Future Finances: Time vs Money

ShyAndRetiring

crv1963 wrote: »

Hi S&R,


Like you we're in our 50s. I too have been retirement planning, seeking to lower spending and increase saving- although life and vet bills do keep interrupting this!


I follow Pauls thread and "know" in the loosest possible terms LL from the Millionaire thread! I think the Early Retirement Wannabe thread is good too.


I like the community threads as it gives a dry topic a bit of reality. We're busy trying to maximise earnings, save into Mrs CRV pension and keep a life balance!


Good luck I'll follow your journey with interest if you don't mind?


CRV

:wave: CRV, thanks for your visit and comment ... I don't know what happened with my multi-quote but you fell off the end, sorry about that

It sounds like we too have much in common - not least the vet bills. We've got two dogs and a cat so they have their own section in all the proposed budgets, present and future! Have knocked the pet insurance on the head though and just save a monthly amount into our Pet Vet fund!

I agree about the threads, it so helps that others are working their way through the same daily decisions, questioning priorities and playing with different scenarios (and budgets) to try and find one that fits the future as well as the present! Great to be sharing the journey with you and looking forward to hearing more!

ShyAndRetiring

:wave:

Another busy worky day, but a bit of progress with the main tasks in hand:

1) Minimum spends: NSD today, so 2/16.

2) Savings: T&Cs letter was boring and I'm not sure I can really identify what's changed, so a bit of a non-starter. However, it has refocused me on the fact that only a small portion of the main pension pot is earning any interest.
So, as I was awake at ridiculous o'clock this morning due to smaller, neurotic dog who was under threat from a mosquito - although said dog is not as small as he thinks and could not fit under the bed, no matter how hard or noisily he was trying - I started my day with an early coffee and a good look at the savings boards here on MSE. Had a quick chat with OH at lunchtime about what I found so he's now having a think about it too ... we're thinking ISA, Savings Account and maxing 3% current accounts.
We have what we call a Bored Meeting every couple of weeks when we touch base on the money stuff and plans for the house. So-called because I get bored doing it all on my own and he gets bored listening to / thinking about £ stuff but hey, he's gotta get involved right? The Bored Meeting keeps us both up to speed with the finances and ensures we take time to talk through our options, before making those bigger joint decisions. Now that I've given him a run down of our options, we'll have the next Bored Meeting at the weekend to revisit this and make a decision then, so all in hand (ish) for getting the pot pulling its weight a bit.

3) Organise a few figures to share on here, to see if there's anything else we could be doing in the short, mid, longer term - just need to think about the budgets in this context really and see what happens with the numbers. I've run out of time on this today.

Simple pleasures:
- Lovely dog walk after work. I got wing-kissed on the top of my head by a kestrel! Amazing really as their spacial awareness is usually much better than that (and definitely better than mine)! I'm not sure who was in whose flight path, but it was pretty special to be so close. OH got a great view!
- First harvest of our Asian greens OH planted a few weeks ago. These replaced our lettuces which bolted. I can't remember the name of them, will check with OH tomorrow, but they're lovely. Can be eaten as salad, cooked as greens or used in stir fries etc, so will be very versatile and will save a bit in £ and plastic by not having to buy greens or salad for a while. Tomatoes are coming on nicely too.
- I just played about with putting the DRD in a retirement countdown calculator. It's a bit of a hefty number at the moment but I figure it might be fun to use it as the title of each post so we can count down the days as we save up the pennies! Today's 1982 which although is meant to be symbolic of looking forwards, actually feels weirdly retrospective - I kind of expect ABC or Adam and the Ants to be playing in the background!

Final simple pleasure? I'm just about to hit the hay at last, it's felt like a long day!

Sleep well lovely visitors, SaR x

bugslet

There isn't a plan as such Shy, I've said I'll continue working for the customer until they find a new supplier/or until my lads hear on the grapevine. I don't want the latter to happen, I want my customer to decide on a definitive date and then I can tell everyone. Customer is so beyond incompetant, it's unbelievable so I have no hopes in that direction.:mad:

ShyAndRetiring wrote: »

It sounds like we too have much in common - not least the vet bills. We've got two dogs and a cat so they have their own section in all the proposed budgets, present and future! Have knocked the pet insurance on the head though and just save a monthly amount into our Pet Vet fund!


[/COLOR]

Never had pet insurance either and I've had up to 6 dogs at one time, down to three now

https://www.instagram.com/rubyschnau/?hl=en

though I'm pondering a rescue...... Re the pet insurance, I'd say that over the years I am well ahead financially, though I don't believe in doing anything too traumatic in terms of treatment once they get older.

Bored Meeting :rotfl:

Sorry thick question, what is DRD, I've a feeling I should know!

