FIREside Chats

Scrimps

Another way of looking at it is:  I could go back to working 5 days a week for about 12 years to pay for that kitchen/bathroom.

Ive done my fair share of 12 hour days and 7 day work weeks over the years to pay off stupid financial decisions.

I  guess I just dont want to have to choose! I want to have my cake and eat it!

Scrimps

......also want to travel a lot.  If not now then when the children are older.  Trying to spend the same £1 3 or 4 times 

powerspowers

Scrimps said:

......also want to travel a lot.  If not now then when the children are older.  Trying to spend the same £1 3 or 4 times 

Oh I hear you on this! No answers but yeah, I could definitely spend the same £1 a fair few times over!

becky_rtw

Everyone wants their cake and to eat it @powerspowers and @Scrimps

Update from us:
1. Property and business is almost up for sale, just some forms to sign and commercial EPC being done next week
2. We've found a house we love, made an offer, but unlikely to get it as not currently proceedable (see point 1!) and even once we are timescales are quite long. There are options in the area we are looking at moving to, so although will be sad to lose this place its not a disaster. We were thinking about raising a mortgage for it, but crunching the numbers its a waste of fees / interest etc. 
3. If we can realise the values from the valuations (big IF) then neither of us will need to work moving forward, but I think we have both decided we probably will at least part time.
4. We are likely to need to revisit investment strategies once the sale is completed as possibly will have more than planned, but will want to withdraw fairly large amounts versus total capital to live off before pensions come in later on. Need to read up more on this before we talk to the IFA as we never really planned for much more than the total we think we will need to live on over the gap years.

All good problems to have of course. In the meantime I keep saving all the pennies just in case we need them for something like fees or furniture or a massive holiday next year

Cornish_mum

Becky that is so exciting fingers crossed for you! CM

Scrimps

Exciting stuff Becky.  Being work optional is an incredible place to be!

As is typical of us, we're keeping the SIPP/LISA contributions going but still seem to struggle to set a course of the other life stuff, which may get in the way of keeping expenses low and enjoying a less work life.

A couple of weeks ago we decided again that we will do without an extension to the kitchen....this morning I found myself on the phone to an architect and a builder to get some quotes....and the solar panel people called me back and we've booked for a consultation there too. 

The outlook for lower growth over the coming years did make me question if we would be better off throwing everything at the mortgage but cant really beat the uplift from income tax added to a pension - even at a lower rate, so we'll stick with that...for now.

savingholmes

@becky_rtw That sounds like an amazing position to be in. Hope your sale goes through okay and you find somewhere you want to live.

South_coast

Daft question: Presumably for a year of work to qualify towards your state pension, you need to have earned enough to be paying NI 🤔? Just thinking with the increase in the earnings threshold for it to be level with income tax, someone would need to be earning a lot more than they used to for it to qualify?

Suffolk_lass

@South_coast

If you earn between the Lower Earning Limit (LEL) and the Primary Threshold you will get National Insurance ‘credits’ – that is you will be entitled to some basic National Insurance benefits, but won’t actually pay any National Insurance. The LEL is £123 per week for 2022/23. The Primary Threshold for 2022/23 is £190 per week to 5 July 2022 rising to £242 per week from 6 July 2022.

If you earn less than the LEL you won't be eligible for any NI benefits

Obviously there are also things like carer credits for those providing care for vulnerable adults or childcare, but other then that, voluntary contributions are the other option with a very small self employed job being the best option for class 2 contributions

SuperSecretSquirrel

A reasonable assumption, but surprisingly enough no. You still get credited if earning over the LEL that year, even if not earning enough to actually pay any NI:

MSE said:

If you're employed and earn above the Lower Earning Limit (LEL) for national insurance, but below the Primary Threshold (PT), you won’t actually pay any NI contributions on that wage but your record will be automatically credited with basic NI credits for that week.

From 6 April 2022, if you earn between £6,396 (LEL) and £9,880 (PT) a year, you'll qualify for NI credits but won't have to pay any NI. You'll start paying national insurance at 13.25% when you earn more than £9,880. Then from 6 July 2022, you won't start paying the 13.25% NI until you earn at least £12,570 a year.

If you're self-employed, from 6 April 2022, you'll earn NI credits from the small-profits threshold of £6,725. The weekly flat-rate contribution (Class 2 NI) of £3.15 per week will be due on profits of £11,908 or more. National insurance at an increased rate of 10.25% will also be due from this point.