Paying the Present, Funding the Future

ShyAndRetiring

HI

I used to have a diary a long time back but life overtook me and it closed when the MSE site changed. My debt is marginal and manageable at the moment (thankfully) but now's the time I really need to focus on all things finances as, like everyone else, the cost of living is constantly changing - and biting. At the same time, our way of living - and earning - is also in a bit of a state of flux.

As such, I need to be careful about what we're spending currently: Paying the Present.

But I'm also mindful that in 2024 our earning options / opportunities will change. I'm on a fixed term contract which ends this time next year and, to my knowledge, there is no funding for it to continue. My OH is several years older than me and will reach state pension age in 2024, which may mean it's not viable for him to continue his existing (part time) job. At the moment he also feels it's not going to be worth him deferring the SP in order to keep on working.

We'd hoped to save enough for me to early retire with him and started to plan for this in the long-term by saving into a possible 'early pension' fund and by trying to keep debt to a minimum. But, like everyone, we didn't bargain on pandemics, cost of living crisis and other demands on the savings pot, so I need to spend the next 12 months looking carefully at our short-mid term planning / spending / costs and capacity - Funding the Future!

We also have the wildcard of being very much part of the 'sandwich' generation. I previously stopped work for a year to care for an elderly family member and there is every possibility I may need to do this again - hopefully not until after my contract ends. We'll see.

I'm a long-time lurker too and have gained so much inspiration on these boards, so I'm hoping that being back here among so many inspiring individuals will help me to stay accountable and aware.

Thanks for having me, SaR x

ShyAndRetiring

I'd prefer not to put up an SOA currently, but I do check the numbers obsessively regularly and keep a spreadsheet to try to stay on top of everything.

Happily, since I've been back to full-time working after being a family carer, our income does cover the bills, with some over for saving and for paying down debts. Debts aren't huge (less than £500 now) and are all interest free (at the moment) but I'd rather get rid of them asap.

As mentioned, I'd like this diary to help me to stay accountable and organised for whatever the future holds. We don't have huge wants and needs and are happiest with a simple life.

Ideally, if we end up stopping paid employment (by choice or circumstances relating to contracts) in 2024, I'd like to be in the position where we swap working (earning money) for having time which we can use instead to minimise our costs and heading into an early retirement, so I may keep notes on progress towards that - it'd be good if every day of this next 12 months helps improve our position for this time next year!

Thanks for listening, SaR x

enthusiasticsaver

Welcome to the DFW forum.  Good the debt you have is manageable and I look forward to seeing your early retirement plans pan out. We retired early prior to the pandemic at in 2016 and 2018 and my DH gets his SP 2024 too. I don't get mine until 2026 sadly so we survive on savings, investments and DB pensions taken at 60. 

ShyAndRetiring

enthusiasticsaver said:

Welcome to the DFW forum.  Good the debt you have is manageable and I look forward to seeing your early retirement plans pan out. We retired early prior to the pandemic at in 2016 and 2018 and my DH gets his SP 2024 too. I don't get mine until 2026 sadly so we survive on savings, investments and DB pensions taken at 60. 

Thank you for stopping by @enthusiasticsaver ... it sounds like our DHs are on a similar pathway. My DH has a smallish personal pension which enabled him to quit his profession and work in his current part time role.

I should be able to access my personal pension at 60 in 2026 but won't get my SP until 2033, so have been planning and saving as much as possible to bridge gaps in income / pension. Hopefully the next 12 months will allow me to see if early retirement is a real possibility or just wishful thinking.  

enthusiasticsaver

Do you work full time at the moment?  I dropped my hours when DH retired so only worked three days although one of my spare days was used to look after my grandchildren. 

Blackcats

@enthusiasticsaver - your posts are always so wise and helped me a lot on my journey.

@ShyAndRetiring - you already know how good these diaries are.  I went part-time in October and finish work completely on 1st July.  I'm currently 58.  There is absolutely no way that I would have reduced spending and increased saving enough to retire early if it wasn't for starting my diary here.  My OH gets SP next year too.  

good luck with your plans - will be supporting you along the way.  My best advice is to post regularly - accountability, advice and support are all here for you.

enthusiasticsaver

Blackcats said:

@enthusiasticsaver - your posts are always so wise and helped me a lot on my journey.

@ShyAndRetiring - you already know how good these diaries are.  I went part-time in October and finish work completely on 1st July.  I'm currently 58.  There is absolutely no way that I would have reduced spending and increased saving enough to retire early if it wasn't for starting my diary here.  My OH gets SP next year too.  

good luck with your plans - will be supporting you along the way.  My best advice is to post regularly - accountability, advice and support are all here for you.

Thank you for your kind comment and I am so pleased you will be able to retire later on this year. Great advice too. DFW is such a supportive online community. 

ShyAndRetiring

enthusiasticsaver said:

Do you work full time at the moment?  I dropped my hours when DH retired so only worked three days although one of my spare days was used to look after my grandchildren. 

