10 years to clear £334K - our FIRE journey

savingholmes

I can see the attraction of separate pots. That way if you do want to retire early you are also not paying the early withdrawal charge on your whole pot.

CCW007

I've got another 9 months to decide whether to transfer in so I can take some time to consider the options.

SIPP and S&S ISA balances have recovered a bit after a very sharp fall - I know it's a long haul so not too worried.  I really shouldn't look so often!!

OH has suddenly got interested in our outgoings (which I must admit I've been very lax on recently) as he is keen to ensure we are in the best place financially before the economy gets any worse.  So hopefully we can do some budget analysis and some income generation.  There's a lot we can reduce which would put us in a better position to save / pay off mortgage / retire early but have both got quite lazy and complacent recently, it wouldn't take much and shouldn't impact our quality of life for which I am really grateful.  I do appreciate how lucky we are financially.

Savings rate on one of my accounts is now only 0.24% lower than mortgage interest rate so can't see us OPing much soon, rather we will be offsetting, but need to be mindful of paying tax on interest if we hit £500 (most savings are in my name just because I've applied for them so need to remedy that).

savingholmes

Splitting savings is a good idea. 

CCW007

After over 20 years with my current bank, I am finally switching (we have a joint account with another bank). 

Going for the S@antander 123Lite to get cashback and finally putting water and council tax on DD which I have resisted as there was no discount for doing so and by paying on my CC I got cashback (well, vouchers).  Will also move the energy DD over to my account from the joint account so should get a reasonable amount of cashback.  And of course the switching bonus of £160.  Just waiting on account details, all been approved.

Also moving my credit card from current one where I get vouchers to one where I get actual cashback at pretty much the same rate.  It's paid in January which is great as it can help with December / Christmas bill! 

Current CC provider has been problematic recently, blocking a number of genuine transactions (my water bill for one!) and the latest one is blocking my card completely and issuing me a new one.  If I have all the hassle of changing my card on everything, I may as well switch at the same time and not have to deal with them.  

Not having a card set up (have a spare card I am using but don't have the details saved on any of my usual websites) is really making me think about my spending and stopping me "just popping to the shops" for something so this has been a really good exercise.

Little ebay sale has netted me almost £10 and got something out of the house.  More to list! 

CCW007

savingholmes said:

Splitting savings is a good idea. 

It's also worth me looking into cash ISAs even if the savings rate is lower - will need to run the numbers to see where the tipping point is.  I guess the disadvantage of a cash ISA is that once you push the button, that's your rate for the year, even if something better is released.  Whereas with an instant access saver you can just open another account and move your savings across.  

savingholmes

You can open multiple accounts and then use them to switch later ..

CCW007

If this switch goes smoothly I may well be confident enough to try that! Have always resisted as it seemed like a lot of hassle but current bank account has become so unrewarding it's definitely time to get over that.

CCW007

2nd August
Sub account 1 - £254,353.94
Sub account 2 - £73,548.11
Total - £327,902.05

Reduction - £1,094.72

CCW007

Cashback card received and activated - have applied for additional card for OH so we both put all our spending through it.  Kicked off with over £600 of heating oil so should make the £1k within the first three months to get a bonus £20 cashback pretty easily!

New current account set up and can see all direct debits and standing orders.  Have set up DD for council tax and changed DD for electric to this new account, just got to set up a DD for water (have always paid on receipt of bill as there was no discount for paying by DD).

Got a £10 Lidl voucher to use by next weekend so might head there after work tomorrow to use that up.

Another ebay sale - should clear around £10. 

savingholmes

Sounds like you're staying on top of the budget.