family finance Archives - CURLY AND CANDID

I have two wonderful boys. I hope to live a long and happy life with them however because sometimes terrible things happen Roy and I have comprehensive life insurance so that if one or both of us shuffle off in an untimely manner we will do so knowing that the boys are financially sound. Likewise, if either of us leaves the other behind we would do so knowing that the financial burden of raising the boys and looking after everything else would be covered.

What we haven’t put enough thought into however is what will happen should we live to a ripe old age and face a long and leisurely retirement. We know and understand the importance of saving for a rainy day and the boys of course have CTFs (Child Trust Funds) in place however we have no private pensions or investments in place to see us through our golden years as such.

Having done a quick Google on investments for retirement planning and the like I have found a wealth of irrelevant and quite frankly confusing information. Ignoring this I have had a look at the SIPP Centre which has information about tax-efficient investment for retirement and this has opened a few doors in terms of our thinking about what we want to do.

In terms of pensions, it doesn’t bear thinking about what the government pension will be by the time we retire. Roy has access to a work pension however I am self-employed and do not so it is time to join the pro-active retirement planning party and make sure we have enough to keep us in the style we would like to become accustomed to when the time comes. There are other options we are considering, such as bonds, savings options or we might do something a little different and buy draftkings shares. Either way, we are working hard now to ensure that we will be financially sound when it comes to retirement.

My question for you today is this: Have you sorted your retirement out financially speaking yet or like me are you just grasping the bull by the horns now and find the vast amount of information “out there” commercially self-serving and jargon-packed? I’d love to hear we are not the only ones who have until now buried our heads in the sand somewhat!

Photo credit


photo by John Althouse Cohen	via PhotoRee

I was always the one who got excited by a new school year when I was younger. Brand new sharp pencils, the smell of the new books and that first clean page on the exercise book. Apart from the fact that I don’t wear school skirts rolled up short or indulge in ridiculously heavy eye make-up any more, little has changed, I still love a new year!

Every January I lovingly unwrap the new calendar and fill in it and get the diary set up (this year it’s a Dodopad Pax – for a stationery tart such as myself, this is like heaven!). Then it’s money time!

I’m told money can’t buy you happiness. I’m sure it can’t, but being skint can make you pretty miserable too. After Kieran was born I gave up my well paid career to work from home. An income that disappeared overnight was a challenge and a half and taught me a lot about not only how to budget better and save but also about my attitudes towards money. Even now, with my income restored I’m still careful and hate waste.

I set myself a few tasks at the beginning of each year:

Ring / contact all providers (ie gas/electric, phone/broadband/ insurances etc) and check I am on the correct / cheapest tariff / packages
Adjust budget accordingly
Use the new budget to update the standing order payments for savings.

Three simple steps when set me up financially. I do check tariff info throughout the year and when contacts expire but it’s important I start the year off properly.

Record keeping.

My business books are always kept up to date and I file my tax return in May every year (I like to get it out of the way). My household books are run the same way. I use free bookkeeping software to track my spends. Knowing whether or not you are keeping within your budget is important but looking closer can be helpful! Last year I looked back at my spends and realised I was doing a lot of top up shopping, despite doing a weekly shop. I was going mainly for fresh fruit and veg and while there I always managed to pick up some unneccesary items. Looking at this I decided to have a veg box delivered weekly and this has saved me a fortune.

This is just one example that shows how a bit of planning and organisation can make a big difference.

I enjoy my new page at the beginning of the year and getting organised. What do you do at the beginning of the year to start it off on the right foot?

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Planning For Our Golden Years

Money, Money, Money