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

zagfles

Sea_Shell said:

As I thought, if you look at the OP, we started off with just shy of £100k cash.

We now have £53,500

So it looks like your (effectively untouched) equity investments have gone up from around £437k to £518k, pretty much in line with the market, which I guess you're happy with?

Sea_Shell

zagfles said:

Sea_Shell said:

As I thought, if you look at the OP, we started off with just shy of £100k cash.

We now have £53,500

So it looks like your (effectively untouched) equity investments have gone up from around £437k to £518k, pretty much in line with the market, which I guess you're happy with?

Yes.   But then I was even happier at the end of 2021 when those same assets were worth £595,925!!!! 😉

Easy come, easy go. 😎

Albermarle

Audaxer said:

Sea_Shell said:

michaels said:

Sea_Shell said:

Half yearly update.

Well investments, as we all know, have taken a hammering these last couple of weeks (months?), and ours are no exception.  Our Rathbones has been hardest hit, down 27% from the November high.  However, the long view (back) doesn’t look too bad.  We will continue to sit on our hands and do nothing, other than move our cash element around for better rates.

 

We’re averaging about 1.9% interest on all our cash, in various places, including some locked away for 6mths, some for a year, and a good chunk still instant access.

 

It’s been almost 3 years since we had the last wage hit our accounts, and we started this journey with a pot of £536,000.   During that time we’ve spent £41,000.   So really, any current pot over £495,000 is a bonus!!

 

Well, the figures are in and the current pot stands at £572,000.   Not too shabby, even if that is down by £56k from this time last year.

 

Untouched pensions - £291.7k

S&S ISAs - £190k

DD pension - £36.8k (being drawn at £1150 per month)

Cash - £53.5k

 

I guess our pot is going to get its “stress test” over the next couple of years.  

 

So far this year, we’ve spent £6500.   Including 3 UK short breaks.   The second half of the year is backloaded though, with insurances, car service etc all due later on.   Hope to have another 3 short breaks in Sept/October.

Thanks for your update, just checked the CPI data and your £572k pot is worth £511k in 2019 pounds so a bit (5%) down form the £536k you had at the start. 

To fund a 50 year retirement you would by definition want 2% pa real terms reduction. 

However as you have other pension entitlement kicking in in future you don't need to just extrapolate 50 years from this pot I think?

I'm not quite sure what you're saying?  Inflation skewing the figures?

Looking back and extrapolating what's been is of limited use, admittedly.

Maybe a "day 1" viewpoint from now is more appropriate?   

Yes, this pot only has to last 9 years, before DB pensions do the heavy lifting 😉

We'd rather not blow through it mind!! 😂

My pot has fallen in actual value by 9.2% this year. It would look worse than that on my investments spreadsheet if I reduced it by another 10% for inflation as well  .

So although I just look at the actual value of my investments, I'm obviously concerned about inflation, and if I spent an extra 10% this year that would be reflected on my spend side of my spreadsheet and forecast future spend. While my spending on things like energy will obviously increase, I'm fairly sure my overall spend will increase by less than 10% this year.

@Sea-Shell, I'm sure you will be okay anyway, but I would guess your spending is also likely to increase by less than inflation?

Same for me - 9% down this year and with inflation, effectively a 20% loss in value. So makes the loss in value in cash savings more palatable I suppose. Although we hope for some recovery in investments and a drop back in inflation, even if it drops to say 5%, it means you need 5% growth just to stand still. 
Also I am not sure it is so easy to avoid being affected by 10% inflation. I notice in the supermarket, a lot of offers have disappeared, which is a kind of stealth price rise. Also a lot of cheaper smaller items that were say a Pound, are now £1.20.
On the other hand you might subconsciously just buy less items, although this habit does not seem to have seeped into my OH's subconscious yet !

jimi_man

Albermarle said:

Audaxer said:

Sea_Shell said:

michaels said:

Sea_Shell said:

Half yearly update.

