Sunday, 3rd March, 2024
Gorgeous morning although it was quite a cold night. The sun is up and the world is rapidly warming. I’ve been listening to the Chancellor saying absolutely nothing as usual ahead of the budget. I had hoped to hear about his intentions to reform ISAs because that would affect me. I would like to hear him say that he would uprate tax bands because that would have affected me and I would have liked to have heard him confirm the retention of the Triple Lock on State Pensions because that would affect me. I heard none of these things and will now have to wait until the Budget Speech on Wednesday.
We were higher rate tax payers across a large chunk of our working lives but really didn’t expect to be so in retirement. In fact, as we negotiated severance packages on leaving work, that was the first time we really focussed hard on what was to come. In reality, things turned out a lot better than we had anticipated. Teachers’ Pensions is a Defined Benefit Scheme based, in our cases, on our salary and service (Final Salary Arrangement) but for future generations on annual pensionable earnings, revalued each year (Career Average Arrangement). Rather than investments, which many private sector employees now rely on, there were no surprises when we came to claim. Not only that but Teachers Pensions are uprated by RPI inflation rate each new tax year.
It’s what others gaze longingly at nowadays and describe as Gold Plated Pensions. It was one of the few perks of being a teacher, along with the holidays, in a relatively poorly paid profession. It has meant that we feel better off in retirement with no mortgage, no National Insurance payments and no big commuting costs, than we actually did in work. We were always saving and investing while at work and we have continued to do so in retirement. We retired in 2009 and wages and living standards, nationally have hardly risen in that time. It has been the most protracted period of stagnant growth in the post war period and has left us feeling relatively more prosperous than we ever were in work.
One thing we didn’t expect was to be drawn into paying much tax. You may be aware, Dear Reader, of the term: Fiscal Drag. If not, it is taxation by stealth. While Tory Chancellors have talked about wanting to cut taxes on ‘hard working people’ and they have done a bit at the margins, actually, they have increased taxation by much more by holding tax bands firm and not uprating them with inflation. What that means is, if you have a bit of a pay increase, it can be completely wiped out by being dragged into a Higher Tax bracket.
Because of this, we try to shelter as much of our income as possible in Tax-Free savings. In the past, we have invested in shares and bonds. We have gone for managed and tracker funds. We have made money and paid tax on it because the capital gain outweighed the tax. For that reason we largely shunned ISAs. Now, however, the Individual Savings Account is coming back into fashion. All ISA earnings are completely tax free. We can shelter £20,000 per year per person at increasingly competitive rates. Just under a year ago, I managed to put our full, allocation for each of us away at 6.2% and it is fixed for 3 years which allows me to do the same this April and so on. Gradually, over the next few years, we would hope to shelter all our unearned income under a tax-free umbrella
Monday, 4th March, 2024
Oh what a gorgeous day! I’d like to share it with you, Dear Reader. Warm, sunny, bright and blue – just makes one want to be outside. And I’m following that urge by …. driving to the local tip to get rid of the huge amount of packaging we have accumulated recently from purchases. It is bins day today but we’ve got more than we can expect to be taken normally and the tip is quick and easy and only about 4 miles away. Do you want to come too? You know you do. Always good to have a trip out.
Most trips out of here go past the seaside so it is tempting to just stop off for a walk. Today, was warm and windless, soft and sunny and lovely to enjoy. Told you you should have come. The local refuse tip was quiet and the house is now feeling lighter and cleansed of rubbish.
I am a Historian and love I data so it is no surprise that I have kept records across my life. I have box files full of financial records – every payslip going back to September 1972. I was looking at my first couple of years of teaching this morning. My annual salary when I started teaching in September 1972 was £1179.00. That’s not per month but per year and before deductions of income tax, National Insurance, and pension contributions of 7.4%. To put that into perspective, my first monthly pay check was just £62.00 and I had to work for my first month with nothing before I was paid that princely sum.
When I started teaching, there was a shortage of people going into the profession because of the depressed salaries. I was paid extra because English & Science were shortage subjects. I was also paid £365.00 per year extra for teaching in Oldham – an SPS or social priority school. Within the first decade, we received two, relatively large pay rises. In 1975, the Houghton Pay Review awarded us a 27% pay rise. It felt good. Just 5 years later, the Clegg Review awarded us a 25% pay increase which Thatcher had previously foolishly agreed to honour. We went on holiday to celebrate.
