Moving forward and upwards

savingholmes

Apply! That money could be used towards your retirement savings if you didn't need it immediately and reduce stress and pressure. Hope you settle in quickly

MovingForwards

@savingholmes
Let me think a bit longer, I'm hoping I can improve a little bit, given time. That's why I've set myself a limit of the start of 2021 to do it. I also wouldn't handle the stress as I've seen distant friends go through hell claiming.

Been thinking a lot about what you've said about paying into my pension. I've got too caught up with thinking about how much interest I'm paying each month on the mortgage and wanting to pay it quick to then make a huge impact on pension contributions, rather than seeing the bigger picture; that's why I do enjoy reading your posts as they point me in the right direction as to what I should be looking at.

I've jiggled my savings outgoings around to save between the higher interest accounts. It still gives me the 'pots' for various aspects as detailed in other posts and gives me compound interest.
I should close two accounts due to 0% and 0.01% interest; one is my old debt payment account.
I also don't need to worry about saving in a cash ISA wrapper for a while due to income and the savings allowance.

I've dropped the mortgage O/P back down to the small round up figure, like I paid last month.

Then I went through all my existing pensions, compared today's figures to 4/06 figures. 
All had increased (£2ish - £75ish, depending on provider and pot size)
I did a rough calculation to try and see how they compared to the best one and what the increase would have been if it had the same amount in the pot as the best one. Whilst not the proper way to work it out due to the funds they are in, it was a good enough starting point.
Because I've only just discovered the fifth one, I've not got the previous knowledge of how it's done, without having a proper look.
Then, I looked at what the minimum payment in is and ruled some out as I can't stretch to it. I do have to prioritise cash savings as I don't have family I can approach if a communal bill pops up.

The upshot is payday I will be putting £25pm into one pension, £15 into S&S ISA and £25 into PBs. The month after it will be £50 into pension, £15 into S&S ISA.
Keep alternating each month. That way I'm building up pension and pension cash.
Need to spend a few weeks going through all the details and pick the right one, but leaning towards A as it's the biggest pot and has done well over the years.
I don't get a good feel for N.

The two sub £500 pensions, I do need to move them, I'm torn:
1. into a SIPP, then save the £500 as a one off payment once or twice a year.
2. one into each of the two 'big' pensions.
3. change the fund risk from whatever it is, to a high risk, then do 1 or 2 when bigger.

While I don't know much yet, I know the two small pots are never going to be any use leaving them as they are. I do wish I could get a SIPP and pay a small amount in each month, as I'm comfortable picking pots within my S&S ISA.

When I get my payrise I will split it between pension, pension cash, savings and mortgage O/P, each will get about £10 extra per month.

How's this plan sound?

That's a big enough post for now 😁

savingholmes

If you could transfer them you might find you save on fees long term - however if you left them - you could potentially take them at age 57 as a tax free lump sum whole as they are such small amounts...

MovingForwards

savingholmes said:

If you could transfer them you might find you save on fees long term - however if you left them - you could potentially take them at age 57 as a tax free lump sum whole as they are such small amounts...

The pensions I want as pensions to go with my state pension (must look up how many years I need!), with the DB pension I'm now building up.

The cash pension savings and SIPP are to have savings in retirement, bridge the gap as it would be nice to be PT by the time I'm 60 and retired a few years after.

I'm hoping to leave the pensions intact and not take the portion from it, aside from the DB as that has an extra pot just for that.

MovingForwards

Haven't done much this evening, aside from sweeping a bit of the secret garden. Hopefully I can finish off the rest tomorrow.

I've been waiting for some potatoes to sprout, they will be planted tomorrow; OH is doing that.

I've emptied an account and closed it today, distributing the money between my savings pots. Jiggled my pots around a bit so the higher interest accounts will be the ones for the potentially 'big' costs. My pots are:

Communal Repairs 
Emergency Fund

Home Repairs (incl new kitchen etc)

Home / Garden (furniture, plants etc)

Car (everything) / Home Insurance

PB Pension Cash

S&S ISA Pension Cash

Cash ISA (Spares)

The 'spares' pot will be to save for remortgage costs and bulk pension payments, when I open the SIPP, although I'm tempted to close that and create another pot within the Home / Garden account as the interest is dreadful.

I've not got pots for mortgage O/P and monthly pension payment as those are done on payday.

Hopefully I haven't missed something glaringly obvious!

ForestBluebells

I love how organised you are! Makes me feel like I want to recheck my spreadsheet 😂

good luck with the potatoes, my mum is growing some for me. 

MovingForwards

@ForestBluebells I've been doing this a while and constantly check them and my accounts 😂
It's the few things I can control in my life!

You will enjoy the homegrown spuds and any others you can convince her to grow for you 😉

MovingForwards

Nipped to the garden centre after work for some compost and manure, then set about hiding a cable from the TV to OHs PC under the carpet / skirting board which took a while and involved a spoon 😂

Fuchsia are in bud and roses are still getting loads of buds.
Radish and beetroot are sprouting.
Keep looking at the tomatoes and hoping the flowers will soon turn into little toms. 
No change with the peppers.
Herbs have settled in well and are expanding, chervil grows quickly.
There's a section of soil by the back stone wall, in the secret garden. I'm going to plant a few more herbs in there.

Tasks for this week:
1. Plant fennel (donated by OHs sister);
2. Pot up spare fuchsias and give to neighbours;
3. Put canes up for toms and peppers;
4. Tidy away compost etc;
5. Finish sweeping secret garden; 
6. Do test paint area on lounge cupboards. 

Just a small to do list from now on as the bulk / urgent things have been done.  It's time to enjoy what we have.

Moved some money to savings.

£50 in the bank, 16 days until payday.

MovingForwards

I got stung by a bee after work, leg is a bit sore / stingy 😂 then I had to evict that one and it's friend before going back in the greenhouse.

I've put the tomato canes in, pinned them to the greenhouse frame and tied the tomatoes up.

Working through my little to do list before creating a new one. It's enough to keep me going for the rest of this week.

I posted on the pension board, it will be interesting to see what short-term opinions are when a few more of the key posters comment 🙈

Had Chinese and Japanese dumplings for tea, made a nice change 😊 nothing planned for this evening.

savingholmes

Hope you are okay after the bee sting. Your garden in coming together.