Well investments, as we all know, have taken a hammering these last couple of weeks (months?), and ours are no exception.  Our Rathbones has been hardest hit, down 27% from the November high.  However, the long view (back) doesn’t look too bad.  We will continue to sit on our hands and do nothing, other than move our cash element around for better rates.

 

We’re averaging about 1.9% interest on all our cash, in various places, including some locked away for 6mths, some for a year, and a good chunk still instant access.

 

It’s been almost 3 years since we had the last wage hit our accounts, and we started this journey with a pot of £536,000.   During that time we’ve spent £41,000.   So really, any current pot over £495,000 is a bonus!!

 

Well, the figures are in and the current pot stands at £572,000.   Not too shabby, even if that is down by £56k from this time last year.

 

Untouched pensions - £291.7k

S&S ISAs - £190k

DD pension - £36.8k (being drawn at £1150 per month)

Cash - £53.5k

 

I guess our pot is going to get its “stress test” over the next couple of years.  

 

So far this year, we’ve spent £6500.   Including 3 UK short breaks.   The second half of the year is backloaded though, with insurances, car service etc all due later on.   Hope to have another 3 short breaks in Sept/October.

Thanks for your update, just checked the CPI data and your £572k pot is worth £511k in 2019 pounds so a bit (5%) down form the £536k you had at the start. 

To fund a 50 year retirement you would by definition want 2% pa real terms reduction. 

However as you have other pension entitlement kicking in in future you don't need to just extrapolate 50 years from this pot I think?

I'm not quite sure what you're saying?  Inflation skewing the figures?

Looking back and extrapolating what's been is of limited use, admittedly.

Maybe a "day 1" viewpoint from now is more appropriate?   

Yes, this pot only has to last 9 years, before DB pensions do the heavy lifting 😉

We'd rather not blow through it mind!! 😂

My pot has fallen in actual value by 9.2% this year. It would look worse than that on my investments spreadsheet if I reduced it by another 10% for inflation as well  .

So although I just look at the actual value of my investments, I'm obviously concerned about inflation, and if I spent an extra 10% this year that would be reflected on my spend side of my spreadsheet and forecast future spend. While my spending on things like energy will obviously increase, I'm fairly sure my overall spend will increase by less than 10% this year.

@Sea-Shell, I'm sure you will be okay anyway, but I would guess your spending is also likely to increase by less than inflation?

Same for me - 9% down this year and with inflation, effectively a 20% loss in value. So makes the loss in value in cash savings more palatable I suppose. Although we hope for some recovery in investments and a drop back in inflation, even if it drops to say 5%, it means you need 5% growth just to stand still. 
Also I am not sure it is so easy to avoid being affected by 10% inflation. I notice in the supermarket, a lot of offers have disappeared, which is a kind of stealth price rise. Also a lot of cheaper smaller items that were say a Pound, are now £1.20.
On the other hand you might subconsciously just buy less items, although this habit does not seem to have seeped into my OH's subconscious yet !

Well we've managed to reduce our spending considerably by moving from Sainsburys to Lidl. I'd always pooh poohed Lidl but we've had a new one open near us and it's quite a nice shop. Easy parking and not as busy as Sainsburys. They don't sell everything (coffee beans for example) and they waste a lot of space with the Chinese garbage that they sell in the 'Middle of Lidl', but providing you avoid that I'm quite impressed with the shop and our costs have gone down considerably.

To the OP. You mentioned DB pensions in 8/9 years. Are they index linked/CPI/RPI/capped? If not, will that affect your costings?

Sea_Shell

Well I've just splurged £150 on a new Garmin for running/swimming!!

How outrageously extravagant of me.😎

In my defence, my current one is over 15 years old...but it's lost its "beep".  I think I've had my money's worth out of it.

jimi_man

Sea_Shell said:

Well I've just splurged £150 on a new Garmin for running/swimming!!

