A Paupers Pension Tale (Not many nuts to dig up)

hostertlady

Albermarle said:

But those of you with 'Grandparent  duties' how the heck do you manage to go off for weeks at a time? Maybe it's me ( holding myself back? putting others before myself etc)

You can add to 'Grandparent duties' any type of family caring responsibilities. Such as dealing with elderly parents, family members who have physical or mental health problems, learning or physical disabilities etc

 Or even just having a dog, or a regular commitment to almost anything.

Just having the finances to go on extended holidays, does not necessarily mean you can, even if you want to.

this is so true! we have 4 cats so that costs a fortune in cattery fees, almost doubling the cost of the holiday..
I was part of 'the sandwich generation' up to a few years ago ..
so, yes, therte are many obstacles to jump over even if you do have the funding to do what you like x

hostertlady

robatwork said:

hostertlady said:

I have enjoyed reading this thread and pop in every now and again, I have no desire to do a 'round the world cruise' once retired.
My hubby hopes to retire at 63 ( feb 2025).. I am already retired but am busier than ever with 3 Grandaughters, cats, and friends to fit into my days..
Its our 40th wedding anniversary next year so we plan to do something, not sure yet.. 
But those of you with 'Grandparent  duties' how the heck do you manage to go off for weeks at a time? Maybe it's me ( holding myself back? putting others before myself etc)

I'm not a grandparent myself (hurry up if you're one of ours reading this!) so this may sound harsh but surely the whole POINT of grandparenting is to help out/get pleasure from your grandkids without the responsibility of being a parent? The people who look after your grandkids are their parents, unless your "duties" are actually officially in loco parentis?

If indeed your offspring has never looked after their own children continuously and solely for a few weeks, then I think it's actually beneficial for you to go away and not be always available - you're a privilege not a right.

o yes, i do get pleasure and we have got a family holiday booked this year ( the bank of mum and dad are paying for this )
i know what you mean about not always being available! having said that, we managed a week in Spain last September, i did my daughter 6 months notice that i wasnt available for any school runs etc 

george_jetson

Ciprico said:

It was a great trip, food fantastic, logistics easy, everything cheap with a relaxed view on regulations, ie the kids (we took our two teenagers) could go on a supervised scuba dive without any instruction/experiece and drive mopeds. You avoid talking politics to the locals and wonder at the corruption (ie the tour bus is pulled over and the driver hands cash over to soldiers). The beaches are disappointing (nothing like Thailand), a huge amount of (touristic) development in the big coastal towns and a vast number of overweight Chinese and Russian tourists. (ie the rich!), who the locals seem to just about tolerate...But the local people/food/weather/history/natural beauty massively over compensate for any short comings once you leave the big towns.

  

Are you saying they went straight into open water without a few training sessions in a pool first?

Even in benign conditions things can go wrong very fast - and once you’re in the “incident pit” it’s very hard to get out…

For example an uncontrolled ascent could easily result in DCI (“the bends”) which means sessions in a chamber - assuming one is available locally. And doubtful insurance would cover it…

If anyone thinks they may fancy scuba diving on holiday I strongly recommend you find your local BSAC/PADI centre and get qualified before you go. 

Pat38493

george_jetson said:

Ciprico said:

It was a great trip, food fantastic, logistics easy, everything cheap with a relaxed view on regulations, ie the kids (we took our two teenagers) could go on a supervised scuba dive without any instruction/experiece and drive mopeds. You avoid talking politics to the locals and wonder at the corruption (ie the tour bus is pulled over and the driver hands cash over to soldiers). The beaches are disappointing (nothing like Thailand), a huge amount of (touristic) development in the big coastal towns and a vast number of overweight Chinese and Russian tourists. (ie the rich!), who the locals seem to just about tolerate...But the local people/food/weather/history/natural beauty massively over compensate for any short comings once you leave the big towns.

  

Are you saying they went straight into open water without a few training sessions in a pool first?

Even in benign conditions things can go wrong very fast - and once you’re in the “incident pit” it’s very hard to get out…

For example an uncontrolled ascent could easily result in DCI (“the bends”) which means sessions in a chamber - assuming one is available locally. And doubtful insurance would cover it…

If anyone thinks they may fancy scuba diving on holiday I strongly recommend you find your local BSAC/PADI centre and get qualified before you go. 

From what I saw in the past this usually means they are pretty much held onto by an instructor or at least an expert for the whole time and in waters that are 10-15 foot deep.  If they were actually diving on their own unattached without any training I haven't seen that before and indeed this sounds pretty unsafe, even in shallow waters.

Albermarle

george_jetson said:

Ciprico said:

It was a great trip, food fantastic, logistics easy, everything cheap with a relaxed view on regulations, ie the kids (we took our two teenagers) could go on a supervised scuba dive without any instruction/experiece and drive mopeds. You avoid talking politics to the locals and wonder at the corruption (ie the tour bus is pulled over and the driver hands cash over to soldiers). The beaches are disappointing (nothing like Thailand), a huge amount of (touristic) development in the big coastal towns and a vast number of overweight Chinese and Russian tourists. (ie the rich!), who the locals seem to just about tolerate...But the local people/food/weather/history/natural beauty massively over compensate for any short comings once you leave the big towns.

