You're nearly 55 and you're sick of Money Makovers

Leper said:
The check lists here are relevant and if anybody wishes to add to them please do.
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I did try to develop your number 5 & 15 a bit further because I think health/wellbeing is so important but the entire post was deleted because you're not suppposed to put more than one image in a post, apparently.

Finding the right hobby transformed my life and while some were rebalancing portfolios I was happy to rebalance my life so that I could do what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, because I might not have been physically able to do the activity at the same level in late 60s / early 70s. I suppose I was borrowing time from actual retirement but it also probably meant that I might need more assets/resources in terms of longevity. That's why I was suggesting that it might be wiser to start really thinking about the retirememt 15/20 years out.

The books I recommended have had a profound effect on my wellbeing and how good I feel every day. Finding the right professional (the ones that don't prescribe medication at every opportunity) to deal with ailments or injuries, as you begin to creak, are invaluable.

Okay, these are not finacial and are of little interest to anyone who can't stop accumulating assets or will never spend what they have accumulated, but they're important to some.
 
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Steven Barrett said:
What? Parents giving adult children money? It is very common these days. Boomers have accumulated a lot of wealth. Even where their children are successful themselves, they want to help out their kids financially. If they have enough money, there is no harm in doing so. Otherwise, it is left until they are dead and they will get no joy out of helping their children out then.

But the big change that I am seeing is boomers are much more measured in the amounts that they are giving. During the Celtic Tiger, parents were borrowing money to help their kids out to get property. I know of plenty of cases where the parent bought the property for the child and gifted it to them, repaying the debt themselves! I don't see any of that now.
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You are referring to the acronym KIPPERS...
Kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings.
 
Leper said:
Every week I meet several people who like me are retired. Best thing about being retired is that every day is like a Bank Holiday. The worst thing is that some kind of financial independence is still a pipe dream or you are financially worse off than you have been. Yours should all be done for, mortgage should be a memory and the next years are now your most important.

I suggest:-
1. Get shut of top up mortgage or any other loans. Remember, you have to do this sometime.
2. Concentrate on your physical and mental health.
3. You've reached "me" time.
4. Review life insurance.
5. Get fitter if necessary.
6. Get your savings in trim even if you cannot beat inflation. You need a Rainy Day fund.
7. Improve anything that needs doing in your home.
8. Don't delay in getting your tax affairs up to date.
9. Slow down now.
10. Drive more carefully if you're not a careful driver.
11. Give time to your family as necessary without being a "hero. "
12. Keep your passport in date.
13. Don't even think of an Afterlife loan.
14. Bring your family onside.
15. Cherish your hobbies (this doesn't mean building a light aircraft from scratch). Reading, Writing, Sport, etc.
16. Avoid any rut.
17. Clear your credit card debt every week (not every month). Use the card less and less where possible.
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These all seem clear, and useful, apart from #13 - what's an Afterlife loan? Is this when you sell your house to a company that pays for it over your expected lifetime, or something?
 
Gordanus said:
These all seem clear, and useful, apart from #13 - what's an Afterlife loan? Is this when you sell your house to a company that pays for it over your expected lifetime, or something?
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I think they meant a "Lifetime Loan"?
www.irishmortgage.com

Equity Release Mortgages in Ireland

Equity release could allow you to release some of the value of your home without having to make repayments during your lifetime.
www.irishmortgage.com www.irishmortgage.com
I don't think that (m)any financial institutions lend to ghosts...
 
I am well retired. Lots of holidays and planning holidays. No other real hobbies except maintaining a garden and growing a few veggies. During lockdown I really had withdrawal symptoms from not being able to travel. I was almost down to clipping areas of my grass with a scissors it was so perfect.
I am not sure if I like my garden anymore now. I get great energy in the Spring to work in my garden but come mid July I find I am getting tired of it. The problem is, I tried an extended stay in Spain earlier this year and I didn't like that either.....I enjoyed the first couple of weeks but then got tired of the endless sun and looking for somewhere different to eat every day. We tried to recreate our home away, brought our laptops etc. but we missed the streets of suburban Dublin and familiar stuff.
Sitting at home here in the rain I now wish I was back in Spain or similar. I have the bones of about 6 holidays planned. flights, transfers, hotels/apartments, areas to visit. Ready to go. The garden needs work....the veggies need attention.....losing interest.
I am not a hobbies or sports type of person, I don't lie on the beach or around a swimming pool.

Lep, I know you head off to your place in Spain every winter. How do you get in the frame of mind to enjoy the long break away. I know it can be different when you own your own place but I don't want to purchase a place because I like going to different places.

I am grateful for my health and having money to do the things I want and I feel that I might be moaning too much when others are struggling with all sorts of problems. I don't want a kick in the backside or a fright to make me appreciate what I have. I am just looking for tips to get in the frame of mind for two months in Spain or similar. (Cervelo, are you back in the saddle in Spain?)
 
@IsleOfMan Your post struck a chord in me except that for me, gardening is a massive chore and often neglected. I fantasise about buying in Spain but I know it's a lot less ideal than I think (thanks Leper) and Mrs S likes to live here and travel to different destinations. So, I have 4 foreign holidays booked or planned for the next 12 months. We are both retired, early from the public sector, and have enough pension and savings. Not much hobbies though. Reasonable health, could be better. One thing though - I constantly am saying to myself is that I should have;
(a) saved more earlier
(b) invested more, sooner
(c) ate and drank less/exercised more

However, we have travelled lots with more to come. It's very easy to become bored/complacent with your current situation but we're very fortunate to live where we do and live well enough. Hills are, indeed, green far away but it's important to enjoy the now rather than think it will all be better 'if only...'.
 
When I first retired back in 2011 I thought I knew it all, had all the boxes ticked.
The money was there or on it's way and my days were going to be filled with all the things I liked to do or dreamed of doing
But after the financial and physical side of life were taken care of there was another area I hadn't really given any thought to, the mental side
and for me this was the game changer that has turned my (early) retirement journey into the most enjoyable stage of my life sofar

@IsleOfMan, forgive me and I mean no disrespect to you or your post but it strikes me as been very negative in tone and very much seems like a case of not seeing the trees for the woods and I get it, I've been there many a time and no doubt will be there again many a time in the future
IsleOfMan said:
I am just looking for tips to get in the frame of mind for two months in Spain or similar.
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What I would suggest first is don't look at it as a two month trip that is set in stone, think of it as an open ended trip and you decide when the time is right to return home. when I've booked my trips I don't book the return journey until I'm there and a get a feel for how things are going as was the case on my last Spanish trip in 21/22 where I came home early by two months
Secondly if your not used to spending months away from home at a time, well then don't do it that way at first, break the trip down into more manageable smaller trips, as I've said before here there is nothing wrong with going away for three or four weeks coming home for a week and then going away again.
Or another way we do it is to have a mini holiday/trip during my long trip,
Back in 2018 Mrs C came over for a week and we went on a mini road trip of Malaga, Granada, Cordoba, Seville and back to Malaga
In 2020 just before Covid we did Madrid and the surrounding attractions and a couple of nights in Toledo in one of my favourite hotels "Cigarral El Bosque"
IsleOfMan said:
(Cervelo, are you back in the saddle in Spain?)
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Unfortunately it's all gone "Pete Tong" with regards to cycling at the moment. I started back on the road in April and was regaining some of the lost fitness but then two things happened, the weather turned in July and hasn't really improved yet but here's hoping mid August is better
And then I got quite addicted to DMZ on the Playstation but that is starting to fade now so when the weather improves I'll stop procrastinating
and hit the road again.
As regards Spain this year, still undecided as of yet but it's early days
 
Cervelo, I think you misunderstand. I have been to Spain in March, France in April, Spain again in May and France again in June. I have France again in September and Spain again in October.
I think that I like the shorter one week trips rather than the longer trips. This means that I have to visit lots of airports and the hassle that goes with that. I am trying to get myself in the frame of mind to be able to stay away for a month at a time.
I think your idea of just booking the over part of the trip and leaving the return part open is a good idea. This would mean that I would probably have to stay in hotels on an hoc basis, certainly during the latter planned stay....
I realise, that this year I have overdosed on France and Spain a bit....so next year we will head to Croatia, Slovenia and Austria (road trip) and Portugal (road trip).
 
Hi Isle of Man, just wondering do you always go to beach type holiday resorts? Have you ever tried an extended stay in a city. We’re a bit away from retirement as we still have a mortgage and one in secondary school and one in college but I can still dream we are definitely going to try some cities - maybe 4 weeks in places like Paris or Madrid. Would consider anywhere really. I think there would be a lot more to do there to keep us occupied. Maybe we won’t like it but it’s on the cards to try. I know the rental cost would be higher but we’re going to look at house swops. We live in a rural area so a break to city life appeals to us. Is there anyone on here that has done this kind of extended holiday ?
 
Kilkenny Lass said:
Hi Isle of Man, just wondering do you always go to beach type holiday resorts?
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Yes, but most of the time we never set foot on the beach. Strange but true. We like the long promenade and looking at the sea.

We have stayed both in cities and large towns, where there is a local population. It doesn't have to be a city.

I have stayed in Paris and Madrid. Both lovely cities.

Other not so large places that you might consider are Nantes, Bordeaux, Nice, Colmar, Tours, Marseille in France. In Spain you are spoilt for choice so also consider Malaga, Murcia city, Valencia and one of our favourites..... Estepona.

Netherlands is also fantastic....we include a trip here every year....somewhere different each time.

All the above have great transport hubs and close to airports.
 
The leap from a one week stay to a month or longer may not be a good idea for some. There was a time I could only do a week but I started to push it out over the last few years to two, then three and I'll try a month soon. I suppose it's habit forming, you eventually get into a flow and at the end of the stay it seem as if it wasn't that long ago that you arrived.
 
The thread is about being nearly 55 and wanting to retire.....with some money. I retired at 52. I have been travelling on more or less weekly breaks for the past 20 years. Maybe a few where I extended them to 10 days.
I have always booked my flights and hotel breaks myself. I haven't been to a travel agent since the early 1990's. Ryanair has been a Godsend. I have travelled with them multiple times over the years.....but I don't have any loyalty to them because they don't have any loyalty to me.
I look at Ryanair flight prices every day.....sometimes more than once. I have a knack for remembering prices on various flights to different destinations. I don't just jump in and book. I wait for the price to come to me, most of the times it does. This year it didn't, it went in the opposite direction. I often just book the outward leg and wait for the price to cool on the inward leg. Sometimes I will book the return leg with Aer Lingus.
I would have about five or six different holidays planned and if the cards stack up for one of them I book that one and leave the others until the prices are right.
I nearly always book direct with the hotel but I always use Booking.com and Tripadvisor for maps, reviews, room sizes and photos. On many occasions they offer more information than the actual hotel website. Tripadvisor also has a "room tips" feature. I am a member of the major chains hotel's reward schemes...such as Melia, Accor, etc Always useful for even a small discount. I don't have concerns about money but I do like to get a bargain or better price.
I seldom use taxis when travelling unless I have to. Rome to Rio is a great site. I can research trains and buses and access. I also use Tripadvisor's forums to ask questions from locals.
I don't always get it right but I am winning most of them and I hope it continues for many years to come.
 
People are built differently and one man's food is another man's poison. If spending a few weeks of winter in warmer climes doesn't suit you, then don't do it.

Last December three retired Dublin Ladies (all from the same housing estate, one didn't know the other two) rented an apartment for 6 weeks near us in Spain. They were staying from start of 2nd week of December to the end of the following January. We got to know them for the few weeks and they were "gas cards" - Shirley Valentines in their late 60's and fed up with Christmas and the cold/rain in Ireland. They gave their husbands an option to join them, but the man-of-the-house couldn't miss out on Christmas and New Year in Dublin. They sunbathed every day, relaxed, read, walked, participated in the terrace life and I dropped them to the airport for their return flight to Dublin, None had any regrets. I rang one of them yesterday and guess what? - the three of them are going to Spain again this December for 8 weeks, only this time the men-of-the-houses are travelling too.

Recap:- If it suits you go for it, if it doesn't then don't.
 
Heading for the 55 mark myself and started putting some of those above points into place. Can't see myself retiring for another 5-10 years, have to get the kids through college but certainly can see myself stepping back to a certain degree in a few years time. Couple of things I would add to the list, based on where I am in life and having buried my reasonably well organised parents who lived into their 80s in the last few years as well
  • Have an annual medical
  • do a full review of all pensions, just updated my UK one in the last 12 months.
  • Get all of your paperwork together, in the one place, organised and where someone knows where it is. Same applies for digital records, online accounts etc
  • Clean out the attic.
  • Check your health insurance and what can/should you opt in and out for. You don't need to be paying for maternity cover any more.
  • Say no. It's ok to mind the grandkids, but also ok to say "nope, we're away that weekend".
  • Volunteer for something but walk away from it if needed
 
Google Flights is a great resource for anyone with flexible locations/dates: http://flights.google.ie/

If you just type in Dublin and click search it will show you a map like this:

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You can then see your options for best value over a period of time.

We usually put in Dublin and then the dates we are on leave, then click search and it shows us where we can go during that time period. You can then filter by number of stops, etc.

Google will also show you a graph of typical prices for that route and if you find a flight that you are interested in you can save it (Track Prices button) and they will email you updates if the flights go up/down in price:

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We used to be members of hotel chain rewards but we switched to Hotels.com as we found the prices were similar but it didn't tie us to any particular brand. You get the equivalent of 10% of the price back. We also found it easier to get refunds/credit if we needed to make changes.
 
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