So you are mid Fifties and put on the Scrap Heap...

[Silver-Fox]

I can see having a buffer is good.
But 3 4 or 500k is hell of a wedge to have as a buffer imho.

Maybe I haven't done as well as I thought I had

 

[peterc10]

We, like many on this forum, spent our life saving. It is difficult to change to spending the savings, especially for my wife. The trick is when deciding whether to spend some money or not, is to close your eyes and think what rubbish the kids would spend that money on when you are dead. That normally makes sure we spend it!

 

[2657]

Anybody with an index linked pension of around £15000 pa has a wedge of around £300000+ at current annuity rates, more if taken younger than 65.

 

[On the road again]

I'm with you on this. If you have capital available now that will last until you draw your private and state pension why do some see it as a big issue.
We all save for a rainy day and maybe retiring early and spending it is the rainy day.
We are almost in a position to do the above but the thing I will find hard is actually doing it.

Your last sentence sums up the difficulty, unless money is absolutely no object.

For a couple of year before taking the plunge I kept a spreadsheet that showed all our spending- a bit anal I know -but it helped me make the decision, or rather, to affirm that my calcultions were right and the plunge would be more of a wade into the shallows.

I still keep the sheets to this day hence me having a very accurate label of the ins & outs. It's now more therapeutic than necessary

 

[The Wino]

Buy to let residential property isn't as good as it was but the holiday rental market is better as there are more tax 'perks' which is why we bought a couple of lodges which are rented out giving a 8% gross yield!

We have two holiday cottage in Whitby good occupancy and don't use an agent but yield not great after the cleaners bill etc. Looked at lodges etc but worried about residual value on resale and fees/resale t's and c's

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[chaser]

I can see having a buffer is good.
But 3 4 or 500k is hell of a wedge to have as a buffer imho.

Maybe I haven't done as well as I thought I had

You are not on your own mate, the amount of money some talk about on here is just fantasy to me, never had more than twenty grand spare in my life, no private pension , now we manage on our state pensions and a it of rent coming in but no half millions lying about , never have and never will have I'm afraid
But saying that we have what we need and not complaining, just saying.

 

[Silver-Fox]

@chaser maybe it's because we've always worked with our hands and not our brains

 

[Scout]

It’s all right saving for the rainy day, but its knowing when that day comes, not mistaking the light shower for a full force 10 gale, it’s also worth remembering that there sunshine after the rain. Forecasting your finances is like the weather forecast in more ways than one. We never knew when our peak was, we think it’s in the future when were younger, but sometime it’s in the past.

Personally I had to stop work 3 years earlier than I planned, it’s not the end of the world but it’s near the edge, with planning we can move back from that edge. I’m afraid to spend too much because I’m a hoarder and I like the big security blanket, but I do realise that kids will only waist it, then there’s the grandkids to factor in. A man wiser than me once said, if you divide all the money in the world by the amount of people in the world, there will never be enough to around.

We all have different expectations/wants/needs….I think it’s time we could choose the time of our demise.

 

[Infinity31]

The question was what amount of cash would you need to last the 10yrs until retirement.

If you have 3, 4 or 5K it's not money lying around it's money working for you instead of you working.

 

[Yorick]

Any spare money I had, I put into property. The tenants pay the mortgage and you take the sale profit

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[Minxy]

We saved for at least 10 years and that enabled us to leave work early, 48 for me and 51 for hubby (he left 2 years before me). We each received a lump sum severance payout too although we hadn't expected/included this in our figures when we decided we wanted to leave, so it was a nice addition to our coffers. We have no kids and have always been frugal, not ones for going out for entertainment/meals too often and we enjoy simple things ... staying locally near the coast for the night in our camper and walking along the shore for example.

We originally were going to live in France but in the end decided against that although we did do 2 years at night class learning the language which has come in useful for holidays! We bought a brand new bungalow with the intention that we would sell ours and move into the new one in the future but in the end we rented it out instead (11 years now!) so get a nice income from that as we got a great tracker mortgage rate of 0.74% above base so it's a no-brainer to keep it whilst its bringing such a good income.

We calculated what we would need to last until hubby could get his work pension at 60 (at a reduced rate of course) and ensured we had sufficient in the kitty to live on until then, however as I worked for 2 years longer than originally planned and we got the severance payouts we ended up with more than we needed - not complaining though! With Santander etc reducing their interest rates for their current accounts we looked at other things and bought one lodge outright and part-paid for another which will be paid in full next year when hubby gets his lump sum from his pension. These are bringing in a good return at 8% less expenses so about 6% in real terms and should improve once they are more established. That's our 'portfolio' in brief and it works for us.

