Future Proofing my life: Deposit saving then MFW journey in under 13 years

20122013

LadyWithAPlan said:

I cleaned out the door on my huge fridge - I am now soaking the shelves... 
I also managed to clear out my study, it does become a dumping ground especially when I am drying washing.  I was feeling quite disorganised but a messy study will do that to me, plus I have had so much on and then I leave things to be put away which always me feel more disorganised. I am not super tidy but I have learnt when things get untidy around me I get distracted and restless. One of my big goals for this year is to live a beautiful life  and in my home as well which also means keeping up with the washing up. I yearn for one of those deep sinks so water does not go everywhere.

Do you mean the water get splash to the wall above the sink? 

LadyWithAPlan

20122013 said:

LadyWithAPlan said:

I cleaned out the door on my huge fridge - I am now soaking the shelves... 
I also managed to clear out my study, it does become a dumping ground especially when I am drying washing.  I was feeling quite disorganised but a messy study will do that to me, plus I have had so much on and then I leave things to be put away which always me feel more disorganised. I am not super tidy but I have learnt when things get untidy around me I get distracted and restless. One of my big goals for this year is to live a beautiful life  and in my home as well which also means keeping up with the washing up. I yearn for one of those deep sinks so water does not go everywhere.

Do you mean the water get splash to the wall above the sink? 

yes and around the sides so the surfaces adjacent gets splashed as well

debtfreewannabe321

I hate our sink, so I totally get this. We wash up and the floor ends up soaked, as do we, as does everything in the vicinity. drives us mad. 

savingholmes

It sounds like part of the issue could be the tap is too powerful for the sink. You can sometimes get flow limiters that you screw inside the tap to reduce the issue.

LadyWithAPlan

Suffolk_lass said:

Commutation in my occupational pension scheme was taking a slight reduction in income to increase the lump sum (at a rate of £1 income = £12 additional lump sum). Reverse commutation would let you buy more income by sacrificing lump sum.

 You may well find, if you check your scheme rules, that there is either an automatic lump sum, or an option to take one, tax free, by giving up a bit of income. Also, in my scheme, if you had never married, at the point where you take it, you can ask for your spousal benefits contribution to be refunded. We paid a nominal 1.5% for this, but better than a poke in the eye, with a sharp stick, as Grannie used to say. I suspect your benefits are also index linked in some way, so £7k p.a. may be a bit more when you take it. As you suggest, you would need to still be earning more than that pension to be able to legally put it in your SIPP, and given the tax benefits of doing so, it might work well for you. That, or paying down your mortgage

 tx for this - I will check on the spousal benefit refund if it applies to my DB, that would be great - how did you 'pay 1.5%' for that? as in you paid 1.5% as a handling fee  of the amount refunded? I assume that refund  is  calculated as  an amount paid in by me decades ago  ? oris it calculated a weird actuarial way on its benefit cost - cant see me getting married in the next 5 year

Dont know at all if a lump sum is a good idea/possibility  on my DB given it is indeed  index linked) but I will have a look at the maths.
You are quite correct in the using it to pay off a mortgage though eventually. 
 I have added some cash to my sipp today but need to add more ahead next week. Ideally I get that sipp up to a value which can help towards paying off the home and give me extra cash.

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I hate our sink, so I totally get this. We wash up and the floor ends up soaked, as do we, as does everything in the vicinity. drives us mad. 

sorry you are feeling my pain. Its on the wishlist for the new home 

@savingholmes ah tx, dont want to mess with the water here as its a rental  but good to know.

Suffolk_lass

The 1.5% in my occupational scheme was the level of contribution, not any kind of handling or redemption fee. It was never mentioned in our scheme rules but someone retiring remembered that this additional staff contribution had been introduced in the 1970s and they took it as a test case and won - so thereafter, the unwed received it back at the level of 1.5% of the final pot value. I believe though, that this lump sum was taxable (so moving it to a SIPP, you would need those additional earnings to be there or it is the (illegal) recycling of benefits). I hope this is helpful. I will shut up about pensions unless asked something specific now!

LadyWithAPlan

moved £1k from an old Cov regular saver to my TT cash isa - its flexible so can take it out if required but have only used a small portion of my isa allowance this year.
I do have an extra £1k+  in  the Cov but its part of my EF if needed. May move it  over Monday depending on when I get  paid more. I will try to add more in there - I do have over £13k in PB's which I may move April 1st after draw some of it into the cash isa. I just like easy access cash and having it in an isa means I am unlikely to move it.

24/25 TAX 
Want to get my accts up to date this weekend to see where I can move more cash over to SIPP/ISAs

TST
Stopped taking it Tuesday, still feel huge - have put on 3-4 kg since taking it last month. It may feel worse as I am still inflamed from allergies so maybe there is some water weight involved. I have felt extra tired (the TST did give me energy)
I have been walking over 14k steps a day this week to work and back 3.4km each way but no Insanity since Sunday.

