u/Bravado123

Background: 37, male, single, no dependents, house with a mortgage.

My savings and (very small) S&S ISA were wiped out due to a combination private hospital medical bills for a parent overseas, car issues and unforeseen personal dental issues hitting at the same time (parent's medical bills last). Not expecting these to return except maybe another oversea's bill. I ended up with £6.5k approximately of personal debt after all of this. Don't regret taking it out.

I currently put in 14% to my SS pension, with my employer contributing 6% if I put in 8%. Pension pot is approximately £75k. Plus £1.5k a year in government DC pension. I'm behind on my target retirement pot of £45k (a recent target admittedly) in retirement.

I can save £600 a month on 3.5k take-home and I am debating reducing my pension contribution back to 8% so I can put that extra monthly money (£200) towards rebuilding the emergency fund and clearing the debt (£147 a month for 5 years). Looking at reducing my 'want' spending too to help rebuild. I could pay off the debt in about 15 months' time, after I've built up a couple months' worth of emergency fund and saved up again for known annual/ one-off outgoings later this year.

I am looking for 3rd party opinions on an approach to take here and would appreciate your thoughts. Should I drop my pension contribution?

I've kept my eye on Victoria 3. It's on sale (£30) on Steam at the moment with:

Charters of Commerce mechanics pack

spheres of influence expansion

American buildings pack

Is it worth it?

Looking on this forum and it seems unplayable and fundamentally broken following the new expansion. Is it the new expansion that's broken the game or is it something else that I can basically avoid? Wondering now if I should just forget this game, if it is in this bad a state so many years after release.