Prosperous soul in the making

savingholmes

Thanks MF.
Just paid just over £200 to target CC which takes it down to £7.6K.

DD was desperate to declutter - so I set her on the coat cupboard. She's found me 2 pairs of good sandals, 1 pair of stretchy trainer/sandal shoes which are good for me now. I have agreed to part with a few things so she is pleased with me LOL. DS has just put the emptied 'bookcase' / shoe rack that was in there - and then declutter the remaining shoe rack in the hall. I've asked her to try and sell some boots, a pair of barely worn trainers and brand new unworn sandals for me. Will let you know how we get on.

enthusiasticsaver

I did have my suspicions it would not be easy to transfer that pension albeit with a large CETV.  I, like Tahlullah gave up on trying to transfer mine although it had a much lower CETV and I just claimed it this year. I am not sure why it would be easier to transfer at 55 any more than 50 though.  I was under the impression the reason the pension transfer specialists advise against transferring a DB pension is because of the security you are given up by moving it to a DC scheme and potentially withdrawing it all.  I was not aware that age of transfer application made any difference to the material reasons why pension transfer specialists advise against moving to a SIPP.

Why do you need  extra life insurance? Do you not have death benefits as part of your current pension? Surely at your age that will now  be fairly expensive? 

You have 5 years though to get rid of the debt, overpay the mortgage and build up some savings so you are in a good position coming up to retirement.  You may also be in a position to move to somewhere further out then as presumably your DD will be living independently or almost by that time. 

savingholmes

Thanks ES - I've been told by most pension transfer specialists that if I was trying to take it to use immediately - that I would have less of an issue drawing it at 55 - than transferring it now and risking the market collapsing  between now and 55 - and then being unable to retire early. The thinking is that as soon as you take your 25% TFLS - you have mitigated your risk somewhat. Some of them also think my transfer value will continue to rise - so they say why take the risk or the costs of administering the fund yourself.

The thinking behind the life insurance element - is that if part of the reason I want to transfer the money is to ensure that DH has decent retirement benefits even if I die - that it would be a better decision to buy life insurance to cover that risk. Their argument is we have sufficient disposable income to buy extra life insurance without putting my guaranteed pension at risk. I would also be seen as lower risk if we had a decent EF and were less reliant on the pension. Similarly if DH's pension and my other pension was greater... so we are less reliant on the DB pension I am trying to transfer - so that if something went wrong we wouldn't end up destitute and trying to sue. We both have great life insurance in our current roles - but if we left those roles and didn't take up traditional jobs our life insurance coverage would drop dramatically. Outside our jobs we have about £133-170K of life insurance. It probably would be logical to at least get some quotes done.

To be recommended for transfer you have to meet certain tests - the first of which is to satisfactorily answer the question: Why now?. Acceptable reasons include terminal illness or potential insolvency of the pension provider. At 55 the range of answers expand  to include flexibility in drawdown, inheritance etc... HTH. I am annoyed that they don't make it more explicit that the so called freedoms aren't really accessible below age 55. I could then have saved myself a lot of heartache and hassle. As it is I just have to hope that they offer something as or more generous by the time I can act upon it. 

So we will continue with our current plan - try to keep our jobs - and pay off debt by Jan 21. Then save up a 6 month EF by July 21. Then we can look at whether we are ready to move in practice once DD completes 6th form and the current pandemic settles down (assuming it does). I don't want us to get to the end of our lives feeling like we lived someone else's idea of what our lives should be. The £ from our jobs is great but we both want to move and have a more rural lifestyle. As MF said earlier we can use the time between now and then to spruce up our home, hopefully add value and make it more saleable.

in_need_of_direction

my my cleaning service starts back on Tuesday. Part of my believes it’s wrong to feel this excited

jwil

I'm loving the positivity of your diary and that was a great list of things to be thankful for.

Sorry to hear about the pension transfer, hopefully you'll be able to get a better deal in the future when the time comes.  Good luck with your plans, and how exciting to be debt free by the beginning of next year!

Honeysucklelou2

Just catching up on your diary. Well done to your DS on his impressive degree grade and earnings through lockdown to date.

