Plans for 2024?

[Dames]

3 minutes ago, Housepricecrash91 said:

 

I think in addition to covid... what killed a lot of my work motivation was high inflation, high taxes/frozen tax thresholds, stagnant wages.. It just feels like working doesn't really pay anymore.  

Couldn't agree more , especially the last bit.

 

D

[Unmoderated]

15 minutes ago, Housepricecrash91 said:

Yes completely agree. There are just days where I'm just completely unproductive working in the office and at home. I need something to work towards, but yeah my days of consistently working long hours at home or in the office are gone.

I think in addition to covid... what killed a lot of my work motivation was high inflation, high taxes/frozen tax thresholds, stagnant wages.. It just feels like working doesn't really pay anymore.  

Certainly pays a lot less than it used to with fiscal drag. Where's it all going? National debt interest and benefits it seems. 

I'm certainly, aggressively, putting as much into my pension as I can afford and utilising ISAs too. Like others say it's about protecting what you've got and as I've been saying for years it wont change until younger people vote en masse so I'll avoid as much tax as I'm able to and look forward to, hopefully, an earlier and wealthier retirement than would otherwise be the case. 

[zugzwang]

2 hours ago, Stewy said:

I like the positivity.

Too many forums with a high percentage of blokes degenerate into doomer negativity. 

I've been very lucky to land a job that I enjoy. It's two-thirds analysis and one-third presenting results of that analysis to CFOs and MDs of multiple SMEs. Working with highly intelligent people day-in, day-out is nicely challenging - and all from my Riverside Study.

In six or seven weeks the sun will start to have a glimmer of warmth again, and a new rugby league season. ✓✓

😆

[Maghull Mike]

2024...................the year the rest of the World tell the Western assh0les to go F**k themselves?

https://nitter.net/Kathleen_Tyson_/status/1740290118035087696#m

[Housepricecrash91]

29 minutes ago, Unmoderated said:

Certainly pays a lot less than it used to with fiscal drag. Where's it all going? National debt interest and benefits it seems. 

I'm certainly, aggressively, putting as much into my pension as I can afford and utilising ISAs too. Like others say it's about protecting what you've got and as I've been saying for years it wont change until younger people vote en masse so I'll avoid as much tax as I'm able to and look forward to, hopefully, an earlier and wealthier retirement than would otherwise be the case. 

Something else to add to plans for 2024... Plan how I can paydown the mortgage as quickly as possible and work towards a wealthy retirement and retiring early.

It's been something I've wanted to look at in detail, but a lot has gone into buying a house and building up a chunky emergency fund.

[Unmoderated]

4 minutes ago, Housepricecrash91 said:

Something else to add to plans for 2024... Plan how I can paydown the mortgage as quickly as possible and work towards a wealthy retirement and retiring early.

It's been something I've wanted to look at in detail, but a lot has gone into buying a house and building up a chunky emergency fund.

For me the mortgage is a useful hedge AGAIST inflation and debasement of the currency. 

I've a large (circa £350K) mortgage and about £100K in investments outside of my pension. I'm lucky with the current fixed mortgage rate I have so, for me, it makes sense to stretch my mortgage term and pay off as little as possible. Inflation has 'paid' me over £70K. 

Depending on your existing rate you might be way better paying down. If it's 4% then you'd need 6.6% from an investment (as a higher rate tax payer) before you're level. One thing to keep in mind is if/when mortgage rates fall to lower levels it's an opportunity to take money out of the house and get it into investments that will yield more. Can be tricky though as lower rates tend to cause markets to rally and you miss the boat.

Ultimately I can't retire with a mortgage so I plan to use a chunk of my PCLS to clear whatever remains in 16 years when I hit 57. This is another win imho. If you're in that crappy 100k to 125k range you can essentially have HMRC pay a lot of your mortgage off. It costs £9.5K of take home to make a £25K contribution to your pension. Do it for 16 years and that's £400K for a cost of £152K. You can (currently) take 25% of the pension pot tax free so you get an immediate £100K back. Then you can drip feed the rest out at a tax rate of your choosing. If you leave it long enough you'll be able to avoid NI too. 

[scottbeard]

1 hour ago, Housepricecrash91 said:

in addition to covid... what killed a lot of my work motivation was high inflation, high taxes/frozen tax thresholds, stagnant wages.. It just feels like working doesn't really pay anymore.  