Within two years I had received two, large pay rises, additional, special retention payments, two annual salary increments and a promotion. It meant that my annual salary had almost doubled. From almost nothing to double almost nothing. In the subsequent decade, my salary had more than doubled again.
Tuesday, 5th March, 2024
Woke up from a wonderful dream this morning. Bathed in warmth, I didn’t get up until after 7.00 am!!! I felt rather ashamed and self indulgent.
I received an email from BT who supply me with Full Fibre Broadband, ‘Free’ Phone Calls plus BT (TNT) Sport for the princely sum of £125.00 per month. It will soon cost me £135.00 per month. EE, which is also owned by BT is raising my mobile phone charge from £160.00 per month top £172.00 per month for two mobiles so it was really good to hear that we had won the National Lottery over the weekend. That extra £30.00 will really help.
Now Springtime is here, I am thinking about the garden. The soil in the raised beds has compacted and sunk over winter. It needs refreshing and topping up. I’m looking for someone to deliver a large bag of quality topsoil. This is the sort of price I am going to have to pay. When I’ve done that, I’m going to hire a specialist firm to come and clean the patio and drive. I do it myself each Spring but, after 7 years, I want a more professional job. I can’t do that until I’ve finished all the messy jobs like topping up the beds with soil.
I have a new role model to emulate. She was featured in the press yesterday when she turned 117. Can you imagine it? Come on, Dear Reader. Until now, we’ve been setting our sights too low. The new bar is set at 118. For me that will be 2069 some 45 years away. So much time for new life and enjoyment. Come on!!!
Kevin and I have agreed to order a Methuselah bottle of Champagne to celebrate our 118th birthday together. It’s only 6 litres after all. I’ve found one which will do nicely. Even non-drinkers are allowed to break the habits of a lifetime in 2069.
Wednesday, 6th March, 2024
Almost done the first week of March already. Time moves on lost in the tedium of routine. I did my jobs this morning as I do every Wednesday – stripped the bed. I’m not trusted to remake it. Emptied the dishwasher – I’m not trusted to stack it. There has to be more to life than this. Just ask Liz!
Feeling old this morning …. almost 118. Kevin says he wants crisps not nuts with his champagne so the question is whether to buy them now or risk leaving it until 2069. Until then, it is fresh produce for me. Fresh vegetables = Longer Life? Well, maybe.
I smiled this morning when we went out to buy a cooler duvet – 1 Tog – which is what you need when you’re so hot in bed but I came back with these, gorgeous vegetables. Not one item was grown in UK. Oranges from Valencia, Bananas from Columbia, Mango from Costa Rica, Asparagus from Mexico and Green Beans from Senegal. I observe that as a Tory MP stands up and says we should growing all our own produce.
Older age has definitely seen me move increasingly towards eating more vegetables – something I resisted as a young man. I’ve been amazed how much I’ve enjoyed them although I could never be a vegetarian. I do have a little sister who is a Vegan – but you always get one! I suppose, it is easier to indulge oneself in retirement whereas the stress of teaching pushed me more towards self-indulgence, unhealthy, comfort food and lack of exercise.
This pair of old men, good friends of mine although both a couple of years older, are still looking fit and healthy this week even though they live in the North. I think Chris, seen on the right in 1971, has got a job as a postman in his old age.
This morning, however, I had terrible news of another friend who was only 72 and died of cancer last night. He had been clear of cancer for a few years but it returned as it is inclined to do, and he finally succumbed. The cruel twist of fate is dreadful to acknowledge. All we can do is work to mitigate it through a happy, healthy lifestyle.
On this day in 2009, I was writing:
Things are moving fast at the moment. The amalgamation of our school with another and its re-emergence as an Academy has led to enormous redundancy packages being offered. Pauline & I are currently thinking of bringing our retirement forward to this summer.
As it turned out, things were moving very fast and, a month later, we were retired, our mortgage was paid off, we had set up long term investments and were looking forward to a life of leisure.
