It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Nebulous2

The one thing I've worked out is that the unexpected will always hit you unexpectedly. 

My parents moved to a village with everything they wanted, including the church, which was important to them. 

Lots of those things then closed, including the bank, the surgery couldn't recruit GPs and had a succession of locums, and the church then got a minister who told them he didn't believe in God. That coincided with my father's eyesight deteriorating to the extent he lost his licence and my mother being unable to get upstairs. So the village and house they thought was future-proof became a nightmare over about 15 years. 

michaels

barnstar2077 said:

Sea_Shell said:

What about travel costs once you're no longer driving too?

How far away is "too far" to expect lifts hither and thither, from family, for the trivial stuff (shopping*) or the important stuff (medical appointments)

What are people's plans for this in late retirement?

Rely on family, friends, taxis, public transport (if practical)


* Stuff you'd rather not just order on line.

I don't think enough people think about this!

The amount of couples in their sixties that I see on these house building shows that construct places in the country, or on the edge of town, with multiple floor levels and normal sized door openings.  They never seem to think about what happens when they are too old to drive, or have mobility issues and need to get a scooter/wheelchair around the house.

Even though I am still in my forties I wish I lived in a bungalow as my accumulated injuries and ailments make the stairs a pain sometimes.

I'm assuming self driving cars before I reach that stage - tbh I can't wait and would opt for that option even if I was still fine to drive myself.

pensionpawn

Sea_Shell said:

What about travel costs once you're no longer driving too?

How far away is "too far" to expect lifts hither and thither, from family, for the trivial stuff (shopping*) or the important stuff (medical appointments)

What are people's plans for this in late retirement?

Rely on family, friends, taxis, public transport (if practical)


* Stuff you'd rather not just order on line.

My father in law is 86 and still drives, although I wouldn't accept the offer of a lift! I'm thinking of selling my car soon (I've reduced my hours and my wife's car is larger / less than three years old) which would save around £1k pa in just running costs (insurance, road tax, MoT & servicing). Also the car is worth around £11k, so that's quite a lot of taxi's / trains etc.
Almost all essential shopping can now be done online and so physically going to the shops is now just a leisure activity. Pubs and restaurants are all within a 15 - 30 minute walk if you don't want to take a taxi. As a last resort if money becomes really tight we downsize from our 4 bed detached if we make it to 80+ and we are no longer able to look after the house / garden.
I much prefer the idea of enjoying our retirement income in the first 10 years of retirement rather than saving it for the last ten years.

NedS

Sea_Shell said:

NedS said:

Sea_Shell said:

LHW99 said:

Where we are, they have a bookable minibus that you can phone for. We are also only about 10 mins walk from local shops, having downsized from a remote rural location. Where my mum used to live they had a similar volunteer car service that would take people to hospital etc appointments. There are also the free bus pass for those who are mobile enough.

We still drive as both (just) under 70, but expect that to gradually change over the next 10 years or so.

What sort of distances do these volunteer schemes usually cover.   

What if hospital is, say, over 25 miles away?

Then will they hang around, for an unspecified time, to bring you home again? 

My parents had to give up driving a few years back and faced exactly this issue. The have a local Community Cars organisation of volunteer drivers who just charge for the fuel. They can be booked in advance and will drive my parent to hospital appointments (20 miles away) and wait to bring them home again. They are an amazing service!

When my parents were giving up the car and worried about costs of taxis, we sat down and worked out how much it was costing them per year to keep their car on the road, and how many taxis per week that would fund. Needless to say, I do not think they had fully realised how much money they would save ditching the car and now they don't think twice at paying £20 for a taxi, but the vast majority of their trips are covered by the Community Cars service at little more than cost of fuel.

With respect to the U shape spend - my parents were still very capable at 80 and could still do most things for themselves. 70 to 80 was probably the bottom of the U. At 90 it's a completely different story - they now pay for everything!

Witnessing first hand how their amazing retirement has gone has given me great insight into the challenges we will likely face if we are lucky enough to live a lengthy retirement ourselves. Silly things like top priority for our final house move must be close to a hospital, GP surgery and pharmacist! A low maintenance bungalow is also right up there.

If you don't mind me asking, how local (or not) are they to you, and have you been expected (asked) to drive them about?

Or have they been happy to remain independent (of you) and use these services.

Unfortunately I'm not local to them so am unable to help on a regular basis. We are unable to move closer due to prohibitive property prices where they live, and they have friends and family in the local area so never wanted to move to be closer to us - and there was never any guarantee we would stay put anyway even if they did (I have a history of moving for work). It's a huge issue to which there are no easy solutions and difficult for us being so far away. They do struggle to understand sometimes why we cannot be there, but that seems mostly an age thing. I don't remember how many times we've had the conversation about house prices in their local area.

They try to use the Community Cars service as much as they can, other than for emergencies as the service must be booked in advance, as they do not wish to impose of friends and family more than they have to, but they do have a good local support network in place.