HI @enthusiasticsaver, yes I'm on full time hours at the moment but across 2 part time roles with one employer (fixed term contract) and a few hours per week with another. I can definitely phase out the working, depending on what happens with the contracts, finances and other opportunities.

ShyAndRetiring

Blackcats said:

@enthusiasticsaver - your posts are always so wise and helped me a lot on my journey.

@ShyAndRetiring - you already know how good these diaries are.  I went part-time in October and finish work completely on 1st July.  I'm currently 58.  There is absolutely no way that I would have reduced spending and increased saving enough to retire early if it wasn't for starting my diary here.  My OH gets SP next year too.  

good luck with your plans - will be supporting you along the way.  My best advice is to post regularly - accountability, advice and support are all here for you.

HI @blackcats thanks so much for stopping by and for your good wishes, I'm very hopeful that I'll be able to follow in your footsteps for managing spending, saving and planning ahead. I'm sure the 1st July will come round very quickly, you must be very excited!

Thanks for the advice too, I'll aim to be as regular as possible.

ShyAndRetiring

So, in order to be accountable and organised, I'm guessing a round up of activity is in order. I'm hoping that if I get my thoughts organised now, I'll be ready to start the 12 month planning on 1st April - no fooling! 

My reflections for this weekend:

Spend - managed a no-spend weekend the last 2 days. I like to have a NSD goal as it stops us popping into the local shop for extras and wants, so next month I'll include a target. Aiming for NSDs also discourages me from jumping onto the Big River shop so readily!

Save - not a lot of spare cash until I get paid next week but I raided all our cash-stash zones and put all the £1 coins and 50ps into our 'egg purse.' Several of our neighbours sell eggs at the gate, so having the change in a purse to take on walks saves us paying supermarket prices for eggs and it uses up change that's otherwise sitting on OH's bedside or in pockets. Eggs are fresh and tasty too!

Sort - hoping a focus on sorting (£££, home, head-space, activities, you name it) will help me keep on top of things. This weekend I've sorted out some kitchen cupboards and sorted the meal plan so we shouldn't have to pop to the shop during the week. I've also sorted an increase on the direct debit for one of the debts, to try to get rid of it quicker. Should be affordable and bring that particular debt down to 3 more payments.

Support / sharing - I'd like a focus on support / sharing but don't want this to be 'virtue-signalling' as it were. It's more about:
* I find that the £ focus can be all-consuming, so I want to make sure I'm focusing on others as we do so, such as by using charity shops etc.
* Supporting local businesses as we try to save money, rather than that Big River shop (see above).
* Supporting the environment and £ by trying to reduce, re-use, recycle where possible. We used to do this a lot but somehow we've drifted a bit over winter, I think.
* Supporting ourselves by growing our own where possible. Our home and garden are small but we're pretty good at using the space, so we're really going to focus on this over the next year, to get the garden working for us in the future.

This weekend I repurposed an wooden case (I think a bottle of wine was gifted to us in it) into its new home in my 'garden room' (think more swish than a shed but not as grand as a summerhouse ). This is a good sized box with a sliding lid, and it's now ready for storing seeds (which I aim to track down and sort next week). Hoping this will also save money by knowing and using what seeds we have from last year and by sharing / swapping excess seeds / seedlings with neighbours (also worked well last year).

SaR x
 

ShyAndRetiring

Long work day, so a short round up of today's progress:

Spend - NSD today, just as well as I have a bit of unavoidable spending coming up tomorrow.

Save - Like many delightful diary-keepers here, I like a variety of 'pots' - mostly virtual - for keeping finances separate for when they're needed. It's payday soon so I did a round down in my personal account and sent £9.45 over to the birthdays pot. One of my adult children has a 'round number' birthday this year, so I need to save up a bit extra for the celebrations!

Sort -  both OH and I managed to sort a little extra (potential) income today.
* OH isn't likely to get full SP because he worked abroad in his previous life (before there was an us)! Today he checked his SP forecast and has identified an incomplete year that won't cost too much to buy but should definitely boost his SP by about £3 per week, so he's going to sort that once payday arrives. 
* I looked at restarting with Prolific, but the main page said there was a waiting list. I had a vague recall that I used to have an account and managed to successfully sorted out my old log-in before work and during my lunch-break completed over £7 worth of surveys. As the debts are already accounted for with direct debits, I'm thinking I might identify a pot each month to boost with any survey earnings, to help fund the future!

Support - OH supporting the plan with some action has been such a positive thing today.  One of his colleagues recently reached SPA and left work and now we're on our 12 month count he's starting to realise that this time next year that could be him! 

Simple - OK so this wasn't on the list yesterday, but I like to balance out busy work days and life planning by reflecting on some of the simple things.
Today it's simple pleasures: 
* It actually felt like Spring's here and the washing I hung out this morning was practically dry after work.
* Gentle dog walk on a local field which was empty except for male pheasants who are hilariously bright with their breeding colours but pretend that they can't be seen!
* I bought a few reduced price sorry-looking spring plants a couple of weeks ago and finally managed to plant them up in a hanging basket after work today. 

SaR x