Mrs GF and I sat down to watch the Making a Murderer documentary series on Friday night (highly recommended if you haven’t already seen it). Between episodes, we had begun talking about our day and the budget we had set for ourselves. Unfortunately we’d well blown our daily budget as we’d to call “B” the plumber out to a leaky sink. This alone was more costly than our planned daily spend, but it’s a cost not likely to be repeated for a very long time.
B is a middle aged man, somewhere in his 50s and has worked in this trade from 15 years old. He’s extremely knowledgeable and doesn’t cost the earth. In fact when I looked back at the parts he bought for our sink against the cost, there wasn’t a huge cost for his time or mark up. He’s as fair and honest as they come and I’d recommend him anytime.
Mrs GF had been mentioning our skiing trip and relocation to Spain this year. We’ve known B years and he had enquired what we were to do about our businesses during our time away and how we could afford it. Mrs GF took it upon herself to talk about the benefits of geo-arbitrage and how Spain really wont cost us more than our life here in the UK. Even less if we rent out our home when we’re away.
B had told Mrs GF he wasn’t planning a holiday this year as he was saving towards his pension. B married late in life, only a few years ago. His new wife works within the accountancy field and has instilled in him the virtues of saving for retirement. This is a man who has worked and spent through the last 40 years. Sure he has a nice house and a nice van, but he has a mortgage and Hire Purchase agreement on the van.
During the conversation it was revealed in the last 3 years, B has saved a total of £15,000 in his ISA for retirement. Mrs GF explained sans our financials, that we had also started saving for retirement. He couldn’t believe we had begun thinking of this so young, but it’s our joint opinion that a state pension in whatever form it will be in 20+ years, will not be enough to support us. We will not be relying on the government in old age.
Mrs GF explained in detail the 4% rule and she was actually impressed that B had a loose understanding of the amount he needed to save. He unfortunately has some high monthly outgoings, so Mrs GF explained our food budgeting and how we don’t buy big ticket items without researching them in depth. I was seriously impressed with Mrs GF as I know she’s taking our journey to financial independence as importantly as I am. We’re a great team. But….
The student has become the master.
We’ve probably scared the crap out of B that he hasn’t enough saved for retirement and hopefully this will help him make positive choices in his own life. The more and more people we speak to though, the more we are beginning to understand that retirement is something indefinitely put off “until tomorrow”. But when tomorrow comes and it’s too late to save, what happens then?
We are not the preachy, do what we do types and never will be. Most people don’t want to hear it to be fair, which is why this blog and the others in the financial independence blogosphere do such a great job in helping to provide insights and information for those wanting it.
The Markets
On another note what about thon markets….thankfully we’re using this little dip to buy into the FTSE 100 vanguard tracker.Who knows where the markets will go next but being able to invest again after our tax bill was paid always makes me smile.
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