Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy · 28 March 2016 at 12:07PM

My current plan is hit mortgage hard, figuring that's the thing that potentially puts us at greatest risk of security. Mrs SJ work pension is very good so she's sorted, mine not so making this a long term concern. I currently put £200 a month to my pension and add any pay rises fully to it. Once mortgage is done the plan is to ramp up pension and retirement plans for 10-15yrs.
As for savings. We save for all 3 kids for a university type fund (not for fees but living costs or transport costs), we put £60 a month away for our long term savings and then have a holiday fund which gets us 10 days abroad each year. The amount here willhave to change when baby SJ is too old for free child place though. So savings not significant, that said we do have a 5k EF.

We have a downsize plan for 55-60 yrs old, which hopefully frees up some equity to go as part of the full pension/retirement pot.

I suppose it's all about what suits each family best. I'm not sure if ours is totally the best way round with interest rates etc... But I just view a £123k mortgage as our biggest security risk should one of us be long term sick or lose our job. At present we could now survive on my wage but not Mrs SJ's, so once I get us to that stage my priorities may well change. That'd be in about another £50k so approx 4yrs.

shangaijimmy · 28 March 2016 at 12:08PM

Alex the single thing that keeps me on track is daily TT's as I have to log on each day!

lippy1923 · 28 March 2016 at 12:35PM

Great going SJ. You're smashing the monthly OP's. TT's are definitely the way forward. Mine was a whopping 3p this morning

shangaijimmy · 28 March 2016 at 12:41PM

3p, live it. I had a 5p the other day and was gutted!

lippy1923 · 28 March 2016 at 12:50PM

So glad we are all like minded and MF mad. My friends/family would think I was a total nutter if I told them I saved 3p today.

shangaijimmy · 28 March 2016 at 1:10PM

I got 3p roadkill this morning on dog walk too...!

mrsp1987 · 28 March 2016 at 1:20PM

I'll get 1p Save the Change because I spent £7.99 at @ldi. It's still a penny though

clear_as_mud · 28 March 2016 at 2:53PM

TT's are something I really need to start doing again. I like a good round number in the bank accounts.

ourcornercottage · 28 March 2016 at 5:28PM

shangaijimmy wrote: »

My current plan is hit mortgage hard, figuring that's the thing that potentially puts us at greatest risk of security. Mrs SJ work pension is very good so she's sorted, mine not so making this a long term concern. I currently put £200 a month to my pension and add any pay rises fully to it. Once mortgage is done the plan is to ramp up pension and retirement plans for 10-15yrs.
As for savings. We save for all 3 kids for a university type fund (not for fees but living costs or transport costs), we put £60 a month away for our long term savings and then have a holiday fund which gets us 10 days abroad each year. The amount here willhave to change when baby SJ is too old for free child place though. So savings not significant, that said we do have a 5k EF.

We have a downsize plan for 55-60 yrs old, which hopefully frees up some equity to go as part of the full pension/retirement pot.

I suppose it's all about what suits each family best. I'm not sure if ours is totally the best way round with interest rates etc... But I just view a £123k mortgage as our biggest security risk should one of us be long term sick or lose our job. At present we could now survive on my wage but not Mrs SJ's, so once I get us to that stage my priorities may well change. That'd be in about another £50k so approx 4yrs.

It's nice to hear what others do. I expect we are older than you 42/50 and have far less pension provision. I also expect we will have to downside to fund our retirement years but the thought of leaving this house makes me want to cry currently.

Maybe £5k EF is a sensible time to relax on st savings but as we are renovating too our st savings are pretty fluid and EF usually stands at around £3k which is obviously too low.

Lots to think about. Maybe when the amounts are more significant I need to think abit harder about this.

AlexLK · 28 March 2016 at 11:02PM

SJ: I'll be honest and admit I avoid looking at the bank.

I should do and think doing daily TTs would help.

Can't say I get the whole "downsizing" thing. I presume people do it for financial reasons, though when you're much older your living costs are significantly less which is something people perhaps forget about. I know my parents spend very little money day to day: they don't eat a lot, use little petrol and have no mortgage / other loans.

Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

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