Absolutely couldn’t agree more guys! Lifestyle inflation- definitely. The more I earn, the more I spend. So now I just earn what I need. It’s so must nicer having time now . 😊
Yes it is amazing how easily we have ‘down sized’ our life style inflation in our early retirement and are probably happier (and healthier) than we had been for years 😂
Very sage advice. In a former life, though not in debt we spent to our income. Fast forward 15 years, initially on my own and then in a second marriage, I finally learned to save money while still having a life. I paid off my mortgage a few years early and retired a year earlier than state pension age. Even though I only have a pension to live on I always ‘pay myself first’ by putting away 20% of my pension and carefully budgeting the rest to cover all expenses. I feel that I’m able to live a comfortable life and I too prioritise holidays ( much to husband’s disappointment 😂) Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Thanks Richard and Jackie. x
Thanks Yvonne- it's always so nice to hear other peoples experiences. We love the idea of paying ourselves first- we were aware of that when we were working (but were never organised/disciplined enough to implement it😂), but never thought of it as a concept that would work in retirement. Will definitely consider this approach when we finally get our pensions! Thanks for the tip and the lovely feedback. Have a great weekend👍
One piece of advice to give young parents is to get them to invest the family allowance they get with their new born babies and invest it from day one. Money they've never had , so don't really need. We did that nearly 30 years ago and our ' kids ' now have huge pots of ' free ' money to be used as either a house deposit or long term savings. All for free. Great video.
Thanks for this John- we had friends that did this and it served them really well. Unfortunately back in the day, we really needed that family allowance to help us get by, so didn't have this opportunity. We vividly recall a nightmare summer when the family allowance got cut, we had a pay freeze and our tax threshold changed all in one month. Overnight it slashed our income and put us in a tough situation for a while. Thanks for the comment👍
There are definitely some things I can’t believe we were not more savvy about like not fixing our utilities and paying for memberships that we never used 🤣
Hi both! My wife and I are avidly watching your videos as we’re planning to retire early too. Your lifestyle and approach really resonate with the vision we have for our own retirement. We just wanted to say thank you for all the great advice and inspiration! I recently finished reading Die with Zero and feel strongly aligned with its philosophy. Having both lost our parents early (before they reached 75), we’re really motivated to maximize life experiences and focus on creating lasting memories while we can. We’re currently looking into the transporter lifestyle and figuring out what specs and budget would suit us best. I’d love to hear about the hobbies you expanded on once you had more time. I’m planning to do more cycling, walking, and learning photography (just bought a second-hand DSLR camera). Keep up the great work!
Hi Mike and welcome along! Glad to hear that you are finding what we do of use. It's always nice to hear nice things! You will probably realise from our book review of Die With Zero- it was a pivotal read for us and informs our thinking each and every day. Jackie is fed up of me banging on about Bill Perkins😂 It's great that you have similar ideas to us- we are uploading a van tour video on Sunday that you might find of use when thinking about a transporter. We love our photography and it has brought such joy to our lives. You don't need expensive kit, but there is a lifetime of learning out there. My aim with the DLSR is to get off the presets and take photos in manual mode. One day I might get close to the image quality that the iPhone produces😂 Thanks for the comment. Have a great weekend👍
I identify with so much of this. Am just glad that pretty much automatically I opted in to workplace pension. Financial issues weren’t so easy to address in the early days of the internet either. Like you, I don’t regret a single holiday, but probably do regret that drawer of now obsolete “latest tech”. I am quite interested though in the interplay between purchases and experiences, and how they aren’t separate, for example we are getting a new campervan, the planning and collecting it are all part of the experience, and are memorable even before the holidays begin.
Thanks for this Gillian- love some of the ways that you look at things. Really like your link between key purchases and experiences. Nelson our campervan has opened up a whole world of experiences that we would never have had if it wasn't for that particular purchase. Thanks again for the comment👍
Fantastic advice, will be forwarding to my children and grandaughter who has just began her working life. Love all the coments, so many great suggestions in ways to save .☺️💰
Interesting video - thanks. I think guiding the next generation to save earlier than you/we did is an interesting concept. I’m just finishing a 40 year career in the corporate world . I was lucky, I started with nothing, worked hard, bought a house, saved, built up a pension and savings, and now I can retire. Standard stuff. If I was starting now, it would be different. I wouldn’t start with nothing, I would start with student debt, may be £60/£70k. Buying the house would take longer as a consequence and would cost much more. Savings and pensions become more of a dream than a reality. I think this is driving much of the behaviour around today. The shear scale of the task to save for a house and pension is so great that many don’t bother and just live for today, spend what they have and the future will get sorted at some point - either by themselves or by the state. I don’t see an easy solution sadly.
