Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

A productive evening! 

Prompted by @EssexHebridean rummaging in her over-full freezer, I had a poke around in mine and discovered a lot of damsons. One bag from this year, another from probably two years ago, quite wrinkled and freezer burned. 

Having recently decanted the damson gin I made 2 years ago and given quite a lot of it away as Christmas presents, it was high time to make some more Didn't have any gin (except cherry blossom flavoured, which seemed a waste) but I did have half a bottle of vodka - no idea why as neither of us drink it. So the ancient wrinkly damsons got drenched in that, along with a load of sugar, and hopefully that'll all turn out nicely for next Christmas. 

The rest of the damsons are being made into damson cheese - not cheese at all, but a kind of sweet solid paste to be eaten with cheese. Before you go attempting something similar, be warned that it took me nearly an hour to force my boiled up damsons through the sieve!! So not an activity to undertake when you are short of time The finished product looked extremely like tomato puree, and my brain would just NOT register it as fruit Anyway, it's busy boiling with a load of sugar now, so we'll see how that turns out. I'm raiding the house for jars, which I should have done before I embarked on this whole escapade. 

Anyway, financial post incoming once I've given this infernal cheese a stir. 

Cheery_Daff

So, banks checked, cash book updated, and spreadsheet copied and refreshed ready for the new year I didn't do any smoothing out of pots, just left the totals as they were at the end of last year, and added January's budget. 

Pots currently standing as follows: 

SAVINGS POTS
Holidays: £712.60 (we add £200 a month)
Home & garden: £943.17 (£150 a month)
Dentist & medical: £295.90 (100 a month)
Presents: £41.30 (£50 a month)

ANNUAL BILLS
Cars: £1235.77 (£250 a month)
LPG: £305.22 (£170 a month)
Web hosting: £20 (£20 a month until it's finally sorted out)
House insurance: £855 (£45 a month)
TV licence: £15.50 (£15 a month)

LONG TERM SAVINGS: £2301

Not too bad. We'll be prodding our friend to do the windowsills and skirting soon, so that'll take up a bit of the house budget. Not got any birthdays (except my dad, who will likely just get a card) til the end of March now. 

Car insurance is due mid Feb, and I am poised to do comparisons in a couple of weeks. Same for house insurance - both were almost £900 last year so anything I can save is a bonus! Just had a payment of £573 go out for LPG, shouldn't be due another tank til at least the end of Feb (which means payment end of March), possibly later depending on the weather. Web hosting still not sorted, blah blah. 

I'm going to open at least one regular saver - we've got an FD joint account and they're doing 7% for £300 a month, and we've got all kinds of Co-op accounts (theirs is 7%, but variable, and only on £250). Nationwide also doing 6.5% variable for £200 a month. 

But we don't have a massive spare pot we can tie up, so at the minute we'll likely just do one - I'll have a think tomorrow. 

Cheery_Daff

(Sorry, waffling on tonight!)

Looking at mortgage spreadsheet... 

Actual required payment is £1051.57, and we're paying £1070, which means a standing overpayment of 1.75% (apparently )

We currently owe £150,231.61 according to my spreadsheet - due to finish Sept 2042 (original end date was Feb 2043). No idea how much that saves us, as the spreadsheet calculates it based on how much we'd owe if we had the original interest rate of 1.8% all the way through (so in this case, minus £42k as we're now on 4.46%). Anyway, it's still five months early which is great! 

I also noticed that, as of March 2027, we finally start paying more capital than interest! Currently at £46.72 more interest than capital each month so this will make a nice change. If I add an extra £10 each month, that shifts the tipping point to December this year - which might be something nice to aim for. 

Right, a bit more stirring and then I might dive into the FIRE planning spreadsheet, which I'd forgotten about, so I may be back... 

Baileys_Babe

I have 15+ regular savers with varying maximum deposits, some fixed some variable interest rates, some allow withdrawals, some limited withdrawals and others no withdrawals, some 12 months and some 6 months.

Cheery_Daff

Baileys_Babe said:

I have 15+ regular savers with varying maximum deposits, some fixed some variable interest rates, some allow withdrawals, some limited withdrawals and others no withdrawals, some 12 months and some 6 months.

Wow, that's very impressive! Are you drip feeding from a savings account? We're just not in a position to do that from monthly income right now, and long term savings are just what you see above so not huge opportunity to drip feed for us. I'm in awe of your organisation! 

Cheery_Daff

Right, buckle up for some FIRE-related pondering... Fortunately my previous spreadsheet was quite comprehensive, so all I've had to do is update totals. 

Some assumptions first: 

* I have assumed my wages will stay exactly as they are from now - no annual increments, no promotions (they won't, but it's easier for planning purposes) 
* I have assumed Mr C's works pension, and the state pension, will stay the same amounts too
* I haven't updated my works pension amounts at all since I did the original spreadsheet - can't be bothered looking as this is mostly irrelevant for now
* I have updated the 'basic monthly income needed' figure to be what we are spending now, on monthly bill DDs, savings for annual bills, savings pots, and our discretionary spends. Obviously we could reduce if needed
* I have assumed, for now, that we won't move house and will stay here. 
* I've not done any in-year faffing in relation to months/birthdays etc. Have assumed pensions will just start at the start of the relevant year (which clearly they won't)

So, all that said... 

