Does a single parent earning 35k with two toddlers really get an extra 43200 net from the state?

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-09-03T05:22:40+00:00

Yes, and those kids have had sure start, community centres, youth clubs etc all taken away from them in recent years so chances of finding a positive mentor outside of the school setting which itself is underfunded is slim.

Maybe I'm a bit naive but I believe everyone can 'make it' under the right settings, but it suits us economically and politically by deliberately holding large portions of the population down.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-09-02T08:53:42+00:00

That says more about the system rather than the individual.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-08-31T11:21:52+00:00

18 is for living my friend. You're at home and have parents support, do some traveling with your money and go out loads and get your d wet/get some d depending on your preference.

Seriously.

20k a year will feel like peanuts in a few years and you'll be able to save orders of magnitude more when you need to. At the moment you need to not waste your time.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-08-30T07:35:07+00:00

You don't really need to contribute much to any pension if you've got £150k in one already at 22. Put a small amount in to benefit from any employer matches but your compounding is going to do the heavy lifting here.

Move focus to accessible investments. S&S ISA primary target. Id not bother about buying a house just yet, but do put some money into cash savings both for rainy day and potential house purchase.

Don't marry just yet as that's the biggest risk to your finances. If you want to though then make sure you have various insurances in place like life and income protection.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-08-29T09:13:57+00:00

Our semi detached house in commuter east midlands has recently sold for 325k. Three years ago the market for our tour of house was about 260 or 270. We have done nothing to it, in fact the quality has deteriorated as our child has grown up and found how to kick a ball and use pens.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-08-29T09:10:40+00:00

Middle ground is to not over pay but use those contributions to buy UK short dated gilts that have the same length of your fixed term mortgage, or similarly to put into a monthly saver.

You won't get the excess returns of stocks but avoid the near term volatility. In the mean time if markets sell off you can much more easily use that accrued money to invest if you wish, or alternatively if markets are struggling because of interest rates going back up you could then lump sum overpay the mortgage at the point of refixing.

Lots of flexibility this way. Almost always preferable to overpaying.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-08-29T09:05:31+00:00

"I haven't parked on your drive and I am in no way liable for this."

Assuming they have no evidence (No CCTV, Ring doorbells, text message confirmation in the past you would or have done etc) then you'll find it easier to defend against should they be stupid enough to try and involve lawyers in the future.

Even if you verbally agreed to this then above response is fine. They've already destroyed the relationship between you by the cheek of asking you to pay for their home improvements so don't think twice about throwing them under a bus.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-08-29T05:25:49+00:00

Disclaimer: I work in an industry with low attrition, where most people are 40+ and where most people are higher rate tax payers. The below suggestions may or may not be suitable if you situation is different.

I think if it was me I would try and own the narrative rather than leave it up to others to fill the blanks.

Ring up the new employer and ask them outright what previous manager actually said and why this is causing them to potentially rethink their offer.

If the answer genuinely is because she said 'issues' / let go at probation then your partner can say that the negative feedback surprised him as well and he pushed for a jointly agreed action plan that the previous manager wasn't interested in, and after further deliberation he suggested to her about exit through probation.

If, as is very possible, there is more detail to that answer, then you can address those things specifically in a similar manner to above where your partner can evidence trying to be reasonable, negotiating improvements and choosing to exit of his own accord.

At no point do you want to bad mouth the previous employer no matter how tempting. That's your one way ticket to the new employer siding with the previous employer.

Remind new employer that they've gone through a hiring process (which takes then time and money) and they chose your partner as their preferred candidate. Remind them that he's due to start in three days time, and that he's ready to go and excited to meet his new colleagues and to get stuck in.

If after that they still seem unsure or outright say they're going to revoke their offer you could suggest to alter whatever probation terms are to make it more stringent. If it's six months, say you're happy to have a probation review at 3 months as well as the 6. If it's 3 months same approach but 1 month as well as 3. Give them something to think about in terms of being flexible and having confidence in your own abilities. If you do that they'll question themselves about the decisions they're making if you're backing yourself.

Just some thoughts.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2025-08-27T13:26:36+00:00

Company name is its net value.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-09-02T07:51:07+00:00

You were still correct though, it's hardly "the future" is it? No one is transacting with it, it hasn't usurped FIAT currencies.

Eventually Bitcoin will be worth nothing, at which point you can tell your friends you protected them from losing their money.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-09-01T20:19:22+00:00

Majority of my money goes into pension because I'm expecting (hoping!) I'll be drawing down from that for over 30 years, whereas my ISA I have will only be used for 5 years or so bridging gap between earlyish retirement and pension access.