This is so true! We really feel for the younger generation because they really are playing on a different field to what we did. The student debt that our children are carrying is ridiculous, but luckily they are quite reflective and see it as another "tax" that is taken before they see their monthly pay packet. Likewise, getting on the housing ladder has always been a challenge, but for todays youngsters it is even harder. Thanks as always for your insightful observations. Have a good one👍
Thanks so much for your honesty regarding your finances, my wife and I were both in the same situation when we were bringing up or kids, head in the sand is exactly how I ran things and to be honest to a large degree I continued with that attitude until only a couple of years ago when everything came to a head so to speak. As a couple were in a much better place now but oh how we have wasted thousands of pounds over the years. Thanks again for your advice, let's hope there are some younger viewers watching who might take what you say seriously and avoid the mistakes that I have made. Keep up the good work, really enjoying your videos. Dean 🙂
Its a hard one isn't it - it is so easy to look back on what you have done and realise how much better you could have looked after your finances but at the time I suppose other priorities took over our lives. I hope our children have taken on board just some of our advice now that they are both homeowners and in their late 20's because it is an even harder different world for them and every little helps. What annoys me the most is how much money we just wasted by not keeping a closer eye on things like the gas and electric bills and paying for a gym we never used - thousands wasted! Glad to hear you are back on the right tracks moving forwards - thanks for watching and sharing your own experiences x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust I am sure like us you were only putting the children first and building the best family life possible which is something ,despite the financial difficulties that we got ourselves into at the time have never regretted for a minute, all our three boys have turned out to be the most wonderful, fulfilled and happy people you could ever meet. Now in our late 50's we are now in a position to be excited about our future together and your videos I am sure will be greatly contributing to that end. All the best to you both :)
Your journey with spending is so similar to our family. That messy middle when the kids are growing up and work is busy really catches you off guard when it comes to spending!! We also sorted ourselves out in our early forties and hope to be able to retire in our mid fifties, but blimey it would have been so much easier if we had been a bit more intentional throughout those early years. Keep up the great work guys, absolutely love hearing your thoughts and watching your travel journey, can't wait to be following in your footsteps in the years to come!
Thanks Gareth- we are glad we weren't the only ones😂 A messy middle pretty much sums up our experiences! You are exactly right in that it hasn't been a limiting factor- but it would have made life so much easier! Many thanks for your lovely, supportive and kind words🙏. Have a good one👍
Great video, I am in the process this year to pass all this advice onto my son who's 23. When I make him aware of what he's earned YTD and where his money has gone. He's a little shocked that the online games and the gregg's add up. Thanks again for a great video.
Our son’s girlfriend was amazed how much she saved by not buying a coffee everyday and putting the money in a savings account instead when they bought their house - she now just takes a travel flask to work. It’s hard for them to get a balance of enjoying life but being mindful in what they spend 😊
Its this sort of advice that needs to be taught in schools. There's another income stream for you. Visiting schools and teaching young adults how not to succomb to the marketing hype and understand the choices they make. A colleague of mine justified buying pre-prepared meals because she was time poor - she was working in a very busy, well-paid job which she loved. I heard that little voice in my head say it as an excuse when i was shopping.
Thanks for this Liz- I know that the banks try to do some hearts and minds stuff with kids in school, but somehow it seems to miss the mark. One of the best units I ever taught in maths was on this theme- the kids were actually quite shocked about taxation and NI contributions until they realised that things in life don't come for free. They were also quite shocked in short term "payday loans" that are becoming more of an issue day by day. I find it hard to believe that you can now buy a pair of trainers on finance...a crazy world we live in! The psychology and societal influences of consumerism is quite fascinating. Thanks for the comment🙏
Great video guys and great tips. Hopefully the younger generation will take note. When we first got married 39 years ago we got a jotter and had a page for all of our outgoings ie Electric, Gas, Phone, Christmas, Holidays etc and we put so much away into each section each month from our salary. Only after that would we look at what we had left to spend on ourselves. We still do the same with the jotter after all these years…….we do now put a bit more in the holiday section each month though 😂😂 Keep safe guys. You’ll be looking forward to Thailand. Irvine & Karen.
I love that you still record all your out going in a jotter - a great habit to have formed all those years ago. The travel section of our outgoing is definitely the biggest and most enjoyable section 😊
Great video and so true! I can identify with so much of this and your words of hindsight just mirror our lives 20 to 30 years ago! Thankyou for being so frank and sharing. Luckily at least one of our children has had their head screwed on correctly and is very cute around their money!
