Are we mad?

thickasabrick

AnotherJoe said:

Skibunny40 said:

Sorry, one other thing!

During our discussion last night, we were thinking of large unexpected spends that might crop up and how to plan for them on the off-chance.

One of those was health problems such as hip/knee replacements and the very long NHS waiting times. What have others planned? Just suck it up, private health insurance, halfway schemes such as Benenden Health, keeping a "healthcare" pot of cash available? OH has private medical cover through his work for both of us & obviously that would come to an end when he stops working. We've never really used it but sod's law suggests when we don't have it....!

I've had some recent experience of fairly major operations, and they haven't been "that" expensive, In the range of £5k-£12k a time. The £12k was a massive op.

Compared to private health insurance, which might be what, £500/month for a couple in their 60's and 70's maybe? (thats a guess, sometime since i looked)

Thats a year or two's subscription. Plus, no hoops to jump through to get permission.

So, perhaps put aside a couple hundred or so a month and build up a cash pool for eventualities like that. (Health Warning, I dont know about Benenden Health or what it does)

Last year health insurance cost £2822 per annum for a couple aged 53 and 54, group plan through my employer. That was the Axa VIP plus psych with medical history disregarded. Haven’t renewed this year. Interestingly Axa contacted me directly offering similar terms on a personal plan

Decided that the money can go into my pension as I’m planning to go into drawdown. This is to take some time out to do some travelling whilst we are still reasonably fit and healthy. Hopefully towards then end of the year if things open up a little.

I’d describe it as flexi retirement  as we both expect to pick up the occasional piece of paid employment one we get back from our “grand tour”.

Although who knows what we might end up deciding once we start exploring the world without the time constraints that working for a living imposes !

AnotherJoe

thickasabrick said:

AnotherJoe said:

Skibunny40 said:

Sorry, one other thing!

During our discussion last night, we were thinking of large unexpected spends that might crop up and how to plan for them on the off-chance.

One of those was health problems such as hip/knee replacements and the very long NHS waiting times. What have others planned? Just suck it up, private health insurance, halfway schemes such as Benenden Health, keeping a "healthcare" pot of cash available? OH has private medical cover through his work for both of us & obviously that would come to an end when he stops working. We've never really used it but sod's law suggests when we don't have it....!

I've had some recent experience of fairly major operations, and they haven't been "that" expensive, In the range of £5k-£12k a time. The £12k was a massive op.

Compared to private health insurance, which might be what, £500/month for a couple in their 60's and 70's maybe? (thats a guess, sometime since i looked)

Thats a year or two's subscription. Plus, no hoops to jump through to get permission.

So, perhaps put aside a couple hundred or so a month and build up a cash pool for eventualities like that. (Health Warning, I dont know about Benenden Health or what it does)

Last year health insurance cost £2822 per annum for a couple aged 53 and 54, group plan through my employer. That was the Axa VIP plus psych with medical history disregarded. Haven’t renewed this year. Interestingly Axa contacted me directly offering similar terms on a personal plan

Decided that the money can go into my pension as I’m planning to go into drawdown. This is to take some time out to do some travelling whilst we are still reasonably fit and healthy. Hopefully towards then end of the year if things open up a little.

I’d describe it as flexi retirement  as we both expect to pick up the occasional piece of paid employment one we get back from our “grand tour”.

Although who knows what we might end up deciding once we start exploring the world without the time constraints that working for a living imposes !

So looks like my guess was somewhat lowball then since if its £3k for a couple in their low 50"s I'm sure you can add a fair bit on for 60's and then a lot more, 70's ?  So self funding probably a better plan as long as you can put teh money aside or already ahve it. I think i might, out of interest and lockdown boredom, see what it woudl cost for me.

I think one big difference with self funding might be the psychology, if you have PHI you are more likely to make use of private medicine, if self funding probably less so. My experience is that once you get to the "biggie's" especially cancer and ongoing treatment the NHS is actually pretty good (or at least, was before Covid) and where PHI comes into its own is semi-minor things - hip, knee etc replacement, other minor non life threatening operations. And as I say my experience of those is, being on PHI but seeing the bills, they simply werent as big as Id have guessed. In several cases the big ticket item was not the operation,  but the private hospital bed afterwards.

jamesd

Skibunny40 said:

Briefly - has anyone arranged their finances that they "run out" of money, other than state pension, by the time they hit 80? That's what we're considering doing, but I'm not sure how risky it is in reality.

You're not mad but you might plan for a bit more than that after 80, perhaps using state pension deferral.

To assist, I explained How Jon Guyton's firm does drawdown (Guyton-Klinger rules JG, which should fit nicely with your objectives.

cfw1994

Skibunny40 said:

Mallygirl - I didn't even know you could get ankles replaced!  I've got a dodgy ankle already - perhaps I should start that cash pot now!

Pardon the language, but this resonated with me!
I've twisted my ankles many, many times since I was very young.   Had them x-rayed on quite a few occasions - never actually broken them!   Play sports (squash when I was younger, then volleyball), but have worn ankle braces for decades now: make a huge difference to sports.

With only weeks to me 'stepping down', we are going with the "trust the NHS, put some aside for 'optional' health things".  Interactions with the NHS have broadly been pretty positive for us in the past: despite the myriad of funding challenges & clearly some occasional individual problems, it is an amazing organisation the UK should be proud of.

We do pay a regular fee for our dentist, whom we have used & trusted for many years now.....but the health thing is something you could worry about endlessly & fund with huge sums.   Or do your best to stay fit & healthy, squirrel some nuts for healthcare, & hope for the best!

chiefie

Skibunny40 said:

Tbh, if one of us dies, the other would probably sell up and go into sheltered housing (actually, that's what I'd do, don't know about my OH) So good question, thank you - food for discussion with OH. 

Sheltered housing can come with expensive monthly charges that may not be affordable to you .

chiefie

Skibunny40 said:

Notepad_Phil - I guess our personal experience skews our thinking as hardly any of our relatives made it to 80, so genetically it seems unlikely even though I agree the statistics are that one or both of us will live past 80.

Interesting point about it not being a calculated risk. As someone who is (ironically!) usually risk adverse, this does make me question our logic. Might work out the figures based on age 90, rather than 80...either saving more or reducing annual spend.

Again, thank you, this is all great food for thought

When you are 20 you think 50 is old. When 50, 80 seems like old. If you get to 80 and are healthy and active you may not appreciate just the state pension. My MIL is mid 80s, fit as a fiddle, drives, walks tons and goes abroad and enjoys it. You never know so it's a gamble