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

Albermarle

Sea_Shell said:

pensionpawn said:

michaels said:

pensionpawn said:

Sea_Shell said:

We've recently dumped Sky for a firestick on Prime!!

Ads are a bit of a pain (on ITV etc) but we'll suck that up for a saving of over £30 a month!!!

With the size of your pots why don't you treat yourselves instead of putting up with the "pain in the a... adds". I'll never quite understand why people (including family and colleagues...) don't fully utilise the wealth that they have?

People might feel that the hassle is worth 360 that can then be spent on something else like another weekend break.

I get that when someone hasn't much set aside for retirement, however when you're pushing > £0.5M surely the act of saving money isn't the issue...?

For us, it comes back to value for money.  Not whether something is affordable or not.

I also take into account, the potential time taken up dealing with it, as often there is some hassle involved. 
Some posters chase every £25 cashback offer for opening a new account etc. and then often have to chase around to get the money 6 months later, make sure they have stuck to all the T's and C's and then close the account etc
Not a sensible use of time if you have a biggish pot anyway ( in my opinion) 

swindiff

The wife and I have made a grand total of £3785 just from Account Switching Rewards.  Well worth it IMHO.

Sea_Shell

Been there, done that.  Got most of the t-shirts 😉

Nebulous2

Sea_Shell said:

pensionpawn said:

michaels said:

pensionpawn said:

Sea_Shell said:

We've recently dumped Sky for a firestick on Prime!!

Ads are a bit of a pain (on ITV etc) but we'll suck that up for a saving of over £30 a month!!!

With the size of your pots why don't you treat yourselves instead of putting up with the "pain in the a... adds". I'll never quite understand why people (including family and colleagues...) don't fully utilise the wealth that they have?

People might feel that the hassle is worth 360 that can then be spent on something else like another weekend break.

I get that when someone hasn't much set aside for retirement, however when you're pushing > £0.5M surely the act of saving money isn't the issue...?

For us, it comes back to value for money.  Not whether something is affordable or not.

That's something I wrestle with without reaching a conclusion. "We can afford it." "But is it worth it?" "Maybe we can only afford it because we have always been cautious about whether it is worth it?"  

I bought a TV around 2010 at a point where I watched a lot of films. It was fairly high-tech at the time and I liked it. Moving on, my interests have changed and we have watched it maybe 4 times in the last year, generally something on Netflix. We decided to watch something on Netflix recently and the TV became black on one side of the screen. Hitting it helped, but it would return intermittently. We went through all sorts of mental gymnastics, looked at new, bigger better TVs, then found one on Facebook marketplace for free. Gave the guy a box of sweets for his children and he said "I didn't think anyone would want it because it isn't smart." It's one model up and a year newer than the one it replaced.  

You can't get much cheaper than free - and for usage maybe once in two months it is enough for us. 

We're members of the caravan club and use their sites a lot. During the pandemic they sold vouchers at 20% off to help their cashflow. We bought £600 worth, partly to help them out, and partly because it was a good deal, a win /win. This year they have felt the cost of living, particularly of electric, and have bumped up their prices. A site that used to cost £22 a night, cost us £34 the last time we went. That's out of season, mainly mid-week, when they aren't busy. That has really bothered me. There is no indication that they are aware of the pressure their members are under, no publicity about any cost-saving measures they are making, no scaling back of their multi-million pound investment in new facilities. It has left me very much feeling we did our bit to help during the pandemic, now they aren't responding in kind. 

We came home, put our caravan in storage and gave up for the winter, where we would generally have had 2-3 short trips in that time, plus possibly a week in February. 

It would be very much affordable, but has tilted firmly into the not worth it pile. 

Apologies for the length of that - I suppose we all have our own foibles and lines in the sand about what we will and wont pay for. It would be a strange world if we were all the same. 

NedS

pensionpawn said:

michaels said:

pensionpawn said:

Sea_Shell said:

We've recently dumped Sky for a firestick on Prime!!

Ads are a bit of a pain (on ITV etc) but we'll suck that up for a saving of over £30 a month!!!

With the size of your pots why don't you treat yourselves instead of putting up with the "pain in the a... adds". I'll never quite understand why people (including family and colleagues...) don't fully utilise the wealth that they have?

People might feel that the hassle is worth 360 that can then be spent on something else like another weekend break.

I get that when someone hasn't much set aside for retirement, however when you're pushing > £0.5M surely the act of saving money isn't the issue...?

Often it is hard to change the habits of a lifetime, and one certainly doesn't reach the point of having > £0.5M by turning down the opportunity to save £360. I am guessing that once I retire and no longer have to luxury of earned income, I will be using my spare time to maximise any savings I am able to make. I'm bad enough now whilst still working so hate to think what I'll be like in retirement! But I get your point, just considering that we do not always behave logically and that changing lifetime behaviours is not always easy.

pensionpawn

Sea_Shell said:

pensionpawn said:

michaels said:

pensionpawn said:

Sea_Shell said:

We've recently dumped Sky for a firestick on Prime!!

Ads are a bit of a pain (on ITV etc) but we'll suck that up for a saving of over £30 a month!!!