SCENARIO 1
I continue to work 4 days until I retire at 58 (2038) and take my works pension. Mortgage stays the same for now, but we OP all of Mr C's state pension from 2029, which pays it off by 2035. 
This is doable - there is no shortfall

SCENARIO 2
I work 4 days until Mr C's state pension starts in 2029, then drop to 3 days. At that point, we OP mortgage by half of the state pension amount - some will be needed to cover my additional day off. Mortgage paid off by 2038, and I leave work at 58 and take my state pension. 
This is also doable - there is no shortfall

SCENARIO 3
I work 4 days a week, then leave work complete at 50 (2030), and draw my works pension at 58. No additional OPs. 
This is NOT doable - shortfall of approx £23k for 6 years (£138k)

SCENARIO 4
I work 4 days a week, then drop to 3 days from 2029. As in Scenario 2, we OP mortgage by half of the state pension amount. Mortgage paid off by 2038. I leave work at 55, but can't take my works pension til 58. 
Also NOT doable - shortfall of approx £28k for 2 years (£56k)

SCENARIO 5
I work 4 days a week, then drop to 3 days from 2029, at which point we also MOVE HOUSE and ditch the mortgage. I leave work at 55, but can't take my pension til 58. 
Possibly doable - shortfall of approx £10k a year for 2 years (£20k)

Hmm, looks like nothing much has been gained by that exercise - we stick to the plan of working 4 days until 2029, then 3 days until I can claim my pension.

BUT obviously if I am promoted, or get a new job, things will change, and if we move house, as in scenario 5, I could leave at 55, and likely cover that shortfall of £20k from the house sale (or from savings - we would have had no mortgage for 6 years at that point). 

Not really sure what to do with all that now I've worked it out, but it's kept me occupied while waiting for this never-ending damson cheese to boil   

Baileys_Babe

Cheery_Daff said:

Baileys_Babe said:

I have 15+ regular savers with varying maximum deposits, some fixed some variable interest rates, some allow withdrawals, some limited withdrawals and others no withdrawals, some 12 months and some 6 months.

Wow, that's very impressive! Are you drip feeding from a savings account? We're just not in a position to do that from monthly income right now, and long term savings are just what you see above so not huge opportunity to drip feed for us. I'm in awe of your organisation! 

They are funded from a combination of new money, drip feeding savings and reinvesting matured regular savers.

I started quite small and gradually increased how many accounts I have, funds are currently stopping me from getting more accounts.

Our mortgage used to be 1k+ a month but now it has greatly reduced. We are mortgage neutral, I would like to be mortgage free (again) but I feel we need greater savings for security and sanity.

rtandon27

Thanks for taking the time to paste your portfolio details and projections for FIRE ! It always factinates me when I see numbers and listen to the reasoning - we are all so different with our outlooks!

Oh - and by portfolio, I do mean budget, but the fancy pants word is more uplifting! 

EssexHebridean

BB I'm in awe of your 15 regular savers - we've got 6 between us currently and that's about enough for me to manage! I have got into a quite helpful routine of reinvestment on the Pr1nc1pal1ty ones now though, although that only works while they continue to release new issues of 6 month ones regularly I suspect! 

Merlin's_Beard

Cheery_Daff said:

Right, buckle up for some FIRE-related pondering... Fortunately my previous spreadsheet was quite comprehensive, so all I've had to do is update totals. 

Some assumptions first: 

* I have assumed my wages will stay exactly as they are from now - no annual increments, no promotions (they won't, but it's easier for planning purposes) 
* I have assumed Mr C's works pension, and the state pension, will stay the same amounts too
* I haven't updated my works pension amounts at all since I did the original spreadsheet - can't be bothered looking as this is mostly irrelevant for now
* I have updated the 'basic monthly income needed' figure to be what we are spending now, on monthly bill DDs, savings for annual bills, savings pots, and our discretionary spends. Obviously we could reduce if needed
* I have assumed, for now, that we won't move house and will stay here. 
* I've not done any in-year faffing in relation to months/birthdays etc. Have assumed pensions will just start at the start of the relevant year (which clearly they won't)

So, all that said... 

SCENARIO 1
I continue to work 4 days until I retire at 58 (2038) and take my works pension. Mortgage stays the same for now, but we OP all of Mr C's state pension from 2029, which pays it off by 2035. 
This is doable - there is no shortfall

SCENARIO 2
I work 4 days until Mr C's state pension starts in 2029, then drop to 3 days. At that point, we OP mortgage by half of the state pension amount - some will be needed to cover my additional day off. Mortgage paid off by 2038, and I leave work at 58 and take my state pension. 
This is also doable - there is no shortfall

SCENARIO 3
I work 4 days a week, then leave work complete at 50 (2030), and draw my works pension at 58. No additional OPs. 
This is NOT doable - shortfall of approx £23k for 6 years (£138k)

SCENARIO 4
I work 4 days a week, then drop to 3 days from 2029. As in Scenario 2, we OP mortgage by half of the state pension amount. Mortgage paid off by 2038. I leave work at 55, but can't take my works pension til 58. 
Also NOT doable - shortfall of approx £28k for 2 years (£56k)

SCENARIO 5
I work 4 days a week, then drop to 3 days from 2029, at which point we also MOVE HOUSE and ditch the mortgage. I leave work at 55, but can't take my pension til 58. 
Possibly doable - shortfall of approx £10k a year for 2 years (£20k)

Hmm, looks like nothing much has been gained by that exercise - we stick to the plan of working 4 days until 2029, then 3 days until I can claim my pension.

BUT obviously if I am promoted, or get a new job, things will change, and if we move house, as in scenario 5, I could leave at 55, and likely cover that shortfall of £20k from the house sale (or from savings - we would have had no mortgage for 6 years at that point). 

Not really sure what to do with all that now I've worked it out, but it's kept me occupied while waiting for this never-ending damson cheese to boil   

Sometimes the point isn't to gain new information but to just clarify everything in your mind. Like you said, these are all assumptions based on things staying stable and they will not - but it gives you some numbers to work those changes off.