Positively Planning and Enjoying Life

badmemory

I think (stress on the think) that the less you put in a pension the bigger the bad effect the fees are going to have.  Maybe think about it like this.  If you put less than £10 a month in your pension, that is only £120 a year going in.  If your fees are £20 a year, then to break even your pension has got to make 20%.  Then of course you need to make even more just to keep up with inflation & to cover you for the hopefully rare year when it loses money.

savingholmes

Good luck with your targets. 

On pensions - I have my work pension - but I also have a private one with @viv@. It charges around 0.5% a year. If I was starting again - I would go with V@ngu@rd as they are low fee too. The government tops up what you put in after tax by 25% if you are a lower tax rate person, more if HR tax. Some workplace schemes will allow you to put more in. If they will match it then it would normally be worth doing via your company scheme. If the whole extra amount can be done via salary sacrifice - then you may also avoid paying NI on that element which could bump up your contribution with no extra cost to you. Personally I think that's a lot less work and stress than BTL. @gallygirl does BTL though so may be able to advise. You definitely need to do your homework.

badmemory

With a BTL you have stress & also the possiblilty of no income periods with additional costs from bad tenants.  Some are very lucky & get a good long term tenant.  But try asking yourself the question "do you feel lucky" in the appropriate Clint Eastwood accent!  I never have done so would not go this route.  Then of course you have the whole dealing with HMRC thing.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

badmemory said:

I think (stress on the think) that the less you put in a pension the bigger the bad effect the fees are going to have.  Maybe think about it like this.  If you put less than £10 a month in your pension, that is only £120 a year going in.  If your fees are £20 a year, then to break even your pension has got to make 20%.  Then of course you need to make even more just to keep up with inflation & to cover you for the hopefully rare year when it loses money.

Hi badmemory thank you - the issue i had was i was paying (from memory) a lot of my salary into my pension for a number of months (i don't think i was there a year). A few months after leaving i contacted the pension company to be told there was no money in my pension. I was very young at the time and didn't have anyone to speak to about this in my life. It's a long time ago now. The biggest thing was the impact this then had on me choosing not to join other pension schemes.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

savingholmes said:

Good luck with your targets. 

On pensions - I have my work pension - but I also have a private one with @viv@. It charges around 0.5% a year. If I was starting again - I would go with V@ngu@rd as they are low fee too. The government tops up what you put in after tax by 25% if you are a lower tax rate person, more if HR tax. Some workplace schemes will allow you to put more in. If they will match it then it would normally be worth doing via your company scheme. If the whole extra amount can be done via salary sacrifice - then you may also avoid paying NI on that element which could bump up your contribution with no extra cost to you. Personally I think that's a lot less work and stress than BTL. @gallygirl does BTL though so may be able to advise. You definitely need to do your homework.

Thank you savings. i think with pensions you need time on your side - i am wanting to significantly change the way i live my life in the next 10 years - leaving work, or working part-time at something i enjoy. i don't think 10 years is enough. I am definitely lower income so low rate tax. My boss told me my work pension isn't very good. The company pay in the least they can and won't match any contributions.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

badmemory said:

With a BTL you have stress & also the possiblilty of no income periods with additional costs from bad tenants.  Some are very lucky & get a good long term tenant.  But try asking yourself the question "do you feel lucky" in the appropriate Clint Eastwood accent!  I never have done so would not go this route.  Then of course you have the whole dealing with HMRC thing.

Thank you badmemory for stopping by and hello and thank you for making me laugh too - i can just hear the voice in my head. Yes, there is stress and possible no income - friends will be selling their BTL after a tenant finally left following months of none payment. They have a very good income and safety net financially so the BTL income wasn't a need. These are all things to be aware of. I'll be looking at BTL after achieving mortgage freedom. This way I am still earning if there are periods of no tenants etc. so i will have the funds to meet the mortgage. I am also not a natural saver. It will be a new challenge to clear another mortgage and the money will be out of temptations way in property. Although i haven't been spendy for a very long time - i definitely used to be. I used to 'need' things so much. Now i can easily walk past a shop window, admire the pretty items, without having that urge to buy. It's been years since i've been like that but there always seems to be things to spend money on - we need several items replacing at home, if i had the money sat there it wouldn't be sat there it would be spent on what we need.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Jessy103 said:

Good luck with your targets @StripeyTightsSpottySocks 🙂

Hi Jessy thank you

I will pop on here any ideas i have re. moneymaking / saving etc. as i like learning from others too.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Hello all.

I have started to write down every spend i make. I am trying to find a way that works for me with this so now i have a notepad and pen and will see how that goes.

I need to check my bank again after - bills will come out after the bank hol and money needs to go in to cover these. 

I made things more difficult for myself by putting an extra £18 into savings - i wanted to have a £1,000 in by the end of the year - so have achieved this.

Also, being in a bit of chaos at the moment, i spent £10.25 on ingredients, during tidying i found these same ingredients already purchased, They have a long date and will come in handy but a spend i did not need just now.

I've done all the driving over Christmas, collected all the gifts for family and driven us to visit people etc for over a week now - last trip this afternoon. I've had to put petrol in before we got back this morning. This again hasn't helped my budgets. I've only put in about half the amount i budget for though.

I bought a bit more shopping this morning - essentials of fresh food and a bit extra to pad out another meal. I resisted lots of reduced items. Really January, if not January to March  needs to be about reducing the food we have in, Family today gave us a bag with treat type things in - crisps, nice biscuits etc, gratefully received as i'd prefer not to waste anything but we have very little cupboard space so it's added to the chaos. I'm definitely not grumbling but we do need to focus on using what we have first.

The takeaway doesn't fit in with this at all but Mr Socks has had a tough week and is looking forward to the weekend off work and we have the money for this.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

reviewing 2021

I wasn't posting here this year and, i also think, i was so busy i didn't have chance to properly consider goals - apart from specifically wanting to be debt free and also to sort my finances for the future. As well as vaguely wanting to address my health - weight, healthy eating, fitness, stretch myself by learning a new language and practice playing a new instrument, read more and get back into knitting.

Working 3 temporary jobs meant I didn't have time to do most of these things and most have been rolled into next year. But i'm going to focus on what i did achieve:

1 Paid off all debt apart from the mortgage - huge achievement and massive relief 

2 Made a decision regarding future financial plan, i'm open to suggestions but happy to have a goal and one that is a huge stretch but is a plan i can follow

3 Re-mortgaged to a lower interest rate

4 Juggled 3 temporary jobs until contracts ended. Now have one permanent job 

5 Gifted items to family, friends, neighbours, charity

6 Started reading again - much enjoyed me time

7 started learning a new language

Happy to be back posting here.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

I realised when i said i'd a lot of food in it may sound like i've been stocking up. The only stocking up i do is the usual of: buying a tin of something 35p but they're on offer 4 for £1 so i buy 4. Basically i haven't been eating properly at all for quite some time and being so busy i've not shopped properly or checked what i have in before shopping - ingredients this week are an example of this. I am planning to shop from home first. I really should have done that when i bought fresh things the other day. i was doing well until i thought i'd have something easy and treaty for tea today - an unnecessary spend so i have plenty of work to do still.

I've been looking at houses for sale - i do this regularly to keep an eye on the market with the house  type and area's i'm interested in - today i've seen the perfect house for sale - it fits everything i am looking for - unfortunately my finances aren't in place at the moment. 

This makes me think about what i've done today towards my financial goals:

- cooked veg needing using - easy lunches this week
- froze meat couldn't use today
- no unnecessary spends 
- walked instead of using car
- completed a survey

I have a list of jobs for tomorrow - really hope to make good progress.