Learning to walk before I run

elantan

Thanks Ed, it's nice to see it for a change isnt it ? 

do you pay ypur £5 odd or whatever you put into your SIPP straight into it or do you put it into a holding account just transferring it once a month or so ? I'm thinking it could be a good use of Tilly Tidies now that I have a budget for adventuring sorted ... Theres always a place for the pennies to go to 

edinburgher

I just put it straight in el, my thinking has always been that the tax relief is a big part of what helps it to grow?

I am frustratingly about £1k away from paying HRT, which would help things grow even faster. I realise how privileged that makes me, but what's a grand between friends? Feels a bit like a strange tax nether region!

elantan

Aye, I hit it last year,but wont hit it this year due to covid recovery, may hit it next year and see if I can help it grow a bit, spoke to tax man re 1% we discussed before, apparently it goes onto your tax code 

edinburgher

Woohoo! Got paid £15 for my best rewarded study on Prolific to date 👍 I'll pay it into my SIPP after work (£18.75 after tax relief) 

edinburgher

SIPP payment made, I've been invited to another £15 study that I'll complete after I put DD1 to bed Too good to miss, ok for an hour's tax free work

Suffolk_lass

What flooring have you decided to have? we are talking about losing the disappointing fitted carpet so might be up for leveraging your research if you are willing to share.

Sorry to hear work is so frustrating. Don't forget your DB pot will index link faster than your earnings grow so a change (or break) might be worth a think about. 

savingholmes

Well done on the survey money and for keep topping up your SIPP. Glad it's now recovering. My small pot has improved slightly but I am still down on where I was in December.

edinburgher

@Suffolk_lass - we went for this - floated floor for rooms and landings, glued for stairs. It arrives on Wednesday, builders asked to make sure it doesn't get rained on!

That is interesting to note re. pensions, I would absolutely be up for a private sector post again assuming they had an ok pension scheme/a decent pay bump. I think my pot(s) go up by CPI. They're only worth £6,720, which doesn't feel like much in annual spending terms, even if they're worth at least £134,000 using the 20x comparison method for the DC equivalent.

@savingholmes - I can't figure out for the life of me why things are going up - it seems to be an inappropriate reaction to the news not being worse. I know that I'm a gloomy sod, but how could the news be worse? Environmental degradation is accelerating, there's a war in Europe, 10%+ inflation and a cost of living crisis that now means that many people pay more for gas and electricity than they do their mortgage or rent!

Always remember that while a rising tide lifts all boats, the net effect will very much depend on how your portfolio is invested. My entire pension (and ISA) are invested in this somewhat stolid target retirement fund: https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-target-retirement-2040-fund-accumulation-shares/overview The reason for this is that my gut feeling about risk tolerance can sometimes be out of sync with what is probably sensible - it helps me sleep at night

£6.64 cashed out of Prolific and paid into my SIPP (£8.30 after tax relief) - nous sommes riches!

greenbee

I've got that flooring Ed, and I love it. I hope you will too!

As for private sector pensions, every time I move company they get worse... this one is just above legal minimum. I may be earning more but I'm having to put a lot more away into my SIPPs to make up for it. 

edinburgher

@greenbee - it sounds like I'm in good company - I can't wait to see it in situ

That is definitely the fear with the private sector, although some sectors seem to be better than others. We have one friend who works for a fund manager or similar who gets a 20% contribution into a DC pension! We also have plenty of friends and relatives in NEST-style crappers with the legal minimums being paid.