Feb 2024 update - Cusp of £1m net worth, Pension revelation and Platform transfers

In this update we have:

• On the cusp of £1m net worth!
• Pension news and the affect on my drawdown strategy
• ISA and Pension platform switch incentives
• Half term activities and holiday plans

Overview

• Net worth increased +£28k in February to £990.9k, big movers include:
• Bitcoin +£14k +£15k +£16k (market has changed 3 times since I started this post!)
• S&S ISA +£7k
• Pension +£5k

Long term net worth trend, cumulative:

Long term net worth trend, broken down:

Monthly net worth difference:

Pension news:

Some of you know that I moved jobs recently, this spurred me on to take a closer look at my old workplace pension with the aim of moving it away from Aviva and onto a lower cost platform.

I was extremely surprised to find that my Aviva pension has a protected pension age (PPA) of 55! This effectively means it is immune to any planned increases in the coming years. It is looking likely that this age will be increased to 57 from 2028 and could well hit 60+ in the future.

For someone following a FIRE strategy, this small nuance is an absolute gamechanger. Whilst I still moved the bulk of the funds outside of my Aviva pension I have kept some in (circa £30k). My plan closer to the time will either be:

• Move the rest of my DC pension over to Aviva to inherit the PPA of 55
• Have just enough in my Aviva pension to cover the bridge between 55-57 (or whatever age it is)

The process of moving non-protected money into the fold of the Aviva protected age pot is outlined on the following Aviva site:

https://connect.avivab2b.co.uk/adviser/articles/news/platform-and-investments/Has-the-regulation-for-the-NMPA-created-a-new-critical-advice-point/

"If your client is one of the lucky ones that have this “unqualified right” then they have a couple of key options open to them. First, they have the ability to consolidate all their other arrangements into the scheme with the “unqualified right.” Second, they can make new contributions, all of which can be accessed under the old NMPA rules. Now that could be a really big deal!"

Current FIRE/Pension income access strategy:

With the above good news sunk in, and now with the very nice to have problem of numerous DC pots on top of a DB pot and a LISA, each with various access ages I can access them I've decided to develop a dynamic graph to show what I can access and when. Non of this factors in the current 25% tax free access as - the same with the State Pension - I'm not confident that it'll still be there when I'm that age.

My priority for the next few years is to focus on my FIRE Bridge pot. This means focusing on ISAs, GIA and Premium Bonds in order to get those red bars up.

Being a self confessed Excel geek I've made the graph dynamic so I can alter the FIRE age and I can see what effect this has on my pots.

E.g. If I moved my FIRE bridge access back from 42 to 48 then this is what it looks like:

The previous £17k a year at age 42 has gone up to £25.8k a year.

ISA and Pension switch incentives

Those that follow me on Twitter will know that I've recently moved across a number of accounts around. I was spurred on to do this because I would be a) saving a small packet on ongoing fees vs the platforms they are currently on and b) I would be eligible for some sweeeeet cashback incentives.

• Moved my workplace pension from Aviva to Interactive Investor
• Despite Aviva having age 55 protected rights, I've moved the bulk of the pot away from them as they have 0.35% platform charges. I still have an amount in there in order that I don't lose the PPA however.
• £200k in Aviva would cost me £600+, whereas in Interactive Investor it will cost me £0 in the first year and £150 (flat fee!) from year 2 onwards.
• On top of this, I would get a one off cashback payment of £1500 for moving!

If you're interested in taking advantage of the Interactive Investor free 1st year as well as potential cashback offer then please follow this link and message me for my email address:

https://www.ii.co.uk/recommend-ii 

• Moved half of my ISA from Vanguard to Hargreaves Lansdown
• I've done this for an easy £1000 cashback move of a transfer of £80k or more.
• Flat fee of £45 a year for ETFs (I've moved from FTSE Global All Cap to VWRP). This actually saves me roughly £100 in annual fees, but as I said I predominantly moved because of the cashback. It also means I'm more diversified in my OIEC/ETF choices.

What all this means (in lovely visual form!) is that after the switches I'm up roughly £3500!

Family:

• We had half term in February. The kids spent a few days at my parents and me and the Mrs went for a nice meal out in Leeds (Cut & Craft, can recommend!)
• We've also done a lot more holiday planning, both for Denmark in Easter but also Germany in the summer. It's actually felt really good intentionally spending on these experiences. This includes
• Denmark - Booking the Lego hotel + buffet dinner
• Denmark - Booking Legoland and the Lego House day passes
• Germany - Booked accommodation in Munich and Tegernsee, Bavaria
• Germany - Sorted Bavarian activities, hikes etc
• Still to book is Harry Potter exhibition tickets, more accommodation, Legoland tickets (Germany this time!) car hire and sorting the car seat situation out.
• The kids have been very active over the past month with various activities and plenty of walks when there was fair weather and board games/reading when there wasn't. My eldest moved up from Beavers to Cubs and made the finals for West Yorkshire Cross Country, whilst my daughter finally learnt to ride her bike and has stayed over at The Deep with her Rainbows section. Phew!

Until next time!