Thursday, 7th March, 2024
Lovely warm and bright, Spring morning. Almost time to start cutting the lawns. The beds are full of daffodils in full flower and some even starting to go over. We went down to one of the Garden Centres for a quick look.
It is still three weeks until Easter – the traditional start to the Gardening Calendar – but things are well under way. Huge areas of starter plantlets for growing on at home to save the gardener weeks of effort in growing from seed. I will combine both this year … but not quite yet.
Spring is a time for optimism and for hope. All gardeners work on that basis. In spite of the warm but wet Winter weather, better days are ahead. People sow seeds in expectation that they will germinate and plant out in the expectation that they will flower. It is the only way that humans can approach life. I’m trying to do just that but there is something constantly nagging in the back of my mind. You’ve heard of fate, haven’t you Dear Reader?
Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Next, Please (1955) – Philip Larkin
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.
Never let over-optimism cloud your judgement. That black-sailed ship is still coming. It’s all just a matter of WHEN.
My friend, Kevin whose older than me, has fallen off his bike. The bike’s alright but Kevin is quite badly damaged. Because I am very sympathetic, I’ve suggested a re-spray.
Just had my Annual Medical Review and they said I was a walking miracle: good blood pressure/heart rate, good cholesterol, no sign of diabetes. In an idle moment while waiting in the Surgery, I was reading my Twitter Feed and answered a question: If you could be the author of any book in the world, which book would it be? I said The Karma Sutra and it went viral.
Friday, 8th March, 2024
Yesterday reached 17C/63F. It has been followed by a gorgeous morning today. Out in the sunshine down to the beach and a walk back along the Marina Promenade.
It is a sleepily working port with fishing and leisure craft pottering around but, back-lit with the bright, Mediterranean colours, it makes one feel like on permanent holiday.
I know virtually nothing about ‘Pop Music’ at least since 1972. It really hasn’t interested me. Even as a teacher, I didn’t engage with it. This was amusingly illustrated over the past few days when I was asked about a character who I now know is Liam Gallagher and is/was in a group called Oasis. Now, I admit, I hed heard of Oasis because they came from Manchester but I could not identify a single member of the Group?/Band?/Combo? and certainly not any of their music. Kevin though that was hilarious.
Well, now I know another group called Blur. Apparently, they were ‘famous’ at about the same time – something which completely passed me by. It came to light this week as Blur impinged on politics. I learnt that the drummer, Dave Rowntree has been selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Mid-Sussex. I also learnt that Blur was described as Brit-Pop Band – which was all too much for me.
For more than 10 years, I have held a contract with EE for two mobiles. Nowadays, they consider us long standing customers because they suffer high high levels of churn amongst their clients. Our current contract runs out in May but they have been bombarding me for weeks with upgrade offers. Today, I finally gave in and I am pleased I did. We have 2 x Samsung Ultra S22 smartphones which a 5G and I am replacing them with 2 x the latest Samsung Ultra S24. They will cost me a bit less even though we will have unlimited, ‘free’ calls, texts and data which will also be available on roaming in Europe and the USA. Sometimes it pays to be loyal.
I have managed to fix a resale value for our 2 x Samsung S22 Ultras simply and easily with webuyanyphone.com for 2 x £306.00. Quite pleased with this afternoon’s deal!
Saturday, 9th March, 2024
Rather a duller start to the day but very warm. We’re having the annual central heating service soon. I’ve almost forgotten we have central heating at all we’ve used it so little this year. So light in the mornings now. You can just feel better things are coming.
Before I do anything else, I must wish little Cathy happy birthday. I say little because she always will be to me but she is 69 today. Very hard to believe and it does pull me up short to the nightmare that is aging. When I say to myself that this scene was nearly 60 years ago – long before colour televisions, home computers and the internet, long before mobile phones or dishwashers. Anyway, she won’t care. She’s very happy with her life. Long may it last! I think this holiday snap must have been about 1966-67. I was touring around Southern Ireland then.
Trouble with getting new phones is that they need new covers, new screen protectors and all the apps and data from the old ones copied across. Because I only do that every couple of years, I always forget how to do it and have to consult Google. I must make a mental note that I use the SmartSwitch app.
It means that I can copy across all our apps, texts, photos, address book, calendar and data without time consuming effort.