So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

savingholmes

Very impressed Mr MV can fix your gearbox too!

earthgirl2

Madvix your allotment sounds really productive! My veg patch was not good this year - going to work on improving the soil over winter.

Suffolk_lass

earthgirl2 said:

Madvix your allotment sounds really productive! My veg patch was not good this year - going to work on improving the soil over winter.

One in our village put a load of farmyard manure on their veg beds in November and just left the worms to pull it down. I must say their patch is really productive and her courgettes have been much more fruitful than mine (literally) so we plan to do this too. Possibly with cardboard mulch too

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks ladies. @savingholmes Mr MV is brilliant with cars - it has saved us fortunes over the years. He rebuilt the mini from scratch (although he paid for the welding to be done - that's the challenge with the other mini, we can't afford to pay for someone to do that (and nor can BIL whose car it technically is)). The circlips needed have arrived this morning and he's going to get a tool from his parents on the way home, so hopefully car will be finished tonight or tomorrow evening, depending on how tired he is after days in the office.

@Suffolk_lass, that sounds like a good plan for your beds. Getting the worms to do the work is key  

Had another bad night's sleep last night (including weird dream where I received email about a focus group for musicians that was going to be held in York, so I told Cheery about it for Mr Cheery!), so not much more energetic than yesterday. (Really drooped by the evening so we ended up having Coop pizza - at least it was on offer.) I have my Olio collection this evening though, so need to save some energy for that. Dinner will be fish pie, as I got fish out of the freezer yesterday before realising that we didn't have any eggs, and we do love a couple of hardboiled eggs in a fish pie. This will use some potatoes!

Unfortunately it looks like my tomatoes are showing the first signs of blight. I've been and stripped almost all the leaves off this morning to improve circulation and will be keeping a close eye on them and hoping the rest of the fruits ripen OK. Signs of the next lot of radishes coming up at the allotment yesterday though, and I picked a couple more plums yesterday.

Picked up some bits at Sains yesterday - the stuff I would have had in veg box plus loo roll (on Nectar prices) and kitchen roll (to add to Nectar prices hopefully). We use very little kitchen roll - the last time I bought any was 14 rolls before the pandemic from WGAC and when I put away the ones bought yesterday I discovered there's still one of those left! I find it is useful for mopping up oil from greasy pans mainly. Have just had supermarket delivery too as there were a few bits needed from there (mainly a large tub of cat treats - the first bought this year as we've been using their Christmas present from Niece and in-laws and a free tub I picked up on Freegle) - stocked up on olive oil as it was on offer (and prices are only going up). Had been emailed to say that there wasn't the washing powder in my delivery, but it turns out there was... so that was a nice freebie!

Have decided to open a Vanguard SIPP and transfer my Nest pension in. I opened the Nest one a few years ago in the absence of any pension and before I really knew what I was doing. The fees on it are extortionate compared to VG though and I've known for a while that I need to make the change. However, my Nest pension is in a nice ethical target retirement date fund, which isn't something you can do with VG - it's either ethical or targets retirement date. I think for now, I'm going to move to their ESG fund and hope in the future that they create target retirement ESG funds. I'm not prepared to invest in non-ethical (i.e. fossil fuel) companies. If anyone can see any issues with this, shout! My target retirement date is 2050, so there's plenty of time to move it (no exit fees from fund) and invest in bonds etc. as the time nears. 

Workwise, still quiet, but have just nabbed a platform job and will do some more Cambridge work later - there's time for two more paydays from there this month yet, so that will help. Have also replied to an enquiry from another new company, but will see what happens there. In the meantime, my aim is to ensure that everything else is up to date and housework done so that I can be ahead of the game when work does arrive. Need to get leeks in at the allotment still and sow some salady bits.

MS things:
* Bonus Nectar points on the cucumber I bought
* PA surveys - at £50+ now for the month
* Clicks and HW done - no wins today
* Ebay postage money transferred to Devon fund (and a random £7.85 from joint a/c that ends up going nowhere - everything is allocated to pots)
* £1.40 TT to savings

Gratitudes:
* Some rain yesterday (but not enough)
* Fresh plums from the tree
* Easy dinner

Have a good day all!

savingholmes

Hope your energy levels improve soon. 

You reminded me to pick some plums from my tree so thanks

LadyWithAPlan

The Van ESG funds are fine, no need to buy too many bonds if you aiming at 2050 retirement
You could always buy some V bond fund later to balance it out as you say.

A once a year look at your fund allocation from bonds v shares, countries, company types is useful for everyone to see where next to buy in line with your plans/goals.

I don't bother with the Retirement target or Lifestrategy I just rebalance it myself eg if I see I am too overweight in UK for example. I was heavily underweight til summer last year in UK but then picked some up cheap.. Now when I buy more  next of my SIPP I am buying  Europe ex Uk funds and Asia and US   for example.

I look at my costs for Fid v HARG L v Vang - and Vanguard is so much cheaper  for platform annual fees etc even though I have  more money in there! 
So well done for moving out of NEST

themadvix

Thanks @LadyWithAPlan, that’s really helpful. Are there recommended allocations for balancing/derisking as you get nearer? I may well retire before then (I hope so!), but a) I was a late starter with my pension and b) I like what I do and can do it from anywhere, so I’m not too worried about retiring (entirely, in any case!)

themadvix

Have had quite a productive afternoon - a couple of bits of work on the platform, which means I've hit the minimum payout, so will receive something from there next month. Need to keep topping it up (and really could do with main client waking up!). Also hoovered thoroughly throughout and cleaned hall floor (which was well overdue). Just tying the ends into a new cloth and then I'll use it to clean the cloakroom.

Prolific is now definitely at best-ever result, being over £51 so far for the month!

savingholmes

Good luck with pension and investing.

Great news on prolific 

earthgirl2

Thats a great amount with prolific well done. Im also with V for pension and gap savings.