Mortgage Free: The final countdown

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks Mark, I'll give him that info.  I think it was probably the internal company deadline he missed... knowing him, he won't bother doing anything different, he tends to follow the path of least effort.
I never even knew the 60% tax rate existed until that recent chat with my friend... how can they tax you 40% AND reduce your personal allowance?!  That's proper stealth taxing and a little bit cheeky

savingholmes

Good luck with convincing him

mark55man

As SH says - good luck with your OH and his pensions - all I can suggest as a line of argument is to think about what his older self would say to him now about his decisions.  Its not automatically right to pay more in, but at that particular point on the salary/tax scale its about the maximum risk free return/point of tax efficiency you can get in effect (in that range where you are losing your personal allowance when all is done - ie investment made and tax resolved you would get £6K in your pension pot for every £2.4K you put in  (assuming you have enough allowance or carryover)

mark55man

Reporting back as of start of Mar 2022

• My 06/04/21 OP Mortgage Neutral Pot was £7.3k, and I have added an additional £28.7k OPs (Pension Savings) this tax year

With the result that (figures corrected from Feb which had a whoopsie in it)

• My MN Saving pot is £36.0K and my Repayment Mortgage Balance was £83.7K
• I am now £47.7K away from being Mortgage Neutral

My estimated Mortgage Neutrality date is still in Feb 23.

savingholmes

Great news if despite the recent SM turbulence you are still on track for your MN date...

 

mark55man

well spotted SH - I did nearly put a bit in saying that my cautious approach had not cost too much given the turbulence is some parts of the global financial situation,  But which ever way I worded it, the implication was you Ukraine guys are fighting for your lives whilst I am mildly financially worse off!!.  That may be true but better not said out loud 

savingholmes

It is a desperately sad situation. Really hope it doesn't spread. I really hope we are more welcoming to refugees as a country than we are currently sounding like we are. We'd be the first to expect help if we ended up in a similar situation. 

mark55man

Reporting back as of start of Apr 2022

• My 06/04/21 OP Mortgage Neutral Pot was £7.3k, and I have added an additional £33.8 OPs (Pension Savings) this tax year

With the result that 

• My MN Saving pot is £41.1K and my Repayment Mortgage Balance was £82.4K
• I am now £41.3K away from being Mortgage Neutral

At the end of the tax year I am almost half way to MN.  I will revisit the MN date in October after another 6 months and see if I might start drawing the pension down through using some tax free cash from the Pot to actually OP (rather than pretend/MN OP). It won't bring me to MN any earlier (as its the same money), but as I am limited to 10% per year of starting balance starting the job of overpaying early would give me an extra OP allowance.  This would bring my mortgage actually being overpaid at the end of 2025. from mid 2027.

But that's a separate challenge - until then my estimated Mortgage Neutrality date is still in Feb 23.

Next months report will start with £41.1K tucked away and aiming at the £41.3K asap

savingholmes

Exciting targets - although I read on your other diary - your wish list is growing...

mark55man

True SH - we're mainly draining down OH's SIPP to cover any additional home improvement works as she is under her Personal Allowance for now but won't be in a few years.  I know its a bit unbalanced, but we've worked it out  if I pop my clogs while working there will be a x6 Life Assurance and if I pop my clogs after she will have enough from her own DB and a very nearly full state pension