Spendy Wendy to Saver Savvy

Spendywendywoo

@Suffolk_lass and @jwil, thank you. Feeling a little better this morning after an early night, just plodding through today and taking it easy. 

I've decided to be 'my future friend' and order a home delivery order that takes us up to the weekend and includes Saturday so I have gone over our Feb budget a little. I haven't been able to get to the shop and although DH has offered to go shopping, I needed to meal plan first and wanted to stick to a budget so HD was my go to. My thought process with this is that if I still feel under the weather I can take my time going into the weekend and don't have to run around shopping. I may do another C&C or HD shop for Sunday. The HD shop only cost 50p more than the C&C shop would have but means I don't have to go out today, other than maybe pick DS up from school (more so to get some fresh air). 

Our budget runs 15th to 14th anyway due to pay day so there's no concern, but for ease I record it in MSE Forum as a full month.  I may have to change that as it does take more work to get the data from the budget s/s... 

Outcome of choice - I have food in for each meal this week, utilising some items I have in the cupboard that have been said there a little while now (noodles for one) and I am going to make a couple of things we haven't had for a long while so it will mix it up a bit (not too much stress or effort to make either). 

I have finished listening to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover - it mirrors the finance course I am half way through but more aimed at people living in America. It hasn't done any harm in reiterating the stages that we are going through; EF,  visible budget, pay off debts (currently have none but do have the balloon payment on the car to think about), invest, pay off mortgage, invest more Does anyone have any thoughts on a more English based 'Dave Ramsey' book that I can read, please?

Today's meals are from stores so; porridge for breakfast, baby potatoes boiled, smashed and then crisped up in the AF with tuna crunch for lunch and LO sausage and mash or LO paella for DS and another batch of creamy bacon pasta for DH and I for dinner, to use up some double cream that needs using and some thick cut bacon I mistakenly picked up instead of normal cut bacon the other week... an error I continue to make because I don't check the package, even though the label states normal cut...

I need to attack the very high pile of ironing that is climbing up the utility wall. I may attempt an hour tonight as I don't think I'll manage my usual walk. 

Have a great day all, 
Wendy x 

badmemory

I didn't notice you mention pensions, which I believe are quite different in America, so that could be worth a look

Spendywendywoo

@badmemory, good shout - they mentioned investing in Roth IRA, mature funds and 401k. Thankfully I've invested in a pension for a long while now and my employer has always matched. ATM I'm putting 7% away each month and my employers are putting in 9% so it's building nicely. I've also merged all my pensions so it's in one fund. 

I think I'll continue to do this for now but will look to invest in other means too (that's a minefield I need to look into yet)

badmemory

Can you do a projection & make sure it will be enough for your needs.  People tell you that you only need a certain %age of your earnings when you retire but I don't altogether agree with that.  It depends where (& how) you work.  Also on what you want to do in your retirement.  I also do not agree that you need less when you get to those older years of your retirement.  You just pay for different things, although that is worse if you are on your own.  I am passed the gardener & seriously thinking about the cleaner, but really just for the bathroom & kitchen.  I'll get off my hobbyhorse now.

Spendywendywoo

@badmemory, this is all good insight into what we should think about. I know DH has concerns about his but his is different to mine in that he has a lump sum at the end and AVCs. When our mortgage is up next year we are going to our financial advisor to review pensions too 😀

rachmac3

I love the idea of being your future friend @spendywoowoo, I too have a condition that I've had to learn to manage over the past few years, so this sounds like a perfect way to shed some of the guilt when I know I need to rest.
I've been listening to some female NZ and UK based podcasters/youtubers but haven't found any I really enjoy yet. I just listen to them when I feel like I need a bit of a reminder or a refocus. It would be great to find someone more relatable. 

