (because I hadn’t booked the first one!). Went on the website and it recognised that I’d had the first (thought I’d missed my second, but computers have their limits!), so was able to book an appointment for May. Wonderful!

Karmacat

themadvix said:

Thanks for your comment about 2nd vaccination Karma- I’ve gone and booked mine on the website. Has been worrying  as my first was ‘leftovers’ after a shift but because of the shortage I didn’t want to miss out and didn’t have an appointment booked (because I hadn’t booked the first one!). Went on the website and it recognised that I’d had the first (thought I’d missed my second, but computers have their limits!), so was able to book an appointment for May. Wonderful!

I'm pleased for you, madvix, that's great!  I finally got myself together to check on this for myself, checked out my GP practice's website, and, ugh, their facebook page, which has the following little gem:

Second vaccination doses - Winterfell Hall

If you were vaccinated at Winterfell Hall on either 29th, 30th or 31st December you should, by now, have received a text or phone call inviting you to book in for your second dose. If you have not, please contact us.

The invitations for the second doses are not being managed by the practice so if you were vaccinated later than 31st December do not contact us to book in - you will be contacted by the Winterfell Hall team shortly. We cannot book you in for your second dose.
So, I was vaccinated on 13th February - no booking for me yet, but at least I know they're on the case.  I won't call them.

Karmacat

Suffolk_lass said:

We are taking 25% of DH's private (defined contribution) pension in each tax year between that within which he finished work and that within which he reaches state pension age. His occupational pension is about the same as a full state pension so about £4,500 of each lump is tax free - he will reclaim the tax in the new tax year following each drawdown, if that makes sense.

Our thinking was to minimise the tax rather than try to eke it out, so that we have the capital to enjoy while we are young and fit enough to enjoy it, relying on the higher income the pension will provide to cover emergency things in future

Aha!  Thank you SL!  I've been pootling about on the Hargreaves Lansdown pension pages - tax free drawdown, of course!  Yes - and if I could do a bit this tax year, that would be great.  I only have about £60k in pension funds, most of my actual money is outside the official pension system; trouble is, its in 3 separate funds - two of which are managed by the same company, actually.  Pension funds are the majority of my shareholdings, as opposed to cash, and I can't help but think that at my age, with my health record, I need them out of shares before (financial) boom goes bust.    That could pay for my windows.

Karmacat

Right, carrying on with previous task of sorting Virgin accounts.  I needed to close the matured Regular Saver, earning only 0.35%, the new Virgin accounts earn more.  So I tried to transfer between them;  no go.  Of course not, way too simple.  Then decided to send the RS money back to my ordinary current account and send it back to the new Virgin account.  Couldn't do it immediately  Virgin still had my HSBC details  so I changed them and then straight away sent £20 to my ordinary current account to link them up.  I *will* get there  

The little tasks I set myself are done!  Or are in train, and nothing else I can do, except planting seeds.  Plug trays are out, I'll get soil in them and give them a soaking, plant seeds after lunch.  Happy Days