Have I saved enough money...

From reading some of the replies and back and forth, I’d say you need to save a bit more for the risks/soul searching it sounds like you want to do.

£50k is barely out of emergency fund territory. I’d be wanting at least six figures in an ISA before trying to find my purpose in life etc.
 
413x said:
This is us.
I hate waste.
I've written before it took a lot to make me accept getting a cleaner was. OK.

Was brought up "if you can do it yourself, do it yourself"

That's just one thing of many
Click to expand...

I think as I have earned more money and had less time, the more willing I have been to spend money to save time. We have a cleaner for 3 hours every 2 weeks and I love her. House looks immaculate for about 10 minutes until the nippers ruin it but for a short while its lovely. Does the deep clean and prevents it from getting too grubby and stops us wasting time on the weekend.

The only thing I struggle to spend money on is the trades because I have had pretty much nothing but trouble with them. So many scumbags and con artists who do a **** job and overcharge you.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
From reading some of the replies and back and forth, I’d say you need to save a bit more for the risks/soul searching it sounds like you want to do.

£50k is barely out of emergency fund territory. I’d be wanting at least six figures in an ISA before trying to find my purpose in life etc.
Click to expand...
you can't find purpose in your life without 6 figures in an isa?
 
413x said:
That is amazing. Can I ask how much it cost?
Click to expand...

I am paying as I go but private pilots licence is around 10k all in. If I go commercial it will be 50k-60k all in but that will be dual licence as I have a European Passport.

38 now but I should be done by 40 which will give me 25 years career if I want it. :)

I have done 5 hours so far and doing take offs and taxing by myself. Still a way to go however. 45 is the min hours to pass but most take 50-60. Then after that it is the grind for commercial which is 200ish hours plus theory.

At the moment I am doing 1 lesson a week but after Christmas will be doing 2-3.

I was constantly in a battle to save and pay off my mortgage ASAP. We had a kid at 21 so have been grafting since an early age. Only now I realise how pointless paying my mortgage off is and why do we even need a big house when the kids are gone so have taken equity out to follow a dream job.

I have no incentive to retire early but to find a job that gives me great satisfaction but also pays well. Doing my HGV license after getting made redundant in 2021 kind of opened my eyes. I literally wasted 15 years of my life grifting up the corporate ladder only worrying about that pay rise to only get there and find out my day to day work life was terrible.
 
Last edited:
Bassmansam said:
you can't find purpose in your life without 6 figures in an isa?
Click to expand...

Not if to do so I had to quit my job and travel the world a bit, try multiple hobbies, get a pilots license, retrain as a surgeon, etc etc etc, no definitely not without significantly more than £50k for safety. Maybe I’m more risk averse than you all.

It’s not the same proposition as taking 6 months off for a break and going back to do what I do now for work. If I was mortgage free it’d be less.
 
Last edited:
MichaelAwkward said:
Not if to do so I had to quit my job and travel the world a bit, try multiple hobbies, get a pilots license, retrain as a surgeon, etc etc etc, no definitely not without significantly more than £50k for safety. Maybe I’m more risk averse than you all.

It’s not the same proposition as taking 6 months off for a break and going back to do what I do now for work. If I was mortgage free it’d be less.
Click to expand...
ah right yea i see what you mean.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
Not if to do so I had to quit my job and travel the world a bit, try multiple hobbies, get a pilots license, retrain as a surgeon, etc etc etc, no definitely not without significantly more than £50k for safety. Maybe I’m more risk averse than you all.

It’s not the same proposition as taking 6 months off for a break and going back to do what I do now for work. If I was mortgage free it’d be less.
Click to expand...

Everything is a risk. I have always been very risk averse too but people change. Also it depends on how people live to how much they can get away with financially.

I could quite easily take a couple of years off with 50k and go back to work after. Then again I am a measly truck driver so can walk into a job anywhere in the country within 24 hours. It is a lot harder if you are in a dead man's shoes kind of job because getting back will obviously be difficult and you are effectively stuck.
 
Last edited:
hornetstinger said:
Why did you say payying mortage off quickly was a bad idea? I paid mine off less than 10 years and hardly paid any interest.
Click to expand...

My mortgage would be paid off but I would be in a job that I hated or in my current case a job that is underpaid. Instead I am using equity from my house to train into something else that if successful will easily pay itself back within 5 years.

Everyone has different priorities.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
Not if to do so I had to quit my job and travel the world a bit, try multiple hobbies, get a pilots license, retrain as a surgeon, etc etc etc, no definitely not without significantly more than £50k for safety. Maybe I’m more risk averse than you all.