Suffolk_lass

I used to read blogs about investing (and people's investments, why and so on) before I went for any investing and I used a summer published "best investments for a mix of growth and return" list in the newspaper for one basis of some of my choices, rather than an investment house or management company. It was an experiment. I also read lots of Alvin Hall books - he is American, and used to present a tv series, probably 20-30 years ago. His book, "the stock market explained" is straightforward. My first read (30 years ago) was Peter Cutler, Get out of debt and prosper. Tim Hale's "Smarter Investing" is recommended by many but it was a bit dry for me.

Your private pension percentage looks good, compared to many btw, and your employer's 9% contribution is more the exception, these days. You do not say if it is a defined benefit scheme (based on average or final salary) or defined contribution (based on investments, managed by a third party). Combining occupational pensions will definitely pay dividends (pun intended) as more money invested with a single management fee/percentage. 

Personally I would still consider a SIPP - it gives you a drawdown option and you can use it to explore stock market investing, and of course, it could be your means to keep paying standard rate income tax rather than higher rate through a legitimate means. When your budgeting means you need less to live on that is. If you are looking at individual investment accounts, you could open a SIPP (self-invested personal pension; the UK equivalent). If you are not particularly au fait with the stock markets, a fund is a better option than buying individual company shareholdings as it spreads the risk. A lot of people on here, (as you will have seen) are invested in the Vanguard Retirement funds - choosing the projected retirement year for the relevant fund and they will progressively move into lower risk vehicles (bonds, or the gov't version; gilts) as your retirement year approaches. I think past performance of Vanguard (based on algorithms rather than human opinion and research) and lower management fees are prime reasons for the choice, and you could go direct to their platform or via a third party platform. Personally, we use Charles Stanley Direct as the platform provider. 

Obviously, none of this is recommendations as I am not qualified to offer advice. Just my experiences

Spendywendywoo

@Suffolk_lass, thank you - the information you provide is really useful and thought provoking, which leads to more research . I'm in a defined contribution but DH is in a DB scheme. 

I hope all is ok with Mr SL and you are taking care of yourself also x

Spendywendywoo

rachmac3 said:

I love the idea of being your future friend @spendywoowoo, I too have a condition that I've had to learn to manage over the past few years, so this sounds like a perfect way to shed some of the guilt when I know I need to rest.
I've been listening to some female NZ and UK based podcasters/youtubers but haven't found any I really enjoy yet. I just listen to them when I feel like I need a bit of a reminder or a refocus. It would be great to find someone more relatable. 

@rachmac3, welcome and thank you for commenting. I was glad when the shopping arrives as I wouldn't have had the energy to go and get it. It also meant that we had something different to planned (tonight we will have a repeat of Monday night, which should have been last night too but it's nice to break it up). Meaningful Money is UK based and is a podcast, though I did find it a little hard to listen to whilst out walking, I'm going to try again. Mr Money Moustache is a website that I've started to look at but I think he's America based too, if I remember rightly - still great content just not always relevant though. I'll keep my diary updated if I find anything further x

Spendywendywoo

Quick update before I head into another mtg - back to back today so have blocked out some time later this afternoon for admin and to go for a little walk to get some fresh air. 

Last night was successful, but I didn't overdo it. I received my home delivery, which I put away after cleaning the fridge (miracles do happen), LO had to have a tooth out -  he only went for a check up but one of his baby teeth were found to be infected, he struggled to eat and was in some pain afterwards so we had lots of cuddles. I made DH and I a dinner of sticky honey salmon with noodles and veg. I also did 45 minutes of ironing which made a dint in the huge pile... I'll work on that again tonight. 

From a personal admin POV, I'd next like to start looking at organising my daily personal commitments... planning out effective time for things like updating budgets, reading, home care hour (to copy Foxgloves'), exercise, meal plan and relaxation. I don't want to be too strict where there is no lee-way but I am continuously finding myself distracted with other things that aren't helping me towards my 2025 goals... has anyone done anything similar? If so, any thoughts on what has worked and what hasn't (I know we are all different and I'll have to trial for myself but any insight into your experiences will give me food for thought) x