Being retired; painful

Sailing steve said:
I'm not sure it's all about priorities - maybe it's more about the monthly payments.

There's probably rather more people who can afford three or four hundred quid a month to rent a new car to put on the drive than there are people who can afford to buy a new car to put on their drive by transferring thirty of forty grand out of their spare cash account.
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And no repair bills during those three years before you start the process again.
 
wonkywinch said:
Probably much too far a general assumption, but my parents were from a generation where they didn't buy it until they could afford it with cash, my generation learned to use credit wisely, the younger generation have borrowed their way into apparent wealth (leased cars, £1,500 phones, long haul holidays etc).

Perhaps there will be a return to cheaper holidays or is that what a "staycation" is?
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You might be a Yorkshireman,,,, it was drummed into me ...'if you can't afford it , you can't have it'. Another one ' we cannot afford to pay anyone to do anything we can do ourselves'. Neither my grandparents or parents ever had a holiday abroad or flew on a plane. As a youngster I remember dad taking me and my sister to a very depressed part of Leeds where he worked...he said ' now remember,,,,work hard , or this is where you'll end up!' God bless my parents ,,
 
Scomber said:
You might be a Yorkshireman,,,, it was drummed into me ...'if you can't afford it , you can't have it'. Another one ' we cannot afford to pay anyone to do anything we can do ourselves'. Neither my grandparents or parents ever had a holiday abroad or flew on a plane. As a youngster I remember dad taking me and my sister to a very depressed part of Leeds where he worked...he said ' now remember,,,,work hard , or this is where you'll end up!' God bless my parents ,,
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You were lucky.......
 
wonkywinch said:
Probably much too far a general assumption, but my parents were from a generation where they didn't buy it until they could afford it with cash, my generation learned to use credit wisely, the younger generation have borrowed their way into apparent wealth (leased cars, £1,500 phones, long haul holidays etc).

Perhaps there will be a return to cheaper holidays or is that what a "staycation" is?
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It's the services economy mindset. So much industry revolves around keeping people in debt. There isn't a housing market, there is a mortgage, insurance, etc market. There isn't a car market, there is a finance, insurance, warranty, leasing market , etc.
I read something a few weeks back that the amount in mortgages and commercial property loans in the UK is more than the national debt. I worked for a company a while back that was taken over by a major US corporation and the first thing they did was sell and lease back our facilities, got rid of all the company cars and leased new ones, same with computers, phones...
 
ingenious said:
It's the services economy mindset. So much industry revolves around keeping people in debt. There isn't a housing market, there is a mortgage, insurance, etc market. There isn't a car market, there is a finance, insurance, warranty, leasing market , etc.
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Yes, exactly this.

Previous generations who grew up avoiding debt by maintaining more modest aspirations and a make do and mend mindset see clearly what's been lost by the rise of the service industry and the voracious monetisation of absolutely everything you can think of.

But younger people who've grown accustomed to being manipulated by influencers and Instagrammers and multi million pound glossy advertising campaigns for overpriced tinsel and tat nobody actually needs and the resultant misery of a lifetime of debt and interest payments that goes alongside can't see what's been lost at all.
 
Sailing steve said:
Yes, exactly this.

Previous generations who grew up avoiding debt by maintaining more modest aspirations and a make do and mend mindset see clearly what's been lost by the rise of the service industry and the voracious monetisation of absolutely everything you can think of.

But younger people who've grown accustomed to being manipulated by influencers and Instagrammers and multi million pound glossy advertising campaigns for overpriced tinsel and tat nobody actually needs and the resultant misery of a lifetime of debt and interest payments that goes alongside can't see what's been lost at all.
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You are actually describing two forms of misery......the self denial, cold house, life’s a struggle.....or the live beyond your means that will end with indignity.
There has to be a happy medium where you live within your means...but enjoy life’s excesses
 
Poignard said:
I suppose it depends to a great extent on where you live.

In the 'leafy London suburb' where I live there I don't see signs of financial pain amongst the retired community in general.

Builders are kept busy with repairs and alteratiions, nice cars abound, gardeners and cleaners are hard to find, old people are taking exotic holidays, after the 0930 threshold they are packing into the trains to London to enjoy the delights of the capital, and so on.
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I am sure there are local and regional variations. In general there has always been more money in the South.
 
Bouba said:
There has to be a happy medium where you live within your means...but enjoy life’s excesses
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That’s the problem though, the happy medium has been eradicated. With monetisation of everything nothing is affordable or reasonable. It’s very clear when you go elsewhere and things are how they used to be. South of Ireland for instance it was clear that the harbour masters job with visiting yachts is to get visitors for the town. Contrast this with Poole where there’s a harbour fee, exorbitant mooring fee (£65 for a 36’ if memory serves) then £7 a night for electricity all before you step ashore, and £12 for a single load of laundry should you dare to be away long enough. Same by car, parking is monetised to the point town centres and the jobs they create are disappearing.
The world you’re describing is one where fish and chips are a fiver. The reality is one where fish and chips are a tenner because the chip shop don’t own their premises, and it’s a fiver to park to buy them because it’s not near anyone who wants them. Then there will be no bin to dispose of the rubbish and you’ll be told off for putting greasy paper in the recycling bin because your normal waste bin is tiny and full.
 
dgadee said:
And no repair bills during those three years before you start the process again.
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Yeahbutt just wait and see what happens to your wallet at the end of those three years when you take a leased car back with a scuffed wheel, a couple of supermarket dinks in the panels and showing some miles over the agreed amount on the odometer.

