The Mental Debt Struggle...

Sun_Addict

Well done you should be really proud of your achievements 👏

badmemory

So your state pension age is not that far away from what you said.  I am going to state the obvious (I read too much on here) have you checked your state pension forecast?  Have you got the full state pension?  If not some of your debt repayment moneys may well be better diverted to getting that up to requirement.  Very approx.  Pay £800  get £5 a week for life - min £260/year.  So worst case scenario you get your money back in slightly over three years.  I would love a bank account that got me that much.

Whoops I didn't take account of tax which may be payable on the pension. so reduce that to £4 a week for life.

beanielou

Great totals 
Good news on the phones & creation.

Keedie

Thanks @Sun_Addict and @beanielou for the support, I'm slowly getting there 🤗.

I had a look at my state pension forecast @badmemory and it's in October 2049, and it's forecast for the full amount if I contribute national insurance for another 14 years by that date. Is that correct? 


I've got a workplace pension from my current job and one from my previous job when I was at the council, but neither is very high as I have been working part time for many years. I'd not given my pension much thought in terms of affordability when I retire, but you're right, that does need to be thought about. I should be debt free within 2 years, and then I can start seriously saving.

I was thinking that once my Help to Save account matures, there will hopefully be a high interest account that I can put it in for a period of time and get a good rate. I really regret not getting a LISA before I turned 40, as I didn't really realise that you could use that for retirement if you didn't use it for a house purchase and I know that I won't be a homeowner. You live and learn I guess.

I did my budget for August 2023 yesterday and still got a shock this morning when a standing order of £25 to Build a Buffer came out of my account as I thought I had cancelled it. So there was an unexpected PAD 😂. But it's in a locked Monzo pot earning a little bit of interest, so I can't access it until 31 December 2023. So I've had to jiggle everything around as it was a tight month as it is, with it being the summer holidays 😬.

I've paid £75 into my emergency fund and it earned £1.95 interest, so that's now £701.95, so I'm at 70% of my target. As the money my sister owes me came through as well, I've put the £75 into Mobile Madness plus the interest from that account, so it's now £360.12 which is 125.55% saved! So once the Sky Mobile direct debit comes out tomorrow and clears in a couple of days, I'll be able to fully repay Phone A and have £73.28 towards paying off Phone B. So it's all getting there.

badmemory

So you just have to earn the LEL (lower earnings limit) for just over half the remaining years OR get a benefit that counts.  If ever you have questions the pension part of this forum have some very knowledgable people who are only to happy to help.  They probably won't be as chatty as people are on here but just read a couple of threads on there & you will soon see who knows their onions.

Keedie

Ahh thank you very much @badmemory I'll check out the pensions forum. I'm aiming to hold onto working as long as I can manage, but get another suitable part time admin job as I can't continue at my current job long term as I really don't like it. I don't want to stop working unless I physically or mentally cannot work anymore, as I need the routine of working. But if I continue to decline at the rate that I have in recent years, then I'll have no choice, but I checked and universal credit is included as a benefit that gives automatic national insurance credits so that is a relief.

Funnily enough, I got a deferred pension estimate from my old employer in the post today. There was some kind of boost to the value of the pension based on some cost of living calculations from 10 April 2023, that I didn't really understand. But at least it's gone up a smidgen. 

Keedie

I did it! I paid off Phone A today which had a balance of £286.84 after this month's direct debit came out. It was due in February 2025, but it means I'm so close to being able to cross off another creditor and reduce my overall fixed expenses. One down, and one to go.


The Mobile Madness pot has a balance of £150.41 towards Phone B, so it's 51.64% of the new £291.25 target, so that will be done and dusted next month. And this balance includes the £2.13 that I transferred to round up the cost of the device payments from £32.87 to £35 a month, plus £75 snowballed payment after clearing Creation last month.

For next month, I've amended the £2.13 standing order to £18.25 to cover the difference of the cost for his phone (£16.75) and the £35. But next month is the last month for these mobile round ups as once Phone B is repaid, I just have to worry about the line rental for both phones which is £23.04. 

I've paid £100 to my mum, £50 to Help to Save and £25 to my son's savings. Phew it's been a busy but productive day financially.

Makingabobor2

Well done, you are on a roll now. 

Keedie

Thanks @Makingabobor2. 

I just realised I'm under £11k remaining so I'm very excited. I treated myself to a 99p Sunrise Cosmo from Lidl to celebrate 🤗.

beanielou

Woohoo on being down into the £11k's