FIREside Chats

Suffolk_lass

@earthgirl2 just to add, if you want access to your pot of capital at 50 you will need to save somewhere other than your occupational scheme, AVCs or SIPP and maybe put it in a S&S ISA. You can choose a Vanguard retirement fund there too, or go for one of their other funds (or two, one global and one UK based) - at under 50 I would choose the 60 or 80 (that is %age equities) funds which are likely to bounce back well after this blip. And make an allowance to maybe buy additional NI Years after you stop work so you still get a full state pension (as a teacher you were a relative late starter). 

Also, ou can make a lump sum addition to your occupational scheme. We did for Mr SL, and received tax relief on that too (but not NI relief)

Retireinten

Thought I'd share a quick update on this thread. Having read this post back it doesn't sound very positive and it's all a bit 'woe is me' but overall we are doing okay.  I think we're entitled to a whinge every now and then... and if I do it on here it avoids an argument IRL 

I started my new job a few weeks back, currently no staff to manage, it's a more technical role and after an initial 'what have I done' wobble I am starting to settle in. The goods news is I'm currently not worrying about what's going to happen next week or next month or beyond, so the job move is hopefully achieving what it intended to do. 

There has been a twist on the job front though.  I've moved to a company that is owned by my old company - it was the quickest way out of my old job! They are managed very separately but there was always the risk we'd 'merge' in the future and this argument was used several times to try to get me to stay put.  Anyway, the merge has been announced much sooner than expected, so I'll be working for my old company again in 12 months time or so.  This will ultimately achieve a job reset - I've no concerns about redundancy, not that that would be a disaster at this stage. I could happily spend the last few years working elsewhere supported by a chunk of redundancy money. 

Money wise, we've had a bit of a blowout these last few weeks, probably because I've been distracted due to my job change. We've spent a fortune on rubbish which is frustrating and it has had to be funded from savings.  To be honest, I feel that it all falls to me to keep everyone else on track... mum's not gone shopping - let's spend £45 on a takeaway, mum's too tired to cook, let's spend £45 on a takeaway, mum's not watching the budget, let's spend £XXX's on tat we don't need. I'm not sure why I have the job of main earner and main 'everything else', but it's all fair because I don't put the bins out or wash the car .  Why can't someone step in and pick up the slack sometimes, we're pretty much a household of four adults nowadays. It's not that hard, is it? 

Anyway rant over .  I'm back on it with the financials and everyone is looking suitably sheepish in the happierme household.  We're still on track generally for me to reach FI by November 2028 (or May 2028 if I continue to use the extra pay in this old job to fund a separate freedom fund). 

I'm researching areas for a future house downsize, not that this is an essential step in the retirement plans, but it seems daft to sit on excess equity that could be put to good use enhancing our retirement. It seems feasible to release about £200k at some point which wouldn't result in an extreme downsize and is a nice option to have available to us. 

edinburgher

@Retireinten - rant away - that sounds frustrating!

Equivalency and horse trading re. Household chores seems to be par for the course in many families. I sometimes feel I'm in the same boat, only to discuss it with Mrs E who thinks exactly the same thing! Hope everyone else starts joining in soon with being grownups 

hugheskevi

Retireinten said:

I'm researching areas for a future house downsize, not that this is an essential step in the retirement plans, but it seems daft to sit on excess equity that could be put to good use enhancing our retirement. It seems feasible to release about £200k at some point which wouldn't result in an extreme downsize and is a nice option to have available to us.

I came to much the same conclusion in my planning. At first I planned to move for retirement, but to buy a house at much the same price as my current house. However, as I researched and considered more about what I would actually value in retirement I realised that buying a house of same value in a different area would come with drawbacks - the house would be bigger than we needed, and in particular would have a very big garden.

As neither myself nor my wife are keen gardeners, having a large garden is actually a drawback of a property. We would far prefer a smaller property very close to a large public area we can walk or run through. The same applied to the property itself - beyond a certain size, anything much bigger was a drawback as space would be underused but still require heating, cleaning, maintaining etc.

After a lot of consideration of exactly what we will and will not value in a property, I found that the best properties for us were actually about £50,000 to £100,000 below the level I was initially looking at, but will meet our needs much better than the properties I was originally attracted to.

Retireinten

hugheskevi said:

Retireinten said:

I'm researching areas for a future house downsize, not that this is an essential step in the retirement plans, but it seems daft to sit on excess equity that could be put to good use enhancing our retirement. It seems feasible to release about £200k at some point which wouldn't result in an extreme downsize and is a nice option to have available to us.