Best advice I can give, is build a great support network around you as you will need it when you get older. There are a ton of great services out there to help older people, the trouble is finding out what is available and how to access it. The local health board had a great web page of local services which I never managed to find myself, but once someone pointed me in the right direction, it had links to all the different local services, such as Community Cars, Meals on Wheels and dozens of other services in the community. Maybe do your research now whilst you are still capable and start putting things in place, or at least find out and be aware what is out there for when you do need it. My parents have been unable to cook main meals for themselves for the last couple years. They now have a great system going where they have Meals on Wheels 3 days per week (phone and order the day before), 2 days a week they go to a local community lunch club where they are fed at the local community centre and get to meet with other pensioners, and 2 days a week they have microwave meals from the freezer, ordered online. No cooking, no shopping required. Not how I'd want to eat, but it works for them and they get to choose a different meal every day, and I know they are getting a proper meal each day.

Kim1965

My mum has been widowed for many years and moans constant ly about her lot. Ať age 86 she still drives, has all her off spring within 7miles, sees either her own children or grown up grandkids most days. I would say she is lucky.
 Whether my two will live local to me remains to be seen. I think building a net work of friends local to you is vítal. I read so many who plan to retire and move to where they know no one, always strikes mě as odd decision. Each to their own. 

westv

Kim1965 said:

My mum has been widowed for many years and moans constant ly about her lot. Ať age 86 she still drives, has all her off spring within 7miles, sees either her own children or grown up grandkids most days. I would say she is lucky.
 Whether my two will live local to me remains to be seen. I think building a net work of friends local to you is vítal. I read so many who plan to retire and move to where they know no one, always strikes mě as odd decision. Each to their own. 

Some may live where they do because of employment. When they retire they are no longer constrained by this and may look for another area they prefer.

Albermarle

MallyGirl said:

barnstar2077 said:

Albermarle said:

barnstar2077 said:

Sea_Shell said:

What about travel costs once you're no longer driving too?

How far away is "too far" to expect lifts hither and thither, from family, for the trivial stuff (shopping*) or the important stuff (medical appointments)

What are people's plans for this in late retirement?

Rely on family, friends, taxis, public transport (if practical)


* Stuff you'd rather not just order on line.

I don't think enough people think about this!

The amount of couples in their sixties that I see on these house building shows that construct places in the country, or on the edge of town, with multiple floor levels and normal sized door openings.  They never seem to think about what happens when they are too old to drive, or have mobility issues and need to get a scooter/wheelchair around the house.

Even though I am still in my forties I wish I lived in a bungalow as my accumulated injuries and ailments make the stairs a pain sometimes.

We have had posters on the forum, who are planning a big move to their large dream house in their 60's, with no thought about what will happen later.
The best one I remember was on a TV show about older ex pats having to come home due to medical issues. One said ' It never occurred to me that one of us could get really ill' 

Also, I dread to think how much it costs to run one of these dream homes in the country.  At least when people build from scratch they can make sure they are well insulated and have solar power etc.  Imagine heating a draughty five bedroom Tudor mansion these days.  Makes me glad to be poor! :  )

It is not a Tudor mansion but my Mum and her husband retired to Devon - down valued but upsized. The house was only about 5 years old so well insulated but just darn big, and in the middle of nowhere. Octopus just put their DD up to £600 per month as they have the heating on all the time because they feel the cold and he has some health issues. The drive is so steep that they have to drive the bins down in the car. There are no services or shops in walking distance. It is a big worry as they are 120 miles from me and 180 from my brother. It was an ok house to buy when they were in early 60s, apart from being too big for just 2 people, but they now can't face the hassle of moving - as we feared at the time.

Wow that is some heating bill and inext Winter it could be 25% more.

The long steep driveway could be a big problem if one of them ever has to use a wheelchair, even temporarily.

jimi_man

My father is 90 next year and still drives them both around. They take the dog out most days, which often involves a short drive.

Arkers

Interesting discussion, we live in a chalet bungalow with a main bedroom/bathroom downstairs and three bedrooms upstairs. I really like sleeping downstairs and as someone in my early 50s haven't given much thought about how useful one level living would be when you're older or less able. 

My mother was widowed at 56, and is now living an amazing life in her mid seventies. She's very lucky she has my dad's Officer pension, a war widow's pension(tax free) and state pensions. Hence a very affluent pensioner. This may sound selfish, but I'm dreading her becoming infirm, I know everything will be left to me and not my brother. I've watched my friend's struggle with this situation. Am I the only one who feels that this will impact on the choices they make in retirement? 

MallyGirl

Albermarle said:

MallyGirl said:

It is not a Tudor mansion but my Mum and her husband retired to Devon - down valued but upsized. The house was only about 5 years old so well insulated but just darn big, and in the middle of nowhere. Octopus just put their DD up to £600 per month as they have the heating on all the time because they feel the cold and he has some health issues. The drive is so steep that they have to drive the bins down in the car. There are no services or shops in walking distance. It is a big worry as they are 120 miles from me and 180 from my brother. It was an ok house to buy when they were in early 60s, apart from being too big for just 2 people, but they now can't face the hassle of moving - as we feared at the time.

Wow that is some heating bill and next Winter it could be 25% more.

The long steep driveway could be a big problem if one of them ever has to use a wheelchair, even temporarily.

It would be impossible in a wheelchair - one snowy winter we couldn't get a 4WD Audi up there till OH dug channels in the snow.
They do have decent pensions/savings but must be burning through the equity they released by the move. They have tied a load of money up in some sort of single premium insurance policy that pays out on the death of the second one - sold to them by SJP as a way of avoiding inheritance tax I believe. I can't really talk about money with them as it makes me too cross.