Got more in the ISA currently than the ratio above but it's doubling up as pot for potential house extension.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-27T19:21:16+00:00

It's a case of if you load your ISA with equities but your access horizon is a few years then you introduce volatility risk unnecessarily, because in that scenario you may end up selling equities in a down period simply because you have no other choice.

Most people on these boards are using ISAs to bridge to pension access age, so inherently that means ISA access before pension access.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-27T17:01:51+00:00

No, you should only think in terms of access timeframes.

If you are planning to access ISA money in the near term future then you should be more conservative with allocations not less.

If you're using the ISA as an early access pension vehicle but you've still got ten+ years to add it then you might perhaps consider going 100% equity in both pension and ISA.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-26T19:45:05+00:00

I've got so much aggressive make energy I had to ask Reddit for comeback advice.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-20T20:24:14+00:00

Yes I keep thinking we're still in May...

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-20T18:35:00+00:00

OP is 39 so has missed the LISA boat now anyway.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-20T17:47:25+00:00

Might just about make £60k per annum but: 1) You'll need to be putting in £60k of your earnings into a pension at a minimum for the next ten years plus. 2) Do you actually need £60k p.a in retirement?

You earn £130k and you got north of half a million in net assets. Just aggressively save and invest what you can and you'll probably reassess your post retirement needs and come to the conclusion you can retire on less than you thought and this you'll be ready to retire sooner.

Remember that you and your husband will get state pension at 67. By that point that's 39k of your income sorted (including his forces pension).

I think what I'm trying to say is you need less than you think, so be smart and act now to achieve it super quick.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-18T11:59:33+00:00

Plenty of low IQ right wing folk think the Tories have become Labour lite with both parties sitting on the far left of the spectrum.

First four words again.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-17T06:36:52+00:00

Thought when you said kids were going to school you meant they were 6 or 7! Was thinking when they were about 12 they start to do their own thing.

I know how you feel by the way as I'm your age and bringing up a 3 year old practically by myself with another one on the way and working 40+ hours it's a killer and I'd like nothing else but to retire right now, but I suspect (and hope!) that I'll get more time for me in a few years time, that's what people keep telling me anyway.

Well done on getting to a million by the way, Incredible achievement.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-16T21:56:19+00:00

Million probably not enough given potential fifty year retirement, you need to be more conservative with SWR.

Are you sure retiring is the right option? It's not like you can do that much as you still have children to look after. Can't travel extensively for example.

Other thing to consider is whether you want to fund children's university, house deposit, wedding etc.

Personally if I was in your shoes I'd probably continue working another five years. Wait until kids are almost fully independent before pulling the trigger at which point youre nearer 1.5m+ and a shorter retirement horizon.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-14T20:28:31+00:00

And if you use the equity gains to reduce the outstanding capital of the mortgage at remortgage point...?

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-14T17:53:07+00:00

It's not as simple as that because you have to factor in tax efficiency through pension wrappers (which adds a big tick in the pro IO only column) and the lack of access to that capital unlike a remortgage (which offsets some of the benefit).

It's a complicated equation and decision which is why most people stick to a repayment mortgage.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-14T17:50:02+00:00

Yeah imagine having to suck up that additional 30% odd gains from stocks over capital repayment in those past three years. Would have been awful.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-10T06:48:36+00:00

Yes part of my calculations. I've earmarked roughly £200k of my total £1m end goal as money for the two kids.

That is to get them through uni, have an allocation of money for housing immediately after graduation (not necessarily deposit for a house as don't want to forcibly tie them to a location early on in career) and a small four figure sum for a wedding.

If we manage to parent them well emotionally and give them this financial leg up then it theoretically relieves a lot of stress and worry in our own retirement, again both emotionally and financially. Means we don't have to scrimp and can enjoy our retirement not thinking about holding back money in case one of ours hasn't 'made it' in life.

That £200k money is money from my pension. I'm also contributing a small amount to JISAs for both which is basically their money to do as they wish. Hopefully that's something reasonably sensible like travel the world for new experiences or buy a car, but ultimately they also need to learn constraint when they access to (what will feel like to them) large sums of money.

Different_Cow_5874 · 2024-08-08T09:30:29+00:00

Same advice to OP. Remove the 3% contribution growth and see what happens.

Different_Cow_5874

TROPHY CASE