  

Are you saying they went straight into open water without a few training sessions in a pool first?

Even in benign conditions things can go wrong very fast - and once you’re in the “incident pit” it’s very hard to get out…

For example an uncontrolled ascent could easily result in DCI (“the bends”) which means sessions in a chamber - assuming one is available locally. And doubtful insurance would cover it…

If anyone thinks they may fancy scuba diving on holiday I strongly recommend you find your local BSAC/PADI centre and get qualified before you go. 

Also teenagers driving mopeds on holiday is an accident waiting to happen.

Ciprico

The water was shallow.

 The roads were quiet. 

I'm glad I didn't mention shooting Ak47s at the Chi-chi war tunnels.... 

george_jetson

Ciprico said:

The water was shallow.

 The roads were quiet. 

I'm glad I didn't mention shooting Ak47s at the Chi-chi war tunnels.... 

If your regulator starts to free flow and you panic because you don’t know what to do you’re in trouble irrespective of the depth of the water. 

sarahathers

I know there's not been a lot of activity of late, but I just wanted to thank @gambleruk for creating this thread. I have been following from the start and it has seriously changed my life (no kidding!) I'm 52 and will be 55 in Jan 26  when  I'll be able to access my very small dc pension. I didn't think that early retirement would be possible, but you've shown me that it is. I re-read the thread every so often to keep me motivated.

gambleruk

Great to hear that it is helping you out, I created this thread for that very purpose as apart from Sea_Shells's Nuts thread there was very little on here for people like ourselves with small pension pots.

Quick update whilst I am here is that nothing as really changed, inflation is a worry just like electricity was last year but on the plus side I am getting decent rates on my saving now. Electric wise we probably cut back to much in hindsight so will not be as strict this coming Winter as well in credit to cover even the worst weather.

A couple of you enquired about my house insurance which was £54 in 2022. I got a renewal quote for £69 so had a good search around and the cheapest I found was £120 so I think it was more luck than judgement the past couple of years so obviously just renewed, car insurance was more of a battle up from £137 to £200, after a lot of searching finally got it down to £155 but there would be no way I would have had the time to do that if still working.

Which brings me onto my next point which may help, I am sure most people like me when working just clicked on amazon or ebay and bought something you thought you needed or replacing and did not give it a second thought. I have got into a very good habit of adding it to my basket or watch list whatever it is and it stays there for a few days until I am 100% sure we need it, works really well for us and have no doubt saved hundreds of pounds doing this.

Finally I have started my pension transfer from II to HL to take advantage of the £1500 offer, done in In Specie as in no rush and once done will then move it again in 12 months time either for another offer or possibly back to II for the lower fee's, will only be a few months off 55 by then so will then start to withdraw my tax free amount every year and put in into a stocks and shares isa with the same investments. 

barnstar2077

Just realised we are now almost halfway through the financial year, and as I have some time off work at the moment I decided to do another quick update.  I also find writing things down a very useful exercise for collecting my thoughts and helping to keep me motivated.

My gas fixed term just ended and my new deal sees me paying an extra £8 a month.  I am feeling pretty good about this though, as the previous term got me through the madness of last winter’s price hikes relatively unscathed.  Also, I just saved £5 a month by switching my house insurance to another provider, so things have stayed pretty much the same, thankfully.

I have had a couple of nice four day (3 nights) camping trips this year, and despite cheating, by eating in restaurants and pubs each day, I didn't spend much more than £100 - £150 per trip!  We went by public transport and only paid for non-electrical hook up pitches.

My partner and I really loved them and we plan on doing more next year.  Even the bits of the trips that didn’t work out exactly as planned have become the stuff of legend, and we still laugh about them now (like the time we spent five hours in the blazing sun trying to find a route through unkempt public footpaths and farmers fields to a nearby town :  )

We did have to buy some gear beforehand, but I feel that camping is both a holiday and a hobby, so definitely good value for money from our point of view.

Having been inspired to improve my health after watching “Living to 100” on Netflix recently, I have been trying to reduce even further the unhealthy food I am eating and increasing the amount of walking I am doing.  This is also helping my wallet as snacks and desserts seem to be very expensive these days, and if I walk into town and back (instead of catching the bus) I can spend the bus fare at the shop instead, further motivating me to be a bit healthier!

My plan is still to retire in eight and a half years, at 55, with an ISA of £70k+ and a SIPP of £200k+.

I am 100% equities and my current thinking would see me staying that way in the future, even after my retirement.  With me just adjusting my spending a bit during major dips.  Not a very common strategy I know, but maybe as the years go by it will prove to be an interesting one for myself and my fellow MSE readers! :  )

PS  Has your pension transfer gone smoothly @gambleruk?  As high risk/high reward as I am, I don't think I could move my pension around for signup bonuses, it would definitely stress me out! :  )