Busy Mee's Last Leg

Busy_Mee1

Back again. You can tell I am in the grip of New Year enthusiasm. But you all know that once I get sucked back into the vortex of work next week I won't be posting as much.

I have done a couple of Tilly Tidies this morning:

£12 Barclays reward
£8. CA tidy

I had a trip into the city yesterday to meet a friend for afternoon tea. This was a groupon deal bought and paid for a while ago. Spends were:

£5.20 Train
£11.50 My share of a bottle of wine

Need to do the supermarket shop today.

savingholmes

Long may the NY enthusiasm last. I like my job but not looking forward to Monday. Hopefully it will give us all some much needed structure.

Suffolk_lass

Very impressed with a £12 Barclays saving Busy Mee1 - I had a good look at their scheme info on their web-site but found the info a bit limited. I get the £4 fee and £800 in per month and £3.50 for 2 DD but not sure if that is a one-off or if there are other bits. I have all my policies spread around in a way that saves more than these would generate (I think) and I like the £0.05 per use of debit card that DH's Coop account pays on top of the £4 loyalty per month (no fee) for similar conditions. Am I missing something about the Barclays loyalty schemes?

Busy_Mee1

As predicted I have been sucked back into the vortex of work this week. After months of waiting it looks like we have the go ahead for a new programme of work and this means temporary promotion for me. I am sure how long it will be for ( they will advertise the post) but I am going to go with it for as long as it lasts. This will delay my retirement but should boost my pension (final salary).

I am quite excited about the new role and Mr Mee is OK with me delaying my retirement ( he says he likes being a kept man :rotfl: ....which translates to he likes the extra money for holidays and gadgets :rotfl:) Obviously, I will be looking to try and get us to a mortgage neutral position sooner and boost our "forever money" savings.

Mr Mee being retired has taken a lot of pressure from me, as most of the chores are done through the week and our weekends have more proper leisure time. There have been many Saturdays in the past, where I have felt as stressed as a week day trying to cram in all the jobs to be done.

In financial news, nothing too much to report. I am Tilly Tidying most days and found a surprise £17.15 payable in Quidco that I had forgotten about ( I normally use TCB).

Spending has been OK apart from we used some Christmas money to have a favourite photo of our favourite place put onto a large canvas. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday but apparently the delivery driver couldn't find our house and took it back to the depot . Funny that on a Friday afternoon eh :mad:

It is rather strange here this morning. I have the house to myself. DD and her BF have taken the pup out walking for the day and Mr Mee has gone to sort some more financial stuff with his Dad.
After his experience of sorting his Mum and Dad's affairs. Mr Mee is keen that we update our Wills ( think we are going to do it ourselves....so any advice or experience welcome). He is also pushing me to reduce the number of bank accounts we have. I daren't tell him I am thinking of opening some more :rotfl:.

Suffolk Lass - we receive £12 in rewards from Barclays because in addition to our current account, our mortgage is with them. And I actually have this doubled up because they did an offer where if you switched another account to them they double the rewards for a year. So I get £24 a month

Think that is all. It is still very wild and windy out there today, so I don't think I will be venturing far. Have a good weekend

teapot2

Good to have the opportunity to keep working, sounds like you are happy enough to keep doing that and being excited about the new role is a definite plus.

£24 from Darkleys is great - well worth doing even if it goes down after a year. Wild and very windy here too but at least the sideways rain has stopped for the minute.

Moneyfordreams

Congrats on the promotion :T
I love having my OH home more. He generally works 22.5-30 hours a week compared to my 42 pw. In turn he loves pottering and sorting out the house .. win win

Suffolk_lass

Congratulations on that TP - I had one in the first of my last 3 years and it was pensionable (not so in the Cabinet Office Departments as I understand it) - It was for three months and by making that the first three months of my last 3 years it was the same as increasing my years of pensionable pay by 5, when the indexation is taken into account - and like you, mine was in the first calendar quarter (last FY quarter) so I also got the enhancement to my lump sum after I had retired when the previous year's CPI was applied to my pension settlement retrospectively for 9 months (the power of compound interest!).

You don't have to do it that way to benefit and with your DH retired already you may want to spend quality time together in due course, rather than seeking to maximise your pension.

I am seriously looking at how to make our cash work a bit harder for us too. We have quite a big proportion of our money tied up in property and the stock market and I am reluctant to fiddle too much.

beanielou

Good job news for you

Busy_Mee1

The pace at work has been absolutely ferocious this week. I had forgotten what that was like and now remember that the last time it nearly broke me. I am determined that this time I will practice self care and look after myself.

The week started well on Monday morning with a 3.5k run and ended well with a yoga session on Friday to stretch out my poor back, but mid week was poor. I was away a couple of days and didn't have time to do much other than a couple of dog walks. My diet has gone to pot a bit as I employed the emergency chocolate a couple of times. I must be really mindful and carve out the time I need for me.

Mr Mee being at home is helping though and I was able to get myself out for a two and half hour walk with the pup yesterday. The sun was shining, we managed to get ourselves a bit lost and we saw the first snowdrops. But it was oh so sludgy :rotfl:. It was definitely one of those good to be alive mornings.

It was DD's birthday this week, which was our major cost. We went to the local Italian for dinner which cost £85 for five of us. Mr Mee also put two (much needed) tyres on her car for her Birthday. I always said he knows how to treat a girl :rotfl: and because that was so boring I gave her some cash as well She has now gone to London for the weekend to celebrate with her Boyfriend.

