Getting FIREd up 😀

South_coast

Ah yes, but this is the paying-off year so was always going to be a good showing. Next year is the refilling pots year, so I'll probably still be at 8.94 by the end of it!

Can't be worried about rumours I've not heard 🤔🤷‍♀️ I'm assuming this is something the Govt are hatching? They'll probably U-turn anyway, based on recent form 😅 I've used just over half of this year's allowance so far, but I still have the cards to repay and a good chunk is about to disappear to fund "the other thing", so I can't see me filling the pot this year

South_coast

Hmmm, have just been reading up on it. Will a cash LISA count as part of a reduced cash allowance - I bet it will! 

The irony is, I do want to be investing more, I've just got some other priorities for the next couple of years first. I guess Premium Bonds would see me through until that point (I currently have £0, so plenty of headroom there - unless they decide to meddle with that as well 🤔🤦‍♀️) No doubt I will find myself asking "Dude, where's my interest 🤷‍♀️?" though. I've also been thinking recently that I would probably benefit from putting more into my current pension, as it's salary sacrifice and I'm an HR taxpayer these days. My plan was to not pay tax in retirement, but with the state pension having a couple of c10% uplifts while the personal allowance was frozen, that's not really feasible any more, so I may as well put more in so I can take more out! It all reduces the immediate cash on hand though, which does remain fully allocated elsewhere at the moment!

Oh well, will wait and see what is said in 2 weeks' time, I guess 🤷‍♀️ It will be interesting to see whether it has the desired effect, or if people just find other ways round it (like PB's/pensions/other things I've not yet thought of)....

South_coast

Oh, and on the "Dude, where's my interest 🤷‍♀️?" front, it's showing up again in Chip! £90.12 pending, so hopefully that will indeed reach me on 04/07. 

Oh #2 on the interest front: My niece's old account has had £8.60 of accrued interest paid. Why was that not included in the transfer?! I can't withdraw it as the account is showing as frozen, and I can't add to it either - presumably for the same reason. So how do I get it back out, another transfer??? Dunno, that's a job for the weekend list 🤣!

South_coast

Thinking about this some more, I feel I may have been a slight d*ckhead in welcoming the guaranteed 25% uplift on the LISA, while at the same time willfully ignoring the guaranteed 40% uplift on the pension that I can access 2-3 years earlier (albeit taxed at 20%). I think I've been blinded by not wanting to pay tax in retirement, plus I've only been paying mega-tax since my last job change, so I guess it's still sinking in. 

I have diarised to do some number-crunching on Sunday!

edinburgher

@South_coast - You are being very hard on yourself! While I have occasionally been mildly perplexed by your single minded focus on the LISA, I've never thought you were making a "bad" decision, just a different one that was right for you. I thought you were the one person in the UK who the LISA was right for 😁

Also, without meaning to be a patronising sod, please remember that a pension planning decision that is even 1% optimal is infinitely better than planning nowt!

South_coast

But it's tax-free at the point of withdrawal 🤣! And of course capped at "only" £4k, meaning it doesn't swallow up everything. But the fact you can't access it until later than pensions is seeming more irksome. Actually, it was reading (and re-reading and re-reading) a set of posts from Monevator that you linked to on SSS's diary about 8 years ago that got me thinking about reshuffling my priorities, so thank you 🩷 (I do like re-reading SSS's diary periodically, he always seems so astonished by his progress 😀)

And yes, you're totally right, doing anything is good! Think I need to give myself a slap!

South_coast

South_coast said:

£90.12 pending, so hopefully that will indeed reach me on 04/07. 

It did! Phew 😅

Still no sign of the transfer actually happening though 🙄

ladysummerisle

I’m reading this hoping I’m the one person LISA works for! I opened mine a couple of years ago but nowhere near HR tax. It’s S&S LISA so I’ve been introduced to TWRR for the first time, which has bounced back to 34%. I’d like to say it’s an informed decision but it was more of a gut one. The kids will be 21 and 25 when it matures so I’m hoping I can afford to shuffle some money their way. 

I’m also intrigued by the XXX years off retirement calculation. I’ve no idea how you calculate it but for now, shifting the mortgage is the main focus so I remain ignorant 😊

South_coast

Well, I had to Google what TWRR was, so you're ahead of me 😅!

I do still think a LISA is a good deal for a basic-rate payer, especially if it's an S&S one (mine is cash). The market would have to drop by more than 25% for you to get back less than you put in, and the returns will likely be far greater than with a cash one. And if you're doing it to build a nest egg rather than retirement, then to be able to get your hands on the whole amount free of tax while leaving your retirement savings untouched sounds like a great deal 👍

In terms of the years to go calculation, I have my total I want to accrue, divided by:

(the amount I save each month, inc pension contributions x 12 - the "everyday" things the savings have to cover each year)

It's very rough and ready, as it doesn't account for any growth or inflation, but it's good enough to give me a general idea, and - as Ed has reminded me - it's better to do something than nothing!

QueenJess

The problem I always have is trying to estimate how much money I’d like to spend in retirement. Too many what ifs, which hurt my head. I’m now just saving what I can with fingers crossed..