Been thinking about this, did some leave calculations at work, booked the two weeks either side of Easter off and so will be my own guvnor from close of play on the 27th of March next year ; for a grand total of four days as Mrs GG will retire at the start of April . A little scary think that in 4 months time two incomes will disappear to be replaced by one pension & a couple of tax free lump sums, but we will be completely debt free and only 3 and 4.5 years away from state pension so as long as we can bridge the gap until then we should be fine...
Only two bills outstanding are the two cars, which my lump sum will take care of with a bit to spare. As long as I stop buying concert tickets...
At what stage/age do you decide that your cash may or may not outlive you? As each year goes by i become more and more aware of my own mortality and just don't know how to find the balance. Any thoughts would be appreciated and hopefully a decent discussion topic.
You are simply betting on your mortality. You may outlive your pension pot or you may not. It's a gamble. When I retired early I was banking on living till my 90's as my parents had and my pot would, in theory, keep me comfortable until then. Then in July this year I suffered a cardiac arrest and "died for 8 minutes". If I'd have gone then then my family would have got the benefits of my hard work. But I'm still here so I plan to enjoy my pot in the here and now cos you never know how long it's gonna last
I think that is the only way to view things. None of us know but without being completely reckless my view is to spend and spend.
This is definitely not helping * any of us already wavering over the purchase of another motorbike.. *(is helping.. Muahaha)
yeah I agree, the most irritating thing is having to pay tax on it. But those of us privileged enough to have a final salary pension income or pot are very lucky compared to what our children will get. For youngsters to be anywhere near in the same position they would have to save approx 25% of their income as soon as they started work, but with houses to buy and children to feed who’s gonna do that.
I've just arrived back from a luncheon where I asked one of the old fellas in attendance (he's 89 years old) how are things going? He replied, "Great! I've got 5 funerals coming up before the end of the year!"... cripes! If I'm lucky enough to live to be 89 years old, I don't want to have any regrets. If you got something to do, you'd better get on and do it. So I'm currently planning a load of trackdays & holidays, whilst I'm still fit and able enough to do it! Good luck
I guess it's fair to say that many of us who are tuned into this thread grew up with parents of the "make do and mend" culture. I have always been this way and even today if something that could be replaced for £30 breaks, I will spend 2 or 3 hours trying to repair even though I know I can easily afford to replace; it's just in the blood and I can't bring myself to be extravagant. I see the extravagance with the kids and the grandchildren and they laugh at me most of the time but I honestly struggle to be any different; it's just the way I have been brought up. Having said that I find it easy to be generous with other people but for myself I have to admit that I am just a tight arse
Totally agree, I’ll always try and mend, managed to get several extra years out of appliances by replacing bushes, bearings and stuff. Very much a throw away society now. And stuff isn’t built to last
Thank you Gaffa. Isn't it strange though that whilst our generation can afford to replace without batting an eyelid we just can't do it!!
