Our Financial Plans For The Next 5-10 Years

*This is a collaborative post but all thoughts on our financial plans are my own

I like to think ahead when it comes to budgeting and planning our money. As something I can generally control I like to know that whatever our goals are we have them covered. And that’s why financial plans are so important. Having just bought a house earlier this year and then spent months renovating it, our financial plans and goals are slightly different for the next 5-10 years of our life. Here are some of our plans and how we’re saving for them and setting ourselves up for success.

Financial plans- Garden renovation

We have most of the money put aside for the rest of our house renovations including the bathroom and the garage. But the next step is the garden. There are a lot of elements we want to do in the garden such as replacing the large back gates, making them electric, repaving the back driveway, replacing the decking, getting a new shed, returfing the front garden and the list goes on. We are breaking down our financial plans bit by bit to save for each element in isolation. I find saving up a few hundred pounds feels so much more manageable than thinking I need to save 5K. Currently, we’ve almost saved enough to replace our side gate. And then we will prioritize each element and save for this piece by piece over the next few years.

Pay off the van and get a new extra car

We’re currently paying off Luke’s work van monthly. So once that is paid off in around 5 years time we want to look at getting either a second car or selling our current car and getting one new car. We’re thinking about ford leasing options (or leasing with another manufacturer) as I don’t think we’ll be in a position to pay the balloon payment at the end. But we’re happy with the idea of leasing and it means every few years we can upgrade and get a new car. In an ideal world we’d set up our financial plans to save for the balloon payment but who knows what will happen in the next 5-10 years.

Financial plans- Wedding

Our wedding is one of the next big things we’re thinking about as we’re hoping for 2023. We have been saving a little money each week towards the wedding fund. But we need to up our financial plans and get saving a lot more in preparation. Originally we’d planned to view venues this summer and get something booked for 2022. But COVID changed all of our plans which is why we’d slid everything back by a year. When thinking about the specific financial plans we have for our wedding we need to properly think about how much we want to spend on it. I want the balance to be right between having everything we want, but not spending for the sake of it.

LISA and retirement savings

I wrote a post very recently about how we’re going to invest in our future and pension, but this is a massive one of our financial plans for the next 5-10 years and beyond. Luke doesn’t have a pension himself as being self-employed there’s no workplace one for him. And while I upped my contributions it’s nowhere near enough for both of us to survive on. So over the next few months, I want to properly look into LISA options. And how else we can save for our retirements. Obviously, anything can happen between now and us retiring but I want our financial plans to help put us in the best position we can be.

What are your financial plans for the next 5-10 years?

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