Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

savingholmes

That's a fab amount of savings. Congratulations.

LOL at the cat.

killerpeaty

If you don't mind where you're going then I think there's a site/app/something that will look for the cheapest holiday at short notice. I'll see if I can find it.

Cats are the best for making you relax. One of mine (living with mum but still mine!) Is in heat at the moment and will do anything for a fuss. Who am I to refuse a kitty in need?

Interesting about the student loan. I'll have a think on mine.

Merlin's_Beard

Have temporarily solved the cat issue by surprising her with a vaccine. The little so and so always knows when I'm up to something so there was a fraught half hour where I was sat in the middle of my landing with a vaccine telling her reassuringly that I was not up to anything, oh no, she was just being paranoid.

And as soon as she believed me, I pounced. Forgiveness is not forthcoming.

@killerpeaty I endured one heat with the cat, during which she was noisy, clingy, and an escape artist, and got her booked in immediately for her spay! Any sites with cheap holidays or flights would be appreciated.

@kajikita she lies on the sofa behind me and sort of half flops onto my head, when she's not feeling absolutely betrayed and lied to. Currently she's just sitting across the room staring at me with a wounded look on her face.

A social, social week. Family dinner on Monday, charity quiz on Wednesday, friend's housewarming (several hours away) today. All good experiences, but very tired and I did spend yesterday staring at a wall and recharging rather than being particularly productive. That is far too social for me to still be functioning at the end of it, and my to do list reflects that.

Garden has been abandoned to rain. Something is eating my kale as well (I think caterpillars) so that's something that needs sorting alongside the lawn, and the weeding, and everything else. A day off job.

Currently staring at the TV watching Jeremy Clarkson being confounded by sheep on his farm and howling with laughter. Brings back memories of student days!

Financially the mid month doldrums so not much to report apart from a large petrol spend.

KajiKita

Oh dear …. Cat-offence after any kind of ‘interference’, be it vaccines, sticky neck or tablets is deep and profound. Fortunately it usually only lasts until they get hungry again 😉

Glad Clarkson is proving some light relief 😊

KK

savingholmes

Why do cats like people's heads so much? I can't cope with that myself so always move mind when he does it.

KajiKita

My old cat used to do the sit behind my head thing, my latest cat not so much. 🤷‍♀️

KK

ArbitraryRandom

I'll admit to not having read the whole thread as yet, but just the first couple and last couple of pages and I think we're on similar paths  

I'm intending to catch up over the next few days, but wanted to ask if - as part of your pension planning - you had considered a LISA (which you can take tax free at 60 and would be a good way to achieve early retirement if that was your goal)?
 

Merlin's_Beard

ArbitraryRandom said:

I'll admit to not having read the whole thread as yet, but just the first couple and last couple of pages and I think we're on similar paths  

I'm intending to catch up over the next few days, but wanted to ask if - as part of your pension planning - you had considered a LISA (which you can take tax free at 60 and would be a good way to achieve early retirement if that was your goal)?
 

I have considered a LISA and was planning on using one until I was flung into the higher rate tax bracket. From reading around, received wisdom seems to be to make sure you put everything taxed at the higher rate into the pension, and then think about ISAs of different types.

I do need to do the maths on this once I get my first new pay in.

ArbitraryRandom

Makes sense

I've only got a token amount above the threshold as of this year, so I'm paying a small amount into a S&S SIPP for the higher rate tax relief, but I'm still aiming to put the full £4k into my S&S LISA because of the advantage of it all being tax free at the other end.

I'm hoping/expecting that will give me more flexibility as I'm bridging that gap between working full time and accessing all of my pensions.

But it's really, really hard to work out the best thing to do now for in 17 years when the Government could chance all the rules between now and then! Eggs split between several baskets  

killerpeaty

Sadly I would not find the thing I was referring to. I would hate to send you a link to somewhere dodgy.

We were told that the cats need to be 3 weeks (maybe) from their last heat to get the op, but they're always on heat again. I don't get much say in it as I work the longest hours so that kind of thing is for the others. One of the cats likes to lick mum's hair though, it's very cute.