I have spent very little other than this. I was away with work, so the dinner and lunch will be covered by expenses.

I need to sort out a home for some more money, to wring a bit more interest out of it.Mr Mee hasn't used his ISA allowance this year, but interest rates are really rubbish at the moment.

We currently have a chunk of money sat in fixed rate cash ISAs earning circa 2%. We have a small amount (3.5k) in a S&S ISA, which is doing OK but nothing to write home about. The rest is either sat in our mortgage offset account effectively saving 1.44% in interest or cycling through some regular savers earning 5% interest ( but these rates are all ending). So the choices are:

1. Do nothing - carry on as we are but this feels like an opportunity missed.
2. Fixed rate cash ISA - The best rate for a 5 year fix is 2.03% with UBL (never heard of them)
3. Invest in a S&S ISA - I am thinking Vanguard Lifestrategy 60. These seem popular and you can choose your risk level. Mr Mee however is not keen, he doesn't think now is a good time to invest in S&S
4. Put in premium bonds. Mr Mee is keen but me not so much. We will effectively lose 1.44% because we are borrowing money to take a punt on winning big. We are not lucky.
5. Invest in a SIPP. This would be good for me as a 40% tax payer but I am not massively confident about how this works.

I just keep going round this in my head and just can't decide what to do. Another fixed rate ISA feels like the safest, guaranteed option but we could lose out if interest rates go up.

In terms of the SIPP. Can anybody confirm that this is how it works:

I invest £10k but claim back £4000 in tax relief. Are there any limits to this ?
The 10k is then subject to the investment either going up or down.
I can draw 25% tax free. i.e £2500
The rest is subject to tax, which will be 20% by the time we take it.
£10k-£2500 tax free= £7500 - 20% = £6000
Therefore if the £10k remains the same it effectively would be worth £12500. £4000+£2500+£6000

I guess the benefits to this is the almost immediate refund of £4000 in tax, so you are only effectively investing £6000.

Sorry for the ramble but it just helps to set all of this down.

I need to get a wriggle on. I need to walk the dog and go supermarket shopping. I then have an hour or so preparation for a big meeting tomorrow. I am then hoping to go with Mr Mee on a new dog walk he has found.

Have a great Sunday everyone

Suffolk_lass

Busy_Mee1 wrote: »

So the choices are:

1. Do nothing - carry on as we are but this feels like an opportunity missed.
2. Fixed rate cash ISA - The best rate for a 5 year fix is 2.03% with UBL (never heard of them)
3. Invest in a S&S ISA - I am thinking Vanguard Lifestrategy 60. These seem popular and you can choose your risk level. Mr Mee however is not keen, he doesn't think now is a good time to invest in S&S
4. Put in premium bonds. Mr Mee is keen but me not so much. We will effectively lose 1.44% because we are borrowing money to take a punt on winning big. We are not lucky.
5. Invest in a SIPP. This would be good for me as a 40% tax payer but I am not massively confident about how this works.

I just keep going round this in my head and just can't decide what to do. Another fixed rate ISA feels like the safest, guaranteed option but we could lose out if interest rates go up.

If you are going to go for Option 3 or 5 they are effectively similar - as in a tax-shelter wrapper where you choose which funds or shares you are going for. The industry advice we received (when we went for draw-down on DH's DC 25%TFLS) is don't go for more than 40% equity within your last five years of working as the risk is too high (so your suggestion of the 60% fund is quite risky).

I have three VLS funds in my ISA - VLS 40 and the 2015 retirement fund they offer, both of which are predominantly UK and one developed world ex UK. I have only had them since Feb but they seem to be going well (as is everything) with 9%, 8% and 18% growth since I bought them. For balance I have another global fund too. Advice is to spread the risk by choosing a fund that does this for you.

Be aware that The Times is on a mission to expose funds that are doing badly but are recommended by platform managers (eg Hargreaves Lansdown) but are currently doing badly.

Also don't forget MrMee1 can have a SIPP too - the limits on what he can put in are different because he would have to do this from his existing capital - he can't recycle his occupational pension income - lots on the pensions board if you have time to look. If he were doing a bit of work (eg to top up his NI cont years so it is less dependent on being opted out of SERPS until 2015) - he could put up to 100% of his earnings into a SIPP

Busy_Mee1 wrote: »

In terms of the SIPP. Can anybody confirm that this is how it works:

I invest £10k but claim back £4000 in tax relief. Are there any limits to this ? Yes check here - it is £40,000 in total - so your DB pension counts too - do a quick tot up before April so you don't exceed it and then you will need to claim the tax relief. You should also do a lifetime pot size calculation now you are getting promoted to make sure you don't exceed this.
The 10k is then subject to the investment either going up or down.
I can draw 25% tax free. i.e £2500 - but once you start to draw-down (min age 55) there are other limits on what you can put in - check out the same link as before (Pensions Advisory Service) or Gov.uk
The rest is subject to tax, which will be 20% by the time we take it.
£10k-£2500 tax free= £7500 - 20% = £6000
Therefore if the £10k remains the same it effectively would be worth £12500. £4000+£2500+£6000

I guess the benefits to this is the almost immediate refund of £4000 in tax, so you are only effectively investing £6000.

Sorry for the ramble but it just helps to set all of this down.

I need to get a wriggle on. I need to walk the dog and go supermarket shopping. I then have an hour or so preparation for a big meeting tomorrow. I am then hoping to go with Mr Mee on a new dog walk he has found.

Have a great Sunday everyone

Have a lovely day and I hope the walks are not as slithery as they are here! :cool: