Rebel Finance School - what am I missing?

[SluggishLettuce]

After a few posts on here recommending RFS I started watching the YouTube videos and I just don't get it.

For those who are advocates, what did you like about it? I'm only a couple of weeks in but I find the Donegans nauseating and the presentations pretty poor. I was expecting something quite professional if thousands of people have been through the programme.

I agree with a lot of the underlying messages espoused so far (not all) so is it just a style preference? Does that mean it's not worth persevering as it'll always grate or has anyone else felt the same and got past it?

Keep up @hattie43 - OP is now a fan!

lol me bad for not reading the update .

I’ve watched the first two sessions . I’m completely ignorant about investing so am hoping to learn about that . A lot of it seems irrelevant to me at the moment but the later sessions will be helpful I think.

Stick with it. You will find it’s the later weeks that are helpful.

Some of it is useful, i cant watch the whole lot as takes too long.

@KatieDonegan
i just wanted to say. Watching the course has been life changing for us. 🍍 forever!

I watched it and then by about episode 8, I knew what the answer was for my family, but the decision was too big to take alone.

I asked my husband to watch, because I needed him to see the same thing I did.

We have completely changed what we were planning to do.
We understand the risks, but also understand time in the market, and I am trying (very) hard to get our adult kids to watch it, as I think it would be life changing for them, I wish I had known when I was 20 what I now know that I have watched you!

I am generally cautious and risk averse, albeit with a good level of financial knowledge overall. Doing the course helped me to understand investing, and has helped me sort pensions and understand what I actually have. I will be forever grateful.

I am so curious to know what you were planning to do, and what you are now planning to do. I was in a good position before the course but still learned loads. But still have difficult decisions to make …

@sweetmelody We have been overpaying the mortgage for years now in chunks to avoid the fees and had money ‘saved’ to beat the mortgage rate.

We decided to invest the money instead and pay the mortgage as normal.

I use maths a lot as part of my job, but having something so easy to understand completely changed how I felt about the risk.

i didn’t tell my husband what I thought, just said to him that I thought the decision was too big for me alone, and that I needed him to watch it. We both came to the same conclusion.

Have changed pension funds, and invested too. I feel comfortable with the decision and wish we’d have done it years ago.

Interesting! Along similar lines, I’ve been thinking about retiring earlier for some years now. My issue has always been having much more than I needed from 67 (been a member of 4 DB schemes throughout my career, plus a SIPP that has performed so well), but not enough to bridge the gap from 55/56/57. We also have a mortgage but, unlike you, we aren’t overpaying (we are older parents with all its costs, and we have been more focussed on investing over saving & overpaying) and I’ve been uncomfortable about retirement/reducing hours significantly with a mortgage (albeit with 20% loan to value - it’s still a big £ mortgage).

The course confirmed to me the best strategy is to increase SIPP contributions to take me out of the higher rate tax bracket. This would still be contingency as one of the pensions I have has an AVC pot that should pay off ‘my’ half of the mortgage at 67. If the reduction in taxable income to become a basic rate taxpayer is too much of a stretch, I do have the option to go interest only on the mortgage (or less riskier, 50% interest only, 50% repayment alongside my DH) and put the difference in the monthly payment into my SIPP - again, as contingency as AVC should clear the balance at 67. Alternatively, going interest only is a way of affording to semi-retire earlier. Think that makes sense!!

Makes sense.

We’re pensioned very heavily in favour of my husband, due to his earnings and his employer contributions.

I have a few pensions including a DB as I have moved around, but we think we will be ok from 67 onwards, so the focus is on bridging the gap for us. We’re mid 40s

I retired early and took my DB pension. Like others I have re-evaluated my approach and moved my S&S ISA into a passive Index Fund.
I have prioritised Cash ISAs but I’m now planning to move some into S&S ISAs.

Its also made me think about my next property move. I expect at 70ish I will want a flat rather than a house. I am seriously considering renting rather than buying.

The Donegans have confirmed they're talking the course off YouTube on 31/03 and new course begins in June.

I know this is a really awful consideration but think about what happens to your pension income if your DH dies before you and vice versa.

It’s really easy to think as a couple and about total joint income/pensions but the reality is one of you will probably die first. A lot of the expense of housing, bills, running a car etc doesn’t halve, in most cases it’s a much smaller drop. Holidays are not 50% cheaper as single room supplements etc. make it much more expensive for loan travellers. One consideration is how you ensure both have adequate pension income which may mean focusing on one person’s SIPP or works pension to even things up.

A SIPP (or any other DC scheme can be inherited, it is not lost when someone dies. It makes financial sense for a married couple to contribute heavily to the pension of the highest tax payer first until they hit the max tax free lump sum. In divorce pensions are added to other assets when the financial separation is assessed so it is only unmarried partners who need to think very carefully about whose pension they are contributing to.

@Mumski45 DB pensions can be lost or more commonly reduced.

I don't think that's correct.

My DB pension is reduced to 50% for a widow/widower. Additionally you lose their state pension.

My original point was to think about your individual as well as joint pension entitlements and plan ahead. If you just have state pension going from c£25k joint to c£12.5k is a big drop. Equally going from a DB pension of £20k + 2 state pensions is potentially a drop from £45k to £22.5k.

Apologies - I realise you meant if the person who had the DB pension died.

Yes. It’s OK finances and pensions are complicated because there are so many variations.