Retirement - Live Life or Penny Pinch

sevenhills

Some people, generally poorer people that have saved and been frugal throughout their lives, find it difficult to go the other way and become spenders.
Then we have the health issue. I was listening to radio four and it stated that some social classes have 17 years of poor health, before their death.
My sister is 69 and still working, so that she can afford foreign holidays. But she suffers from arthritis and next year will be her last working year.
But she could live another 10/20 years.

TadleyBaggie

Linton said:

TadleyBaggie said:

I saw my in-laws penny pinching into their late 80's, then dying within weeks of each other, leaving a large estate. They could have such a better retirement, I won't make that mistake.

Not if they had spent it all by their early 70's on extravagances they could barely remember.  

It wasn't like that, their income into later years was all "steady", final salary pension plus state pension. They were saving around £1K a month, even spending half of that extra per month would have left them with a comfortable savings later on.

Miiade

Call me a skeptic. Are you talking about males? Females? Both?  This is the kind of “expert” recommendation people should run from when deciding on spending patterns.

Mordko, firstly I am not claiming to be an expert on life expectancy and am I not saying people should base their spending patterns on my observations. Just telling people what I see.

In answer to your question, I do see alot of elderly females in their late 80s/90s and again these are nearly always short people. However the contrast with males doesn’t seem as extreme, hence why I talked about not seeing really tall old men in their homes.

My visits to pensioners homes covers all income brackets. As regards your father in law,  I clearly stated there will be taller older me, just look at prince Phillip who was tall and lived to 99 I think.

All I can say is based on my visits I don’t see tall old men in their homes, but plenty of short elderly males.

[Deleted User]

eskbanker said:

Deleted_User said:

Miiade said:

As someone who visits about 100 pensioners a week in their own homes, here is my take on life expectancy for men.

Out of these visits I regularly see short men 5ft 7 or under well into their 80 or 90s. All of these men are of average weight. Seldom do I see any males above this height in this age bracket.

Clearly there will be some tall males out there who live a long life, but I am not seeing them.

Based on my observations if you are a tall male spend your DC pot early, if you are a short male make sure you have got some left for later…

Call me a skeptic. Are you talking about males? Females? Both?

Perhaps the seven mentions of 'male' or 'men' give a subtle indication?

But yes, agree with the rest of your post....

LoL. Yeah, “male” and “men” should have given the subtle clue that I missed.

Universidad

I think the answer depends on what you think the purpose of a pension is: to get to a point where you can live without working any more, or to ensure that you don't suffer when you can no longer work. 

The first one I think is how it's often presented to us. That when we've paid our dues, we get to stop, and smell the roses.

But I think the second one is more realistic. It's a contingency against undue pain and suffering. It's more like insurance than earnings.

I know I've changed my retirement plans accordingly. I used to think of it more like the first. But my pension kept being cut and the goal posts kept being moved, and with climate change looming I see it getting worse not better.

So I'm now just making sure I have a responsible amount put away so that I'll be less inclined to suffer than others.

I still expect the government to start means testing the state pension, and reduce once again the value of what I've saved, so I'm factoring in that it won't exist for me.

But once I've got a pension that I could just about get by on, then I intend to live hand to mouth like the rest of society and make the most of the years most immediately in front of me.

I'm already at an age where some aspects of my phyhsical health are getting worse, (normal mid 40s challenges), and there's no point thinking I'll still be in improved condition in another 20 or 30 years.

[Deleted User]

Miiade said:

Mordko, firstly I am not… saying people should base their spending patterns on my observations. 

Really?  Who said this?

Based on my observations if you are a tall male spend your DC pot early, if you are a short male make sure you have got some left for later…

[Deleted User]

In practice people do spend less as they get older.  The question to ask is whether its a forced reduction in expenditure due to running out of money.  I suspect not but that’s just a guess. 

MikeJXE

You will live as long as you allow yourself to live. I'm not rich by any means but not poor either. I lost my wife 10 years ago, lived in Gran Canaria for 18 months from 2016. In my life I have had many holidays and did mostly what my wife wanted to do, now it's all about me. 4 years ago I decided what my life was going to be like, I built a spreadsheet comparing if I sold and bought and if I sold and rented, how long would my money last that was the question. 4 years ago I sold £150,000 in the bank and rented, My spreadsheet tells me I could live how I want to for another 30 years, I'm 82 now and in reasonably good health, so last Christmas because I don't need it i gave my 2 kids and 4 grandkids £10,000 each and the look on their faces was priceless. I am very happy in doing what I do on my state pension and whats left of my savings, I do not have a worry in the world. My friend age 78 and loaded is worried sick on what life is costing, trying to save every penny for when he dies. Worried about his health, still worried about covid. I tell him he is shortening his life by worrying and I am more likely to go to his funeral than him to mine. Talk up your life not think of dying

dealyboy

Miiade said:

Based on my observations if you are a tall male spend your DC pot early, …

... that's me.

sevenhills said:

Some people, generally poorer people that have saved and been frugal throughout their lives, find it difficult to go the other way and become spenders.

... that's me too.

Its my nature ... that's why I'm here 

Spivo46

MikeJXE said:

You will live as long as you allow yourself to live. I'm not rich by any means but not poor either. I lost my wife 10 years ago, lived in Gran Canaria for 18 months from 2016. In my life I have had many holidays and did mostly what my wife wanted to do, now it's all about me. 4 years ago I decided what my life was going to be like, I built a spreadsheet comparing if I sold and bought and if I sold and rented, how long would my money last that was the question. 4 years ago I sold £150,000 in the bank and rented, My spreadsheet tells me I could live how I want to for another 30 years, I'm 82 now and in reasonably good health, so last Christmas because I don't need it i gave my 2 kids and 4 grandkids £10,000 each and the look on their faces was priceless. I am very happy in doing what I do on my state pension and whats left of my savings, I do not have a worry in the world. My friend age 78 and loaded is worried sick on what life is costing, trying to save every penny for when he dies. Worried about his health, still worried about covid. I tell him he is shortening his life by worrying and I am more likely to go to his funeral than him to mine. Talk up your life not think of dying

Nice overview of your philosophy, a bit of everything in that one, heart warming and and wish you all the best going forward