I came to much the same conclusion in my planning. At first I planned to move for retirement, but to buy a house at much the same price as my current house. However, as I researched and considered more about what I would actually value in retirement I realised that buying a house of same value in a different area would come with drawbacks - the house would be bigger than we needed, and in particular would have a very big garden.

As neither myself nor my wife are keen gardeners, having a large garden is actually a drawback of a property. We would far prefer a smaller property very close to a large public area we can walk or run through. The same applied to the property itself - beyond a certain size, anything much bigger was a drawback as space would be underused but still require heating, cleaning, maintaining etc.

After a lot of consideration of exactly what we will and will not value in a property, I found that the best properties for us were actually about £50,000 to £100,000 below the level I was initially looking at, but will meet our needs much better than the properties I was originally attracted to.

We're working through that process now. We have a normal four bed live in a very expensive area for the Midlands, we could buy a normal three or four bed in a nice area and it would probably suit us better because our neighbours would be from a similar background to us (in other words, they wouldn't turn their nose up at having a works van sat on the drive).

We wouldn't need the bedroom space and I think we could probably get a better downstairs layout. Ideally we'd want a double garage and a south facing garden but we definitely wouldn't want a big garden. Currently trying to work out the areas we'd consider buying in and then we just need to wait it out until the kids are both driving and are more self sufficient or the right property comes along, we buy sooner and possibly rent it out for a few years.

Released equity could then be used to fund the occasional three month stay in a villa abroad and other experiences that we're starting to value much more than physical assets. 

Retireinten

edinburgher said:

@Retireinten - rant away - that sounds frustrating!

Equivalency and horse trading re. Household chores seems to be par for the course in many families. I sometimes feel I'm in the same boat, only to discuss it with Mrs E who thinks exactly the same thing! Hope everyone else starts joining in soon with being grownups 

I do have the role of financial manager in the house, which in turn leads to me doing lots of jobs, because if I didn't the alternative will cost money.

But generally we work well together as a team and I will be finishing work before hubby, so I will get the pleasure of waving him off to work for a few years

earthgirl2

Thanks Ed and Suffolklass. 
I will shift my thinking more to long term - much longer term!
I will investigate the avcs as I didn't know I could withdraw to a SIPP earlier.
We will also release capital from housing when the kids are older and we can spend time abroad. 

Retireinten - it's the same here, if I look even slightly like I might have taken my eye of the savings ball, all hell breaks loose!

Suffolk_lass

Metoo @Retireinten - we had a chat about the type of motorcycle DH was interested in and the next thing was a Harley Davidson from the Bay of E was arriving in 4 days time. Apparently, with a smirk, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission!!! - It was a few years ago now and in all honesty, it is too small for him (6'3/4" - if he doesn't stoop it is the latter) - so now he has a bigger one too. Better to have us both happy, we did discuss this one first and the condition was that I could use his retirement lump sum to pay down the mortgage instead. So I did. Both of them 

remote_control

I follow this thread but rarely post. I enjoy hearing about your trip Hugh, please keep posting about it.

(and I find everyone's posts very inspiring!). 

QueenJess

@Retireinten we have the same problem with household chores. It was fine whilst I was not at work, but now I’m back, it seems unfair. I have got DH to mostly do the washing up now and he gets up with DD at 6am, so it’s a little more balanced now. Re: cooking and food shopping, I prefer it and am way better at it so it’s always going to come to me unless I want to eat the same 3 things on rotation for the rest of my life!  We also have a cleaner otherwise we would have divorced long ago as DH doesn’t see mess..

Back to retirement planning and everything is going down at the moment. With bonds and equities currently positively correlated it’s, um, fun. Anyway, I did relook at my ISA (pre retirement age pension fund) and my pension and just made sure it looked like I was properly diversified. I also re-researched my options and tweaked based on my slight risk preference changes (technically the tweak is an amendment going forward so I invest accordingly rather than disposing of anything). Then nothing much to do but wait it out. I have passive funds mostly, but don’t like the funds set up for you as I like the choice to be able to flex things like my equity to bond ratio depending on my risk appetite as well as the percentage of countries I have etc. Not that I tend to change things often, but I like to research again every couple of years and check I haven’t changed what I want anywhere.

My tax code was changed to give me a bit more in my pay packet recently and so I bravely put that extra into my work salary sacrifice scheme each month. I shouldn’t notice the difference, but hopefully means I can ramp up my pension before I’m likely to take at least a two year career break next year.