watchesandwhisky

Lovely item, Italian hallmarks, 18" white gold with a nice twist design, lobster claw fastening - Easily looking at £500/600 for this at a jewellers. £210 posted special delivery.

I prefer the tarnished look!

978

I have about zero pension and im 38, it sucks - I have just got my first mortgage and so want to focus on that primarily as a place to live has top be top priority.. I have a workplace pension now (only been in the job six months) For those under 40 I think a lifetime ISA makes a lot of sense , 25% bonus on upto 4k contributions each year until the age of 50 - then can withdraw as a tax free lump sum at 60. Have a stocks and shares Lifetime isa with HL and am going to try and max it out for the next 12 year and let the funds do there thing until i hit 60.

I would think these should be isolated incidents or possibly done once out of the uk, are you sure the contents in the royal mail bag for split packaging was not swapped by the buyer? Most posties value thier jobs, and are such high workloads dont really have the time to try and work out whats inside packages and swap/steal the contents. I have been working with the royal mail since christmas, I would say there service is good from the limited side I see - Its easy to forget just how much mail is delivered. The tracked and special delivery services are 99.9% of the time very very good. signed for less so IMO.

Cheers @GoldDiggerDave , yeah I think you are right there - We have to do something and it feels like now or never. Will take each day as it comes and work hard to get it cleared! For now I am putting all overtime earnt into a stocks and shares ISA, and putting a tenner here and there into a Lifetime ISA for when Im 60. I am hoping that will be a lump sum to help us clear a different mortgage in the future. the royal mail pension should grow at the rate of roughly 4.5k a year for 30 quid out my gross pay packet so thats pretty reasonable. It wont be enough but at least we are building equity in a property too. (and without children will be able to use it to fund later life potentially )

Its a tough one, but what else can I do? Rent for the rest of my life? even if I am paying a mortgage of into my 70s it has to be preferable to renting, at least I will have an asset to fund our old age care for a few years (oh what a joyfull though lol...) It does have ground rent of £100 a year, but i have looked into it, it goes upto £200 in 2029 and then £300 in 2054 - So its there but sensible and not terrible like these ones that started at £250 and double every ten years. Service charge will almost certainly increase, but the management company does at least seem to tend the gardens, clean the communal hallways ect - I would love a freehold detached property but the reality is I cant even cant even dream of that, a lease hold flat is all I can stretch too. I am awaiting LPE1 form that show plans like reserve fund, when the service charge may be reviewed, any potential major works planned ect - will have a good read before I sign a contract. I Think its the lesser of two evils, service charges suck, but should suck less than being stuck in a rental trap I cant escape. I'm sure reality will hit home but at this point I am excited to be moving into the next chapter in my life even if a lot later than I should be.

I am kind of the opposite, I dossed around during my 20s (and most of my 30s) and have to now pay the price of not being willing to accept a long standing self employed "business" never really was that. I'm nearly 39 and I'm just staring. Better late than never though. I think its tight but doable, Whisky is my luxury I guess, I cant drink often any more but I have enough supply and variety of quality aged single malt to last me for many many years - as in at least over 25 years supply Clothes is low I guess, but most of my time is spent in work uniform that is provided free - so my non work cloths get very little use and I am not fussed about fashion or trends. Shoes is my biggest cost as I wear through tread quickly - So probably do need to up this. Buildings insurance is in service charge for some things, but i also need home insurance for burst pipes ect - when i did a quote it was cheap so didnt include it - but it is a cost. I work for the Royal mail, and being a unionised company I feel I am protected better than most - our union is the CWU and they are currently doing BT pay rise and have flat out rejected a £1500 year increase for them - stating a 10% increase is needed before industrial action is taken - the royal mail should be the same, they have just had a bumper year and payed out shareholder a ton in dividends - I Believe they will want the same for us. For fun we just go for walks in nice weather really, get some sun! but I also have a top spec gaming pc that will be good for years and a nice tv and entertainment system all paid upfront, plus a sizable physical media collection. So I feel im ok for entertainment, luckily we dont go out much and when we do its cheap. Cheers for the imput and thoughts, there sure is a lot to think about!

For high tax earners SIPP does seem best for sure, I would say average ish wage- Lifetime ISA seems the best for me I think as its tax free and still get the tax relief. I do a salary sacrifice with work for pension I do 6% and they match it with 12% (or well in 8 months they will - for now im on crappy basic 6% with 3% added for the first year of employment)

20k savings in a year is awesome! so you plan to save and invest rather than overpay? Im thinking along the same lines really, each day i do 5 hours overtime im throwing £10 onto a LISA towards pension and £30 into a S&S ISA. Should add up pretty fast as i do that 4 times a week usually.

Bet that feels great! Yep I think interest is going to be a lot more by the time the ten year fix is up for sure.

Hi Roy, I think i have it mostly worked out, i did this pre mortgage application so I could show them I knew what my expenses would be. Let me know if any of these stick out as off, I think I have overestimated on some to be on the safe side. Per month Water and sewerage - £31 shopping - £140 Car maintenance, fuel ect £100 (not a lot but a 2 year old honda so reliable and cheap to run) holiday fund £50 sim contacts £14 mobile phone replacement money £10 internet £25 electricity £150 (its a 1 small bedroom, 1 open plan lounge/kitchen type flat - with electric boiler, flat is EPC - B ) clothes £20 Life insurance - £50 unexpected (prescriptions, medicine, whatever else ect ) - £50 council tax £108 ground rent/service charge £100 Mortgage repayment - £550 Total bills and everything £1400, say £1500 to give some leeway. My basic salary just about covers this, but overtime will be needed for savings or overpayments for sure! I guess a figure of £7500 would be good for a 6 month all in emergency fund.

I'm looking for ideas or tips on things I can do, and opinions on my plans. First a bit about my current situation. Ok so now mortgage approved assuming the sale completes I will have a mortgage to pay at approx. £580 a month. I have practically zero pension provision (as in about 900 pounds!) and I am 39 in June. A place to live that is my own has to take priority over pension. So i used a sizable deposit and got a loan to value of 70%. I have an emergency fund of 4 months full bills to include everything and the mortgage in cash. I have secured a ten year fix mortgage at 2.59% I plan to do overtime where possible - and use that money to long term overpay the mortgage... With a ten year fix I'm thinking I may be better served putting all overpayments into a stocks and shares ISA on some low cost index trackers - ten years is plenty of time, and if the market takes a major dip when its close to re-fixing I don't have to cash out then - I can always get a new fix... As for pensions I also need to do something, First I thought SIPP, but that is only tax free for the first 25% at 55 years old, then taxable. So I am thinking a stocks and shares Lifetime ISA, cannot get until 60 and can only pay into for the next 11 years but its completely tax free. I want to clear mortgage, but i also need to make pension provisions (I do get a workplace pension I am maxing out but as of now thats only adding £37 a week - from December i get a much better rate and it will add about £60 with no extra cost to me) So instead of making overpayments to the mortgage provider I am thinking for every £50 i clear in overtime put £35 into a stocks and shares ISA, and the other £15 into a lifetime Isa to add to pension fund. Thanks for reading, what do you think of my plans?

Cheers mate, dont fancy the leg work really - If i dont get a bite here I will keep it

Is that the one with the display case back rocket ?