It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Sea_Shell

Kim1965 said:

Forgive me if I have these details wrong. I think  you rely on mainly dc / savings? I think you have some db (9k pa in 10yrs) and you are 15 yrs off of sp? 
 How much of a worry are investment downturns? Were you retired when covid struck? 
  I only ask because you retired a long time before the certainty of gauranteed income and some would not have the nerve to do so. 

Yes, we are mainly relying on DC, ISA and cash for the next 9-10 years, before some DB kicks in.

Yes, we were already retired when Covid hit, and did see it hit our overall pot.    I'm not sure "worried" is the right word..."aware" might be better?

We have modest needs (subject to inflation!) of about £15,000 spends pa, and currently have a pot that stands at ~£580,000 (will look at them all in detail at month end), so we're not panicking.

We still have more than we had two years ago, and that's after spending £31,000 of it.   

Audaxer

Sea_Shell said:

Kim1965 said:

Forgive me if I have these details wrong. I think  you rely on mainly dc / savings? I think you have some db (9k pa in 10yrs) and you are 15 yrs off of sp? 
 How much of a worry are investment downturns? Were you retired when covid struck? 
  I only ask because you retired a long time before the certainty of gauranteed income and some would not have the nerve to do so. 

Yes, we are mainly relying on DC, ISA and cash for the next 9-10 years, before some DB kicks in.

Yes, we were already retired when Covid hit, and did see it hit our overall pot.    I'm not sure "worried" is the right word..."aware" might be better?

We have modest needs (subject to inflation!) of about £15,000 spends pa, and currently have a pot that stands at ~£580,000 (will look at them all in detail at month end), so we're not panicking.

We still have more than we had two years ago, and that's after spending £31,000 of it.   

I think that being aware rather than worried is a good way to describe it in your case.  Allowing for inflation, I would take a guess that your spending over the next 10 years would not be much over £200k in total. If you were worried or very cautious you could sell some investments now so you had that amount of cash to give you 10 years guaranteed income. If you did that you would still have £380k invested that wouldn't need to be touched for 10 years. Well done as that's a nice position to be in.

RetSol

Aware.. that I need to live on my db pension plus whatever earnings I can achieve. 

Kim1965

I pickup 7 to 8k db in 2 yrs at sixty., the closer i get to sp (full sp attained), the more relaxed i become about work. I  have approx190kdc, isa, still looking to work for a while and grow the pot.
 Hats off toSeaShell, managing retirement from an early age would concern me. 

bjorn_toby_wilde

barnstar2077 said:

Sea_Shell said:

Afternoon everyone, hope the sun is shining for you wherever you are.   I’m just taking a bit of refuge in the study, as it’s the coolest place in the house.  I can hear an Aldi mini “Magnum” calling to me!!

 

Things are just ticking along here.   The markets appear to have slowed their slide into oblivion (for now?) and the finances still look healthy.   As interest rates are on the rise, we’re hoping to catch a few deals along the way.

We’ve just stuck £10k in the Shawbrook 6 months fix account @ 2%.    I’m hoping Loanpad P2P up their rates soon, as 3 or 4% for the increased risk they pose is looking less and less attractive by the day.   They have said “soon” but not when and by how much.  Hoping for at least 4 and 5%.

 

I’ll do a full financial round-up at the end of June.

 

In energy news, I’ve made up a spreadsheet to compare our “gambled on” EonV12 energy fix against the current cap, and also will then add in the October (and January?) caps, so keep track of how much we’re winning (or losing) by. 

At the moment, we’re 42 days in, and are worse off by £10.   So with ~120 days to go until the October cap would have kicked in, we’ll probably be about £40 worse off by then, by which time we will hopefully start to be clawing that all back…and some.

 

In non-financial news, we’ve finally, after a loooong wait for it, been to see Top Gun: Maverick.

O M G !!!!   I LOVED IT!!!    So emotional.   I smiled, laughed and cried all the way through, and the opening sequence….classic!!!!  Talk about goosebumps.   I was hoping it was going to be everything I wanted it to be…and it didn’t disappoint.

 

Well I think that’s it for now.   Happy Jubilee.

 

 @barnstar2077 - Sorry to hear about your accident, hope you’re on the mend.

Thank you, yes, on the mend for the most part.  Finding I keep waking up with my knee feeling frozen and aching, which then takes me a while to loosen up, but it could be worse.  Could do with hibernating for a few weeks, but I guess I shouldn't wish my days away.  Plenty of people worse off than me etc.