Suffolk_lass said:

The 1.5% in my occupational scheme was the level of contribution, not any kind of handling or redemption fee. It was never mentioned in our scheme rules but someone retiring remembered that this additional staff contribution had been introduced in the 1970s and they took it as a test case and won - so thereafter, the unwed received it back at the level of 1.5% of the final pot value. I believe though, that this lump sum was taxable (so moving it to a SIPP, you would need those additional earnings to be there or it is the (illegal) recycling of benefits). I hope this is helpful. I will shut up about pensions unless asked something specific now!

this is really useful tx! i will investigate

South_coast

LadyWithAPlan said:

I have felt extra tired
I have been walking over 14k steps a day this week

Could the two possibly be connected....?

LadyWithAPlan

@South_coast I am normally super fit so the steps are fairly normal - I think its the stopping the TST to be honest and stress /lack of focus means I am going to bed a bit too late consistently and as I have been doing a side hustle gig I have had to be up and leave the house early.

Premium bond win £100  April - thats £275 this year so far - only won £325  all last year and I have £3450 less in except the winnings.

SIPP END TAX YEAR 
I have moved some £3275 out my PB's this morning  to put in my sipp leaving £10k in there when it clears  (hopefully by Friday!)
Just moved some old regular Cov saver  which is part my hse deposit (£1080) into my normal bank acct to invest in my sipp as well
I may also move some flexible ISA CASH out  if I dont get some decent invoice money paid tomorrow - all tax deadlines and add  to SIPP and maybe cash isa.
 Only put in £2888 in so far this tax year  into my SIPP and want to get it up to £7k at least.  Last April 2024 target I was hoping to hit £70k in my SIPPs by April 5th 2025 but the markets and my lack of contribution has scuppered that. 

I just looked up my end March 2024 sipp data 
'March 2024 SIPPS  £55,579 - best ever!! Up £3,426 mom ....'
 and I can see I added £500 April 4th as well so £56,079 2024. I will get absolute 5th April 2025  figures so I can compare next year,


I have yet to add up my MB profit for Feb/March so will also use some of that and may draw down my MB float - 

Obviously as I type the markets are in free fall  (Trump 'independence /crush world economies especially his own' day (!)  so I did add £1k into my SIPP on Monday but only bought £500 (largely Europe and emerging mkts) and left the other £500 as cash unusually. The £4k or so I am adding today /tomorrow  I will drip feed into the markets over the next few days/weeks.
I think a lot of this is priced in already  but I would rather drip feed and in any case the tax advantages of my SIPP outweigh mkt downturn - plus this is investment I want to access in more than 10 years so I am seeing it as a fire sale.
I wont buy bonds as I have my DB pension of approx £7k pa which alongside a full SP is enough of a balance for me. Though I can imagine some corporate bond yields will be great right now,
I also often buy Global Small Cap (Van) fund but will leave that as think they will underperform in short term)


Markets and my figures - a lot of the tariff data already showing
I note my  Van pension dropped  in Feb   £1033  and in March by  £2572 ..  I also contributing (via my company £1500)
 April I am up £425 so far - this is on £56,526.97.
I will check my full contrib  24/25 later to my Van but it looks like I made a loss in my sipp in 2024/5 after my contrib but of course I get the tax advantages so.

I still have a rate of return of 39.99% increase (5 year sipp) 
My HargL sipp approx £5,400.18 hasnt dropped as much as its largely single stocks  and 2 real estate funds 

iShares Enviro & Low Carbon Tilt Real Est Index
Legal & General Global Real Estate Dividend Index

My S*S isa  £26,387.12  April 3rd figures and dropped  £561 in Feb and lost £1347 in March - this is part my hse deposit so £2k 'lost there'  but up £183 now.
It was £25,219 end March 2024  - so still up over £1k on the year 24/25  in mkt returns 
and nothing added 24/25 as been adding to cash ISA as this year I could finally do so as they changed the more than one cash isa rule which had scuppered me with my h2b


I will state despite being paid a lot less this year (top line revenue largely the same but unpaid invoices so far I have also spent less  - in part to do with YNAB and also not wanting to draw down my house deposit. which is good news even though my top line hse deposit is dropping
I aim to do some eoy accounts to see where I am at as my corp EOY   is in line with my Personal  EOY for ease.

TallGirl

Great round up such a shame about those unpaid invoices but still good progress saving for your future self. It is good to have a 10 year timescale when investing and buying by drip feeding sounds like good practise in times like these.

I do hope you get the flat legal issues sorted out so you can start looking at flats again. Not having to pay rent in retirement must be the biggest MSE thing you can do for your future self unless you plan on continuing to work. My ex father in law worked right up to he dies aged 95 so crazy. We are all rooting for LWAP to have a mortgage and a home of her own soon!!