The issue we have though is what do we do with it all (assets/cash) when we eventually pop our clogs assuming there is some left (which I'm sure there will be) ... we have no kids, my family can pretty much b*gger off seeing as we've helped 'keep' them for most of their lives whilst they scrounged off the state and hubby's sister ain't getting it either (that's another story!) so anything we have left will go to charities. We're trying to spend some of it but as we've never been spendthrifts it's difficult to change!!!!

The problem we have at the moment is what to do when we DO pop our clogs ... who would act as executor etc ... my family isn't able (and I wouldn't let them do it even if they were either!) so who do we get to sort it out? Its a real quandry for us at the moment as we really need to update our wills but don't know what to do about and executor bit!!! Any ideas ... sensible ones please!

 

[Silver-Fox]

don't know what to do about and executor bit

Just use a solicitor as it won't really matter how much it costs will lt

 

[Portland]

I was forced to retire early, felt really bad about it. I thought my boss was mean and unfair! However seeing I'm married to her I couldn't say much

 

[Minxy]

Just use a solicitor as it won't really matter how much it costs will lt

... yes but HOW do you find one that you'd trust not to 'rip off' the estate ...????

 

[Silver-Fox]

... yes but HOW do you find one that you'd trust not to 'rip off' the estate ...????

Recommendation is always the best way I find.

Or use a friend that will not benefit from your estate except for say any out of pocket expenses.
Providing your will/s are straight forward there is very little for an executor to do.

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[Scout]

... yes but HOW do you find one that you'd trust not to 'rip off' the estate ...????

whats it matter your dead?

 

[Dartagnan]

@chaser and @Dartagnan you are of course right about eroding capatal and when it's gone it's gone.

But the other side of the coin is what's the point in dying with a "big" capital base behind you, having denied yourself some opportunities just to avoid eroding the capital?

Our position is we have no children, I have 1 older sister who has 2 children. So in reality we've nobody to leave anything to, so plan to use the capital rather than leave it to the tax man when the last of us dies.

That's the real problem, nobody knows when that day will be, so some caution should be exercised so you can provide or yourself long term - but then again you could die today.

Our approach is much more enjoy things while we have our health...

I agree with what you say in your particular circumstances but each persons circumstances are different and therefore the solutions may be different. The idea is to identify the solution that best suits your needs.
I have a wife and a daughter who now no longer lives at home (the daughter lol). When I die I do not wish to leave my wife in a poor financial position because of my unnecessary spending. She will be well provided for and she can live out her days without worrying about where the next shilling is coming from. My daughter is provided for though she is unaware of this.
As I said, everyone has to identify the solution which is suitable for their own personal circumstances. There is no one hat fits all. Tha idea is that you just need to be content with whatever solution one decides

 

[Minxy]

Recommendation is always the best way I find.

Or use a friend that will not benefit from your estate except for say any out of pocket expenses.
Providing your will/s are straight forward there is very little for an executor to do.

I was wondering if any charities do it - I'd much rather they benefited rather than just using a 'stand alone solicitor' - but I've not been able to find one.

 

[MillieMoocher]

@Minxy Girl we are in a similar position re wills etc. It's not only when you die that having someone to look after your affairs can become an issue, but if you both become incapacitated.

So we took the route of Lasting Power Ot Attorney so that if we can't look after our affairs, or die, the solicitors will act on our behalf.

It's a massive gamble though, currently the people at the solicitors firm we use we know very well (I used them extensively when in business) but of coursed people we know are a similar age to ourselves and who knows who will be in charge then. We used a local firm who are independent but big enough to have several large branches with a few 100 employees, as opposed to the high street guy who has no succession planning in his business.

If you want any more info on the ins and outs, happy to help via PM

 

[Minxy]

@milliethehymer

Thanks Millie, we've already got LPAs (finance) in place so that's not a problem ... I might take you up on your kind offer of help.

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[Chris]

There are very, very few bent solicitors.

And even if you were unlucky enough to use one his or her firm will carry insurance and there is a compensation fund so your estate would not ultimately lose out.

If you use a reasonably sized, long established firm you will be fine.

 

[SpeedyDux]

I had plans to retire at 55, all worked out on spreadsheets. Before that could happen, my wife decided to put me on the scrap heap.

Expensive business, divorce. Worth it? Hell YEAH.

Still having to work until the state pension kicks in. Which is now only a few months away.

 

[Dartagnan]

I had plans to retire at 55, all worked out on spreadsheets. Before that could happen, my wife decided to put me on the scrap heap.

Expensive business, divorce. Worth it? Hell YEAH.

Still having to work until the state pension kicks in. Which is now only a few months away.

Many years ago I knew a person who retired. Had a leaving do and brought to his wife to the function. Usual speech ensues during which he thanks has wife for supporting him all these years.
Next morning, first day of retiremen, whilst putting his socks on the wife says 'I want a divorce'. Crafty cow waited all that time till he retired then took half of everything including pension. His retirement plans shattered in 10 seconds!

