Retirement - Live Life or Penny Pinch

barnstar2077

p00hsticks said:

MikeJXE said:

Lol you are so right in fact most people today don't know what poetry is.

I wandered lonely a a cloud.... ;-)

Haha, I didn't even notice when I read it! : ) 

MikeJXE

It's good to have a laugh, more so in todays climate 

nigelbb

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…

You need to tell us why you are visiting pensioners in their own homes. If you are a personal trainer there might be some validity to your hypothesis. If on the other hand you are providing social care you might not see any tall men in their 80s & 90s because they are all fit enough not to need social care.

coyrls

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…

Given the positive correlation between height and social class (“In developed counties, taller stature and lower BMI are associated with higher socioeconomic status and better health” https://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i582) and the positive correlation between social class and longevity (“Higher socioeconomic status is associated with better health and longer life” Ibid).  I would have thought that it is more likely that there is a positive correlation between height and longevity.

Given that average height has increased over time (“The average height of men has risen by almost 11cm since the mid-19th century, experts have found.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23896855), older people will on average be shorter than younger people.

Malthusian

Within the same species, bigger animals tend to die sooner than smaller animals, possibly because they find it more difficult to recover from disease. This is generally believed to be why men die earlier than women and why big dogs die a few years earlier than small ones.
Miiade's anecdata checks out. 
Though it is worth noting that people shrink as they age so a 5'7" male in his 80s or 90s was probably well above average in his youth. 

nigelbb said:

If on the other hand you are providing social care you might not see any tall men in their 80s & 90s because they are all fit enough not to need social care.

Biology tells us that they are more likely to be in a care home (if they are above ground at all), due to being unable to live in their own homes due to the strain of their large bodies, than not requiring any care at all in their 80s and 90s.

barnstar2077

I read somewhere that because taller people have more cells in their body that they have a greater chance of developing cancer.  The more cells, the more that can go wrong.  It's a theory anyway.

bluenose1

barnstar2077 said:

I read somewhere that because taller people have more cells in there body that they have a greater chance of developimg cancer.  The more cells, the more that can go wrong.  It's a theory anyway.

I've definitely read before that taller men die younger than shorter men, I am sure there is research confirming it somewhere. May as well tell my middle son who is 6 foot 8" to retire as soon as he can  

LV_426

Spivo46 said:

Bravepants said:

Depends on your definition of "enjoyment" and "living".

Different people find joy in wide and varied activities and one person's retirement pot, being enough for that person's preferred lifestyle, is not necessarily the same as someone else's desired lifestyle.

This is why it's important to not just think about retirement FROM something, but thinking about what one would be retiring TO is probably more important.

Agreed, but didn't really answer my question, which was - Spend or run out of money at 85 ish? I would want to travel a bit. A couple of holidays each year, eating out once or twice each week, not worried about energy bills etc and a reliable car. As you can see, I am not expecting too much. If someone is happy walking or cycling the local area most days and sitting in with hobbies, then great, you have no financial challenges

There's no one answer though is there? You say you'd want to travel, which obviously costs money depending on where you go and how you do it. I personally hate foreign travel and so wouldn't go to the expense of doing it.
And I'm taking neither of those options anyway because my plan is to pass my DC assets on to my kids.

downshifter98

My Dad is 86; Still lives independently and his health is relatively good. He lives on very little and, despite receiving pension credit, is still a saver! TV, books, newspapers, jigsaws, a whisky or 2 most evenings keep him happy plus he still socialises (makes good use of his bus pass) with friends (that have survived this far) and family, including 3 Great Grandkids. He lives well on the necessities but doesn't scrimp on simple pleasures. His only real indulgence is spending on his family as there is no point in him adding to fairly meagre savings.

You just don't consume nearly so much stuff at 80 plus; spend your retirement money while you can and while you are minded to.   

bostonerimus

There's no real distinction between live life and penny pinch. If you have 400k at age 65 and are in good health then you should follow the rules for drawdown ie something like an index linked 4% or 3%...ie in the first year 12k. If that isn't enough when combined with SP you'll have to work some more or look at your spending again. If it's more than enough then save the excess.