SKI-er or Sk-ater. We know how to enjoy ourselves

RevTimms

Where are you going in China Pollypenny?
We are going later on this year and are looking forward to it.
There are four other couples doing this, and a friend who is Chinese is coming along and organising everything for us. So we will have guided tours throughout our trip. We are all sharing the cost of his fare and expenses and he is staying on at the end to be with his family. We have all given him a list of things we would like to do and he is planning our trip with those in mind and will add some things we haven't added and are "must sees".
I love the idea of someone else doing all the planning and thinking for me. Not only am I bothered that I would miss something, but life is busy and its nice to have someone else to do all my thinking for me for a change. Because he speaks Chinese we hope we will be able to interact more, and we are visiting some of his family.
Some friends of ours are doing a section of a cruise and they are visiting many far eastern places which I would like to do at some stage. They do cruises quite often and have seen and been to some wonderful places. They go on many of the trips that the cruise offer, and the range of things they do is incredible. Maybe next year!

margaretclare

DH does all the planning and the thinking. He gets as much enjoyment out of it as he does from the actual holiday. He's even come up with 'next year' because I said I wanted to see a different part of Germany and will by then - hopefully - have learned more German. He's come up with Bad Harzburg, in the Harz mountains. Instead of so long driving, though, we'll go overnight Harwich - Hook of Holland which gets us to Germany without so much mileage. So, that's next year's holiday organised, should we live so long! The main problem we have, however, is not being able to walk far. There are river cruises up the Danube and a day's walking tour in Passau and all the other cities. We shouldn't be able to do it, that's why we have to travel independently.

margaretclare

Just received the proceeds of my SIPP which I cashed in under the provisions which took effect this April. I put £3K straight back into my S&S ISA and paid off my credit card. It feels good. We leave early tomorrow morning after a light breakfast, catch DFDS Dover-Dunkerque at midday, lunch on board, first stop is just inside the Belgian border.

I've been having a mega sort out of clothes etc, bought a lot of new ones for casual wear from Lands End in their sale, and a few things from the M&S sale. Nowadays I probably need more casual comfortable clothes than anything. I have some smart things but I only ever seem to wear smart things to go to church. Echoes of my childhood, when 'Sunday best' meant just that.

It's just as well everyone is different. We often go down to Tilbury landing-stage and occasionally we see one of the cruise ships there. Obviously cruising is popular with a lot of people. We flew to Alicante from the local airport the year before last, just because we'd seen all the changes and redevelopments at the airport as they happened. Most of the people on the flight didn't stop at Alicante, they went on to Benidorm. People do what they want to do.

zygurat789

margaretclare wrote: »

Just received the proceeds of my SIPP which I cashed in under the provisions which took effect this April. I put £3K straight back into my S&S ISA and paid off my credit card. It feels good. We leave early tomorrow morning after a light breakfast, catch DFDS Dover-Dunkerque at midday, lunch on board, first stop is just inside the Belgian border.

I've been having a mega sort out of clothes etc, bought a lot of new ones for casual wear from Lands End in their sale, and a few things from the M&S sale. Nowadays I probably need more casual comfortable clothes than anything. I have some smart things but I only ever seem to wear smart things to go to church. Echoes of my childhood, when 'Sunday best' meant just that.

It's just as well everyone is different. We often go down to Tilbury landing-stage and occasionally we see one of the cruise ships there. Obviously cruising is popular with a lot of people. We flew to Alicante from the local airport the year before last, just because we'd seen all the changes and redevelopments at the airport as they happened. Most of the people on the flight didn't stop at Alicante, they went on to Benidorm. People do what they want to do.

#
Oh dear
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5247763

margaretclare

Why 'oh dear'?

I looked at all the angles of this. Most of the contributors to the thread you quote are in a different age-group and/or in different circumstances. The main problem of cashing-in any form of a pension fund is the risk of leaving yourself without money to live on in the future. This is not going to happen in my case.

The majority of the money that arrived in my current account today has gone straight back into investments, to continue growing.

The only disadvantage that I can see is that I now have 'too much' in savings and shall never be eligible to claim any means-tested benefits. Well, so what? I have enough to live on, to save and to go on holidays, which DH and I shall continue to do as long as we're able.

zygurat789

It was the expert's comments in post #2

margaretclare

Yes, I read it and had already considered all the options as they applied to me.

For individuals 2 decades younger than me, i.e. at the start of their retirement process, the options may well be different. Simplification seemed to me to be a good idea rather than having bits of money scattered about all over the place.

zygurat789

margaretclare wrote: »

Yes, I read it and had already considered all the options as they applied to me.

For individuals 2 decades younger than me, i.e. at the start of their retirement process, the options may well be different. Simplification seemed to me to be a good idea rather than having bits of money scattered about all over the place.

The point was that you had the money invested inside your SIPP.
You take it out and you only have 80% of it left after tax.
You invest the 80% in an S & S ISA.
So you now only have 80% of what you had.
That strikes me as expensive simplification at any age.

margaretclare

Yes, but I didn't want it invested in the SIPP. Not any longer. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but things change.

nearlyrich

MC hope you have a lovely holiday in Germany and the surrounds I hope I can still be travelling when I am late 70's as there is a lot of world out there I want to see.


Pollypenny we did a China trip in 2007 it was amazing, the food is a little repetitive you seem to get an Emperor's banquet twice a day but the sights are amazing and the Pandas are cute have a great time too..


We are currently investigating a trip to South Africa for later in the year I always need a trip to look forward to ...