It's the Easter weekend and this year there are two long weekends because Prince William is getting married next Friday. So, for most people, there are two weeks that you only work for about 2 days per week. It should not make any difference because this is also the University's Easter Holiday anyway. So, I made use of the relatively freer time to do some unfinished tasks I set to do. This is in line with what I considered to be the time that I "felt settled down". Since I got my double bed mattress, something I meant to get it sorted quite a while ago, I have been looking down the my list for others that need to get organized. This includes my personal finances. I have been looking at them closely, asking questions like, which bank account should I know allocate my saving to? what proportion of it? Should I consider a regular saving too? What about the MP AVC from prudential? should I consider that first before sorting out my saving plan?
I found these tasks increasingly become a chore the slower you get them sorted. You have to get them sorted as soon as you can, if not, you end up procrastinating them. I recently found a way to overcome that. I defined that as "Marginal tasking". This is a very simple method. What it requires of you is that, you need not sort things out all at once, give it a thought each time and do it bit by bit, and remember to follow up and eventually you will complete them. Today this is actually what I did. I plan this carefully, especially if this concerns your personal finance. For example, today I was not sure about what proportion of my saving should I put in a 3% online saver, should I put all or should I put lesser. I then find that what concerns me is the MP AVC scheme from Prudential. This is because I am not sure how much I want to put in that scheme. As MP AVC allows me to deduct my monthly contribution every month before tax, this affect your post tax disposable. However, I am also not sure about my financial commitment and urgency, etc, so if I put some amount in a 3% online easy access saver, and some in a fixed one year account, it may not be as sensible as it seems. Therefore, I am still thinking about this. I do feel like putting all 100% of my saving in the 3% online saver though. I feel "more secured" that way, though the interest will be lower than the fixed rate account.
I also planned to invest some in a regular saver. This will come out from the monthly post tax income, where the amount is dependent upon the amount I invest in the MP AVC scheme, which I guess I can decide a little later.At the end of my tasking for the day on this personal finances matter, I stated that my next task following on will be to read up the information about the MP AVC Scheme and what investment options they provide, and then sent email to the rep and ask for contact details if I am interested. I guess I really should not make decision too fast too soon, should be one step at a time, and the more the idea of "marginal tasking" rule applies. These are the things I spent part of my day thinking about. Saving in this case is a long term plan that has an effect on the final pension. I would rather be conservative and stable than being risky and taking one step too far. Sticking to the rule of living by the amount you get and be happy about it. I guess I can live with that, as long as it is stable and not too uncertain.
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