Drawingaline

in_need_of_direction said:

my my cleaning service starts back on Tuesday. Part of my believes it’s wrong to feel this excited

The relief from my cleaning clients that I am back with them cheers me up 😁 makes me realise how important I am to them which is lovely. Shame I don't live closer SH, I would fill in until your regular cleaner could come back.

savingholmes

jwil said:

I'm loving the positivity of your diary and that was a great list of things to be thankful for.

Sorry to hear about the pension transfer, hopefully you'll be able to get a better deal in the future when the time comes.  Good luck with your plans, and how exciting to be debt free by the beginning of next year!

Thanks Jwil. I had a call from the hospital 3 mins 27 seconds to be told right you are doing better - we will check back in 3 months.  On the pension I just have to trusts it will work out. Yes it will be lovely if we clear the debt by Jan it will be a great start to 2021 and start to give us optons. 

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Just catching up on your diary. Well done to your DS on his impressive degree grade and earnings through lockdown to date.

Thanks - he has done amazing!

Drawingaline said:

in_need_of_direction said:

my my cleaning service starts back on Tuesday. Part of my believes it’s wrong to feel this excited

The relief from my cleaning clients that I am back with them cheers me up 😁 makes me realise how important I am to them which is lovely. Shame I don't live closer SH, I would fill in until your regular cleaner could come back.

I love my cleaner. She is lovely person and works hard. I do wonder how much longer to wait for her - I sent her a missing you text but it didn't do the trick LOL. I even offered to let her come at the weekend and have us go out but I think her DH part works away and she relies on parents for childcare which isn't an option right now... DD has done some bits around the house today though and DS has done his own washing. I also got DH to pack the dishwasher. DH also mowed the lawn. Yesterday I did an hour and a half of fence painting. It all helps. 

I've worked a really long day today - over 11.5 hours and have an early start tomorrow too. I didn't work at the weekend though  in the end. The good news is I now no longer owe any flexi and am back in credit. The bad news is that I am shattered. I have 2 meetings and a report to complete tomorrow but after that things should settle back to normal. DH and I did manage to get out for a nice circular walk earlier with the dog so that was nice. 

I inspected my garden and pulled what I think is a beetroot which looks ready. I bought some rainbow coloured ones. I now need to work out what I am doing with it LOL. Once I've worked it out - I have some others to harvest. I have broccoli stems now which is exiting. I found that my petit pois have started to develop pods which is exciting - I didn't think any of them had survived but it turns out a few have. I have started to be able to tell them apart from sweet peas too which is also positive. My little lavender plug plants are about ready for potting on and I have some tomato and spinach seedlings to pot on too. It's due to be bad weather again though so I may wait until the weekend.

Have a good week all whatever the weather.

savingholmes

Well today DH got an unexpected bill for £50 that he overlooked in April. That will mean that I will have to dip into our EF slightly this month but not as much as originally expected. I have worked close to 20 hours in 2 days so am shattered. I am now in a literal darkened room while DD tidies up our room and puts our clothes away. I am paying her - but its a nice role reversal.

Both kids glasses are ready already from our trip to VE on Saturday! So dropping them off to get them around 11 tomorrow. I hope DD likes hers. I am going to try and buy her some cheaper sunglasses online and/or get her some contacts again for her new prescription from Mr As.

Generally things are going okay this week. The weather is rubbish though but that makes working easier. I get paid a week tomorrow and that's when I hope to restart paying off our debt in earnest again. DH has a week off work coming up - and I've asked him to relay our pond - so here's hoping. That probably won't be cheap though... but pretty if he can get the pipe work mended we had a water feature that ran down into the pond and recirculated. He also needs to lay the foundation for a shed we bought - we now have all the parts - just need him to do the work. I've painted the fence behind it ready.. Still working slowly around the fence painting it - DD seems to have given up. I still need to plant a few things too. 

MovingForwards

Don't get banking too many hours in advance, can't have you getting ill and tired.

The glasses were done quick. I'm sure there will be some nice sunglasses for DD somewhere.

Roast beet is delicious, sliced in a salad to see the colours or as a chutney. I think you will be eating the peas as you shell them. Don't rush yourself to plant and paint everything and try to rope DD back in or withhold payment!

Please don't push yourself too much, you are still in recovery.