Future Finances: Time vs Money

ShyAndRetiring

Hi SavvySue - and apologies, I think I multi-quoted / replied to this before but it dropped off the end ...

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Just a suggestion, but I cash my TCB out as soon as I can, usually into vouchers that DH is allowed to spend on e-books. I would worry if it built up as much as that, in case they either changed the rules or stopped offering my preferred cashback method. That happened with a survey site I used to use: they changed from sending vouchers to insisting on PayPal, which I never use!

^^^ This is a really good point which I hadn't thought of (and really should've). I may cash out what's owing at the end of the month so I can use it for the ISA challenge. Thanks for the thought!

£300 for two wills doesn't sound bad. If the 'legal firm' were will-writers rather than 'proper' solicitors, re-arrange this sentence: 'bargepole a with touch not do'.

Plus, you do not actually want 'mirror wills' if your DH is leaving some stuff to his DDs, and IMO it would be wise for his will to state that he is leaving X and Y to them, so that they get what he wants to go to them when he dies, whether that's first or second.

Plus plus, my parents' solicitor advised that it was actually better to give things while you're alive, in case they can't be found / have been sold / are damaged at the time of death. Also it may save grief and heartache. Just as an example, my mum had something which she'd got from her mum: it was something to do with the first time Granddad won a tournament in the sport he enjoyed. Now whenever Mum asked if there was anything any of us would like, ALL the girls wanted THAT. Mum had intended to leave it in her will, but instead she gave it to one of us some years before she died. And I'm glad, because we were all very civilised when she died, but if that thing - not valuable in itself - had been there to be argued over, we might have argued, and some of us would have felt hurt or aggrieved.

So, just some thoughts which others may or may not find helpful.

Very helpful, thanks Sue ... I think OH was hoping to just stick the equivalent of a post-it in with the mirror will to divvy out his individual bequests to his daughters! Good to know that the cost sounds sensible as I'd rather go with the solicitor as I've used the company across 7 house sales / purchases, much better than going with someone we don't know,

ShyAndRetiring

Well a busy weekend, but back now to the tasks in hand!

* Spending

#1): No FleaBay spending - continuation of good work, total 5 / 31.

#2) Extra bread, milk, desser and tonic water to top up essential visitor supplies adds another £6 to spends this week: £ 33 / £165 spent so far.

Managed to keep a limit on additional spending with visitor, who brought a few goodies with him - just a few beers out of the entertainment pot!
Also OH had quite a result with mackerel fishing today, so he's going to smoke some tomorrow then freeze some, add into the meal plan for rest of week. So we shouldn't have to top up with any extra food purchases and really hope to keep overall food spending to under £35 this week.

* Saving

# 1) Haven't spent any of this month's purse money yet, but as it's early days I haven't been tempted to add any more into holiday purse, so holiday purse total remains £ 40 / £75.

# 2) Busy weekend means I've listed nothing at all. Actually, I'm musing on SavvySue's wisdom and may go for a quick (and Savvy) solution to this goal by cashing out from TCB. Will check how much that is tomorrow. So extra ISA saving still £ 0 / £120.

* Sorting

#1) Now then, I had to put the spreadsheets to one side this weekend, but wasn't able to avoid the news. The Guardian online ran an article on Saturday about how our local council is just about bankrupt and is slashing services across the board - and not just as a temporary or short term measure. Amongst many things, the following part of the article caught my eye:

"It [the council] said the county’s rapidly ageing population – a third of residents will be over 65 by 2031– meant it could not maintain current levels of care. “Our community will therefore need to take more responsibility for looking after themselves and each other to keep everyone safe and independent as long as possible.”

It caught my attention largely because ...
a) That statistic directly includes OH and myself, we'll definitely both be in that bracket by 2031.
b) We're fine with taking responsibility for ourselves, but are our finances (particularly in the context of early retirement hopes) going to be robust enough to allow us to be independent in doing so, if there's likely to be no resources available from the county council?
c) I need to review the spreadsheet from a future care point of view. Does everyone else do this? I know it gets mentioned on The Number thread and it's a wide-open discussion, but when you know that the local authority are actually saying "look folks, there's no help here, sort it out for yourselves" it kind of makes you think that it's going to be necessary to make at least some basic provision in the long term plan?
Now I know my focus this month is the mid-term plan but I mention this now because the mid-term plan has to provide for the long-term one - whether through putting extra by or organising the mid-term to ensure we don't use the lump sum for day-to-day but keep it put by for those harder-to-manage days.
The article if anyone wants to read how dire it is can be found here.
Happy to hear your thoughts, lovely people!