Everything you said chimed with me and my experience going through life and getting to my mid-60s (when did that happen!?). If only I’d had my current wisdom when I was in my 20s, but then again I suspect I would have made different choices/mistakes so probably wouldn’t be any better off. My big thing learned through bitter experience is avoid the trap of debt wherever possible and keep in mind that if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is! I certainly agree with your point about cash is king. If you haven’t got the money in your pocket then you can’t afford it. You should also develop some “life-hacks” (horrid phrase) for yourself. When I was particularly strapped for cash I would only withdraw money from an ATM on a Wednesday. That way I always had some money left for the weekend and if I spent it all then it was only 2 days (Monday and Tuesday when I spent less anyway) until I could get the next lot out😊
Thanks for these insights Alec- really helpful. We love our cash is king practice, but we really like your idea of taking the cash out on a Wednesday- the weekends are always a cash conundrum! This will definitely help out! It's lovely to hear that other people have a similar philosophy to us. We have found since we retired that we crave much less, don't need as much and generally just embrace a simpler lifestyle. Thanks for the comment. Have a great weekend👍
Really enjoyed this video, such brilliant advise. I’ve always been a saver from when I got my first wage many moons ago. I gave a third to my Mum for board, a third for me to spend on clothes, toiletries, going out etc and a third to save. I was always hoping to be able to increase the savings budget but I worked for our family business and my Mum did the office wages so every time I got a rise she put my board up! I wasn’t happy at the time but it makes me smile now.
Thanks for this Jill- you were clearly much better than we were😂 Your mum clearly was a very wise woman. Not sure it was fair that she used her "insider knowledge" on your pay rises though😂😂😂 Have a great weekend👍
Yep I made a lot of those mistakes too but thankfully I learned quickly to get off the hamster wheel of spending and consumption. It's a never-ending cycle if we aren't paying attention. Working in marketing also forced me to realize that companies will never stop selling; it's up to the person to stop buying.
Thanks for this Tina... "it's up to the person to stop buying." So very true!!!! Having the inside track on marketing must be fascinating. Understanding our own minds and how they tick is such an interesting subject. Have a great weekend👍
Hello, we thoroughly enjoy your videos & your journeys on RUclips. You’re now our ‘go to’ RUclips Channel! 😃 Something I would be really interested to know, as a keen photographer, is how you have navigated your way on RUclips & how you manage your data, backups, which software & cameras/microphones, you use, etc. You have come such a long way from your early videos & I’m sure everyone (including me) would be interested to know more about your steep learning curve. Thanks 🙏🏼 Looking forward to your next video! 😊
Hi- thanks for this and welcome to the channel. We are glad that you like what we are doing! We have just chatted about your suggestion on our walk today and have decided to pop it into the pipeline. We are thinking of a video that covers all the points that you have raised as we get a number of questions about just this from other subscribers. It may take a while to be published, as we have a pretty packed travel schedule for the next couple of months- but it will be done. Thanks for the inspiration. Have a great weekend👍
You mentioned convenience food. Richard, have you read Chris Van Tulleken's book about Ultra Processed Food, I think it would be right up your street 😊
Have you considered sharing your budgeting, financial planning spreadsheets etc.? (Your own numbers taken out of course!). I’m sure such templates etc would be helpful to many people, I know I would find them helpful in my own planning 👍
It's not really that sophisticated to really share with people. Despite what we may say, we are pretty novice spreadsheeters😂 We project our ideal monthly budget forward and then track against it with our actual spend, our fixed monthly costs, extra expenses in the month and then a total actual expenditure calculation. We automate it to track against our projected spend over the course of the year and it helps us to see how we are going. Hope that this helps? 👍
Agree with so much of this. We have just checked our monthly payments and moved from EE to a PAYG SIM deal and saved £7 each a month and still get the same. We always check for car and home insurance as loyalty unfortunately no longer pays Along with using a shopping list and meal plan, and each annual pay rise we always increase the monthly overpayment on the mortgage with half of it we are doing well to get retired by 55 (currently 43)
Thanks for this Amanda- one thing we have learned since retiring and reviewing all of our outgoings is that there are always savings to be made. Even relatively minor savings add up over time. We cannot believe how wasteful we have been over the years. We could have made things so much easier. Don't get us started on insurance😡 Loyalty counts for nothing- we are fed up the the standard excuse of "cost of living crisis" as a reason for putting premiums up year on year. They just don't seem to care and are seemingly happy to lose customers (presumably as they are making so much money!). Rant over😂 Many thanks for the comment. Have a great weekend👍
There is a saying, “ you don’t know what you don’t know, but once you know you must do better.” My spouse and I, found once the children’s college tuition bills started coming, that we needed to change our financial habits. Budgeting is our friend. Yes, you can survive with no credit cards. Working two jobs each and paying off $225,000 in 4 years was what we did to be financially strong. I wished to our younger self we said no to wants. We are 57 and 61, relocated to a more affordable place and loving our togetherness and being available so much more with our kids and grandkids. Time and memories is important.