 

[Fragle]

So,

You are mid 50's, as per the title. You are now out of work and you are thinking, enough is enough.

Fed up of the daily grind. Traffic, weather and many other things.

What amount of money/income would you think is enough to keep you going until, fingers crossed, you draw your state or other pensions?

Over to you.........

Great thread. Thanks.
funny enough at 56 and a bit for me and older for SHMBO. I won't say how old for fear of instant death. But although not on the scrap heap we've moved to the edge of the merrygoround and really want to step off. Every holiday is now a fact-finding tour of motorhomes gathering as much info and pitfalls as possible. it really is funny to see now how much people think they need set against what they really need.
I have a friend who is very envious of our motorhome. always wanted to do that he says. Where have you been where are you going?
Now this guy is retired. has numerous houses paid for and rented in this country and a villa in Spain. Already had one heart attack just turned 65 and not happy with life.
When I suggested he get a van and go see Europe himself he would really love it. I said, his reply was I can't afford it. What!!!!
Well to buy the motorhome I would need to sell a property and that would be silly financially as the van would only lose money set against the property. When I pointed out the benefits health wise the freedom ect it always came back to money. We don't have enough. I honestly feel sad that people live with that mentality.
On the other side we met a couple in France at Easter mid fifties who had sold there home. Just had enough they said, you only live once. bought a motorhome and had 200k left. 20 years at 10k a year when it runs out we'll sort it then if we make it both as happy as a pig in the preverbial
Now to go as far as selling up may be extreme, but they were a lot happier than my mate.
For us 10k would do us fine. thinking of downsizing to get the funds to full-time. keeping a small bungalow as a fallback seems the safe bet and maybe some part time work to stop the boredom that they say you will encounter, although I'm not so sure on that one
Every day is a little step closer to stepping off the merrygoround if only for a short while not having the alarm clock will be a pure joy and worth every minute worked.
You only live once you don't get a second go at life. We are lucky enough to own the house. The kids have gone and we have no debt. through hard work and luck we look forward never back you're defiantly not on the scrap heap at mid fifty, your ready for the next step.

 

[irnbru]

If there is one thing I've learned through being a funster it's don't wait till your state pension kicks in to start enjoying yourself.

Quite a few stories have been told about other halfs not making it either through death or ill health and wishing they had done it sooner. Mum for one wishes she had done it sooner. Never a truer saying than "You have money to burn when the fires going out"

My motto, do it now, I'm in the no one to leave it to bracket, no vast sums but I'm quite happy to sell up in a few years and start spending my house money. If I get to OAP age and skint at least I can look back in life and say I enjoyed it...NOT I wish I'd done it sooner. You don't get a 2nd chance in life. Just cut that cloth and be happy.

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[Old-Git]

I am retirung next year at 57. Thank gawd for one of the last final salary pensions, and that nice Mr Osbourne (!) who said I can take loads out tax free to spend on doing house up / new motorbike(s) and of course a MoHo. SWMBO also picks up her teacher's pension next year.
We have no kids, nephews and neice will be looked after by their parents but they can have the scraps that are left.
One or two little health issues have also given us a enjoy it while we still can attitude.

 

[Rosemary1]

There no pockets in shrouds.

My dad used to say (only half joking) his 2nd biggest fear when he retired at 52 was that he would get to old age with no money and have to skirmish and save. His 1st greatest fear was he would get to old age with loads of money, and had skimped and saved when he was young enough and healthy enough to enjoyed it! RIP Dad - he did die - at 84 leaving a pot for the family but that was mainly due to my Mum dying early and unexpectedly and he lost the heart for adventures.

We have a pot of money and the house and when it's all gone we will shrimp and save if we have to on our pensions - but look back with no regrets

 

[Jasz]

I packed up work last year and started taking a small company pension at 59 - it was reduced by about 30% over waiting till I was 65 but I worked out that I would need to be well into my 80s before I would be better off waiting and by then probably wouldn't need to spend so much (my wife had already done the same).
I am going on the principal that if we spend up to £1000 a month from our savings with some extra we will get through 100,000 in the 7 years to getting our state pensions and still have a safety net remaining.
Like many people we tend to play safe with money, but I'm glad I didn't leave it any longer - still don't have time to do all that we want.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

 

[SmithsInFrance]

I retired from dairy farming at 53

My hubby used to be a dairy farmer too! Hard life, 7 days a week. Had a career change and then a bit of a heart scare so we made a life choice, quit work and came to live in France. Cost of living has definitely soared here in the last 13 years, but we live a much simpler, sunnier, better life. He looks well on it!

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