Plus, on the bright side, my big toe has taken on the appearance of marble, with many lustrous shades of rich purples which is actually quite beautiful in a certain light.  So it's not all bad. 

Dangerous game this cycling!

I'm sitting at home for 6 weeks following the most innocuous crash.  Picked up a thorn and didn't notice the front tyre was soft. As I braked and turned it threw me off and dislocated my thumb. Had to have the ligament surgically repaired.

The numbness and aches will fade but it takes a while.  Good luck with it.

LHW99

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

barnstar2077 said:

Sea_Shell said:

Afternoon everyone, hope the sun is shining for you wherever you are.   I’m just taking a bit of refuge in the study, as it’s the coolest place in the house.  I can hear an Aldi mini “Magnum” calling to me!!

 

Things are just ticking along here.   The markets appear to have slowed their slide into oblivion (for now?) and the finances still look healthy.   As interest rates are on the rise, we’re hoping to catch a few deals along the way.

We’ve just stuck £10k in the Shawbrook 6 months fix account @ 2%.    I’m hoping Loanpad P2P up their rates soon, as 3 or 4% for the increased risk they pose is looking less and less attractive by the day.   They have said “soon” but not when and by how much.  Hoping for at least 4 and 5%.

 

I’ll do a full financial round-up at the end of June.

 

In energy news, I’ve made up a spreadsheet to compare our “gambled on” EonV12 energy fix against the current cap, and also will then add in the October (and January?) caps, so keep track of how much we’re winning (or losing) by. 

At the moment, we’re 42 days in, and are worse off by £10.   So with ~120 days to go until the October cap would have kicked in, we’ll probably be about £40 worse off by then, by which time we will hopefully start to be clawing that all back…and some.

 

In non-financial news, we’ve finally, after a loooong wait for it, been to see Top Gun: Maverick.

O M G !!!!   I LOVED IT!!!    So emotional.   I smiled, laughed and cried all the way through, and the opening sequence….classic!!!!  Talk about goosebumps.   I was hoping it was going to be everything I wanted it to be…and it didn’t disappoint.

 

Well I think that’s it for now.   Happy Jubilee.

 

 @barnstar2077 - Sorry to hear about your accident, hope you’re on the mend.

Thank you, yes, on the mend for the most part.  Finding I keep waking up with my knee feeling frozen and aching, which then takes me a while to loosen up, but it could be worse.  Could do with hibernating for a few weeks, but I guess I shouldn't wish my days away.  Plenty of people worse off than me etc.

Plus, on the bright side, my big toe has taken on the appearance of marble, with many lustrous shades of rich purples which is actually quite beautiful in a certain light.  So it's not all bad. 

Dangerous game this cycling!

I'm sitting at home for 6 weeks following the most innocuous crash.  Picked up a thorn and didn't notice the front tyre was soft. As I braked and turned it threw me off and dislocated my thumb. Had to have the ligament surgically repaired.

The numbness and aches will fade but it takes a while.  Good luck with it.

Hmmm sounds like this exercise lark isn't all its made out to be

Zerforax

Do people keep track of how much contribution was made into their DC pension? Or just look at what the current value is?

Like everyone else, mine have dropped in value quite a lot recently and now I'm wondering how much was originally put into the pots.

Sea_Shell

Zerforax said:

Do people keep track of how much contribution was made into their DC pension? Or just look at what the current value is?

Like everyone else, mine have dropped in value quite a lot recently and now I'm wondering how much was originally put into the pots.

Yes, and no!! 😉

Some providers show contributions alongside value but I don't pay that much attention to them.

Don't forget, it probably won't have all been your own money.  Some will be employer contributions and some tax relief.

I do keep an eye on ISAs where it's all been our own money!!   Scary numbers these last few weeks!!!

Zerforax

Sea_Shell said:

Zerforax said:

Do people keep track of how much contribution was made into their DC pension? Or just look at what the current value is?

Like everyone else, mine have dropped in value quite a lot recently and now I'm wondering how much was originally put into the pots.

Yes, and no!! 😉

Some providers show contributions alongside value but I don't pay that much attention to them.

Don't forget, it probably won't have all been your own money.  Some will be employer contributions and some tax relief.

I do keep an eye on ISAs where it's all been our own money!!   Scary numbers these last few weeks!!!

In the past I've never cared but with the recent downturn, I think I'm around 0% growth on what has been put in.

You are right about the employer contribution + tax saving so it's probably only a 1/3 of my own money (If I had taken the money instead of pension).

ALARA343

Yes I keep track of contributions for the tax return and to make sure I don't tip over the AA