It’s not the same proposition as taking 6 months off for a break and going back to do what I do now for work. If I was mortgage free it’d be less.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with you, but listen to this guy, "Joe Rogan Experience #1918 - John from The Boneyard Alaska"

I think this level of risk adverse requires more and more with essentially no upper limit, therefore you will never do it.

So best idea is to do it with nothing and no safety net.
 
Last edited:
413x said:
Yeah same. And also inspired by martyns thread and basically doing it.

Its coming up to a sensible time to make a big decision on life. But damn it's hard to face vs going with the flow.
Click to expand...
I've already done the moving abroad bit, you absolutely should if it's something that interests you. Just apply for some jobs in interesting places, get one with a relocation package, and ta-da, it's someone else's job to arrange and pay for the move.
 
fez said:
Its very hard to change gear when you have been in one gear for so long. I don't think its any easier than going the other way honestly. We all accept that some people are **** with money and spend it before they have it. We all accept that change for those people is hard. Its the same for savers. People who don't treat themselves. You get into the habit of never spending and eventually anything seems like a lot.

My partners dad did park and ride to drop his wife off at the Airport because he didn't want to pay for parking... think it was about £7 or something. Silly amount of money for what it was but fundamentally very little.... and his net worth is probably £3m plus...
Click to expand...
Yeah I'd agree with that.

What I find interesting is that there's so much writing on the broad topic of "finances", most of which is ****, but precious little on the psychological aspect of money - and even a lot of that when written is still trash.
 
Mason- said:
Dad died at 58. Didn’t get to spend a penny of his pensions. Since then. I contribute the minimum to mine that my employer will match.

I am saving for a house extension. But apart from that. I am the sort who would just keep 6 months net salary as a buffer and spend the rest. I don’t have any interest in accumulating vast wealth or having loads of money in retirement. Who cares about having loads of money when you’re old. You won’t be able to enjoy it much anyway because you’re old.

So buy the nice car, go on the fancy holiday. **** it.
Click to expand...

The problem is you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

As morbid as it is, if you could genuinely know when you will die then it'd be easier to plan for. If you die young then little point saving into a pension for retirement. But on the other side if you're contributing the minimal amount to your retirement and then live till you're 100, you're going to be pretty miserable in your later life when you can barely afford any luxuries, worrying about having the heating on etc.
 
Jim99 said:
Yeah I'd agree with that.

What I find interesting is that there's so much writing on the broad topic of "finances", most of which is ****, but precious little on the psychological aspect of money - and even a lot of that when written is still trash.
Click to expand...
Especially relevant for example, when your financial situation is not what you grew up in/you've changed your circumstances substantially. I wasn't the first in my family to own a home but I was first to go to university and get a "career".
 
Semple said:
The problem is you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

As morbid as it is, if you could genuinely know when you will die then it'd be easier to plan for. If you die young then little point saving into a pension for retirement. But on the other side if you're contributing the minimal amount to your retirement and then live till you're 100, you're going to be pretty miserable in your later life when you can barely afford any luxuries, worrying about having the heating on etc.
Click to expand...

Meh, I'm pretty sure I will have dementia by that point so even if I am rich I will think I have no money and vice versa!
 
Jim99 said:
Yeah I'd agree with that.

What I find interesting is that there's so much writing on the broad topic of "finances", most of which is ****, but precious little on the psychological aspect of money - and even a lot of that when written is still trash.
Click to expand...

In my view a lot of it comes down to your risk appetite. That really defines a person and what they do about spending/saving money.

Some will see it as easy comes easy goes, and spend every penny they earn, without a worry of things like what happens if you're unemployed. I think most people (especially those in a relationship or have dependants) are a bit more cautious to risk and save for a safety net in the event of being out of work etc.
 
LuckyBenski said:
Especially relevant for example, when your financial situation is not what you grew up in/you've changed your circumstances substantially. I wasn't the first in my family to own a home but I was first to go to university and get a "career".
Click to expand...
Definitely. My family had various examples of people losing everything, mostly due to gambling / poor life decisions. So it creates extreme risk aversion, which is now screwing them over at retirement.
Semple said:
In my view a lot of it comes down to your risk appetite. That really defines a person and what they do about spending/saving money.

Some will see it as easy comes easy goes, and spend every penny they earn, without a worry of things like what happens if you're unemployed. I think most people (especially those in a relationship or have dependants) are a bit more cautious to risk and save for a safety net in the event of being out of work etc.
Click to expand...
Totally. I don't think many people are good at understanding and articulating their own risk appetite though, which is half the problem.
 
Jim99 said:
Definitely. My family had various examples of people losing everything, mostly due to gambling / poor life decisions. So it creates extreme risk aversion, which is now screwing them over at retirement.
Click to expand...
In what way is their aversion screwing them over in retirement? Regret? Poor investment choices?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom