Pension or holiday

Marcon

Freecall said:

dunstonh said:

As it stands there is not enough information to say whether this is a good or bad thing.  

I would go further.  I don't think that there will ever be enough information for strangers to make a binary contribution to the OP's decision, the issue is far too complex, involving matters far beyond the merely financial.

Quite - and why on earth people think a straw poll of strangers will somehow help them to take a 'more valid' decision than discussing with their family/people who actually know them never fails to amaze me.

lisyloo said:

djr2031 said:

I'm 56 and at moment will only get about £6000 per year retirement which isn't a lot, hence reason my wife wants to use some of the money for a once in lifetime holiday while we can enjoy it, it just doesn't seem to make sense as I would much rather pay money towards reducing mortgage.  Just so confused which is why I posted originally 

Thanks for coming back (many don’t).
what we need to know so what type of pension do you have, is it one that pays an income (defined benefit) or is it your own pot of money in a SIPP or employer pension whether you buy an annuity or drawdown.

No - 'we' don't need to know that. The decision isn't one which is going to be influenced by the type of pension for the simple reason it's about so much more. 

Linton

One thought - suppose you die before your wife after retirement.  The money available for household expenditure  would be severely impacted with loss of your State Pension and presumably your DB pension paying half.    Could understanding the effect of spending the money now help with decidiing where your priories should lie?

RNV

To help your family make a decision what is of a higher value (more than just financially) for your overall happiness, suggest saving for a weekend in whatever nearest themed park to you. You may all realise that Dysneyland imay not be a dream holiday at all, and then (having tried a sample and concluding it is not what you dreamt it was) you will not have that “what if” haunting you for the rest of your lives…

If you loved that though, as others said, dysneyland  Paris could be a better option that you can try to save for.  

Keep_pedalling

It seems to me that the OP is very reluctant to do this and I think it horribly unfair that his wife has involved the children in this to pile on the emotional blackmail. 

lisyloo

Marcon said:

UFreecall said:

dunstonh said:

As it stands there is not enough information to say whether this is a good or bad thing.  

I would go further.  I don't think that there will ever be enough information for strangers to make a binary contribution to the OP's decision, the issue is far too complex, involving matters far beyond the merely financial.

Quite - and why on earth people think a straw poll of strangers will somehow help them to take a 'more valid' decision than discussing with their family/people who actually know them never fails to amaze me.

lisyloo said:

djr2031 said:

I'm 56 and at moment will only get about £6000 per year retirement which isn't a lot, hence reason my wife wants to use some of the money for a once in lifetime holiday while we can enjoy it, it just doesn't seem to make sense as I would much rather pay money towards reducing mortgage.  Just so confused which is why I posted originally 

Thanks for coming back (many don’t).
what we need to know so what type of pension do you have, is it one that pays an income (defined benefit) or is it your own pot of money in a SIPP or employer pension whether you buy an annuity or drawdown.

No - 'we' don't need to know that. The decision isn't one which is going to be influenced by the type of pension for the simple reason it's about so much more. 

I don’t agree with either point - sorry.
sometimes strangers come up with some good points/angles that we’re not previously thought of. They can be dismissed if not appropriate so there’s little downside and potential upside.

the reason for asking about whether it’s DB/DC is that it may not even be possible to drawdown the pension, which nips the whole thing in the bud. The wife may be under a false impression about the facility to take the pension.

Firegirl

I would go for the holiday! You could be dead tomorrow and life is for living.  Start selling everything you can in your house. Cut back on take aways or bottles of wine, or whatever your vice is. Set some wee family challenges and get everyone saving for the goal and you’ll be surprised how much you can save. Keep the money in a separate account.

When my kids were young we did car boot sales, maybe a bit old school now but helped them learn to count money and used to make £100 a week on random things piled from the house into the car.

review your direct debits and standing orders and see if there’s anything you can cancel.

Im sure there’s lots of other things that you could do and I would find a way to get that holiday of a life time because you will remember it forever.

Emmia

Firegirl said:

I would go for the holiday! You could be dead tomorrow and life is for living.  Start selling everything you can in your house. Cut back on take aways or bottles of wine, or whatever your vice is. Set some wee family challenges and get everyone saving for the goal and you’ll be surprised how much you can save. Keep the money in a separate account.

When my kids were young we did car boot sales, maybe a bit old school now but helped them learn to count money and used to make £100 a week on random things piled from the house into the car.

review your direct debits and standing orders and see if there’s anything you can cancel.

Im sure there’s lots of other things that you could do and I would find a way to get that holiday of a life time because you will remember it forever.

But, would you raid the pension to pay for it?

dunstonh

Im sure there’s lots of other things that you could do and I would find a way to get that holiday of a life time because you will remember it forever.

But we don't know what the current spending habits are like or the affordability around them.    They could already be living out charity shops and food banks and no more cutting back is possible.  
Or if they are not there now, they could be for 25-35 years if they raid the pension.

Nick9967

about 7 years ago i did similar and added 15k to my mortgage , not wealthy or super highly paid but wanted my kids then, 9 and 13 to have the experience of a lifetime, 3 weeks in Orlando in a villa with everything!
I didn't tell them , planned it for a year. Got to Heathrow they thought they were dropping me for work as i travelled a lot to China in those days (not as grand as it sounds believe me) and that my car had a problem so mum was dropping me off. Got there in the car park, turned round and said "kids i cant be bothered to go to work , do you want to go somewhere else instead, yeh~~!!!! was the answer , ok where then? daughter answered "I'd go to Disney if we could"  i replied ok then let go! all the time my wife was recording this video on her phone! (we'd had grandparents take them out a couple of days before just for a normal day and packed all their stuff!

They didn't believe me until i turned around and said "you might need this then" and gave them their passports - the look on the their faces and the screams when reality hit home is quite possibly the most moving moment of my life-

More to the point they will never forget that point!

my advice , do it! work another 2 years to top that pension up but do it!

tell_it_how_it_is

There's a lot to be said for "you only live once", so in many respects, why not go ahead and do it while you're all fit (supposedly) - you also never know what's around the corner, and then the chance may be gone.

We did a transatlantic cruise in 2018, which then took in Las Vegas and New York, and enjoyed it immensely, with some never to be forgotten memories.

Of course one shouldn't be reckless, but take some more advice, do some more workings, see what is possible for the holiday of various lengths, standards, budgets etc..