Cutting back on Admin

annielyn

I've always been quite meticulous about keeping financial records. Probably partly because of the job I've always done (Accounts work) but also because of my nature. I keep a book listing all the incomings and outgoings each month and another listing all the credit card transactions, These are then summarized and figures entered onto a spreadsheet at the end of each month, and then reconciled to bank and credit card statements. I also produce an annual income and expenses summary.
As DH and I approach SP age later this year I am thinking I need to be a bit more laid back about this. Is there really any need to log all spending, or can I just check the credit cards and bank accounts at the end of each month?
I've done a forecast of what we can expect to receive once SP kicks in, and what we need to save each month to cover annual expenses, holidays etc. We also have a healthy emergency fund.
We have managed for the last few year's on DH's pension drawdown (he took early retirement at 57) and my own small SE income. I'm thinking that adding 2 full SP's to this should be more than enough for us to cover all expenses and have more money to enjoy ourselves. So is there really any need to be quite so rigorous about record keeping?
How do others manage this? 

On-the-coast

Well it sounds like nothing is going to excape your scrutiny which is good.... but there's certainly no need to be quite as diligent (or obsessive :-) ? )
I use the mark 1 eyeball at the end of each month (payday) to scan down bank account and credit card payments and follow up on anything i don't recognise (which is rare)

Albermarle

I have been retired four years and I do not log anything on a day to day basis.
I check the credit card bills before paying them.
I move cash around between my current account, and easy access savings account as and when necessary.
I check my S&S ISA's and DC pension pots intermittently and make a record of the numbers every 6 months or so. 
From time to time I will close/open new savings/investments/pensions accounts, and make small changes to my investments.

On the other hand I am fully up to date ( I think) with the latest developments in pension legislation, inheritance tax, savings tax and current/financial news. 

My relaxed attitude is probably due to two things:
1) Although I was not an accountant, I was in the commercial world and had to spend lots of time with spreadsheets, analysing figures. So not much point in retiring if I carried on doing that a lot.
2) Having worked probably more years than I needed to, I have more money than I really need. The 'problem' ( like a few  on these forums) is spending it all, rather than monitoring it down to the last penny.

Billxx

Interesting to hear others position on this.  I keep detailed records and reconcile all my accounts on a monthly basis, line by line.  At any point in time I know the exact state of my finances, and keep up to date with pension legislation/trends and so on.  I actually enjoy it, always have done.  But I can see there is not real need to do it in such detail, Albermarle seems to have struck a nice balance (pun intended).

Kind Regards,

Bill

kimwp

What's your intent with keeping such meticulous records? And worry if you don't?

DullGreyGuy

annielyn said:

I've always been quite meticulous about keeping financial records. Probably partly because of the job I've always done (Accounts work) but also because of my nature. I keep a book listing all the incomings and outgoings each month and another listing all the credit card transactions, These are then summarized and figures entered onto a spreadsheet at the end of each month, and then reconciled to bank and credit card statements. I also produce an annual income and expenses summary.
As DH and I approach SP age later this year I am thinking I need to be a bit more laid back about this. Is there really any need to log all spending, or can I just check the credit cards and bank accounts at the end of each month?
I've done a forecast of what we can expect to receive once SP kicks in, and what we need to save each month to cover annual expenses, holidays etc. We also have a healthy emergency fund.
We have managed for the last few year's on DH's pension drawdown (he took early retirement at 57) and my own small SE income. I'm thinking that adding 2 full SP's to this should be more than enough for us to cover all expenses and have more money to enjoy ourselves. So is there really any need to be quite so rigorous about record keeping?
How do others manage this? 

Everyone has to have a hobby and if you like doing it there is no harm in doing it; certainly less harm of being the opposite and not looking at account statements for months or years. 

Personally would question why you are putting them in a book rather than a spreadsheet from the outset which could allow you to do much more analysis on spend if you wanted to. 

Ultimately it's your choice how you want to run your lives, especially if you have a drawdown pension and therefore it's not guaranteed for life. We are only 10 years since pension freedoms allowed such things as drawdowns, personally think we will see many more get into trouble over the next few decades as people dont control their spending and improvements in longevity and morbidity means they run out of money whilst still fit and active. 

Some dont need books because their life is simple, an associate spent all his money when he worked and so only has his state pension. He gets paid on a Monday, spends one week out drinking from 2pm to 10pm and then has no money left so no one sees him for the next 3 weeks unless someone offers to buy him a beer. No complicated formulas or inflation tracking required for him. 

annielyn

kimwp said:

What's your intent with keeping such meticulous records? And worry if you don't?

