Am I missing something?

[LastTwoBraincellsFightingFor3rdPlace]

I am currently out of work due to ill health, but I hope to be back in work within the next year or so. My DP and I own a house together, with no children. I claim contribution-based ESA. I’m trying to organise my finances as best as I can and want to cover all bases, so to speak.

I have:

Cash ISA with a good interest rate, which contains my emergency fund. It has a little over £1k in there. I don’t save in here anymore as I’ve exceeded my £1k target.

Premium Bonds, which contains money I have earmarked for building work on our house. I save £40 each month into this.

S&S ISA, which I haven’t deposited any money into for over a year because I can’t afford the minimum payments. The minimum amount, which can be paid in is £100 monthly or a lump sum of £500. This pot will be used to retire early.

A SIPP, which is to top-up my workplace pension. I save £38 into this every month.

I also have a workplace pension.

Is there anything that I should do differently, or is there something that I am missing at all?

Have you done any bank switches to make tax free money ?
I made 700 gbp via this2023.

Dya sell old stuff on vinted ?

Premium bonds - arent these at 25 gbp at a time - confused as to how u save 40 gbp

I'd also add that, unless you have tens of thousands of pounds, it's not really worth having premium bonds as the chance of getting near or exceeding the typical payout rate is small. I'd just put the money in the best available instant access savings account and, if the building work won't happen for a year or two and you can get better rates by fixing, put chunks of money in fixed savings accounts.

Have you also reviewed all your household expenditure to make sure everything is at the best price and you're not paying for subscriptions etc you don't need?

I'm assuming you're trying to do what you can to make the best of your reduced income so it's also worth seeing if you can cut your costs. If you get the Moneysaving Expert weekly email, you can get ongoing tips on how to get free money or get the best deals on broadband etc.

Not an expert but there are lots of Isas and you can have more than one as long as you don’t put more than £20000 in, in total in a year.
depending on the t&c you can switch money paid into isas to one which give bettter rates. Martin Lewis explains it much better than me!

It’s hard to comment without knowing how much you have saved. For instance, I wouldn’t bother with premium bonds unless you have a decent amount saved there.

No, it’s that the minimum you can put in at a time is £25.

I used to do bank switches, but it’s not something I’m able to do now as you usually need to deposit a certain amount of money to get the bonus. I don’t get that amount of money now as I’m not working.

I don’t sell stuff on Vinted, but I have listed some items to sell on FB Marketplace.

The £25 in Premium Bonds is the minimum, you can deposit any other amount.

Yes. I have around £1,300 in PB, but I save in there monthly. The building months will be happening within the next couple of months.

I’ve been through our bills and expenditures and have managed to reduce my phone bill by £2 each month. I’m looking into fixing our gas and electric costs too, since they have increased again. We had our loft insulation topped up too, so I’m sure that’ll help!

There’s just over £1,000 in my Cash ISA, which I don’t save into anymore. There’s around £1,300 in PB, but I save into there monthly - around £40 per month.

I paid towards my student finance last tax year (out of my final payment from work due to being paid my notice and holiday pay etc.) I’ve requested a refund from Student Finance now that it’s the tax year, so hopefully I’ll have a nice amount back! 🤞🏽

Presumably you have a lot more in your S&S ISA if you are planning to use that to retire early?

It’s clearly going to be nearly impossible to save much if you’re living off ESA at the moment, unless your DP is picking up most of the household bills/mortgage etc. I’d be focussing on trying to increase your emergency fund, you don’t have a lot to play with if you end up with an unexpected expense. And also scrutinise your outgoings to see what you can save there. I’m not sure what you mean about paying towards your student finance and then requesting a refund?

Yeah, I had saved regularly in my S&S ISA when I was working, but obviously I can’t afford to keep saving in there now.

Exactly. That’s why I’m trying to cover all bases, so to speak by saving regularly into my SIPP and towards home improvements.

Regarding the student finance. My final payment from my previous employer took me over the student finance threshold, so money got deducted from my pay for that. That happened last tax year. Since it’s the new tax year, I’ve made a request for a refund from student finance. I may not get one, but it’s work checking, just in case.