How outrageously extravagant of me.😎

In my defence, my current one is over 15 years old...but it's lost its "beep".  I think I've had my money's worth out of it.

Ooh, which one? I bought the Forerunner 45 for running and I love it. M y first watch of any sort for about 30 years so it's a novelty wearing one. 

Audaxer

Sea_Shell said:

Well I've just splurged £150 on a new Garmin for running/swimming!!

How outrageously extravagant of me.😎

In my defence, my current one is over 15 years old...but it's lost its "beep".  I think I've had my money's worth out of it.

I remember my Garmin Edge 500 for cycling cost about £250 back in 2013. It's still going strong but if I did have to change, I think the current upgraded models are still around the same price.

Sea_Shell

Forerunner 55.   

It's got pool swim mode too.  I used to have a "swimovate" swim watch, but the battery went and was expensive to replace.

Yes DH's DB pensions are index linked, capped at 5%.  Not sure which metric is used.

Audaxer

zagfles said:

Audaxer said:

michaels said:

Sea_Shell said:

michaels said:

Sea_Shell said:

Half yearly update.

Well investments, as we all know, have taken a hammering these last couple of weeks (months?), and ours are no exception.  Our Rathbones has been hardest hit, down 27% from the November high.  However, the long view (back) doesn’t look too bad.  We will continue to sit on our hands and do nothing, other than move our cash element around for better rates.

 

We’re averaging about 1.9% interest on all our cash, in various places, including some locked away for 6mths, some for a year, and a good chunk still instant access.

 

It’s been almost 3 years since we had the last wage hit our accounts, and we started this journey with a pot of £536,000.   During that time we’ve spent £41,000.   So really, any current pot over £495,000 is a bonus!!

 

Well, the figures are in and the current pot stands at £572,000.   Not too shabby, even if that is down by £56k from this time last year.

 

Untouched pensions - £291.7k

S&S ISAs - £190k

DD pension - £36.8k (being drawn at £1150 per month)

Cash - £53.5k

 

I guess our pot is going to get its “stress test” over the next couple of years.  

 

So far this year, we’ve spent £6500.   Including 3 UK short breaks.   The second half of the year is backloaded though, with insurances, car service etc all due later on.   Hope to have another 3 short breaks in Sept/October.

Thanks for your update, just checked the CPI data and your £572k pot is worth £511k in 2019 pounds so a bit (5%) down form the £536k you had at the start. 

To fund a 50 year retirement you would by definition want 2% pa real terms reduction. 

However as you have other pension entitlement kicking in in future you don't need to just extrapolate 50 years from this pot I think?

I'm not quite sure what you're saying?  Inflation skewing the figures?

Looking back and extrapolating what's been is of limited use, admittedly.

Maybe a "day 1" viewpoint from now is more appropriate?   

Yes, this pot only has to last 9 years, before DB pensions do the heavy lifting 😉

We'd rather not blow through it mind!! 😂

Looking at it in today's money, the 536k you had in 2019 could have bought the same as 600k can buy today.

So in today money terms your pot is down from 600k to 572k.

But you clearly have more than enough to last another 9 years

I think the fact that her pot is now larger than it was in 2019 despite the recent falls in value, and after having drawn out £41,000 in spending over that time, shows a really good performance from her portfolio to date.

The "recent falls in value" were after much bigger rises. Bog standard global index trackers eg VLS100, HSBC All World are up around 20% since 3 years ago, so it would be very poor performance if the fund wasn't higher than in 2019 even if around 8% of it was withdrawn. Not trying to rain on the parade, but just counter all this apparent short term panic and doom and gloom from a slight downturn in the market. The market is well up over 3 years, some people seem not to realise that!

I agree, that's the point I was trying to make that it's not all doom and gloom if you have been invested over at least the last 3 years.

barnstar2077

jimi_man said:

Albermarle said:

Audaxer said:

Sea_Shell said:

michaels said:

Sea_Shell said:

Half yearly update.

