Aligning the Stars

enthusiasticsaver

Great goals there star. I love payday and rearranging all the money except sadly my pension is a lot less than my salary was. You are doing well with building up savings as well as reducing the debt. Getting the debt into the £10ks will be awesome.

Sunshine gone here sadly

Starmummy

Thanks for stopping by Enthusiastic.

Once the debt is gone, retirement plans are going to take a bit more priority in the Star household. Mr Star is sorted, he saves into his pension what he was saving for the huge deposit on the house.
At the moment I just have my current work pension and a couple of old work pensions ticking away at around £10k. I'd really like to try and have this at near to £100k when I enter my 40's. I'm actually looking forward to the forced increase in April. if it isn't in my wages I can't miss it. Once StarChild starts high school, I'll add the £200pm I send to childcare vouchers (for breakfast/after school club) straight into pension savings.
I'm definitely in line to be debt neutral by the end of the year, if my spreadsheet is correct I should be debt neutral by Oct 19 (still December 19 if I exclude House savings as they are in a LISA so not readily available cash) I'm unsure whether to then pay off the loan or just let it tick along. If I pay it off then I have very little EF, I will be able to increase it back up fairly quickly but it makes me feel uneasy having no safety net (she says having not had one ever before).
I suppose I have 10 months to cross that bridge.

enthusiasticsaver

Good aim to sort out pensions and even small increases add up over time and as you say you don't miss it. We focused on my DHs pension mainly which I do regret but his was the main salary. It was only from my 40s when our daughters were older that I really saved with a vengeance and are now reaping the benefits of early retirement and having a savings pot to drawdown on to subsidise pensions. One thing I would say is don't go hell for leather on one path if you are aiming to retire early. A combination of overpaying into a pension, investing in maybe stocks and shares isas and overpaying the mortgage to get that paid off before retirement is a good idea especially with this new rule just come in this week upping the pension access age from 55 to 57. Anyone who wants to retire before then will need to use something other than pensions to fund their outgoings like stocks and shares isas.

[Deleted User]

Well done, Starmummy! That's amazing progress. And a lot to look forward to this month!

redofromstart

Thanks enthusiasticsaver, another interesting post on pensions and mortgages. The Universe is clearly trying to tell me something!

Starmummy, I'm liking 'read two books that aren't text books' - that was a real joy for me once my exams/dissertation stopped. Reading trash without feeling guilty.

Starmummy

redofromstart wrote: »

Thanks enthusiasticsaver, another interesting post on pensions and mortgages. The Universe is clearly trying to tell me something!

Starmummy, I'm liking 'read two books that aren't text books' - that was a real joy for me once my exams/dissertation stopped. Reading trash without feeling guilty.

I've actually just been accepted to join a local book club. They meet once a month which I'm sure I can work Childcare out for if Mr S is away. I could do with the social interaction. I shall start on March's book next weekend after Fridays exam

Starmummy

I've got about £42 in TCB, I've decided to try and pay this out this week. I'm going to put it into a spare savings pot I have. It will go towards the new bicycle I want to buy for making the commute to work quicker. That way I can stop paying for breakfast club. Star Child hates it and i'll save £50ish a month.

AdventureWanted

You're doing really well star mummy. It's hard having your other half working away, and also hard when they come home (my DH always disrupted the routine completely when he was back home!). I'm loving the goals for March and long term retirement goals. Hope the exam goes well. Keep up the brilliant work .

Starmummy

AdventureWanted wrote: »

You're doing really well star mummy. It's hard having your other half working away, and also hard when they come home (my DH always disrupted the routine completely when he was back home!). I'm loving the goals for March and long term retirement goals. Hope the exam goes well. Keep up the brilliant work .

Yeah, I love him dearly but I must admit I had a feeling of anxiety wash over me on the way to work this morning.
The house is tidy, there are leftovers in the fridge if he is hungry when he gets in, I've already made tonight's dinner and planned for us to go out for a drink together while Star child is at youth group tonight. He literally has nothing he can moan about, except tiredness (i'll accept that one though given that he left his apartment at 6.30am Netherlands time)
But... I know he will dump his suitcases in the hall, moan about not being able to get in the bathroom when he wants to and why it isn't 100% quiet. After 37 years of being a bachelor he isn't very good at sharing a house :rotfl: (obviously he blames me and my 'lack of organisation' for this *eyeroll*)

I'll continue to be upbeat and kind and fun, to emphasise what a grumpy old git he is being until he realises it is him being a wally. Then before we know it the weekend is over and he has to fly to the US for another work trip.

And then we will go back to missing each other :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I think it's when trips are back to back that we really struggle as there is no time to settle. he should be home for at least one week this month though and I can't wait.

Starmummy

Starmummy wrote: »

Goals for March
*Get Debt into £10k's - achieved on day 1 of the month
*Get net worth up to the -£8ks- achieved- but will push further
*Make up for February's lack of savings; £500 EF and £300 in Holiday savings for Easter trip - have managed to put £300 to EF savings so far
*Pass my final exam
*Read 2 books that aren't text books
*Continue with my low sugar diet - finding this okay must stay focused over the weekend though
*Swim twice a week
*Give Mr Star a lovely birthday
*Sleep
*Relax :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Making great progress on Day 1 of the month, I know it's only because I've been paid though, the rest of the month will be pretty quiet money -wise.

My Debt after budgeted payments is now £10,995.30 Woo Hoo! next bracket I'm in the £10k's people! :beer:

My net worth sits at -£8,874.36 so I've hit that target already too. I'll try and creep this as close to the £7k's as I can this month. I can't believe i'm in the single figure thousands until solvency. It's been a decade since I've been in this position. It's feeling good.

My soul focus for the next week is my exam. I'm attempting 3 hours study on work days (today, Monday, Tuesday) and 5 hour study on weekends and study leave (Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday)
If that doesn't pass me nothing will

Then after next week I'm going to really pick up on my swimming distance. (I *can* swim 5k but I'd really struggle to do so right now) I'm doing the Great North Swim in lake Windermere in June (only a mile) I did the Great East Swim last year (my first open water event) 1 mile in 42 minutes, I know I can do better so that's my target, under 40 minutes (if I can get it under 35 I'd be ecstatic).

Right, work, study, G&T with Mr S, study, sleep, repeat.

Have a lovely weekend team.

Take care
SM