Aligning the Stars

Starmummy

You are totally right Red! It really does keep me motivated.
I'm breaking my Big goals into 12 month chunks.
I'm pretty sure of my action plan in the next 12 months and where it will take me to. It's all in a positive direction and there is absolutely no reason we shouldn't acheive it. Both are jobs are as secure as they are ever going to be and our joint finances are enviable.

By the end of 2019 I shall be fully qualified and debt neutral. It seems so close after years of a long slog. I'm so determined to get to the end.

Next year shall be next qualification, actually paying the balance of debts, buying a car and new job with a substantial payrise (no reason I shouldn't get at least £5k given my freshly qualified status).

I think that's forward thinking enough for now. All perfectly acheivable and all 100% in my control

Starmummy

It seems to be on my radar more and more, websites, newspapers, conversations with friends and family.
My parents struggled with their finances working fairly poorly paid jobs and having 3 children in their early 20's with no family close to help out regularly. The only saving grace was they bought a house in the 90's when property was cheap, which as of this year is mortgage free.
Now in their mid-late 50's their pensions are small at best. They are both in relatively good health so should be fine to keep working to state pension age but SP isn't a lot to live on.

I don't want to be in that position. I've had a pension in almost every job i've had for the last 8 years but to date my pensions only total £10k as I've only paid in the auto-enrol minimum amount. I'm now 31 so I know it isn't too late as I still have 30+ years of work ahead of me and plenty of potential to earn a lot more than I do at present.
I'm still really anxious about it all and I don't know where to start.
I know how incredible the effects of compound interest can be but something else always seems so pressing.
At the moment I want to pay off my debts and save for a house and car but I suppose these goals are short-sighted and short-term...except perhaps the house. Being mortgage free will certainly be a benefit in retirement.

I don't have the option to increase the payments in my work pension- I consolidated 2/3 of my other work pensions with PensionBee last year. It hasn't really performed well since I did so 12 months ago...or maybe it has, it hasn't really lost money and lets face it the economy stinks right now.
I'm a bit cautious of putting money into the PensionBee one incase I lose it all. Maybe I'm just more aware as I can see the performance day by day and so I'm micro managing and not being subjective.

I read that when saving for a pension you should take your age and half it and that is what % of your salary you should put to your pension. That means I should be saving 15.5%- I currently save just 8% so I am well behind.

I'm honestly causing myself so much anxiety worrying how I will fund any kind of lifestyle when I'm my whole life time older.

Any advice?

Congratulations to anyone who made it through that complete brain fart of a post.

WelshKitty85

I can't offer much advice but just wanted to say that I share your pension concerns. I opted out of mine when I was on mat leave...14 years ago!! :eek: I've only just opted back in, and even then its at 50% of the standard rate. It's all I can afford at the moment if I want to keep overpaying the debt. But I figured that something is better than nothing. My targets are to pay the debt within 3 years and pay off the mortgage within 13 years, so at that point I will really focus on building a retirement fund.

enthusiasticsaver

Starmummy wrote: »

It seems to be on my radar more and more, websites, newspapers, conversations with friends and family.
My parents struggled with their finances working fairly poorly paid jobs and having 3 children in their early 20's with no family close to help out regularly. The only saving grace was they bought a house in the 90's when property was cheap, which as of this year is mortgage free.
Now in their mid-late 50's their pensions are small at best. They are both in relatively good health so should be fine to keep working to state pension age but SP isn't a lot to live on.

I don't want to be in that position. I've had a pension in almost every job i've had for the last 8 years but to date my pensions only total £10k as I've only paid in the auto-enrol minimum amount. I'm now 31 so I know it isn't too late as I still have 30+ years of work ahead of me and plenty of potential to earn a lot more than I do at present.
I'm still really anxious about it all and I don't know where to start.
I know how incredible the effects of compound interest can be but something else always seems so pressing.
At the moment I want to pay off my debts and save for a house and car but I suppose these goals are short-sighted and short-term...except perhaps the house. Being mortgage free will certainly be a benefit in retirement.

I don't have the option to increase the payments in my work pension- I consolidated 2/3 of my other work pensions with PensionBee last year. It hasn't really performed well since I did so 12 months ago...or maybe it has, it hasn't really lost money and lets face it the economy stinks right now.
I'm a bit cautious of putting money into the PensionBee one incase I lose it all. Maybe I'm just more aware as I can see the performance day by day and so I'm micro managing and not being subjective.

I read that when saving for a pension you should take your age and half it and that is what % of your salary you should put to your pension. That means I should be saving 15.5%- I currently save just 8% so I am well behind.

I'm honestly causing myself so much anxiety worrying how I will fund any kind of lifestyle when I'm my whole life time older.

Any advice?

Congratulations to anyone who made it through that complete brain fart of a post.

