Now we're older - how well did we manage our money?

ceridwen

zygurat789 wrote: »

Isn't that a typical middle class scenario from our era?
Save hard to buy house.
Scrimp to put the kids thru uni
Save a little regularly throughout
And lo and behold your retired and have a bit of cash to spend on yourself.
Don't cry too much about pensions you appear to have four, three of which are indexed and one of them is so good that the country can't afford it, so Gideon tells us.

Just had to check out Gideon there - warrior/Gideons Bibles...reet...got that.


Hmmm...:think: - well I recall a recent conversation with a stranger which went along the lines of him saying "Well - we all follow the 'narrative' and its getting steadily harder to follow that narrative".

I got exactly what he was saying. He was saying that we all have a more-or-less conscious laid-down Plan as to how we expect our lives to be. I fully agreed with him as to that concept and acknowledged that I know what he means because my own personal "narrative" is so conscious. I am very aware of what is "written" in that "narrative" and have been/am trying to ensure that (as much as I want personally) of that Narrative is followed.

The one many of us (errr...me for instance) was brought up with goes as follows:
- leave education and get job or career
- get better job or progress in career
- buy starter house
- buy a better house
- move to the final Home and "settle in" good and proper (as that was the standard of house that was aimed for/expected in the first place).
- on reaching retirement age = retire (unless one is one of those lucky people that has a fulfilling job/career that would be done by choice - in which case one might "wind down gradually" to retirement)
- spend your "golden years" doing exactly what you please (travelling/helping out with grandchildren if you want to/expanding on your hobbies and interests).

This is not an untypical Narrative that is - more or less - consciously there in the minds of many of us.

Hmmm....a whole new angle on this topic. Did we consciously or unconsciously have a Narrative of our lives there in our minds and did we achieve it?

I'll start - I never managed to move on beyond "starter" type jobs (a variety of reasons - some to do with me, some not). I never managed to move on beyond the "starter" house (mainly because I never met the-man-I-wanted-to-marry - and therefore stayed single as a consequence and therefore couldnt afford to "move up the housing ladder" as anticipated).

Any takers on what your own personal "Narrative" was and how much of it you managed to fulfil and how you feel about it either way?

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Being brought up by my very frugal grand-mother I was well equipped for being a young married 16 year old who was totally skint.
We had three children by the time I was 19 and we managed pretty well by doing without and only spending what we had on what we realy needed.
It was hard but to be honest I look back and smile at those days,just proves money is'nt all it takes to be happy.
I've spent a lot of money since on things that I realy did'nt need just wanted and don't regret that at all.
Having said that we saved,bought a home and arranged a good pension and are as secure as we'll ever be or indeed need to be.
I'm confident that despite a few thousand thrown down the drain over the years we've handled our finances well.
Anyway its too late now to do anything about it,so why worry .

[Deleted User]

I like this thread, thank you for starting it ceridwen. It is inspiring and honest and a good read too. I was wondering if we could also take it forward to `how will we manage in the future?`. Obviously things are getting tougher, going from bad to worse and many of us are being hit hard and although we are mostly surviving, we are having to change some of the ways in which we do things. On a personal level, I never ever thought that I would still be frugal in my 60s but I am, because I may have 30 to 40 years ahead of me with no more earned income

ceridwen

I'd be quite happy with taking it on to "How will we manage in the future?" - as I think that there are probably many of us who are wondering how to "hang onto what we've got" - should we try?/can we manage it?

Own personal verdict =

- "should we try?" - yes

- "can we manage it?" - the jury is out on that and we can only try as best we can.

Personally - I feel that I've worked so hard/waited so long for what I have to date - that I'm going to do my darndest to "hang on in there". I dont wish to feel I've spent literally decades of "doing the deferred gratification thing" and planning and waiting and working only to find that Society does a belly flop and half of what I've worked for just gets taken out of my purse without so much as a "by your leave".

I think there are many of us in this sort of position - and will all have our different feelings on this. I was only talking to someone earlier who had received part of their salary for many years in the form of shares in their employers "business" and built up quite a decent size amount - which has been rendered worthless by recent events and ruined their Life Plan in the process (and they were telling me about other people in a similar position who had also had their Life Plan ruined by the same thing). They arent high-falutin' type people/havent been getting "luxury" level income as far as I can see - just ordinary people - but who have had their Life Plan ruined by Society "doing a wobbly" on them to what they had expected/planned for.

I did feel sorry for them - whilst I was warning them that there is something else I can foresee possibly "coming up on their horizon" that I feel they need to watch out for from what they had told me about their life - so they can prepare as best possible for a second "hit" at their Plan coming up. I detected a slight "shoot the messenger" look on their face - but I thought it was only fair to point out "summat else" I can see might well be in prospect for them (so that they have some sort of chance of mitigating this).

Personally - I dont think any of us can take it for granted that things will go According to Plan automatically - and have to "keep a weather eye" on things to try and ensure that there is no disruption to our perfectly ordinary little Plans for "how our lives will be" from here on in.

Do I resent this fact? errrr...is the Pope Catholic? Yep..I do...but I think it would be unrealistic to assume that "We've done the effort...so just sit back and wait for payout time". I think us "ordinary people in the street" with our Life Plan worked out/planned/paid for/etc DO need to keep that weather eye on things to try and ensure it will all still happen...

KMK

I was brought up in a family where money was never plentiful but we did not go without. My mother looked after the finances and I too have done the same in my marriage. I actually like reading Money sections in newspapers and on this forum and learning from others' experiences.

I am always grateful that I did not adopt the "married woman's stamp" as it was called when I started working. It has meant that I have my own occupational pension. I was able to keep working after my son was born so I did accrue a decent pension.

I almost opened an AVC with Equitable Life and ,thank goodness, I decided to go with the Pru instead.

I regard myself as very fortunate financially. Thanks to our final salary pensions, my husband and I are able to live comfortably and also help my son on to the housing ladder. I am aware that others, through no fault of their own, are less fortunate and try to be as generous as possible with donations etc.

When my son was offered the chance to join his company pension, I almost made him sign the form because I now realize how important such saving is.You just do not realize how important when you are young.

I was born at a good time; post war, welfare state, free education, cheap property,final salary pension, and...... I was young and carefree in the 60s!

zygurat789

ceridwen wrote: »

Just had to check out Gideon there - warrior/Gideons Bibles...reet...got that.

Er no Gideon Osborne

gfplux

When I was growing up we did not have a lot of money and that has always made me think twice about spending.
I often use the phrase "I never learned how to spend money only to save it"
Much of my working life we lived BELOW my income. We had good luck and now we are retired and comfortable.
When I see what is happening with so many young and not so young people who feel they have some right to Sky tv and mobile phone when their income says they can not afford it. Where did they get this attitude from?
Also the huge financial cost of servicing debt, all that money thrown on the floor. That half price £30 item ends up costing £70 by the time the debt is payed of, if ever!

out_of_cash

Lost it all, and the only things i miss are my ex,cat,and home.

out of cash.

pollypenny

Hitting a bills bottle-neck at present - car (MOT, tax and insurance - need to sell it). House insurance too.

Desperate to go back to USA to see grandson, so booked flights, paid for DS, too. Then blooming car car for nearly two months is almost a grand!

Oh, the garden wall blew down, costing about £300 to rebuild - so not worth claiming on insurance, between excess and losing non-claims bonus!

I'll be ok when I get some Florida sun and baby on my lap!

pelirocco

Ceridwen has been PPR'd?