How much to live on

MarzipanCrumble

MarzipanCrumble said:

I belong to u3a.  I run two groups:  Canasta and Cryptic Crosswords.  I am on the Committee and up until Dec of this year I was Membership Secretary.  u3a is a charity run by its members and is vibrant in most towns and cities.  We have over 50 groups - anything from banjo to choral to military history to circle dancing to languages to Dungeons & Dragons to traditional games.

Wonderful way to interact with your older community.

This is the Third Age Trust (u3a) site:  https://www.u3a.org.uk/

Belonging to your local u3a gives you access to this too:  https://www.u3a.org.uk/what-we-do/events/educational-events

Our u3a runs 2 groups playing D&D but that is because 2 of our members wanted to run a dungeon and 5 players in one group and 6 in the other didn't mind being dungeon fodder!    Our group started May 2023 and is still going strong....  We play 2-3 times a month on Wednesday morning for about 3 hours.

Each u3a will offer different groups, depending on who is willing to put one together and their interest/passion.

WYSPECIAL

Organgrinder said:

Suzycoll said:

Organgrinder said:

For those of you with a bit of spare cash I really cannot fault using Topcashback to open some ISAs.

At the start of the financial year I opened two accounts, one with Shepherds Friendly and the other with Scottish Friendly.

The total monthly outlay was £130. To date I've paid out £910 and the investments are worth £970. A 6.6% return.

The best bit however is the £445 cashback generated. A whopping £505 total return from a £910 investment. 55.5%.

Obviously there is a risk they can fall in value but at the level of cashback offered it would be one hell of a crash to lose money!

Wow

May I ask what type of accounts you described are ?
They can't be ISA as I thought it was one a year ? 
Thanks 

Of course.

I have a Topcashback account. There are various ISA offers on there. Eg. Shepherds Friendly and Scottish Friendly. Both are Stocks and Shares ISAs. You have to open them via the Topcashback link. 

You can now have multiple ISAs in one year but with same overall £20k limit.

If you can afford £100 a month in each you will get £610 cashback within 7 months or so. The Shepherds one pays out after 4-5 months, the Scottish Friendly one after 6-7 months.

You can then stop contributing and close or switch your accounts. Scottish Friendly will charge you a £50 fee or you can choose to leave £50 in the account.

So for a £1400 investment over 7 months you will get approx £560 back. Of course your investment may fall.

Other monthly contributions may pay different cashback rates. Eg £30 a month in both will return £190 after fees. Not bad for a £420 investment over 7 months. 

Hope that helps.

If anyone has any ISA allowance left for this year there is a very good short term offer on Topcashback for a Fidelity ISA.

Organgrinder

Well it has been such an exciting start to the year. Retirement plans coming into fruition with news that I've been asked to stay on for teach A level 1-1.5 days a week. 

This suits be down to the ground. It keeps my mind active, gives me something to do and a nice £10k-£15k top up to my pension. 

With no mortgage and all my DB pensions my disposable income goes up! 

What a journey this has been.

helensbiggestfan

Organgrinder.  Wahoo.  Great news.  It's all coming together. 

middlewife

Organgrinder said:

Well it has been such an exciting start to the year. Retirement plans coming into fruition with news that I've been asked to stay on for teach A level 1-1.5 days a week. 

This suits be down to the ground. It keeps my mind active, gives me something to do and a nice £10k-£15k top up to my pension. 

With no mortgage and all my DB pensions my disposable income goes up! 

What a journey this has been.

That sounds perfect! I gradually cut down from 25 hours to 15. At 59, I knew  I'd had enough when I threw a phone across the room ( one too many abusive phone calls working as a GP receptionist!) I had 3 DB NHS pensions, so worth more than working 25 hours a week and only £30 less a month by going at 59 instead of 60. A small part of my job was a niche back office role, so after the required one day break, I returned on a 6hour a week contract. I can roll up the hours so if I don't fancy turning up one week, I just work 12 hours the next week. Hubby took voluntary redundancy last Oct and we are living off his redundancy, my DB pension and earnings, until he gets SP this November.
Until an accident in 2024, I volunteered as a befriended for a local charity working with elderly people (needed DBS), did some driving for them, cooked once a month in a lunch club, learned Italian, sing in a community choir, did a Tai chi class and swam 3 times a week. I'm in between surgeries at the moment, so have had to drop a lot, but still work, swim and sing and go to Italian class. 
There are lots of paid for classes, U3A , volunteering opportunities. Most councils have volunteer bureaus which coordinate vacancies with volunteers. Hubby goes 3 days a week to volunteer backstage at a local theatre, drives for a charity and has joined the local ramblers. I rarely see him😁 life is good, if only my body would stop wearing out!
Enjoy yourself!

Wednesday2000

I met someone at a meetup yesterday and I asked her if she did any volunteering as she seems very active in the community. She told me what she does and it is only 4 hours a week but she said she enjoys it a lot. I'm going to look into it and talk to her more about it again next time we meet up.

Organgrinder

A rather strange thing happened last week. 

Back in December I requested a mortgage redemption statement for Jan 2nd. Jan 2nd duly arrived and a direct debit went out of my account for approx £600. 

I thought that rather than recalculate I'd pay the redemption figure. 

Imagine my surprise on Friday when I received £1100 back.

What is strange is that credit agencies are showing my balance from end November consistent with the £1100 assuming I paid monthly payment in December.

I have simply no idea why the redemption figure should have been that much higher. Presumably it included a full month's interest which they have subsequently returned.

Whatever it was, happy days. (Unless they want it back!)