Live for the moment - but spend for it too
“Before you cross the street take my hand.
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
This famous line from John Lennon’s song Beautiful Boy is a useful – and often quoted – reminder of the importance of sitting, take stock and consider what we have.
“Wake up and smell the roses” might be another one.
“Live for the moment” another.
We don’t have to look far to find these phrases printed on mugs, fridge magnets, cushions and tattoos.
That’s probably because it’s such a hard thing to do.
The truth is, we just never know when we will be doing something for the last time.
We will never know when it’s our last time to walk our favourite beach, the last time to see those we love, even the last time we go on holiday.
The theory goes that if we did, we’d approach it much more differently, and think much more carefully about what we were going to say, do or act.
The comedian Dave Allen once said that, more than anything else, he’d like to know the place where he was going to die.
Someone asked him why.
He said: “I wouldn’t go there.”
A light-hearted comment of course, but how can you live each day as your last when you can be pretty sure it’s not?! And yet, if we don’t, we could take things for granted.
It’s a small dilemma.
Last month I said it’s turning money into emotions and memories that’s the key. I would add that another way of thinking about it, is to spend money with intention.
What do I mean by this?
Well, I personally have been praised for, or accused of, frugality in the past. But ‘frugality’ is not the same thing as ‘stinginess’.
I prefer to call it ‘intentional spending’. It’s about mindfulness, thinking about spending money on things that give us real value.
How do you know what that is?
For a start it’s something extremely personal. Every one of us is unique, with our version of what’s valuable. One person’s perfect walk, holiday or weekend will be completely different to another’s. Some of us will be up early, off for a 5-mile hike. Some of us just want to see the delight on our grandchildren’s faces when we take them for a punt around the local duck pond. Others would be happy with Sunday lunch at a pub with friends – especially at the moment.
When it comes to retirement, some people are more interested in consultancy or doing something creative, some might not want to work at all. This means that some people might be happy with spending lots, others very little.
This is where a simple ‘one-size-fits-all’ retirement solution wouldn’t really suit
There are many theories about how much we should save, how much we should aim for in our pension pot, and how much constitutes a ‘comfortable lifestyle’ in retirement. The traditional short cuts: “A pension pot should be two thirds of your income” for example are ten-a-penny.
“I don’t have a theory like this, because theories are generalisations, and people are not.”
But I don’t have a theory like this, because theories are generalisations, and people are not. It all depends on you, on how much you are saving, and on what you want you really value rather than your money. The money on its own doesn’t really work.
It doesn’t matter if your plans are modest, or if they are ambitious. The important thing is that you have the choice, and someone who can help you make those choices confidently and intentionally.
We can work out a timeline between your current saving and your planned spending and calculate if you are on course to achieve what you’re aiming for.
If you aren’t, we can tell you how much more you need to be saving now.
Together we can work on what brings you joy, and make that joy an intentional part of your retirement – if not your everyday life.