Potter wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 3:02 am
Personally I'd be shelving any ideas that use up my disposable income, i.e. any money that wasn't needed for essential stuff. It's a sacrifice, but it's going to get worse before it gets better, I don't think you'll see much (if any) respite from price hikes throughout 2022, it will be a double whammy because interest rates will go up (enough for you to notice on your mortgage) but not enough to rip back inflation - so I'd rather have a bit to fall back on if I needed it.
I can't and won't live like that.. I'm 'wasting' so much money at the moment it's riidculous with MTB racing for my lad. It's not even monthly, it's daily lol. But to see him on the side of the hill racing, throwing himself down things and enjoying it... Well that's the trade off.
If that means that some months i've got less than i want for what i want, or i have to work another year when i'm 60 before i retire, meh, i'll take that.. I'm giving him (and me actually) memories that are here for good.
planning is great... but not at the expense of living.
Horse wrote: ↑Wed Mar 09, 2022 2:34 pm
There's no one way that anyone 'average' can make up a £2.5k defecit in one go.
But, as said above, incremental changes can help.
Turn the heating dial down, set it to turn off earlier.
Drive a bit slower, plan ahead so you don't use the brakes so much, accelerate more gently. Your tyres will last longer too.
Got Sky Movies, Disney, etc? Cancel one of them. Then cancel another. Freeview isn't *so*bad, your life won't end if you can't watch movies.
You don't *need* a new phone at contract time, go sim only.
Stop buying Coke or Pepsi for the kids to drink all the time at home.
Don't go to Costa or Pret every day for lunch, buy the stuff and make sarnies.
Etc.
I've been doing that for years and all I've achieved is being called tight by the family.
I live in a house where my wife considers it “freezing” when it is under 19 degrees - in the winter
When it is above 20 degrees in the summer it is way too hot …
weeksy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 6:34 am
I can't and won't live like that.. I'm 'wasting' so much money at the moment it's riidculous with MTB racing for my lad. It's not even monthly, it's daily lol. But to see him on the side of the hill racing, throwing himself down things and enjoying it... Well that's the trade off.
If that means that some months i've got less than i want for what i want, or i have to work another year when i'm 60 before i retire, meh, i'll take that.. I'm giving him (and me actually) memories that are here for good.
planning is great... but not at the expense of living.
I hear you, that's the way I always lived, I never worried about money, I had it large and chartered helicopters and boats for stupid money when people were calling me nuts for not saving and retiring early. I could have retired already but I mostly don't regret it.
As I get older though I'm getting less like that, my kids are over eighteen so those memories are already in the bank, and I also remember back when I was skint and it used to really worry me, so I never want to go back to worrying if I can balance the books at the end of the month.
So with all those years behind me and with the wisdom of being a bit older - I *think* it's possible to do both, a real financial regret is that a decade or so ago I didn't start dripping money into passive investments like an S&P500 tracker. That's advice that I wish someone had really drilled into me until I properly listened to it.
A good few years ago, a financial adviser asked 'apart from working, what do you plan to stop doing when you retire?' If the answer was 'nothing' the solution was to stop doing a few things to save £ to even out the transition. If the answer was 'I'll stop doing lots of things - like fewer holidays, bikes, cars, meals out etc etc etc' the response was 'are you sure, because you won't be able to change your mind?'.
But then, she was a financial adviser and made a living out of fees and/or commission on sales*.
*One saving I did make was to stop paying fees and commission to financial advisers.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Potter wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:03 am
You do have to watch out for excess fees and commission, you really need an advisor to help you choose the right advisor
My employer used a firm to advise us about retirement.
You could see/hear their distinct “switch” from helpful webinar mode to sales mode. They couldn’t hide their excitement when I said OK to a one on one interview.
Then they sent their terms and conditions, which I read and then cancelled the interview. Their phone answering guy didn’t even sound surprised at my reason: “I read your terms and conditions and I don’t like them.”
Potter wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:03 am
You do have to watch out for excess fees and commission, you really need an advisor to help you choose the right advisor
My employer used a firm to advise us about retirement.
You could see/hear their distinct “switch” from helpful webinar mode to sales mode. They couldn’t hide their excitement when I said OK to a one on one interview.
Then they sent their terms and conditions, which I read and then cancelled the interview. Their phone answering guy didn’t even sound surprised at my reason: “I read your terms and conditions and I don’t like them.”
It's worth doing as an exercise because they should help you clarify and plan things, but they do make their money from commission on sales (unless you pay a fee - usually a % of the money involved). The commission is supposed to be set so that they don't make more out of one product than another so their recommendations should be unbiased - if they are independent.
What irked me was that anything I was going to put money into regularly in the years up to retirement, they got a slice for as long as I paid in. Not really that much different from dealing charges and management charges on shares and funds I suppose but it does feel a bit like people are always queuing up to have a little dip into any money pot you might have accumulated. 'Wealth Managers'....hoick, ptoui!
If I needed advice now eg if I got a windfall I think I'd just do the one-off fee to a genuinely independent outfit with people with long experience rather than the 'I've been through the company training scheme and can follow the script' types. (Or do my own research and go DIY).
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
When I was looking at what to do with a sudden windfall I had some conversations with a few IFAs.
They basically trade off the fact people are nervous about dealing with their own large sums of money. That's not a criticism per se, just an observation. Anything with more than about 3 zeroes after it is bigger than most people are accustomed too, so I can well see why you'd want to ask your Dad, metaphorically speaking. I don't even need to imagine it, I was that person.
Personally I think I'd happy to pay lump sums for occasional 'health checks' but I baulked at the idea of handing over 2-3% of my money only for them to stick it in shares/funds/accounts which also charge 1-3% management fees. Most of what the one IFA I spoke to properly told me was fucking obvious anyway; use your ISA allowances, claim back the tax relief on pensions, investments can go down as well as up
JackyJoll wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:24 pm
You can and will live like that when you have to.
I don't believe that's in the offing.
Maybe not for you if you have plenty of disposable income, but when we were younger if my bills & mortgage went up by a few hundred quid almost overnight then that would have been a problem.
And yet somehow you think others should be able to prepare for it That above was my exact point that you've dismissed in this thread.
weeksy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 7:07 am
I don't believe that's in the offing.
Maybe not for you if you have plenty of disposable income, but when we were younger if my bills & mortgage went up by a few hundred quid almost overnight then that would have been a problem.
And yet somehow you think others should be able to prepare for it That above was my exact point that you've dismissed in this thread.
Potter believes that poor people are where they are only because they haven't tried hard enough.
"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people." - Giordano Bruno
weeksy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:26 am
And yet somehow you think others should be able to prepare for it That above was my exact point that you've dismissed in this thread.
I'm offering a bit of advice with the wisdom of hindsight and some success, you don't have to take it.
irie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:58 pm
Potter believes that poor people are where they are only because they haven't tried hard enough.
In the UK that's absolutely true, you're born in a place with such privilege that most of the rest of the world will die trying to get to it.
When gifted with such a head start in life then it's simply a choice.
Still not convinced I agree. It's a question of intelligence too ? Some/many simply don't have the brains to make it.
Me, I might have the brains, but don't have the desire. What I class as being a success is clearly very different to some.
I class it as barely having missed a days breakfast with my son in 13+ years, I can count on 2 hands the number of nights I've not tucked him up in bed. I spend just about every night with my wife and essentially speaking we have very few worries in the world.
Sure, we don't have £100,000s sitting in the bank, we only eat out twice a month or so and my bicycles are worth more than my car lol, but hey I'm happy, we're happy.
weeksy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:51 pm
Still not convinced I agree. It's a question of intelligence too ? Some/many simply don't have the brains to make it.
Me, I might have the brains, but don't have the desire. What I class as being a success is clearly very different to some.
I class it as barely having missed a days breakfast with my son in 13+ years, I can count on 2 hands the number of nights I've not tucked him up in bed. I spend just about every night with my wife and essentially speaking we have very few worries in the world.
Sure, we don't have £100,000s sitting in the bank, we only eat out twice a month or so and my bicycles are worth more than my car lol, but hey I'm happy, we're happy.
You're saying that you've got everything you want in life, so that's 100% success.
The general comment is that being born in the UK is a general license to anything you want in life, and you've just agreed by saying you actually have everything you want in life.
I'm not sure what you want me to argue about?
I don't want you to argue, I think I'm exceptionally fortunate, certainly compared to most, even in the UK.
weeksy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:14 pm
I don't want you to argue, I think I'm exceptionally fortunate, certainly compared to most, even in the UK.
I agree, so I am.
Some are not though and I was trying to offer a bit of advice because I know what it's like to struggle.
I sort of agree. Too many folk sit on their arse and cry the poor tale. The world doesn't owe you a living.
If you want something, you need to go out and get it.
weeksy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:51 pm
Still not convinced I agree. It's a question of intelligence too ? Some/many simply don't have the brains to make it.
Me, I might have the brains, but don't have the desire. What I class as being a success is clearly very different to some.
I class it as barely having missed a days breakfast with my son in 13+ years, I can count on 2 hands the number of nights I've not tucked him up in bed. I spend just about every night with my wife and essentially speaking we have very few worries in the world.
Sure, we don't have £100,000s sitting in the bank, we only eat out twice a month or so and my bicycles are worth more than my car lol, but hey I'm happy, we're happy.
You're saying that you've got everything you want in life, so that's 100% success.
The general comment is that being born in the UK is a general license to anything you want in life, and you've just agreed by saying you actually have everything you want in life.
I'm not sure what you want me to argue about?
I don't want you to argue, I think I'm exceptionally fortunate, certainly compared to most, even in the UK.
I thought that the discussion was really about what people can do to protect what they have. You may be fortunate in the level of job security, health etc etc that means you're unlikely to lose 'everything you want in life' but not everyone has that security and haven't made any provision for if anything 'less than ideal' happens - even when they could (lots don't have the option).
There are lots of people with all they want but 2 months after being made redundant, divorced, falling ill etc couldn't pay for any of it - car, house, holiday, school fees etc etc etc. Foregoing some things in order to protect what you have just seems logical if you've seen hard times before. Maybe not so much if you haven't.
I don't subscribe to the view that we're all one bad decision away from living on the street but I have worked at a place that went up in flames, been made redundant, worked for a companies that 'off-shored' jobs or relocated. Life is full of surprises.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
That above was my exact point that you've dismissed in this thread.
