-
@voodoo said in Happiness Scale:
I think we have just accepted that life is going to be mostly-happy carnage until the kids finish school. After that we can do whatever we want. We will still be young enough in our early 50's and hopefully healthy enough to enjoy it.
The potential trap is in "whatever we want" being changed significantly, depending how things have evolved.
I want to make sure something solid is there on which to continue when the kids leave the nest, and that requires healthy continuation of The Relationship.
I'm not talking about The Marriage; I posit that The Marriage to me is a combination of The Relationship, kids and household etc. It isn't all of The Relationship, because part of that existed before The Marriage. So in a Venn diagram they don't overlap 100%
A few older couples get a shock when the kids fly free, because the underlying basis of their interactions got lost when kids came along, becoming more about the family unit rather than The Relationship with each other.
-
@NTA no doubt, the relationship is a constantly evolving thing, and I reckon 90% of parents go through some form of struggle when the kids finally leave the nest for good.
I cant bring myself to worry about that now - the relationship is good at the moment, and if 2020 has taught me anything, it is to savour the now and not to stress about stuff years (even months!) ahead that I really can't control.
I plan to sort the finances out, help the kids as much as possible, then just see what happens!
In the interim, I'll drink much beer and wine, and come here to the Fern when shit doesn't work out like it should
-
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
-
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
IIt's gotta be travel, doesn't it? You take all that free time and that's probably a good 3-4 trips away each year, each for a few weeks. To my mind, that averages out at ~5000 quid per trip unless your only holiday destination is Vietnam or Laos.
-
@Bones As I am closer than most to retirement I have probably been giving more thought to this than the average Ferner.
I am aiming to have an income of $70K plus my pension. I figure this will allow me to live comfortably for a couple of decades.
As @junior says a lot of it is travel. I budget for two long haul overseas trips and half a dozen domestic p.a.
COVID permitting.....
-
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
Kids, travel and a love of cars.
-
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
There’s obviously massive amounts being spent on blow and hookers that they’re ashamed to admit.
-
@MN5 said in Happiness Scale:
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
There’s obviously massive amounts being spent on blow and hookers that they’re ashamed to admit.
It's a good theory but this is a guy that happily confessed to holding a dildo in his mouth.
-
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
@MN5 said in Happiness Scale:
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
There’s obviously massive amounts being spent on blow and hookers that they’re ashamed to admit.
It's a good theory but this is a guy that happily confessed to holding a dildo in his mouth.
The cost of ridiculous bow ties adds up as well I guess
-
@MN5 said in Happiness Scale:
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
@MN5 said in Happiness Scale:
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
There’s obviously massive amounts being spent on blow and hookers that they’re ashamed to admit.
It's a good theory but this is a guy that happily confessed to holding a dildo in his mouth.
The cost of ridiculous bow ties adds up as well I guess
I don't stalk him on Facebook, not enough playground action.
-
@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
You are of course talking pounds, so almost double the value (1.89 at the moment). Britain being a bit more expensive apparently for cost of living (8.5% more) so that is more like $1.73m NZ to invest. You also need a freehold home on top of that or mortgage / rent will eat it fast.
You seem have used 5%. It's actually not that easy to generate income at the moment. Yes you can have the assets but getting a return is tough. Low interest rates mean bank deposits won't do much for you and the stock exchange is highly valued (due to that) so PE ratios drop. Add to that the risk and it isn't quite so appealing. Property is difficult because the ROI is O.K. but you end up with diminishing returns. In NZ they generally double in value from 7 to 10 years (ish) - no way your rental income keeps up with that, so you end up with a high value asset with not much income from it. Sure you get capital gain, but only if you realise it. Then you have to find where else to put it. Brightline tests and tax have made it even more difficult to deal in property.
I know it sounds like a million is a lot of money but if you can only get a couple of percent on it the income isn't great without eating into the capital. Most would achieve more than that, but take out tax and the returns come down again.
As for spending - when you get told that the new brake discs for your 14 year old (because you don't want to / can't afford to replace it) RS4 are going to cost over $3000 the cash disappears pretty quick. Yes I could drive something cheaper / newer but they all cost money to run. You actually do need more than you would like to think just to maintain a lifestyle.
I'm too young to receive any government super to top up, for a long time yet, and they may well means test it by then.
You're young enough and have plenty of time, but who knows what the world will look like in a decade or two?
-
@Snowy people just live to thier income.
After I was made redundant, I went from a low 6 figure income (inc benefits, bonus, car etc) to under $40k, and we thought we would be fucked having just built a house.
Went through our expenses, and worked out we what we needed and found we could just scrape by off my income and wifes part time income...fast forward 6 months I got a job earning ~$50k, a year later I got a new job and today I am earning more than that but still alot less than I was at my old job in 2012, and some months now we look back and think where has our money gone.
I think if you are sensible you can get by on a whole lot less than you are used to.
I am still sure if I came into a mill it would be life changing.
-
@taniwharugby Sure you adjust because you have to, it doesn't mean that you want to, and yes at some point that becomes necessary. Whether that is retirement or job loss.