With the size of your pots why don't you treat yourselves instead of putting up with the "pain in the a... adds". I'll never quite understand why people (including family and colleagues...) don't fully utilise the wealth that they have?

People might feel that the hassle is worth 360 that can then be spent on something else like another weekend break.

I get that when someone hasn't much set aside for retirement, however when you're pushing > £0.5M surely the act of saving money isn't the issue...?

For us, it comes back to value for money.  Not whether something is affordable or not.

I fully get that. However your original statement suggests that you are happy to suffer (? mild) inconvenience (the ads...) in order to save money. What will you do with the money that you have saved? Will it make a difference to your lifestyle on top of the money you already have? Just like an electron giving off energy when it moves between atomic shells, money only has value when it moves from A to B. 
I can afford an EV and have plenty of excess solar energy with which to charge it. However their cost (compared to a similar spec ICE vehicle) and our ~ 5000 annual mileage means that it's not value for money (for us). I can afford a Tesla Powerwall to soak up the spare solar energy, however its cost, and our annual energy import, means it's not value for money (for us). In these examples I am not compromising on my lifestyle in making the choice not to buy them.
A slightly different example is selling one of our two cars to save money (for other capital projects). This is because now only one of us works, and then only at 70%, and there are only three hours a week when both cars are in use. Now if I had a considerable sum of money squirrelled away then I wouldn't even be considering selling one of my cars, because the convenience of having two, even if only for three hours a week, would outweigh the need for extra cash / save on insurance, car tax etc.
A (very kind and generous) colleague of mine, with a small property empire, lives (with his wife and children) in a 100+ year old house heated by only one fireplace. He could afford double glazing, central heating etc however he prefers (not can't afford) not to, citing jumpers, extra socks etc as better alternatives.

Each to their own, and I'm not criticising you, just merely trying to understand the reasoning. However I am still yet to fathom the rationale of wealthy people who chose to cut back, minimise, do without etc to save money that they will never ever spend.

pensionpawn

NedS said:

pensionpawn said:

michaels said:

pensionpawn said:

Sea_Shell said:

We've recently dumped Sky for a firestick on Prime!!

Ads are a bit of a pain (on ITV etc) but we'll suck that up for a saving of over £30 a month!!!

With the size of your pots why don't you treat yourselves instead of putting up with the "pain in the a... adds". I'll never quite understand why people (including family and colleagues...) don't fully utilise the wealth that they have?

People might feel that the hassle is worth 360 that can then be spent on something else like another weekend break.

I get that when someone hasn't much set aside for retirement, however when you're pushing > £0.5M surely the act of saving money isn't the issue...?

Often it is hard to change the habits of a lifetime, and one certainly doesn't reach the point of having > £0.5M by turning down the opportunity to save £360. I am guessing that once I retire and no longer have to luxury of earned income, I will be using my spare time to maximise any savings I am able to make. I'm bad enough now whilst still working so hate to think what I'll be like in retirement! But I get your point, just considering that we do not always behave logically and that changing lifetime behaviours is not always easy.

I would suggest most, if not all of us on this forum, are always looking for savings to maximise the nest egg we believe is necessary for later life. It's getting the balance right that's key. However some then find they have created the problem (enviable problem for most of us) of LTA encroachment. Another good friend of mine has exactly this. He has a nice house however he's never treated himself to a brand new car so, as he likes cars, I suggested that he buy a brand new Jag, Merc, etc and he looked horrified. I just shrugged my shoulders. I'm not suggesting spending money just for the sake of it, just fully enjoy the created wealth, before it's too late....

Audaxer

Happy new year @Sea_Shell.  Well done on your spending, as £18,470 is still impressively low considering it included £4,500 of capital spend.

Our annual spend figure for the year was just over £27k, including £2.5k on voluntary NI payments. I'm pleased that the £24.5k was around the same amount as last year's non-capital spending.

On the investments front, after a bit of a comeback in November, our portfolio fell back again in December, finishing at 8.6% down for the year. 

Albermarle

I am guessing that once I retire and no longer have to luxury of earned income, I will be using my spare time to maximise any savings I am able to make. I'm bad enough now whilst still working so hate to think what I'll be like in retirement! 

I was worried about this ( as were my family), but strangely enough I have become a little more relaxed about saving money since I retired, although this process had probably started to some extent as I got older/had more money anyway.

Mentally I have been slowly moving more towards PensionPawn's views. I even bought myself a brand new car when I retired. Not a Mercedes though ( too expensive/high servicing costs) and  I bought it as an ex Demo with a 15% discount, so some old habits still die hard !

Kim1965

I was Polar opposite to most on this site up to four years ago. I sat down one day to figure out my pensions and came to the conclusion there was no way i could ever retire.i had no debts, always over paid my mortgage. 
 Then i started looking at the spending lifestyle i was looking to support. I had been with the same insurance companies for 20 yrs, the same energy supplier, phone company etc, had 3 duplicate norton subscriptions, 2 netflix, paying 6 insurance covers for mobile phones no longer in the house, i could go on but i think you get the picture.
I now have a much better handle on the finances, but could be better still. I have learned that its not what you earn, its what you spend. I can  cope with ads on my music Channel.