Getting FIREd up 😀

edinburgher

That is a good idea @South_coast. If I'm still in my current job come April, I'll no longer need to use study earnings for pocket money as a) 13th wage will cover us until b) DD2 gets cooncil nursery in August. Feels like we're wishing our lives away sometimes. 6.15% avoided is a great guaranteed return 

South_coast

In cheerier news, I've had a statement from my current pension to say it's had 16.5% growth in the past 9 months. Not huge in £££ terms, as I've not been paying in very long, but certainly on the right track!

South_coast

BTW Ed, how are you doing so well on Prolific? Is it as simple as having the freedom to keep checking it, whereas I'm in an office and restricted to either end of the day? I'm probably averaging £1/day, so you're evidently managing something I'm not!

edinburgher

16.5% growth over 9 months is monstrous (ok, so some other asset class/index might have done better, but rule of 72 would have that pension doubling ever 3-and-a-bit years)!

You're largely right with Prolific. I have my work laptop on as well as my personal laptop, and will pick up studies as they come in. If it's a few minutes here and there, I'm not really bothered, call that a coffee/comfort break. If a larger survey comes in, I'll leave it 'til after work if there are a lot of slots, or I'll do it pretty much immediately if there are very few slots. I will either call this my lunch break and just grab some toast or something to eat during work work, or if I've already had my lunch, I'll do it and work an hour later in the evening. It's pretty much the ideal setup in terms of flexibility, even if work work itself is dire at the moment. Obv I'd never mention this to work work, but I've very little loyalty to them at the moment, and I'm still doing the hours I'm contracted for.

I'll also do an hour or two after the girls go to bed if there are hundreds of slots and I'm feeling vaguely with it. This is all only possible because I got in at the ground floor with one of the large global companies wot tests AI several years ago when our attic conversion was being done. Never did I dream that the early tests of trying to confuse baby AI would lead to a bit more of an income stream further down the line!

*Edit: final thought is that it's feast and famine. I'll go 10 days without making more than a few pennies and will then earn $200 in a week. It plays havoc with my love of consistency and the payment a day mentality 

South_coast

Thanks for the detailed response 😀! Looks like not a huge amount I can do then, other than being more "on it" in the evenings. At least I know I'm not suddenly doing something wrong! 

I am taking ALL the credit for the pension growth, due to my inspired choice to switch out of the default fund 🤣! There were only 9 funds to choose from (probably more if I really wanted to mess about with it, but I don't), but the move to something less bond-heavy seems to be going well so far 🤞I have the two larger pensions (£30k/£34k) from my earlier jobs chugging away safely in the balanced funds, so trying to be a bit more interesting with the smaller ones (the one from my last job is set to "Adventurous" - only 3 to choose from with that one!) The LISA is in cash (currently £30k if you include what I've got set aside ready for April), so zero risk there, so hopefully I can't c*ck it up too much overall 😀!

edinburgher

I am sure you will do great. Despite the early damage of the current presidency, our SIPPs seem to be ticking up again (and they're in one of the Vanguard Target Retirement funds that is c. 30% bonds at the mo).

South_coast

£7.19 in from Prolific 👍!

South_coast

(I am seriously looking forward to NOT having to use these micro-payments towards debt 🙄!)

South_coast

I am now the proud owner of a Monzo account 👍!

(They offered me a £2k overdraft, I already like them more than Santander 🤣)

TallGirl

Monzo are the best they also have some nice cash back options worth checking out I got £20 just for paying an instalment on my TUI holiday.