Learning to walk before I run

Watty1

Comparisions are useful in that one can learn tips and tricks. Ed, you are the one person I wish I had listened to in my overpaying day. You mentioned I should put more focus on to my personal pension - you were the only person who ever said that - with the benefit of hindsight - YOU were SO right.

I have had to throw everything at pension contributions and an iSA to even get to the point of thinking I can one day retire. You are facing it now. We all do what we can and yes, sometimes going without a coffee means £3.40 can be moved into an ISA and my goodness that is worth doing if one day the boredom and stress of work can be a distant memory.

debtfreewannabe321

My pension is two years old. And done on a PT salary. I brought my kids up for 25+ years and have paid the price really 🙃 an investment I made was not good and so any pension pot went with that. And my ex husband was the one with the big army pension and payout when he leaves of which I'll get nowt. So don't worry, always someone in a worse off position than you 🤭🤣 happens to be me today.

Also on kids moving out...my son came back briefly at 22 and I went back to my mum at 27 for a year. So don't plan on 18 and gone 🤭😆…

Watty1

i was back with my mum too in my early 20s and then in my early 30s - i was like a boomerang :)

Baileys_Babe

I went back to my parents at 25 for a year and a half and then over 20 years later they moved in with me for a year.

My 20 year eldest doesn't look like they are ever planning on leaving.

beanielou

My DS lived here for a year while at university but other than that has not lived here since going to university even when he went back to university to do his PGCE.
There’s hope!

turtlemoose

My kids are 9 and 13 and i cant help feel a bit doom and gloom about their employment prospects, given the state of the world now and the way things seem to be going. I'm simply anticipating mine will need to stay with me long in to their 20s.

greenbee

I moved back in with my. mum in my 50s (although only for 4 months between selling one house and buying the next) so don't plan on them moving out Ed. Multigenerational living may well come back in, and they'll be there to look after you and Mrs E in your dotage :)

I have my head firmly in the sand on retirement. I always thought I'd never retire, just gradually work less, but times have changed (as has my career, and my health). However, looking at the investments I made early on in my career (before I started buying houses that needed vast amounts spent on them and cost a fortune to run!), they have really paid dividends. I do need to have a pension sort-out at some point, and have at least made a list so that I can at least make a start at finding out what state they are in.

My mum keeps on saying we'll inherit her house when she dies. But I'm not banking on it - she may live a lot longer, and the plan was always that the house would pay for any care that she needs. So I hope my brother isn't banking on inheriting to pay off his mortgage as I'm encouraging her to spend her money for a comfortable old age - she and my dad paid for our education and made considerable sacrifices to do so (neither of them inherited more than some tatty old family furniture and pictures, some of which has now been passed on to me), and as far as I'm concerned that's the most important thing they could give us.

I do notice that my friends who are expecting large inheritances don't seem to work full time and spend a lot of time on holidays - and aren't looking after their parents particularly well. Possibly hoping to speed up the inheritance?

Suffolk_lass

I was brought up in a large old, cold, Victorian house that my grandparents sold their house to pay the deposit on. The residual mortgage and new mortgage was split three ways and my Aunt and Uncle, parents and grandparents all lived together. A bit of internal room division meant one of the bigger first floor rooms became two galley kitchens and we shared the bathroom (and separate toilet). Grandparents downstairs. It worked so well.

Our son moved out into lodgings at 20 for a year and then into the house we bought with the proceeds of a land sale (part of our garden). We gifted him 25%, thinking he would buy us out when he moved. 13 years later, he is still there. We never had that money so don't miss it. We live comfortably, more so with state pensions now in place. Both have modest occupational pensions (his meant no tax after he stopped work). We manage, have a good, but not extravagant life and I save. Just as well, with the truck and Solar fiascos and our roof ridge (thatched) needing to be redone.

I remain amazed at how much less we spend or need now.

edinburgher

I have a cold 😪 Going to try and do a short day at work but not helped by 3 hours of meetings.

1. £44.73 to Extension
2. £4.74 to Emergency Fund
3. £18.27 withdrawn from Prolific and transferred to SIPP budget (should pass £500 available by tomorrow)

greent

DD bought a house last year at 27. DS1 at 25 almost 26 is still at home and will be for some time yet (career change - will do PGCE next year) DS2 is 20 and at uni and has a job in RAF lined up when he graduates in 18 months. DS2 is 16 (17 in May) and may go to uni locally, so won't be out of here for a while yet. DH is 56 and I'll be 56 next week, so we will be in our very early 60s when DS3 graduates. I actually can't imagine an empty house - it's weird enough when we just have 1 around.

Pension wise DH is now working at- although is seriously considering giving it up. We can access our Vanguard Sipps now if we wanted and could also both access our old DB (bank) pensions from 50 - they reach full value at 60, so the closer we get to that without touching them, the better, in some ways. We also have other work pensions (I have LGPS and DH 2 work pensions) so should have sufficient money, along with ISAs, other money (PBs and cash) However, we will not inherit anything from anyone - my mother has disinherited me and my kids and my dad died with maybe £300 in his account and no other assets. Dh's mum died and we got less than 2k (but spent more than that cleaning and repairing the place she lived in that we owned at the time) His dad has remarried and will leave his house to his new wife. I actually kind of like that virtually everything we have is down to us (although I'm very annoyed at my mother for disinheriting my children - they need it far more than me - and I have no idea who she will leave it to instead)

Ed - I am sure that you are bringing up both DDs to be sensible young girls. This goes a long way, and they will see you and Mrs E acting sensibly with money. They are (from my experience so far with 3 of mine now technically being adults) unlikely to run amok financially with the upbringing they've had and financial sense witnessed. Give yourself and Mrs E credit for this 😊