ShyAndRetiring

Hi Bugslet

bugslet wrote: »

There isn't a plan as such Shy, I've said I'll continue working for the customer until they find a new supplier/or until my lads hear on the grapevine. I don't want the latter to happen, I want my customer to decide on a definitive date and then I can tell everyone. Customer is so beyond incompetant, it's unbelievable so I have no hopes in that direction.:mad:

Goodness, yes waiting for the grapevine does sound worryingly open-ended! I know what you mean about some clients, when I was freelancing I used to despair sometimes about how some businesses managed to function at all! I'm sure if you don't hear anything within a certain, reasonable time-frame, then it would be fine to pick your own date and just give them the courtesy call to say "bye bye!"

Never had pet insurance either and I've had up to 6 dogs at one time, down to three now

Had to take the link out to quote you, as I can't put links in yet, but Oh my goodness, how cute is your furry family? I'd never get anything done around the house or get to work if they were mine, just soooo cuddly, and full of character I'm sure!

though I'm pondering a rescue...... Re the pet insurance, I'd say that over the years I am well ahead financially, though I don't believe in doing anything too traumatic in terms of treatment once they get older.

We used to have insurance but it kept getting put up as our eldest dog got older and older. Then the younger one was diagnosed with things the insurance wouldn't cover anyway so in the end it just made more sense to cut out the insurance completely and stick the same amount into an envelope each month, ready for the inevitable vet visits!

We're also lucky to have a vet nurse in the family, so if something's prescribed I can ask her what the safe OTC alternatives are!

Bored Meeting :rotfl:

Sorry thick question, what is DRD, I've a feeling I should know!

No, not thick at all ... DRD's just my own random shorthand from #1 - for Desired Retirement Date!

Here's hoping you get to put a DRD in the calendar yourself soon!

ShyAndRetiring

:wave:

Hope everyone's OK? A slow day on the goals front really ...

1) Minimum spends:
NSD total remains at 2/16 as today was a spendy day:
Optician appt pm. Outcome was a new prescription so a spend from the health pot has been made.
Pooch 2's collar is falling apart so ordered him a new one. Not the cheapest in the world, but not the most expensive either. He has to have a sturdy one because he's a strong beast even when he's not trying to be.
We had a quick nip into charity shops as we were over in town for the eye appt. One of our favourite shops had a good £1 rail so OH got 2 new summer items & I got a pair of black jeans for the autumn, very happy with that!

2) Savings:
Found an alternative ISA with slightly higher interest but fixed term for 5 years. OH's not sure about tie-in as % interest is rumoured to be going up, but then Brexit is rumoured to be sending everything to Pantsville, so who knows? Issue being pondered and will be decided at Bored Meeting.

3) Organise a few figures to share on here, to see if there's anything else we could be doing in the short, mid, longer term
Hmm, no, not done today

Simple pleasures:
* This evening's walk gave us a beautiful close-up of a Woodpecker. They're usually so shy they move off as soon as they hear us coming, but this one just flew to a nearby tree so I managed to get some OK photos of it posing nicely! Lovely moment.
* Cheap & cheerful clothing, which also benefits the charity and is a way of recycling. Very pleased about this as we try to not buy anything first-hand, as a way of trying to help the planet and our pockets!
* Free-range eggs from a neighbour up the lane. She usually sells out quickly this time of year as there are quite a few caravan sites nearby (we're in a bit of a beauty spot as you can probably tell from the lovely bird-life here). We were lucky to spot some on our way back from the walk, so eggy breakfast on the menu for tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a good evening, SaR x

bugslet

We had an occasional visit from a woodpecker to the birdfeeder at work, didn't think we'd see one in the big city. Had to stop feeding the birds, a family of rats more or less set up camp at the bottom of the feeder

Did give the dogs something to chase though!

ManofLeisure_2

[QUOTE=lessonlearned;74537947

1. Time is more valuable than money. - you can always find more money but you can never buy back time. Once it's gone, it's gone.

[/QUOTE]


Couldn't agree more - wise words indeed

ShyAndRetiring

:wave:

bugslet wrote: »

We had an occasional visit from a woodpecker to the birdfeeder at work, didn't think we'd see one in the big city. Had to stop feeding the birds, a family of rats more or less set up camp at the bottom of the feeder

Did give the dogs something to chase though!

Bugslet, oh how lovely to have one visiting your garden! I'd love to get a woodpecker feeder on one of the trees in the garden, we're certainly not getting any coming down to the ordinary bird feeders we do have ... although we can hear the woodpeckers very close-by. The rats issue is such a pain ... OH has bought a trap but one set of neighbours has hens so the rats use their garden as a running buffet, whilst the neighbour the other side feeds the rats, so not much hope of getting the issue dealt with.

Goodness, 3 dogs chasing the rats sounds like chaos in the making! :rotfl:

Our cat has caught a couple of rats but we're trying not to encourage her as she's not very discerning between rats, shrews and birds.

