the inbetweeners

It's yet again been a while, so let me fill you in. The last time I posted, I was a few days away from starting a new role as an Infrastructure Engineer at Ofgem. The move was the result of a year's worth of job searching, setting and revising my CV, talking with recruiters and taking interviews and I was relieved to finally see the fruits of my labours. A year later I can confidently say that I made the right decision. For the first few weeks or maybe even months, I had a niggling feeling in the back of my head that I'd just made a huge mistake, but I think this was just the after-shock of a change that was really very over-due. For the last 2 years in my old company I was hanging around but hating every minute of it, so this past year has been a lovely reminder of what it's like to actually enjoy your work. I busy but not too busy, I have the time and headspace to learn and I've done some courses that will hopefully lead to certification soon. And, the icing on the cake, I'm being paid more than before but for way less responsibility. I stepped down two ranks, if you like, in seniority when starting at Ofgem and I wondered whether that would grate on me, not having much of an influence on things anymore. Thankfully, I must say, I couldn't give a toss! I'm quite happy with where I'm at, which is the first I've been able to say that about my career in a while. Basically it's everything I was looking for.

I've also remortgaged since we last spoke. Part of the reason I was seeking a new job in the first place was because the interest rates were kinda mental at the time and I knew I didn't have long left on my fixed rate on the flat. So I guestimated how much my monthly payments could increase by, worked out an achievable salary goal that would allow me to absorb this hit, then sought out suitable roles. Once in the role I had a little time spare to just enjoy having a little extra disposable income. Nothing ridiculous I should say, on my office days I'd treat myself to a sit-down lunch in a cafe rather than a meal deal. I went on a couple of nights out, took a couple of holidays and then before you know it reality set back in. So I reigned it back in again and started planning for what I was anticipating would be a huge jump in my expenses. Thankfully I was wrong. I spent nearly a year being so laser-focused on getting this new job that I hadn't stopped to notice that actually, mortgage rates were kind of stabilising again. The deal I ended up going for was slightly more than I was already paying, but only to the tune of about £18 per month. The process it took to get there is probably one for another time, but let me tell you when that deal was all set and confirmed I was so relieved. Not only could I afford it but i had room to spare. So to celebrate, or rather to treat myself, I 'invested' in an Apple Watch - which I suppose kinda paid off because I'm back into running and going to the gym regularly. And a few months later I bit the bullet and changed my car, something I'd been toying with for a while. Yes yes, I have car finance again, shoot me. I'll clarify that financially it was a terrible decision, but I wanted a new car so I did it anyway. My approach to car ownership remains unchanged though, get it, pay it off and keep it as long as you can.

Basically for the last year or more I've had something going on in the near-term that I had to think about or plan for. Now however, I don't. I'm in this sort of inbetween place. Im comfortable with my earnings and outgoings, I have another 5 year fix on the mortgage and my car is no longer as much of a ticking time bomb mechanically. All my remaining goals are 2-5 years away at least and all require the very slow and unsexy process of simply saving up.

Getting married. Yes, if you didn't know, Ryan and I got engaged on Christmas Day 2023. We're not 100% sure yet what exactly we want to do wedding-wise. We'll either throw the full shabang wedding day and night party, or simply elope and come back to a reception. Either way, it's gunna be spenny, so saving up for this is a must. I'm personally a fan of the idea of saving up for half of the cost of the wedding and then between us financing the rest. I think that's kind of the pragmatic approach given how expensive weddings of any sort are these days. Yes, we'll save as much as we can towards it, but to ensure it actually happens within the next 5 bloody years, financing the rest seems worth it to me.

Moving house. Moving into a 'forever-home' has been front and centre of my mind since the day I moved into the flat. The flat is affordable and we're enjoying ourselves, not having to worry all that much about bills is great, but we are starting to out-grow a one-bed flat. To be honest, we've actually already out-grown it. I might be relatively minimalist, but Ryan is a maximalist! So much so that there's every chance, provided we've saved enough, that were we to see the perfect place sooner than expected, we could end up porting the mortgage rather than waiting the full 5 years. Honestly, who knows.

Retiring stat. I'm still investing for retirement, that hasn't changed. It slows your progress to other savings goals of course, but investing 10% minimum of my take home is important to me. I like my work, and if I were to become financially independent by 55 I probably would still do some kind of work to keep the mind occupied, but the cessation of mandatory work is really appealing to me. Getting to a place where you are only working because you want to is something that I think should be everyone's foremost priority. The value you can add to the world when you're not doing something for the money is insane. Or in other words, what job would you be doing right now if the very low salary wasn't a problem?

Each of these things are ways away for me and there is simply no short-cut to reaching them. Of course the idiots of financial literacy, the NFT numpties, the crypto cunts, the forex fuds - the list goes on really - would have you believing otherwise. Pay no attention to their sales tactics. If they were all they are cracked up to be, everyone would be doing it - and you'll note that they aren't! Plus, I don't know about you, but if I was making £2k per day, would I fuck be telling anyone how I'm doing it. Who needs the competition?! The fact that they shout it from the rooftops tells me everything I need to know - firstly that they are insecure, but mostly that their world is one which is not all it's cracked up to be. It's a world where they claim to be rolling in it, but drive 1 Series BMWs, live at home with their mum and their "office" is in her garage. Oh do fuck off. It's not that I'm the kind of guy who refuses to take advise from someone younger than him, because that's very much not the case. I do however refuse to accept financial advice from anyone who's still living with their parents, especially when they claim to be a baller. Red flags all round. Long in the short of it is, use your common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Trust me, dear reader, and stick to the slow path. People these days are quite guilty for thinking they are doing something wrong by simply keeping their heads down, saving money consistently and spending the rest enjoying the journey. Just remember that the very boring and unsexy investment strategy known as consistency is also the most tried and tested one on the planet. Invest early, invest often, invest wisely, and there's no reason why you should not retire very comfortably. Get rich quick schemes only make one person rich, and it's not you, so do better. You owe it to yourself.

Don't get me wrong, not every month needs to be perfect. Not every month is going to be perfect. Sometimes, god forbid, you'll need to spend that £100 on some new shoes instead of saving it. Sometimes you won't exactly need new shoes but you'll fucking want them, so you get them. And so what? As long as your pay day routine is mostly perfect, most of the time, you'll do just fine. People think that life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, but that's wrong. Life is what happens in the in-between times, the time that passes between one goal post and the next. If you're an in-betweener like me, I urge you, remember to enjoy the boring, unsexy in-between times. That's your life.

~ Aedan.