How much to live on

Clowance

couple of questions, 
1) Does stoozing affect your credit rating? 
2) As I am now partly retired, I seem to get very low offers on credit limits although have only debts on a card I am using for air miles bonuses, which I pay off monthly as it has a very high interest rate. Likely to get rid of that at the end of a year as it costs a large annual fee.  How can I increase the credit limit on a stoozed card?

Nebulous2

Clowance said:

couple of questions, 
1) Does stoozing affect your credit rating? 
2) As I am now partly retired, I seem to get very low offers on credit limits although have only debts on a card I am using for air miles bonuses, which I pay off monthly as it has a very high interest rate. Likely to get rid of that at the end of a year as it costs a large annual fee.  How can I increase the credit limit on a stoozed card?

1. Does it matter? Unless you are likely to have a need for credit, your credit history will improve over time. The only time I have seriously stoozed I borrowed over £30k. I then decided to buy a holiday house. The lender I approached told me I needed to get my debt under £10k to get the size of loan I wanted. If I hadn't wanted to borrow it wouldn't have mattered. 

2. I'm partly retired as well, working 1-2 days per week. I've found limits are tighter, offers aren't matching limits I already have. Some will increase over time, as you build up your history with that lender. I never ask for increases, but accept them when they are offered. Using credit responsibly builds trust, and you will be offered more borrowing over time. 

Organgrinder

A discussion board, by it's very nature, will over time, evolve and personally I think that's a good thing. If something gets mentioned that leads others to contribute I cannot see anything wrong in letting that discussion run it's course rather than say "let's go and discuss this elsewhere".

The reason this happens is because people will mention things they do related to how much they have to live on and others naturally pick up on it and learn from it.

This seems quite sensible to me.

MarzipanCrumble

This is more or less the only thread I read in this section.  I like the diversity, tbh.

Organgrinder

I like it's diversity too. 

If we're going to say discussions don't belong you could argue this thread could belong on the pensions board eg what's your number after all it's not  over 50s money saving.

[Deleted User]

I disagree. The comments about stoozing became very technical and were better discussed elsewhere.

For me the topic 'How Much To Live On' was about 'I have this much to live on and this is how I do it.' or '  I have this much how can I do it? lol!  The contributors were mainly those who were expecting or had more modest occupational pensions and state pensions. It was never in its early years about how you can make money from various schemes.

The thread made a refreshing change from the pensions board, where there are often contributions by wealthy contributors that discouraged and concerned those who were retiring on far less than some of them.
Having said that, I accept the pensions board contains lots of useful and ideas information for lots of people across the income spectrum.

From time to time it was also discussed on this thread how posters had saved money on various products and services which was useful to some others.

I think my main 'beef' if you like are the insinuations that if you are not swapping utility companies regularly, stoozing or switching accounts continually for the 'bonus' you are somehow not quite the 'thing'. Again there are threads that deal with these topics.

I am content to stay with my current providers for most things. The exceptions are Home/contents insurance and car insurance should those premiums become, in my opinion, excessive.

I do not consider myself financially illiterate.  I am quite content to have my cash ISA earning 4% a year with an institution I know and trust than continually looking for a 'better' deal.

Of course this is an open forum and people are allowed to express their opinions. I just feel that the thread has moved away from its original purpose.

 

Organgrinder

[Deleted User] said:

II have this much to live on and this is how I do it.' 

Which is exactly what many of us are discussing. You are content with your income. Noone is criticising that.

For others of us, we naturally try to maximise how much we have to live on and we use the experience of others in order to achieve this.

That to me seems a sensible approach to take if it suits you as a person/couple/family.

Nebulous2

I've posted upstream, that after an expensive year last year, I intend to try to live on my income this financial year, or £4800 less than my income, as I will be contributing £6000 gross to a SIPP. 

That may or may not be a stretch, we are still in the first month, but as my pension and wages are almost completely fixed, the only way I can add more to my expenditure is some side income. I'm more interested in stretching a bit more out than I've been for some years. 

This will be a trial run for giving up my part-time job and funding the gap to state pension age. 

So for me the two things are inextricably linked. Two sides of the same coin, if you like. 

Nobody else needs to participate. It took me a long time to move bank, then I wished I had done it sooner, but I can quite understand it isn't for everyone. 

Equally for people who think they aren't quite over the line to retire, the confidence that there are money making opportunities there if you find yourself short of where you want to be, may help the decision to pull the trigger. 

Organgrinder

Nebulous2 said:

I've posted upstream, that after an expensive year last year, I intend to try to live on my income this financial year, or £4800 less than my income, as I will be contributing £6000 gross to a SIPP. 

That may or may not be a stretch, we are still in the first month, but as my pension and wages are almost completely fixed, the only way I can add more to my expenditure is some side income. I'm more interested in stretching a bit more out than I've been for some years. 

This will be a trial run for giving up my part-time job and funding the gap to state pension age. 

So for me the two things are inextricably linked. Two sides of the same coin, if you like. 

Nobody else needs to participate. It took me a long time to move bank, then I wished I had done it sooner, but I can quite understand it isn't for everyone. 

Equally for people who think they aren't quite over the line to retire, the confidence that there are money making opportunities there if you find yourself short of where you want to be, may help the decision to pull the trigger. 

Very much so. I would not be comfortable pulling the trigger at 60 had I not made a few extra thousand recently and indeed therefore know how to add to my retirement income if need be. My plans include carrying on exam marking. Should that dry up I need other sources of income and I'm grateful to all those who post how they do it.

It's also very helpful for me so understand how people manage their finances, how their total income allows them to live the lifestyle they want even though on the face of it, it may not look like it's affordable.

I have a simple rule about any posts. If they don't interest me,  I don't respond. It why I only contribute to a few threads.

Pat38493

Organgrinder said:

Nebulous2 said:

I've posted upstream, that after an expensive year last year, I intend to try to live on my income this financial year, or £4800 less than my income, as I will be contributing £6000 gross to a SIPP. 

That may or may not be a stretch, we are still in the first month, but as my pension and wages are almost completely fixed, the only way I can add more to my expenditure is some side income. I'm more interested in stretching a bit more out than I've been for some years. 

This will be a trial run for giving up my part-time job and funding the gap to state pension age. 

So for me the two things are inextricably linked. Two sides of the same coin, if you like. 

Nobody else needs to participate. It took me a long time to move bank, then I wished I had done it sooner, but I can quite understand it isn't for everyone. 

Equally for people who think they aren't quite over the line to retire, the confidence that there are money making opportunities there if you find yourself short of where you want to be, may help the decision to pull the trigger. 

Very much so. I would not be comfortable pulling the trigger at 60 had I not made a few extra thousand recently and indeed therefore know how to add to my retirement income if need be. My plans include carrying on exam marking. Should that dry up I need other sources of income and I'm grateful to all those who post how they do it.

It's also very helpful for me so understand how people manage their finances, how their total income allows them to live the lifestyle they want even though on the face of it, it may not look like it's affordable.

I have a simple rule about any posts. If they don't interest me,  I don't respond. It why I only contribute to a few threads.

These kind of opportunities for side income streams really interest me as I have been recently mulling over the idea of quitting my job.  There's a pretty high chance I wouldn't need to work again unless I wanted to, but, I also noted in my modelling that earning a small amount (say £10K) for a few years after taking a couple of years off, would make it pretty much certain that I would be fine in the long term.