+1

i work 4 days a week because i I worked 5 days the extra would take me over £100k which would be taxed at 60% as I’d lose personal allowance plus I’d lose £3k of childcare benefit which is lost it you earn a penny over £100k.

So basically if I earn 101k instead of 99k I end up paying £1k in tax and losing 3k of benefits.  As a result earning that extra 2k LOSES me 4K of income.

So I stay at home.

Then we have a “productivity puzzle” as to why the U.K. lags other countries … 🤦‍♂️

[jiltedjen]

Think retirement will be much more centred about frugality and being lean than outright spending power moving forward. which is fine as the best things in life are free anyway. being mortgage free and being able to cover food and local trips away, a small frugal car. it’s a fine life. 

a previous poster was talking about their house being worth a lot more than outstanding mortgage, and downsizing soon. However there are a hell of a lot of people with the exact same thoughts, and no masses of buyers to hoover up especially with borrowing becoming more expensive.

Certainly work does not pay anymore and the pressure to ‘get out’ is constantly building. I think for the working young it’s only a matter of time before they aggressively demand greater share of output and wealth at the cost of the current wealth hoarders, as seen by the 35% pay demands of junior doctors. 

in other industries the same is happening, as people move roles for said 35% increase, and roles are left empty or the quality of workers constantly degrades as basically people low level technicians become departmental managers (as no one willing to do roles for low pay anymore). 

however the problem is retirement is and always will be a claim on the productivity/output of the young generations, and the ongoing expectations are based upon the lifestyle of basically a 30 year pryamid scheme which is now collapsing. 

thus pensions need to be viewed as you vs the next guy (your peers). As say there is only going to be X amount of output/productivity allocated to supporting the old, then the pensions savings will only buy you a share of said X output, and if there is not enough output (or will) to support the old, then only the richest will have suitable modest retirements. Plenty will be forced back into work or grinding poverty. 

the 30 year pryramid scheme which has benefitted the boomers so well, will bite them when they are least react to it anymore. 

all they had to do was live a modest life, build some infrastructure, build some houses, retire modestly, instead it’s been a huge bubble propped up several times, and now retirement expectations (set at peak bubble standards) which they expect to be met by young workers (who are now finding the bubble has burst and no actual productive wealth creating industries left).

it’s like watching a car crash unfold. we are all deeply poorer than we think we are.

Richest millenials will buy the best houses, that’s how it works. And it’s not going to happen via a rocket in productivity and wage rises to meet the costs. It’s going to happen when the boomers on mass go to cash in their chips and find no buyers, and retirement are multitudes worse than expected.

but slightly more positively, really, stuff or money doesn’t really matter. time is the key. and if the boomer money frees them from work, even if it’s to read books or bumble around in the garden, that has a value.

what happens when the demand to lower taxes on workers cannot be ignored anymore, where will the money come from? well the wealth hoarders 

[TheChangeIsCast]

46 minutes ago, Unmoderated said:

For me the mortgage is a useful hedge AGAIST inflation and debasement of the currency. 

I've a large (circa £350K) mortgage and about £100K in investments outside of my pension. I'm lucky with the current fixed mortgage rate I have so, for me, it makes sense to stretch my mortgage term and pay off as little as possible. Inflation has 'paid' me over £70K. 

Depending on your existing rate you might be way better paying down. If it's 4% then you'd need 6.6% from an investment (as a higher rate tax payer) before you're level. One thing to keep in mind is if/when mortgage rates fall to lower levels it's an opportunity to take money out of the house and get it into investments that will yield more. Can be tricky though as lower rates tend to cause markets to rally and you miss the boat.

Ultimately I can't retire with a mortgage so I plan to use a chunk of my PCLS to clear whatever remains in 16 years when I hit 57. This is another win imho. If you're in that crappy 100k to 125k range you can essentially have HMRC pay a lot of your mortgage off. It costs £9.5K of take home to make a £25K contribution to your pension. Do it for 16 years and that's £400K for a cost of £152K. You can (currently) take 25% of the pension pot tax free so you get an immediate £100K back. Then you can drip feed the rest out at a tax rate of your choosing. If you leave it long enough you'll be able to avoid NI too. 

My personal take on paying a mortgage off early, is that you have to view it as much more than just a financial decision. Everything you say above makes sense, and I agree with all of it. I paid my mortgage off at the age of 29 (I'm 40 now), and I'd do it again, even though I know I could have got a much better financial return had I invested that money instead.

