10th April 2022

I’ve opened a new savings account. My bank does a regular savings account where you can put £200pm (max) into it, and you get a higher rate of interest, but on a smaller pot of money. Until the other day though, “higher” meant 0.5% and it just wasn’t worth the hassle of moving £200pm, only for it to move back to your current act after 12 months, then starting again. Too much admin, and previously my account balance was too low to handle that much money leaving (even if it was to another instant access account).

The other day however they announced would be increasing to 2.5%, still at £200pm, so that’s just over £30 interest at the end of the term. I doubt it’ll last long so I went and snagged one. I dont like adding another account to YNAB, feels messy, but for £30 it seemed worth it.

To be completely clear, technically I will earn slightly less interest on my current account than if I hadn’t done this, but seeing as my current account interest is at 0.5%, I dont think I’ll lose more than a few pennies

~*~

I am plagued by continuing pension concerns – I checked my estimated retirement age on my pension provider and they’re currently saying 73, although admittedly they dont take into account state pension. Whilst I don’t know what age I’d like to retire, I know my 70’s is late than I’d like. I’m currently contributing 8% to my pension, and I believe I’ve maxed out my employer contribution at 12.5%. I try to increase my contribution by 1% every 6 months and I’d like to get it to at least 10% (I only recently increased it in February), however teh pension provider is saying I need to increase my contributions by 10% (up to 18%) to get my estimated retirement age below 70! Or I need to increase my salary.

~*~

On a related note, previously I was doing some training in order to be a Financial Adviser, but it just wasn’t going very well so I took a break from it. Then the YNAB forums were closing, so I was focusing on getting this blog up and running. Now the blog is obviously up and running, its time to review what my next steps are. I could use my existing credits to a mortgage training that would allow me to become a Mortgage Advisor, or I could jus aggressively job search for a better job.

I keep getting distracted by get-rich-quick side hustles I see on the internet – the idea of trading crypto being one of them – but I think I need to actual put the effort in and either get a qualification or just get a new job.

Previous

~*~

Next

Back to Archives