#2) No Will action this weekend, will carry on next week, possibly by making the solicitor appt. I need to talk to OH but he's been too busy having a social life this weekend. :beer:
No worries, I'll snaffle him with a Bored Meeting next Saturday :rotfl:

Simple pleasures:
- Seeing OH happy catching up with his 'bestie'.
- Something I've done as a good deed (volunteering) has lead to a word-of-mouth recommendation that could lead to a bit of extra paid work. This dovetails with a whole other 'sorting' plan to help the future finances / DRD, so it could be promising even if it has come up a bit before I was ready for it!
- Being by the seaside.
- Nurturing the needy, see below ...

So, in other news, we're currently sheltering a racing pigeon in the garage. It's been around in a very dazed and confused state most of the day (staying on the ground and putting itself in the direct path of the cat at least twice) so we've given it safe shelter, food and water. Managed to read the numbers on its rings and report it but haven't been able to see if it has a phone number on its wings.
The website advises trying to do so but as the poor thing seems quite overwhelmed by life as it is, neither of us wants to be the one holding the pigeon whilst the other one puts it under stress by pulling its wings about ... has the potential to get very messy, me-thinks. Hopefully the pigeon people will come back to us tomorrow with the owner's details.

So there we are, all up to date and almost Monday already ... have a great week ahead everyone, SaRx

moneyistooshorttomention

ShyAndRetiring wrote: »

Hi Money ...

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

:j Ooooh Bugslet ^^^ getting a crew together here for you! ^^^^

Someone say barge holiday:D.

One proviso - no going across that tall viaduct (whatever it was called again) leading to Wales:eek:. Once in a lifetime on that one is enough imo - even if not the one doing the "driving":eek: The ground looked a long way down to me on summoning up the nerve for a peep....

crv1963

It caught my attention largely because ...
a) That statistic directly includes OH and myself, we'll definitely both be in that bracket by 2031.
b) We're fine with taking responsibility for ourselves, but are our finances (particularly in the context of early retirement hopes) going to be robust enough to allow us to be independent in doing so, if there's likely to be no resources available from the county council?
c) I need to review the spreadsheet from a future care point of view. Does everyone else do this? I know it gets mentioned on The Number thread and it's a wide-open discussion, but when you know that the local authority are actually saying "look folks, there's no help here, sort it out for yourselves" it kind of makes you think that it's going to be necessary to make at least some basic provision in the long term plan?


I think that we're all going to have to make some provision for the future- although our Council hasn't said make your own way, it is strapped for cash so more cuts are inevitable.


I think there is a choice- either savings specific for future care/ help with maintaining living at home or trying to increase income stream. I'm toying with maybe starting a pot for this purpose, but on the other hand if you need help to stay living in your home are you going to want to be taking holidays as opposed to maybe weekends away?


Even transport costs rise though- my mother needed to take 3 trips to outpatient appointments last month as the time of appointments meant she couldn't use public transport she had to pay £25 each time for a taxi. She is also very independent but with just SP to live on I stepped in to contribute, so I'm of a mind to save a bit in case we get to this stage.

moneyistooshorttomention

There is an element of "transport costs" applicable to some in the earlier stages of retirement - as quite a few of us still have one or both parents still alive.

Now if those parents are elsewhere in the country (maybe even elsewhere in the world) then there are your own transport costs to get to/from seeing them and maybe accommodation costs whilst there. Dependant on whether one has a car - but, if not, then those costs could be pretty high if the circumstances are awkward ones.

I know my own transport costs to get back to see elderly parents aren't bad if I can know enough in advance/go by train. But - if anything has happened to those trains (eg a train strike or something) then we're talking cost of a long-distance taxi if it's urgent (£35 cheapest return train fare is no big deal - but around £400 for a taxi all the way if I "HAD to get back Today" and that's noticeable). Personally - I mentally "set aside" money for that sort of thing - in case (one of the reasons for keeping a bit of cash around - though I think they possibly know me well enough by now they'd take a cheque and trust me). Assuming one has a "local friendly taxi firm" lined-up that are used to you - so actually getting one wouldnt be a problem.

So - some of us need to bear that sort of thing in mind.

Newly_retired

Care costs in old age are such an unknown quantity. Some of us may never need them, whilst for others, even a huge pot of savings will not be enough.
I am fortunate to have had an inheritance from my parents. They looked after each other, though Mum went into a Home after Dad died but she only outlived him by a few months( though she had a new lease of life for most of those, with no worries where the next meal was coming from), so it did not eat too much into her savings.
At the same time I got a promotion, so was able to make good savings in my last 9 years at work, after a life of struggling financially.