ManofLeisure wrote: »

Couldn't agree more - wise words indeed

Hi ManofLeisure, yes, LL really sums up what it's all about, and it's certainly a personal focus as we get older. Thanks for stopping by.

ShyAndRetiring

So today ...

Another early start due to boy-pooch yet again, so by 5 a.m I was on my first coffee of the day and pondering the goals for the current work-in-progress. It occurred to me that although my goals for the rest of the month were kind of organised on-the-hoof as I started the diary mid-month, the actual overall goal areas are exactly right to support what we're trying to do for our future planning:
1) Spending
2) Saving
3) Sorting
... so I'm going to stick with these and focus on an aspect of these each month.

So, to pick up with that format for those goals mentioned at the start of the thread ...

Spending
Forgot to say at the start that I'm defining NSDs as being days where there are no unbudgeted or ad-hoc spends,. So, today will count as a NSD even though it was food shopping day because this was a budgeted spend. So 3/10.

Saving
Also spent time on the savings board early a.m. and still looking at all the options out there. ISA idea seems solid so just looking for a safe savings spot for the other part of the pot.

Literal £££ savings on the food front today:
* We're lucky enough to have a good market in the next town and OH gets there early a.m. on his way home from work, so we always do well with the veggie stall. Today's best bargain was a big bowl (approx 5-6 lb) of mandarins for £2.
* Harvested our first courgette today from the plant we put in this year - our first home-grown veg since moving here (not counting herbs and lettuce we've had so far)!
* The Asian greens (MIzuna, apparently) is doing fab, we're thinning out the plants and eating the thinnings at the moment, so plenty of free greens.
* OH went fishing p.m and caught 7 mackerel which he's smoked and put into the freezer. He has a personal goal to fill one freezer drawer full because he wants to enjoy 'freshly caught' mackerel through the winter.
* 1.5 lb of gooseberries from the garden - probably the last ones now, but looking pink, tasting fab and costing us nada!

Sorting
The great thing about having busy hands this afternoon making the marmalade is that it frees up the brain for a little focused thinking. As such, and whilst up to my eyeballs in mandarin skins, I've sorted out how I'm defining the future finances:
* Short term = month to month, year on year - that's in place and straightforward all the time we're both working. Current income around £20k in total, whilst domestic spending and essential outgoings are about £1300 a month. This budget for outgoings feels like we're living comfortably - especially as our tastes are simple and our interests aren't really expensive. The good thing about having a comfortable budget is that we could rein it in if needed, to cover unforeseens.
We also each have a personal spending pot from our respective earnings, although currently I put most of mine straight into my NEST pension and allow myself £60 a month for personal spending, plus paying my phone (£12.50). More on the NEST another time.
* Mid term = up to retirement - likely to stay similar to short-term, but this is where things are more likely to change - OH's part time job and any recurrence of his previous health issue, all of which could affect his ability to still be paying NI and therefore the amount of years he can accrue towards SP; my own hours / health; caring for parents - my mum and step dad, OH's parents have already passed Any and all of this could be likely to impact on current / future finances.
* Long term = after retirement. This needs plenty of thinking about as the timeline involves a gap of 2 years between my DRD and accessing my occupational pension. Working towards saving as much as possible now to fund these years so that we can have this early retirement time together.

This short, mid, long perspective helps to put the numbers on the spreadsheet into focus, all of which is work in progress.

Simple pleasures:

- Finishing work early today and making 4lb of mandarin and brandy marmalade from that £2 bowl of fruits.
- Streaming a 1980s playlist whilst making the marmalade - chosen because today's day 1980 until retirement. So what comes up on random playlist shuffle just as I'm potting up the marmalade? Only Masterblaster, Stevie Wonder (yes, we're jammin' indeed)! Myself and pooches laughed at that one ... well, I did anyhoo.
- Clean, crisp, fresh bedding on a hot evening.

Hope everyone else has had a good day. SaR x

bugslet

Oh I love gooseberries - takes me back to my childhood, my Dad was a serious jam maker and gooseberry and also Damson jam were regulars. The mandarin and brandy sounds rather yummy as well. I reckon it's all round to yours for the Xmas Time v Money Party ( will settle for a virtual party:D). One of the things I am looking forward to doing when I retire is to make my own food - I just don't have the time at the minute.

Looking at your sorting, I think the mid-term is the worry area rather than the long, the reason being that you have time to prepare as you are doing. Admittedly the mid-term could mess up the long, but you are aware and planning for it now, you can always adjust for long-term - and you never know what might happen on the plus side in that time. We should of course plan for things going wrong but in doing that we forget that something might happen out of the blue. Last year I had a small inheritance from a relative I didn't know I had, only 7500.00, but very handy as I was having my roof replaced. Obviously I could never count on that, but life sometimes throws a bone instead of a brick bat;).