Saving half your age into a pension is a blanket formula but that should include both your contributions and your employers. 8% is not an awful contribution to be making but as you are able to once you are debt free I would address upping that. Find out where your pension is invested though and check performance. Investments are a bit stagnant at the moment but if looked at over a 5 year period the performance should be at least 4% per year if not higher. If it is losing value long term then yes I would look at where they have invested it and consider moving it. It may be they have given you a choice as to how it is invested and if you have gone for very cautious then the returns may not be great but that also means the losses should be minimal in a downturn. At a young age though you can afford to use an aggressive investment strategy or balanced as you have plenty of time to cover any downturns.

I would say though that the best way to prepare for retirement is to monitor outgoings so you know how much you will need to live off and make a plan to increase your assets gradually and reduce outgoings (like pay off a mortgage and don't take on debt). Find out about your pension, investigate SIPPs once you are debt free if you are unable to add to your work pension and look into investing in stocks and shares isas as a back up or at least fixed term bonds if you are very cautious. Mixed asset funds are very popular with low costs and generally less volatile than all equities (shares).

Starmummy

Thanks Enthusiastic.

I do know where my current workplace pension is. I've only been in the job 1 year 10 months so no real long term performance metrics to be reviewed. It was in a cautious plan and I moved it to a riskier/higher return plan a few months ago as I know I have decades to ride out changes in market, so now my pension is a higher % of stocks to bonds.

I do currently max out my contribution to a S&S LISA which is initially for a house deposit but while I'm still a regular rate tax payer I may keep it on afterwards. I have enjoyed dabling in trading and it's performing at an acceptable rate at the moment given the global economic uncertainties. I have a mix of UK and global funds as well as a few individual shares in well researched companies.

I'll definitely look into SIPPs when I have progressed in my job a bit as I know the tax saving is far better in a SIPP than a LISA when I move into the next tax bracket (I hope to do that in the next 5-6 years)

For our joint earnings our actual outgoings (bills plus basic living expenses) are very low (less than 50% without calculation) - We do travel a lot but we own an older car and don't spend lots of money on clothes and trinkets and beauty products.

My goal after paying of debts to keep living costs to 50% of take home earnings so that I don't get caught up in trying to match wage to lifestyle. I will squirrell the rest away so that any big expenses don't become a problem. Fingers crossed we stay in good mental and physical health and that our jobs stay secure to enable this.

Starmummy

The only problem with updating my diary more frequently is seeing my frequent crazy thoughts in black and white.

Yesterdays topic PANIC about retirement (30+ years away)
Today I'm going to delight you with tales of being bored at work.
I'm fully aware I may get some 'nice problems to have' comments.
I got this job nearly 2 years ago- since then I've got one exam (out of 14) away from being fully qualified in my field. This job came with a significant pay rise but I'm still underpaid for my level of qualification. My boss is lovely, the job is safe, but there is just not enough structure and there isn't enough work to keep me busy. I'm so bloody bored.

I've been job searching this morning. I'm really tempted to apply for a few jobs on £10-£15k more than I earn here with some chance to get management experience. The only issue is that would involve commuting, which would mean longer hours and having to buy a car.

I had talked myself into staying in this job for 1 more year so I have flexibility while SC is still in primary school (I can work from home) , it would also mean I had paid off my debts, would have savings for a car and would have finished my qualification.
I'm not sure I can put up with being so bored for another year though. Not really sure what to do as we are still no wiser as to whether the changes with Mr Stars job are long term or not. (e.g him working over seas most weeks setting up a European office)

What to do, what to do?

Starmummy

I applied for a job last night.:eek:
By 9am this morning I had three voicemails from recruiters. I know I'm in a very marketable position given my current career status but there is no push factors in changing jobs so I know I have negotiating power.

The CV I submitted I'm not particularly happy with, I need to tweak it to play to my strengths and focus on the direction I want to move in so I shall work on that over the next month or so. I'm not actively looking but I may as well have it ready incase something catches my fancy.

I talked to Mr Star last night about my career which resulted in a big chat about future investments and property purchases etc. The more we talk about these things the more options appear available. A nice problem to have I guess but very disorientating.

SC is still with my sister so it's been a really nice couple of days of adult time. We really need to make more effort with this.

In other news I've been making a consious effort to read more. Mostly personal development stuff, business, politics, economics. My current book is Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. I'm really enjoying getting a more holistic view of senior business practice. I'm going to try and read 1 (personal development) book a fortnight. I read fairly fast but I don't want to skim these type of books, plus with work, parenting, studying for my final exam and training for a big running event next month I don't want to spread myself too thinly.

Starmummy

Goodness recruitment consultants are like Vultures on a carcass aren't they.

[Deleted User]

They are the worst. We don't work with them at all when we're hiring in our place.

As for your dilemma - I don't think you have one!

No harm in looking - a good opportunity may present itself. And if it doesn't, you can sit tight where you are for a little while. You'll know better if it's worth moving jobs when you have an actual alternative on the table.

[Deleted User]

More money also helps with paying off the debts faster. And wfh isn't the luxury rare thing that people think anymore - a lot of places let you wfh and are flexible around families - it's not unlikely another work place would offer that too. I've had it in all my last 3 jobs, and they were all very different industries!