So I am fortunate to have a good amount os savings to fall back in. We live within our income, and still save some. Because of DH health, our holidays are limited. We are not big spenders. I actually find it hard to spend money as I have always been thrifty. We do spend more on food now than ever before, good meat from the local butcher, but a lot of stuff comes from Aldi, so it balances out. We rarely eat out.
So I do expect to be able to finance Care up to a point, if needed.

lessonlearned

Some very sobering thoughts there about the future of health care. Tbh I can only see the situation deteriorating. Both the NHS and Adult social services are already under tremendous pressure and I can only see it getting worse.

And no I don't have any answers...except to say that I think we are all going to have to assume a lot more responsibility for our own healthcare needs.

I think it behoves us to try and remain as fit and healthy as we can, so taking care of diet and nutrition, excerise and movement, tackling any minor health issues as they arise rather than ignoring them and hoping they go away, and ensuring that our living accommodation can meet our changing needs so we can age in situ.

On a more positive note, I think that technology will have a role to play. My youngest son is something of a "gadget man" and we have often discussed how we will look at my home in the future to see in what ways technology can help me remain at home.

Stage 1 of this is my impending house move. I have deliberately chosen a property......a chalet bungalow .....that will be able to meet my changing needs. I will initially sleep in the upstairs bedroom because I think it is important to continue to use stairs as long as possible. However, if that becomes too difficult then I can simply adapt to single storey living.

I have ensured that the access is easy, no outside steps and a flat garden, which I can make more low maintenance in the years to come. I will be changing the layout at some point anyway, knocking out a couple of walls to improve the flow of the house so will take the opportunity of ensuring that corridors and doorways are wide enough to allow easy wheelchair access whilst I'm at it.

I did learn a lot whilst caring for my husband, just the simple logistics of what it was like to manage when you have serious mobility issues. I think getting the living space right is crucial to being able to retain independence and remain in your own home for as long as possible.

lessonlearned

Sorrry.....just had another thought.......

Yesterday I was reading Mr moneymoustaches blog.....required reading for anyone thinking about retiring early, but even if you are already retired, I think it is still worth taking a look. He is Canadian but even so his intelligent and common sense approach works just as well here.

He was talking about healthcare insurance....which of course is far more expensive across the pond. They do have a form of state funded healthcare for seniors but it is very basic.

He said we should not call it Healthcare insurance we should call it large medical bill insurance. He pointed out that Healthcare costs, whether provided by the State or self funded, don't keep us healthy, they just shield us from large medical bills.

ShyAndRetiring

Hi lovely visitors, thanks for your comments, a few quick replies ...

CRV1963 - you raise many extra points for consideration, especially medical-related transport as OH would be happy to get rid of the car early on in retirement if possible. Additional savings for future care sounds like a necessary pot, just not sure how to fund it. You may have hit on a good idea there, with your mention of holidays ... I guess a holiday pot (for during the mobile years) could become more of a health pot once we're less mobile?

Money'sTooTight - your mention of older parents is also relevant to what I posted yesterday as my mum and stepdad live within the same local authority and will be affected by the shortage of services considerably. Mum already has a chronic health condition and her mobility is not good, step dad is also becoming frailer, so helping them out is also a priority.

NewlyRetired - Sounds like you have things in hand and you present another reasonable case for ensuring a health savings pot as part of our future planning. That 'if needed' point is a vital one too!

LessonLearned - Now that's a good point, having a contingency for health issues begins with preventing / minimising problems in the first place. OH is pretty fit really, apart from his blip last year. I do have a long-term condition but it's mostly manageable if I'm careful. Don't know what the long-term situation of that will look like though and as you rightly point out LL, the more that's done to safeguard / improve existing levels of fitness, the better it will be in the long term. Your own plan in terms of your new house sounds like a very good one, and it's certainly similar thinking to ours when we made our recent downsize move - the bungalow and garden will be manageable in the long-term with just a few tweaks when needed.

I do visit Mr. MoneyMustache's FIRE website from time to time and the figures for healthcare / medical bill insurance really make you think. We're very luck to have the NHS but certainly a pot for overall care and other medical support is looking like a very necessary thing.

:think: Everyone, thanks for your helpful insights. I've got lots to think about!

sukysue

Evening all, had a good day today , no spending at all. Wrapped up a few presents and sorted the rest into bags for who they are for. Also sorted the toiletries in the bathroom and cleaned it .
My simple pleasure coming home from taking my DF to a hospital appt and taking off all my naice clothes and changing into my comfy rags lol and having a massive cuppa tea followed by an ice cream lol