Life is short verus saving for old age!

[Gemini]

We all say 'life is short, ' as we know it is. The older we get the more this is brought home to us, by too many people we know leaving this world.
None of us know what tomorrow holds, so we should enjoy life now. Be it a new car, holiday, new sofas or whatever makes us happy.

However, unless we are really well off, we know we can't just spend. People are living longer and to end your life in poverty would be awful. It's hard enough growing old, without worrying about money at the same time.
I know for many this is a sad truth.

The question is I suppose, how much should we live for now, bearing in mind we may need to support ourselves for 20, 30 or more years?!

With what happened to me this year and OHs incurable condition, I want to enjoy things now. We have had a lovely holiday this year so I know I shouldn't complain. But it was in March, I have since had my radiotherapy and I would love another to look forward to! OH, the more practical one, points out that our outgoings exceed our incomings and spending on holidays just makes it worse! I find it hard to find that balance. I understand what she is saying, but I want enjoy now.

We have savings, but I know we can't just spend them. Once we qualify for pensions I suppose it will be a bit better.
I am no good at delayed gratification, never have been, I want things now!

[grannyjules]

That's my dilemma. Hubby's just retired and now he wants to holiday in far flung places and have other trips away in the year. I can't get my head around the fact that we didn't do it when he had wages coming in, to make it back up, but seems to think it's ok now when we don't.
He obviously thinks he 's earnt it but was too busy before, can't blame him, but it scares me.

[Gemini]

It's a tricky one isn't it, GJ? it is a matter of finding the balance I suppose. Not putting things off and saving for a tomorrow which may not come (or we may not to fit enough to enjoy!) but not recklessly spending all we have.

My problem is I don't really understand money, I must confess!
We have a financial advisor who helps us make the most of what money we have (small private pensions of OHs, some of which she invested) but when w e meet with him most of it goes over my head.

[Daisy]

Gem, please forgive me for saying this, but could you be asking the wrong question. What if you change the question to 'what makes me (and loved ones) happy?' If a holiday is what makes you truly, really happy, then fair enough, find the money for it even if it means doing without some other things that you like but not as much as you like having a holiday to look forward to. How happy would you be if the holiday left you with debts you couldn't pay? I'm not saying don't go on holiday, or buy a new pair of shoes, or whatever, but to weigh it up against the true cost in terms of what you might have to do without in order to pay for it. I hope this is making sense.

Or another way of looking at things - can you increase your income in any way to pay for things that you want sooner rather than later.

Grannyjules - I can understand your OH wanting to treat you both to some exotic holidays, and I think lots of people find the money for a special treat when they've just retired. Not many people can or want to continue doing that for the next however many years, so tou may find that after a couple of good holidays your OH will decide that's enough to quell his wanderlust.

I devalued my pension quite a lot by retiring 4 years early, but I was suffering from burn out with my job and didn't want to spend 4 years putting in the hours and getting nothing out of it. Obviously that's made some difference to our retirement income, but I don't regret it.

We don't know what's round the corner, so I think really knowing what makes you happy is the most important thing.

[Mimi]

Gem I've completely changed my way of dealing with money . My self and OH worked hard, saved hard and never over spent in fear we wouldn't have anything for our old age.
If life has taught me one thing is that it passes in an alarming rate and before you know it you have spent a lifetime being cautious and having no fun.
A few years ago in the space of a few days OH was made redundant and then my dad died and if things weren't bad enough a new owner of my place of work took over and life became unbearable, I had health problems and I thought what am I doing? OH wasn't able to get another job and as we had saved we weren't able to get any benefits. After a long hard look at our finances we worked out that we could live on our savings as OH was due to collect his state pension within a few weeks and my pension was due in two years time when I was 60 so I gave up work. We were happy with this arrangement, we moved to a smaller place to live which saw savings in council tax, gas and electricity and water bills. . The only major flaw in this plan was the b****y government who had snatched my pension from me for 6 b****y years .
But we manage, we live within our means we certainly don't go without but on the other hand we know we can't afford things like expensive holidays but it's all about what's important to you .
We don't regret our decision one bit, would we be any better off if I were still working, possible, but would we be any happier?

[Daisy]

Mimi - That must have been an awful time for you - a lot of sadness, anxiety, worrying about the future, but you made the choices that were right for you, and as you say, you don't know if you would have been any happier if you had carried on working.

[Gemini]

Mimi, my OH also took retirement at 60, with no pension until 66. Her health, plus a complete change at work from small family business to the company becoming part of a larger one, made her decision easy. She has never regretted it. She has lots of free time and a new interest and friends from golf. It is as though she is retired and I am not as I have commitments, so we don't get a lot of that together time retired people are supposed to have! OH had a small amount of savings already, plus a couple of small work place pensions, then we bought, with a friend, a house which we rent out. The 'income' from invested pensions, plus the small half rent, keep us going. I earn so little now that it makes no difference really. Like you, we find quality of life is far better with OH retired versus working until state retirement age. Money isn't everything.