There was interesting survey that I might have already mentioned in here (actually there are quite a few) about income and happiness. This particular one (in US) found that an income around $100k was optimal. Enough for holidays, pay the bills, eat well, etc. More income than that didn't make much difference to happiness. Less than that and people wanted more. QI I thought.
-
@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
@taniwharugby Sure you adjust because you have to, it doesn't mean that you want to, and yes at some point that becomes necessary. Whether that is retirement or job loss.
There was interesting survey that I might have already mentioned in here (actually there are quite a few) about income and happiness. This particular one (in US) found that an income around $100k was optimal. Enough for holidays, pay the bills, eat well, etc. More income than that didn't make much difference to happiness. Less than that and people wanted more. QI I thought.
Can relate to that. I planned for my retirement on the basis of the income I'd need to have a real good life and I've ended up spending far less than I thought I would. My pension fund is actually worth more now that it was 7 years ago when I started drawing on it. Often talk about the things we want to do (and can do) with Mrs M, but it always comes down to a realisation that we pretty much do what we want to do anyway. Apart from the family health situation, life is good.
In contrast, my ex inherited a load of money a few years back and it almost totally screwed her life as she felt almost obligated to spend the bloody stuff and then started worrying that it would run-out.
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to. Having earned the money yourself helps - you neither feel guilty about spending it nor guilty being cautious with it
-
@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
I planned for my retirement on the basis of the income I'd need to have a real good life and I've ended up spending far less than I thought I would. My pension fund is actually worth more now that it was 7 years ago when I started drawing on it.
Curious as to whether you ever added up the costs of going to work?
Certainly in the pre-COVID years I'd be talking about hundreds a month once I considered transport, clothing, lunch, coffee etc even just for an office job that is effectively a few miles from our house.
My car insurance dropped significantly once I informed them I was no longer driving to work, as one example. My coffee and lunch costs have plummeted tho you could argue I was incurring those costs at a much higher rate than I needed to
It isn't going to buy an investment property, but I reckon there is a few thousand a year just on that alone.
-
@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to.
Yep. That is what the surveys found.
I read them because I wanted to try and find out what I needed to be happy (and I wasn't at the time). There was also a review of why airline pilots dropped dead within a couple of years of retiring which obviously got me thinking, so I "bailed out" early.
We have enough, but it is hard to make it work income wise when you are developing a 22 acre lifestyle property. Just the trees and gardens are a huge expense, let alone moving a 100 year old house. We feel like Tom and Barbara Good at times, whereas previously I was more Charles Lindberg in my head, well not really, (without the Nazi thing and stolen baby obviously), but he was the only wealthy aviator I could think of , money wasn't ever a problem. Now I have to think about it.
-
@NTA said in Happiness Scale:
Curious as to whether you ever added up the costs of going to work?
Not really - ran my own micro-business so any travel costs were expensed to the company or client.
Certainly in the pre-COVID years I'd be talking about hundreds a month once I considered transport, clothing, lunch, coffee etc even just for an office job that is effectively a few miles from our house.
Again, meals coffee etc was expensed. But I did spend more money working - business suits, shoes etc.
I decided I wanted to retire when I wanted to retire (if that makes sense!). Put as much money in my pension as I could, which still left me with a pretty good lifestyle but without wasting money on status symbol shit like cars.
-
@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to.
Yep. That is what the surveys found.
There was also a review of why airline pilots dropped dead within a couple of years of retiring which obviously got me thinking, so I "bailed out" early.
That must have been a bit of a worry for your passengers...
-
@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to.
Yep. That is what the surveys found.
I read them because I wanted to try and find out what I needed to be happy (and I wasn't at the time). There was also a review of why airline pilots dropped dead within a couple of years of retiring which obviously got me thinking, so I "bailed out" early.
We have enough, but it is hard to make it work income wise when you are developing a 22 acre lifestyle property. Just the trees and gardens are a huge expense, let alone moving a 100 year old house. We feel like Tom and Barbara Good at times, whereas previously I was more Charles Lindberg in my head, well not really, (without the Nazi thing and stolen baby obviously), but he was the only wealthy aviator I could think of , money wasn't ever a problem. Now I have to think about it.
I was on the high-flyer treadmill for a while. Globe-trotting for a major Management Consultancy firm earning a lot of money in exotic places, then onto a major Investment bank. Had a big house with an affordable mortgage, but looking back it wasn't a happy nor a fulfilling career.
Epiphany was during a visit to NZ and looking over Auckland harbour, drinking Sauvignon Blanc and eating fish and chips. Came back and pretty much resigned there and then, though stayed for a year then set myself up doing freelance work.
That last 15 years of my working life was generally great - actually enjoyed going to work on Monday, met some great people and helped make their working lives better, more productive and less stressful. There's a huge difference to coming home absolutely knackered late on Friday nite and coming home absolutely knackered but fulfilled late on Friday nite. Happiest time of my life.
Without meaning to sound soppy, sentimental, or like a life-coach, I've somehow engineered a bloody good last 20 years and been blessed, Even the messy and stressful divorce had a gold lining - I met Mrs Meldrew
Happiness Scale