That aside my gripe with car leasing rather than outright purchasing is unlike anybody buying a car with their own cash who'd naturally take a keen interest in it's long term durability and reliability neither the manufacturer or lease company or first user of a leased vehicle has to give much consideration to how much drama and expense it'll cause as it ages, and that for a serial buyer of teenaged cars like me is not a good thing at all.
 
lustyd said:
That’s the problem though, the happy medium has been eradicated. With monetisation of everything nothing is affordable or reasonable. It’s very clear when you go elsewhere and things are how they used to be. South of Ireland for instance it was clear that the harbour masters job with visiting yachts is to get visitors for the town. Contrast this with Poole where there’s a harbour fee, exorbitant mooring fee (£65 for a 36’ if memory serves) then £7 a night for electricity all before you step ashore, and £12 for a single load of laundry should you dare to be away long enough. Same by car, parking is monetised to the point town centres and the jobs they create are disappearing.
The world you’re describing is one where fish and chips are a fiver. The reality is one where fish and chips are a tenner because the chip shop don’t own their premises, and it’s a fiver to park to buy them because it’s not near anyone who wants them. Then there will be no bin to dispose of the rubbish and you’ll be told off for putting greasy paper in the recycling bin because your normal waste bin is tiny and full.
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Ripping off Brits is an epidemic home and abroad. The predatory nature of local authorities has taken all the joy out of life
 
Sailing steve said:
Yeahbutt just wait and see what happens to your wallet at the end of those three years when you take a leased car back with a scuffed wheel, a couple of supermarket dinks in the panels and showing some miles over the agreed amount on the odometer.

That aside my gripe with car leasing rather than outright purchasing is unlike anybody buying a car with their own cash who'd naturally take a keen interest in it's long term durability and reliability neither the manufacturer or lease company or first user of a leased vehicle has to give much consideration to how much drama and expense it'll cause as it ages, and that for a serial buyer of teenaged cars like me is not a good thing at all.
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I havecfound leasing cheaper than buying. But must admit the cost to change to a new lease car would be significant. So buying is starting to look more attractive.
 
Momac said:
I havecfound leasing cheaper than buying. But must admit the cost to change to a new lease car would be significant. So buying is starting to look more attractive.
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I bought my last car for £13k and sold it ten years later for £3k. I’ve never seen a lease for £1k/year. I suspect your expectation are of having a new car constantly, which is clouding your idea of value.
 
The best financial advice I got was just as I started trade training in the RAF, the RAF brought in the advisors.
Because of that I started an endowment policy, long before I could buy a house, and long before endowment policies failed. So when I came to buy a house, I had already been paying in for 14 years. So we paid off our house very early even after moving and buying another house.

As for pensions I was working in Saudi for my UK employer for 6 years, I and the employer were paying in triple my previous UK salary amount .. That was also 16 years before I retired, so many years of interest earning. With the RAF pension and one other, That has given me good pension for my lowly pay, about 100% of my final salary. Many on here will have much larger pensions than mine, as my final salary was about the starting pay of a police officer in nappies.

When you consider I'm no longer paying mortgages, not driving 12,000 miles a year to and from work I'm hugely better off than when I worked and paid for a mortgage.

We've had two new cars, we kept them for around 15 years each, the actual financial cost was much less than £1000 probably nearer £500 per year. We would have bought a third new car now, but we recently inherited one, 10 years old but less than 30,000 miles on the clock in immaculate condition.

As for sailing, I've long since given up on venturing out to sea, but have 136 miles of waterways to sail in.
I sail every sunday for 4 to 8 hours plus regatta week, and some other two day events.
 
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lustyd said:
I bought my last car for £13k and sold it ten years later for £3k. I’ve never seen a lease for £1k/year. I suspect your expectation are of having a new car constantly, which is clouding your idea of value.
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It’s a point of view…someone who thinks they need a new car on their drive…knows they don’t need a boat tied up 200 miles away
 
My last car was an Audi tt which gave good service for 10 plus years ,auto,four wheel drive ,indicators even quick for the outside lane etc and was around 11k when bought from a Porsche dealer who had it as a low mileage trade in - rather depressed when I came to sell but raised 3k approx via a website where dealers bid - simple process btw and leaving aside services and astronomical road tax a good car for any buyer looking for a fun softtop for this weather
 
lustyd said:
That’s the problem though, the happy medium has been eradicated. With monetisation of everything nothing is affordable or reasonable. It’s very clear when you go elsewhere and things are how they used to be. South of Ireland for instance it was clear that the harbour masters job with visiting yachts is to get visitors for the town. Contrast this with Poole where there’s a harbour fee, exorbitant mooring fee (£65 for a 36’ if memory serves) then £7 a night for electricity all before you step ashore, and £12 for a single load of laundry should you dare to be away long enough. Same by car, parking is monetised to the point town centres and the jobs they create are disappearing.
The world you’re describing is one where fish and chips are a fiver. The reality is one where fish and chips are a tenner because the chip shop don’t own their premises, and it’s a fiver to park to buy them because it’s not near anyone who wants them. Then there will be no bin to dispose of the rubbish and you’ll be told off for putting greasy paper in the recycling bin because your normal waste bin is tiny and full.
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How i miss living in the UK.......
 
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