Daisy, I could increase my income by taking on new clients. As you know my week (mum, GC, etc) you can see how difficult this would be. My hourly pay is wonderful, but it's hard to fit those hours in It is something I have/am considering though.
I definitely wouldn't enjoy a holiday which left us in debt, you are right!

[Plantaholic]

I have never been on exotic holidays and never really wanted to, so no problem there but I do like a holiday. OH being quite a bit older than me was always anxious that I would have enough to live on when and if he passed away first. We sold part of the bungalow to SIL and DD and moved into the extended annexe so that money was invested and that is what augments my income. I am lucky enough to have a good pension that my OH paid into when he was working and a very, very small one from my job, plus the state pension. I am very nervous about selling my investments because I get income from them as well. I get a lot of pleasure from being generous to the family, helping out it needed. that reminds me I owe my SIL £15 for my meal on Sat.

[Qwerty]

It's not easy for some is it , so many problems getting a happy medium. We retired when my OH was 59 and I was 56 he had worked in education 34 yrs and had a decent pension he could claim straightaway he was like Daisy he was burnt out lecturing in engineering was losing the plot firms were closing down as Maggie thought the services were the way to go and now we struggle to find mechanics, plumbers etc he ended up teaching lads on the dole who were not interested in the job and knew there would be no job at the end , he felt he was hitting a brick wall it was really sad that this wonderful man of mine so bright and intelligent would come home on the verge of tears each night so dispirited and frustrated , will get off my soapbox.
Just a bit of background knowledge of why he retired early and luckily I was able to finish with him at the same time, we had invested in AVC's which came into fruition at the same time but we had gone without holidays and stuff to afford to invest in them and he got a good works early retirement package I also had a small works pension too which I could claim immediately. OH state pension didn't kick in till he was 65 but for once I was born at the right time and was able to get my state pension at 60 . We had some fab holidays then America DD had an amazing wedding and such lots of w/e away but then the g/c arrived and the rest is history lol
I feel I have to make sure there is enough money in the pot for 2 funerals 😱 and they can be expensive never know when I will need new furnishings,car although we are lucky to be able to run 2 etc but we eat out often have days out and do have the odd couple of holidays, lucky again we have a lovely house and enjoy being in it and happy to be there 😁

[Nanto2girls]

We have been lucky as regards finances. Hubby retired at 58 when the factory was closed down. He had worked there 42 years.
He got a very decent redundancy payment, which we have never touched.He also had a good occupational pension.
Part of his pension was invested and the rest of it we lived off,quite comfortably. We always had the money for when we needed new things for the house,
and still had our holidays,which included going to America.
I finished at 50 when the school i worked in closed down.
Hubby started getting his state pension when he was 65, the new rules didn't affect him. I didn't get my state pension until i was 61, because of the new rules.

[Daisy]

My OH and I have often said we were the lucky generation. We were too young to have suffered from the horrors and deprivations of theWar. We went through the education system when there was no great pressure,we enjoyed the Swinging Sixties and the full employment of that decade.

OH was able to take voluntary redundancy when he was 59, but obviously had to wait until 65 for his State pension. But we had both worked really hard throughout our lives - for the first 5 years we were married we both did 2 jobs and OH was studying as well. I've also studied while working full-time and running the home, so although we consider ourselves lucky, it wasn't easy. I do fee desperately sorry for those people a bit younger than us who suddenly find their pensions delayed for years.

[Glammanana]

I too was born the right time and just had to wait until the March after my 60th birthday for my pension,OH had already taken early retirement by then at 55 with half his Company pension so our finances have made us comfortable with regards to income,we also where lucky enough to sell the family house when the prices rocketed and paid off our small mortgage this enabled us to move abroad something we had wanted to do when the family was younger but we put it off until they had left school and started working themselves,we rented a villa at first and then bought a business and villa when away with the idea of the boys taking over the business when we eventually retired but they met girls and moved back to UK,we decided to move back to UK when OH retired and a lovely German man bought our villa and business we made the right decision as the bottom fell out of the Spanish housing market 12mths later and we may have had a problem,so we have been very fortunate when we have made our decisions.When we came back to UK we thought of buying again but we where offered a HA apartment whilst we stayed with DD and out of interest we viewed it and decided to accept the offer that is the apartment we have just moved out of,we can now look at holidays when we feel we need one and enjoy our retirement it was hard going when the children where small but we got there in the end,funny enough I never had my mum or inlaws to help with the children we did it ourselves by working shifts between us (ships passing in the night comes to mind)

[Nanto2girls]

Glamma, things worked out for you,just at the right time.