Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

I will do writing as long as it's minimal and the survey is reasonably well paid, definitely not my favourite.

1. £29.80 to Extension
2. £5.28 to Emergency Fund
3. £11.94 withdrawn from Prolific and transferred to SIPP budget

edinburgher

Feeling a little grumpy today, DD2 was fractious all weekend, and it felt like wasted days. She has the doctor today 😕 Also, still no news on contract extension at work and, while I appreciate I've still got nearly half of my nominal 3-month contract yet, I really, really, really don't want to go back to complaints.

1. £25.40 to Extension
2. 48p to Emergency Fund 😅
3. £8.68 withdrawn from Prolific and transferred to SIPP fund.

Inspired by contributions from Staffordia and Watty over on Greying's diary, I am wondering whether we are doing enough for early retirement. I suppose the long and the short of it is that our number would be quite high, and that my share of our income will be disproportionately high. I mention that only as a fact, I don't care who earns/is paid our retirement income, only that it's there. My emotional response to this would be to encourage Mrs E to up her pension contributions. Even with Salary Sacrifice, however, she won't save as much as an intermediate tax payer as I would do paying more into AVCs or SIPP because I pay HR tax in Scotland.

I suppose one of the key questions is "can we continue to enjoy a reasonable quality of life and continue to save up for big life goals (like extension) if I pay more into pensions?" Part of the problem/an element of cognitive dissonance with that one is that I honestly don't know yet. Factors such as pay rises, reduced mortgage bill and grocery spend influence the equation positively, but I worry that our relatively large (partially borrowed) cash pile would mask any overspending. I suppose I will just need to play it by ear and keep an eye on our "assigned in [month]" lines in YNAB. I have been very pleased with February so far. I realise it's a "no Council Tax" month and we're only 3.x weeks in, but our spending has been thousands lower than any other month in the last year 😇

South_coast

Ed, you're doing more for retirement than I think anyone I've ever met! Or is it specifically early retirement that you're thinking is coming up short? In which case, are pensions the answer, given the limits on when you can access them?

Is there any way of nailing down your spending further, given that every £1 you don't spend saves you £25 if you're working to a 4% SWR?

edinburgher

@South_coast - I think that total pot is the biggest worry in the grand scheme of things.

The bridge is a secondary concern (damn it, have just realised that this should reflect Mrs E's wages, too, not just mine). I'll need to get her to start investing for this as well as me.

There is certainly plenty of fat in our budget and I have started to trim this (quite aggressively in certain areas). It feels, however, like there is a lot that I can't model. DD2 will be 18 in the year I hope to retire. Will she still be at home? Probably. Will she need financial assistance/keep our food budget high? We invest for both girls but what if they're daft/end up with unpredictably high need for BOMAD support? What about her big sister? She'll be 25. She might still be at home! 🤔😅 You'll notice that I'm a negative sod and don't allow for helpful possibilities like DD1 being at home but being in gainful employ and contributing to the household budget…

Staffordia

Don't compare yourself to me. Our situation is vastly different.

We don't have children, I met my wife later in life and when we combined our lives we were able to add to my savings to enable me to join her in retirement.

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895963#Comment_81895963

I agree with Staffordia - don't compare us all ed, as we all have different facets to our situations. DH and I owned a property before LG came along - which puts us in a better position than some. However, that property was really only 'couple-sized' and due to external economic situations that we had no control over, we've not been able to 'up size' into a family house, even after LG came along. Had we been able to get a mortgage to secure a 3 bed property, in a rapidly rising market, DH would have had to work well beyond SPA - the banks and building societies were reluctant to even consider him - and that went out the window thanks to the mini economic meltdown a couple of years ago……..

In my humble opinion, You and MrsE, for the age you are, are far, far further along the 'providing for the future' line than DH and I ever have been. I agree with you on the 'what ifs' and will you have adult children living at home/further education costs/housing deposits to consider - but then others have those dilemmas too if they have given any consideration to those things being down the road at all. And remember, life can be a slog, sometimes folks don't have the energy or time to lift their nose from the grindstone to give this any thought - however hard they try.

So stop comparing yourself, and do what you can, while you can - you'll still be further along from your starting point, because you have taken action.

Greying X

edinburgher

I appreciate the sentiment folks, but I think there's such a thing as positive comparison. So while I might never have the BMI of an elite marathon runner, I can certainly admire their physiques and try to learn from their area of expertise!

My grandmother always used to say "comparisons are odious" and I always took that phrase very literally, i.e. never compare yourself to someone else in any circumstances. With a bit of nuance, however, I think she probably meant "never compare your lot to that of someone else from a position of self-pity".

I would be the first to admit that I have spent large parts of my adult life envious of the good fortune of others and never stopping to have gratitude for my own. I seem to have outgrown it now, and can do a practical comparison without reverting to green-eyed monster mode.

I have every hope that our story will work out well (it already has in so many ways). I just get a little impatient for the sunlit(ier) uplands du temps en temps ☺️

Greying_Pilgrim

I think 'Early' means different things to different folks too - for a wide amount of reasons. Speaking entirely personally - I couldn't have planned for us to have a MrMM style 'early' retirement, so I think DH's change from FT working (if it comes off), will definitely be in the earlier than SPA category. And you know yourself how those blooming goalposts are changing, so he may well be an A$da Ace yet……….

Getting older/wiser does help with the reduction of 'green-eyed-ness'. We're of an age where peers, relations, neighbours are starting to inherit "big". That's nice for them, but isn't in our destiny. No point in getting green-eyed over what you'll never have.

Take care and keep going ed

Greying X

edinburgher

My pals in the gummint have just reminded me that I miscalculated tax owed by £1,700+ that year I had a long-term sickness absence and caned Prolific because I was terrified of going back and had considered jacking in my old job. There goes (to all intents and purposes) my April pay rise 😭 This too shall pass… Trying to remain positive, I'll be due an increment in December if I'm kept on. Well, don't need to worry about how to spend the pay rise now 😅

badmemory

So DD1 will only be 25. The bad news - I went back home for a year with a young child in my 40s. My DS is still at home in his 40s.