Well investments, as we all know, have taken a hammering these last couple of weeks (months?), and ours are no exception.  Our Rathbones has been hardest hit, down 27% from the November high.  However, the long view (back) doesn’t look too bad.  We will continue to sit on our hands and do nothing, other than move our cash element around for better rates.

 

We’re averaging about 1.9% interest on all our cash, in various places, including some locked away for 6mths, some for a year, and a good chunk still instant access.

 

It’s been almost 3 years since we had the last wage hit our accounts, and we started this journey with a pot of £536,000.   During that time we’ve spent £41,000.   So really, any current pot over £495,000 is a bonus!!

 

Well, the figures are in and the current pot stands at £572,000.   Not too shabby, even if that is down by £56k from this time last year.

 

Untouched pensions - £291.7k

S&S ISAs - £190k

DD pension - £36.8k (being drawn at £1150 per month)

Cash - £53.5k

 

I guess our pot is going to get its “stress test” over the next couple of years.  

 

So far this year, we’ve spent £6500.   Including 3 UK short breaks.   The second half of the year is backloaded though, with insurances, car service etc all due later on.   Hope to have another 3 short breaks in Sept/October.

Thanks for your update, just checked the CPI data and your £572k pot is worth £511k in 2019 pounds so a bit (5%) down form the £536k you had at the start. 

To fund a 50 year retirement you would by definition want 2% pa real terms reduction. 

However as you have other pension entitlement kicking in in future you don't need to just extrapolate 50 years from this pot I think?

I'm not quite sure what you're saying?  Inflation skewing the figures?

Looking back and extrapolating what's been is of limited use, admittedly.

Maybe a "day 1" viewpoint from now is more appropriate?   

Yes, this pot only has to last 9 years, before DB pensions do the heavy lifting 😉

We'd rather not blow through it mind!! 😂

My pot has fallen in actual value by 9.2% this year. It would look worse than that on my investments spreadsheet if I reduced it by another 10% for inflation as well  .

So although I just look at the actual value of my investments, I'm obviously concerned about inflation, and if I spent an extra 10% this year that would be reflected on my spend side of my spreadsheet and forecast future spend. While my spending on things like energy will obviously increase, I'm fairly sure my overall spend will increase by less than 10% this year.

@Sea-Shell, I'm sure you will be okay anyway, but I would guess your spending is also likely to increase by less than inflation?

Same for me - 9% down this year and with inflation, effectively a 20% loss in value. So makes the loss in value in cash savings more palatable I suppose. Although we hope for some recovery in investments and a drop back in inflation, even if it drops to say 5%, it means you need 5% growth just to stand still. 
Also I am not sure it is so easy to avoid being affected by 10% inflation. I notice in the supermarket, a lot of offers have disappeared, which is a kind of stealth price rise. Also a lot of cheaper smaller items that were say a Pound, are now £1.20.
On the other hand you might subconsciously just buy less items, although this habit does not seem to have seeped into my OH's subconscious yet !

Well we've managed to reduce our spending considerably by moving from Sainsburys to Lidl. I'd always pooh poohed Lidl but we've had a new one open near us and it's quite a nice shop. Easy parking and not as busy as Sainsburys. They don't sell everything (coffee beans for example) and they waste a lot of space with the Chinese garbage that they sell in the 'Middle of Lidl', but providing you avoid that I'm quite impressed with the shop and our costs have gone down considerably.

To the OP. You mentioned DB pensions in 8/9 years. Are they index linked/CPI/RPI/capped? If not, will that affect your costings?

I am glad I am not the only one that thinks this about Lidl.  I would definitely prefer having a larger selection of food than the random stuff they sell in those aisles.  It's not that all of it is rubbish either, it's just that when I pop in to by some milk or a box of cereal I'm not very likely to have some gym dumbbells or a set of wrenches on my shopping list too!  Alas, they wouldn't stock them if people weren't buying, so not very likely to change in the near future.  I guess that is my rant over with.