Why? Well, there's lots of benefits of being mortgage free, especially whilst young and healthy, that can't be measured in financial terms easily. Firstly, it's a guaranteed return, and you get to enjoy the benefits of that return immediately, whilst you are young and healthy, instead of when you are 55-67 and potentially unhealthy. Despite having kids, being mortgage free allowed us to save on child care as only myself needed to work (my missus returned to work just after the pandemic). We've been able to enjoy the nice things in life, plenty of family holidays. I've been able to spend a lot of time doing my hobbies. I work freelance, and so it's enabled me to take deliberate breaks between contracts, with no problem. If I end up in a shitty contract, I can just leave it, and find another one whilst enjoying the time off it brings. If a contract gets cancelled and I'm out of work, not a problem. The biggest benefit though has been mentally. I'm not tied to my work/career, I'm only doing it as long as I don't mind doing it, and if I ever get sick of it (which is fast approaching - my upper limit is 45), I'll ditch it and re-train, and go do something lower paid, but more rewarding. 

Everyone's different, but that's my take.

[Unmoderated]

1 hour ago, TheChangeIsCast said:

My personal take on paying a mortgage off early, is that you have to view it as much more than just a financial decision. Everything you say above makes sense, and I agree with all of it. I paid my mortgage off at the age of 29 (I'm 40 now), and I'd do it again, even though I know I could have got a much better financial return had I invested that money instead.

Why? Well, there's lots of benefits of being mortgage free, especially whilst young and healthy, that can't be measured in financial terms easily. Firstly, it's a guaranteed return, and you get to enjoy the benefits of that return immediately, whilst you are young and healthy, instead of when you are 55-67 and potentially unhealthy. Despite having kids, being mortgage free allowed us to save on child care as only myself needed to work (my missus returned to work just after the pandemic). We've been able to enjoy the nice things in life, plenty of family holidays. I've been able to spend a lot of time doing my hobbies. I work freelance, and so it's enabled me to take deliberate breaks between contracts, with no problem. If I end up in a shitty contract, I can just leave it, and find another one whilst enjoying the time off it brings. If a contract gets cancelled and I'm out of work, not a problem. The biggest benefit though has been mentally. I'm not tied to my work/career, I'm only doing it as long as I don't mind doing it, and if I ever get sick of it (which is fast approaching - my upper limit is 45), I'll ditch it and re-train, and go do something lower paid, but more rewarding. 

Everyone's different, but that's my take.

I like your take on it very much. Your views resonate with me. I'm trying to achieve the same I guess, but by my mid 50s. Well, I plan to take a long term fixed mortgage in my late 40s to expire by private pension age and then I will have enough in ISAs (hopefully) so that should I choose to stop working, or do something different I could afford to. 

Technically you should tell mortgage co of a change in circumstances but as far as I'm concerned all I need to do is keep paying the agree repayments. 

Had I paid off early I'd not be able to do that but I don't have kids and I'm not self employed. If I were I'd probably be doing things more more your way around. One thing I've always felt comforting is being in a position where I can just walk away from a job and have enough savings to take some time and work out what I'm doing next.

[Stewy]

1 hour ago, Unmoderated said:

Had I paid off early I'd not be able to do that but I don't have kids and I'm not self employed. If I were I'd probably be doing things more more your way around. One thing I've always felt comforting is being in a position where I can just walk away from a job and have enough savings to take some time and work out what I'm doing next.

This is a very nice position to be in. I walked away from a previous job in 2018 as I was waking up with heart and head racing at 3a.m. too often.

It turns out the company went bump 12-18 months later anyway, hence all the hand-me-down stress from the MD.

I took three months off mid-May to mid-August and spent a lot of it on the beach, in the pub, in the gym, watching the Euros. Very wisely spent time 👍

[MattW]

On 27/12/2023 at 14:02, dryrot said:

Keep an eye on the Leasehold bill staggering thru Parliament (good news for lessees, if it ever passes )

And please note that a lease extension will be £££ more if the lease length is < 80 years. Get it sorted before 88 years goes to 79... (Check the online calculators and MSE on leasehold extension).

Thanks for the tip.

I think that the current changes of law affecting leasehold affects owners of houses but I do need to conduct more research into this.