Transition from saving to spending

aaronyuri said:
Depending on your age, I'm in this camp. I could have been a long way along the retirement journey at this point but have spent a huge amount of money on travelling and enjoying myself. Easily a few hundred k gone.

My mate is the total opposite. He is the most frugal human I have ever met. He's been on one holiday in about 9 years. He's got a lot of cash in the bank but spent most of his 20s sat in his house/flat.

For me, that's not a good thing. You are only here once and will only be of age for certain things once. When that time is gone, it's gone and no amount of money is going to make up for it.

That's my 2 pence.
Click to expand...
A very good friend of mine was meticulous about his retirement plans, was set up nicely.

He died in his sleep at 40.

Although he ended up leaving a lot of money to his family, I think he got the balance right, travelled a lot, lived between two countries. Was always sending me messages from the latest beach he was dossing on.

The trick is not to have any stupid expensive hobbies like cars or tech. Buy a house, any house, as soon as you can. Spend your money doing things instead of accumulating crap that costs money and depreciates.
 
mid_gen said:
The trick is not to have any stupid expensive hobbies like cars or tech. Buy a house, any house, as soon as you can. Spend your money doing things instead of accumulating crap that costs money and depreciates.
Click to expand...

I like my toys. And I have anhedonia so the whole experience thing doesn't really do anything for me. And you forgot that a house IS an expensive hobby, even if that's just keeping it ticking along. But otherwise, the advice is sound for most people.
 
mid_gen said:
The trick is not to have any stupid expensive hobbies like cars or tech. Buy a house, any house, as soon as you can. Spend your money doing things instead of accumulating crap that costs money and depreciates.
Click to expand...
I think pick your hobbies wisely too and you are 100% with the depreciation. I spend time making sure investments are wise and effective yet if i sat and calculated depreciation on other things I expect it would negate some of my hard work.
 
EyeDot said:
The relevant pot size bands are:

<£100k = 46%
<£200k = 58%
£250k–£500k = 9%
£500k–£750k = 3%
£750k–£1m = 2%
£1m+ = 2%.
Click to expand...
Just reading through this whole thread hence this late reply. Statistics and how they're reported are a big issue when it comes to pensions. The reason I'm quoting the above is that I read about a year ago that the average UK pension pot is only £30k. It's a struggle to find out how these figures are calculated, where they came from, how old they are, what age groups they apply to, etc, etc. It greatly confuses the issue!

When it comes to my own personal retirement planning, I'm saving a chunk into a pension and a chunk into a S&S ISA as I'd like to retire before I'm 57 which is still a good few years away. The big issue for me right now is that I have a physical job and I don't know how long I can keep going. Certainly not till I'm 57!
 
EyeDot said:
Sounds good, if you're one of the 2% in the entire country with a Pot that large.

Average UK Pension pot at retirement in the UK in 2026 was £100-110k

Based on the FCA Financial Lives 2024 pension survey for people aged 55–64 with defined-contribution pensions.

The relevant pot size bands are:

<£100k = 46%
<£200k = 58%
£250k–£500k = 9%
£500k–£750k = 3%
£750k–£1m = 2%
£1m+ = 2%.

You're also neglecting Income Tax and CGT (Depending on the Vehicle you hold the Asset(s) in)
You're also neglecting up and down years on the Stock Market, what do you do when the markets crash 25-30%? Take nothing, or eat the equity?.
Click to expand...
this is interesting. I assume that is private pensions so state would be on top of that?
i dont known what my private pension pot is worth. I wasn't allowed a private pension for the last 9 years so instead I maxed my ISA each year instead.... (7 years cash and last 2 in investment)

but I do have 19 years in a 1/60th per year final salary pension. i genuinely have no idea what that is worth . if had to guess my total assets Inc my savings would put me on the 3% band above....

which is quite incredible really as my actual take home has always been fairly modest (probably tickling over £50k PA for my last couple of years before being made redundant but for the most part much less (probably average of £25-£30k)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom