Originally Posted By Spanner Juggler
Originally Posted By Muck Adam
Good for you Neil.....at 68 (and having worked for so long) I think retirement should be 'staring you in the face' not just 'in sight'.

Mark B makes a valid point about savings and spending.....having saved money on a regular basis all my life I still haven't got my head around the idea that I can now spend it without feeling guilty and still worry about spending capital that I know will take a lot longer to replace than when I was working. But as SWMBO says 'What on earth did you save it for, if not to spend it at some stage?'. A valid point perhaps but old dogs find new tricks a bit of a challenge....

The good news is that you already know how you can occupy more free time....enjoy!


Exactly the emotion I went through after stopping work, I had just bought a new +4 4 seat and after a year stopped work. From that point it sat in the garage largely unused as I felt guilty spending 'our' savings on myself for days out in the car.....then I felt guilty have all that cash tied up in something unused so I sold it. Terrible decision, Mogless for 9 months, then my father died and while not exactly a condition of his will left a note saying 'tell that miserable Bugger to stop moping about and buy another Morgan'....my sister and brother loved that, so typical of the old chap, so I bought the current +4 and enjoy every second with it. Even our kids say it's your savings you should not be planning to pass it on to us.


Great story.....and nice to know that others go through the same thought process on retirement.....it also reminds me of my paternal grandmother who, having been brought up and lived most of her life in a pre-welfare state always feared being penniless and being sent to 'the workhouse' for her final days.....perhaps some of her fears rubbed off on me!

Times have changed since my grandmother's days and if I ever end up being consigned to an 'Old Persons Home' (what is the PC title of these places these days?) I want to make sure that I go in as broke as I possibly can be....I am in no mind to pay the equivalent of a year's salary (when I started work) for a week in a home that smells of stale urine....question is do I now spend the money on me and SWMBO in pleasurable pursuits or pass it on to those that might need it more/make more constructive use of it? As ever, I suspect it is a balance and a bit of both is probably the best way forward. Just need to get around the guilt trip I guess!






'di te incolumem custodiant'