I think its just habit to be honest. I've done this ever since we first had a home computer in the early 90's. As I say I think its partly down to the job I do. Also my father was an accountant and was similarly diligent with keeping financial records so its probably learned behavior.  I do find it interesting comparing year to year and how our expenses pan out. However, I'm aware this is not really necessary and I need to ease off a bit.

Exodi

annielyn said:

As DH and I approach SP age later this year I am thinking I need to be a bit more laid back about this. Is there really any need to log all spending, or can I just check the credit cards and bank accounts at the end of each month?

I think you know yourself it's overkill and a waste of time, far behind any potential benefit. I suspect it may be more of a hobby than a requirement.

Likewise, do you need to comb over the bank statement at the end of each month either? Unless you're on the breadline, I don't think it really matters on a month by month basis if you spent £520 on food and groceries this month but only £480 on food and groceries last month.

I'd re-purpose your annual income and expenses into an annual budget - where you lay out your food/groceries spend, fuel, council tax, gas, electric, clothes, haircuts, you name it then once a year (or a few times if it helps you sleep at night) check your spending against your budget and adjust it. Should be much quicker as you could just export your statement as a csv and have it list your expenses in a pivot table - takes all of 5 minutes.

annielyn

DullGreyGuy said:

annielyn said:

I've always been quite meticulous about keeping financial records. Probably partly because of the job I've always done (Accounts work) but also because of my nature. I keep a book listing all the incomings and outgoings each month and another listing all the credit card transactions, These are then summarized and figures entered onto a spreadsheet at the end of each month, and then reconciled to bank and credit card statements. I also produce an annual income and expenses summary.
As DH and I approach SP age later this year I am thinking I need to be a bit more laid back about this. Is there really any need to log all spending, or can I just check the credit cards and bank accounts at the end of each month?
I've done a forecast of what we can expect to receive once SP kicks in, and what we need to save each month to cover annual expenses, holidays etc. We also have a healthy emergency fund.
We have managed for the last few year's on DH's pension drawdown (he took early retirement at 57) and my own small SE income. I'm thinking that adding 2 full SP's to this should be more than enough for us to cover all expenses and have more money to enjoy ourselves. So is there really any need to be quite so rigorous about record keeping?
How do others manage this? 

Everyone has to have a hobby and if you like doing it there is no harm in doing it; certainly less harm of being the opposite and not looking at account statements for months or years. 

Personally would question why you are putting them in a book rather than a spreadsheet from the outset which could allow you to do much more analysis on spend if you wanted to. 

Ultimately it's your choice how you want to run your lives, especially if you have a drawdown pension and therefore it's not guaranteed for life. We are only 10 years since pension freedoms allowed such things as drawdowns, personally think we will see many more get into trouble over the next few decades as people dont control their spending and improvements in longevity and morbidity means they run out of money whilst still fit and active. 

Some dont need books because their life is simple, an associate spent all his money when he worked and so only has his state pension. He gets paid on a Monday, spends one week out drinking from 2pm to 10pm and then has no money left so no one sees him for the next 3 weeks unless someone offers to buy him a beer. No complicated formulas or inflation tracking required for him. 

Never thought of it as a hobby! I use a book so I can just jot things down as I go so I don't miss something. I probably wouldn't bother updating a spreadsheet for every transaction and credit card spend so find it easier to just summarize and enter one figure for each expense at the end of the month.

I know going into drawdown can be risky, In our case this was the only way my husband could leave work early when  his job (physical and shift work) became too much.  This is probably another reason I am keeping records, to keep us on track and not overspend.

However, I am hoping the pressure will be off a bit when SP kicks in and I can loosen the reigns!

annielyn

Albermarle said:

I have been retired four years and I do not log anything on a day to day basis.
I check the credit card bills before paying them.
I move cash around between my current account, and easy access savings account as and when necessary.
I check my S&S ISA's and DC pension pots intermittently and make a record of the numbers every 6 months or so. 
From time to time I will close/open new savings/investments/pensions accounts, and make small changes to my investments.

On the other hand I am fully up to date ( I think) with the latest developments in pension legislation, inheritance tax, savings tax and current/financial news. 

My relaxed attitude is probably due to two things:
1) Although I was not an accountant, I was in the commercial world and had to spend lots of time with spreadsheets, analysing figures. So not much point in retiring if I carried on doing that a lot.
2) Having worked probably more years than I needed to, I have more money than I really need. The 'problem' ( like a few  on these forums) is spending it all, rather than monitoring it down to the last penny.

Thats a nice problem to have!

MarzipanCrumble

I keep a spreadsheet which I break down according to IHT 403 page 8.  I am definitely in IHT land and I now give regular gifts out of surplus income to my sons.

If you are in that territory I would keep a record.

(I also wondered why a book rather than a digital record?)