Joined up thinking

I have been looking at income & expenditure, mortgage and pension. Nasty, scary things.


Income & Expenditure - we have totally got the budget thing sussed now. It was hard at first but now we are in control. Its a breakthrough for us. It also forms the basis of pension plans.

I should work until I am 65 before I claim my private pension (67 before I get my state pension - well, thanks)but I have a report back from them giving me options for retiring at 55 or 60, with and without a lump sum payment.

I took our current expenditure and took out mortgage and other repayments, cost of the kids mobile phones, cost of second car and insurance, some of the cost of keeping the kids.

Bills came to £460 per month.
Shopping £300 per month
Petrol £200 per month.
Total £960 per month.

Income options are;
55 with a lump sum £791.67 (oops, not enough)
55 without a lump sum £1085.16 (do-able but not much spare)
60 with a lump sum £1102.56 (as above)
60 without a lump sum £1581.17

So the plan has got to be sensibly to work until 60 if possible (eleven more years)and then either take the lump sum of £96k and invest it or have the full amount.

This gives me a new aim. I can be fairly sure I will work until I am 60 so obviously I need to reduce the mortgage to eleven years. I don't want to be on a pension and still scrpaing togther my mortgage payment. Obviously this will all be inflated annually except the mortgage payment so that will make it easier but I would like to make eleven years my outside target. By which I mean I would get there in less.

Can we do it? I will start crunching my numbers and see where we have to go.