Advice Needed Please!

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi sugerplum fairy,

If the pension is a contributory one ie you put £102 in and your company puts some in e.g £102 I would not suspend it unless you really have to, beacuse you are doubling your money straight away.

If its just you putting £102 in and with no contributions from any where else then it maybe worth looking at reducing / suspending it as long as you don't incur any financial penalties by starting / stopping it. You need to check this out with your pension provider.

Or see if you can reduce your contribution to £50 per month ?

(hopefully that makes some sence)

Be positive because its not to long (2 years or so) until your loans are paid of and this will free up lots of cash to wipe out any other remaining debts. So there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Could you increase your income ? e.g 2nd job part time one night a week or something

At least you are starting to take control of your finacial situation and that is half of the battle.


Good Luck !

Best things in life are free.

Nikki

skintchick wrote:

Also, why is your TV £10.99? It should be £10.41. Small point I know, but dd up to pounds.

My TV licence is also 10.99 a month and I pay by direct debit.

Iona_Penny

Skintchick not sure if there was an increase on the TVlicense last year but I pay monthly and it is now £10.99pm

SPF I do agree about the pension fund if you are still young; it is important you sort out your debt, especially if you are being affected physically ie not sleeping properly.

Not much use here on cc and interest rates but wonder if there is any way to increase your income with a p/t or we job? Even if it was short term to get you back on track.

You really have done the right thing by really knowing your true debt, facing it and asking on here for help.

skintchick

Oh, maybe my next one will be that much then. Better enjoy the lower rate while I can!!

SugarPlumFairy_3

Thank you all so much for your help and advice- it is so good to know that there are others who have been there and come out the other end!

I did have a part time job in a bar but i had to give it up as im doing my phd so i can be a lecturer and therefore earn some more money. its quite hard to do it when you are working full time as well.

I think i might opt out of the pension for a while - im only 26 so as long as i put a time limit on it i dont think it will hurt too much!

thanks again - im feeling better already

:A

skintchick

Good for you - just taking a bit of control works wonders.

Concentrate on your degree - you are obviously v v clever and will earns lots of money when you've done it!

I opted out of my pension nearly two years ago, had paid in since I was 19, am now 30, will pay into it again when I am sorted. Weight off my mind to be honest.

Your situation now is what's most important.

frugglewump

Ah the phd - I finished mine 2 years ago. I had to drop my evening job then as well due to the work.

It looks from your post like you are a part-time phd'er - are you required to do any teaching hours during the year? We had to do 150hours as fulll-time to get the bursary but anything after that was paid at pretty good rates. (This was Brunel University)

SugarPlumFairy_3

Im a research assistant too so i get a little bit of work time to do some phd stuff. the rest i have to do in the evenings and at weekends. i do have to start doing some teaching in a couple of weeks time, but that is more as a favour to my boss as he worked really hard to get me a good pay rise! i dont get any extra money for the teaching but its good practice for later on i suppose. the department pay my fees which is good. i guess noone really has much spare money while they are still studying! trying to view it as an investment in my future - once i do it i will hopefully get a decent salary then things will get easier. am trying to get some freelance work too as my dad is also an academic and is putting the word out with some of his friends. even if it was a bit of data entry or something it is extra cash towards paying off those pesky cards!!

Dutchgirl_2

I would also suggest networking to get some teaching (make sure you're also getting paid for preparation and marking). Universities always have lots of casual work apart from teaching. Sometimes lecturers need people to organise their archive, the university needs people to invigilate exams, etc. You can also see whether the library has temp jobs available. I earned extra money while I was doing my PhD by teaching, marking exams and essays, and invigilating exams. Another tip is to write to journals in your field to ask if you can write book reviews. You won't get paid for this, but you will get the book for free. If you recommend (a) particular textbook(s) to your students, you will usually get a free copy from the publisher (write to them on letterheaded paper, or fill out an online form with your institutional address).

The teaching experience will be essential for your future career prospects, but make sure it doesn't become a full-time job, of course. I think you should stay paying into your pension fund, especially if you're a member of the universities pension scheme (USS), which is still a final-salary pension and that's rare these days.

Good luck with your PhD. It's a hard journey, but you learn a lot and I think it's worth it, having been through it myself.

Dutchgirl_2

Just another thought about your post, sugarplumfairy. I'm a bit concerned about your teaching situation. Although I understand that you're helping out your boss as a favour, you have to make sure that they don't start treating you as cheap (or free!) labour, particularly because you need the money. I know that when you're doing a PhD, your relationship with your boss/supervisor is more like master/apprentice, but that shouldn't be a reason not to pay you for your work. I know it's hard to raise this, but I'm sure you can tell him/her that you want to help out the department on a regular basis, but that you do need payment for it, given your financial situation (you don't have to go into details, everybody at a university knows you don't have much money as a PhD student/research assistant). If you become a member of a trade union, they will also be able to advice you about your work situation. I would also suggest that you try to negotiate some kind of contract for this work. It is possible, as someone else mentioned, that this extra work is a requirement for your salary as a research assistant, but it doesn't sound like that in your case.

Good luck, DG