A great outlook on life - time and memories are definitely what is most important to us now! We are so much better at budgeting now - age and experience helps with that 😊 Thanks for watching the channel x
Oh how we wish we had saved at least some of our pay rises in our 20’s and 30’s 😂 like all other things it is a habit and once you have got into that habit it is easy to keep it up 😊
@@earlyretirementwanderlust The other thing is only buy a car on a loan not on HP otherwise you are a slave to changing your vehicle every 3 years. I have my van and a 53 plate mini as a run around 🤣
So many of these ring true…..oh for that Time Machine ! It is good though to at least pass on these thoughts (and examples !) to our kids…though we do get a bit of eye rolling from mentions of compound interest 🤪
I love these videos, they really get me thinking of all of the things I could’ve done differently. Also the best thing you’ve done is stay together. If you get that wrong it’s very costly. Your dad was very smart, I remember reading all about ‘planned obsolescence’ This iPad I’m watching you on is perfectly adequate, but every day there’s an app that won’t work or a website I can’t look at. Maddening to be forced into buying a new one from Mr Apple! The computer will be obsolete next year also! Let’s hope the suggestions of budgeting, avoiding bad debt, investing for the long term and increasing the savings rate as earnings grow reaches younger viewers. X
Thanks for this Louise- hindsight really is a wonderful thing. Dad loved to have banter about Mr Apple (occasionally referred to as Mr Acorn😂😂😂)- but I do really think he had a point. Love your phrase of planned obsolescence- defo going to steal that one for the future😉. We keep trying to speak about these things with our kids and they seem to be taking it on board- even if they sigh occasionally when we chat🤣 Thanks for the comment🙏
When I first got married I worked with a lady who when she and her husband had a pay rise would save 10% of it, so over the years the savings went up. I never thought it would amount to much but she retired at 50 with their mortgage paid off.
Such a wise woman she was. Why we didn't have that wisdom, we don't know! It would have made life so much easier. Thinking back now, we cannot believe how easily we were persuaded to spend more. Our lifestyle inflation was constant😬
Spending wisely even if you have more money makes a big difference, but other than avoiding paying rent of any kind( saving by paying of a mortgage, owning phone car outright ) I would invest in yourself or accumulate valuable experiences while you can. Interestingly nowadays young people need to often be poked to do stuff in the real world… ( iPhone camera has improved a lot since 11; often battery performance drops off with dilemma spending on new battery or new phone) other item to save on is insurance . I never insured my phone, and saved up about 2-3 phones doing that for example…
So true! Investing in self is something that doesn't come naturally to many people, yet it is often an example of planting seeds that will germinate and grow in years to come. In so many of our previous phones- the battery dying was the main issue that forced us to replace. ATM the iPhone 11 is still going strong on this front, although if we do a lot of filming it suffers. We carry a £20 power bank in case of emergencies rather than having to resort to a new phone😂 Thanks for the comment👍
Great conversation as always and good tips too. We have never had SKy per se but eldest son does and seems to pay plenty for it but can afford to. We instead get NOW tv SKy Sports and SKy films for short contracts. These work out so reasonable for our budget. We also get free Disney via our Lloyds bank account - especially good if grandkids are here and it is raining! And we have basic Netflix too. Re the tech stuff- my phone is 4 years old and doing great; my Ipad is 7 years old and no issues. Having recently listened to Stuffocation by James Wallman - did you recommend that to us? I have a revised outlook on things and feel that me and hubby are on the Experientalist path now!
We had sky for many years then swapped to BT Tv which saved a huge amount and now we don’t have either and only watch basic Netflix and Amazon prime - funny how life styles change 😂 we are too busy now to watch much TV!
I think young peope today have no chance for the most part of early retirement…. working from high school is low payiing jobs. going to college si HIGH tuition.. and kinda medium paying jobs for most.. early retirment is prolly less then 1% of people.. which makes is a myth.. not a chance...
Sadly I think you are right for many of todays younger generation - hopefully we have given our own 2 children enough advice and support to help them on their way to at least have a chance
Absolutely couldn’t agree more guys! Lifestyle inflation- definitely. The more I earn, the more I spend. So now I just earn what I need. It’s so must nicer having time now . 😊
Yes it is amazing how easily we have ‘down sized’ our life style inflation in our early retirement and are probably happier (and healthier) than we had been for years 😂
Very sage advice. In a former life, though not in debt we spent to our income. Fast forward 15 years, initially on my own and then in a second marriage, I finally learned to save money while still having a life. I paid off my mortgage a few years early and retired a year earlier than state pension age. Even though I only have a pension to live on I always ‘pay myself first’ by putting away 20% of my pension and carefully budgeting the rest to cover all expenses. I feel that I’m able to live a comfortable life and I too prioritise holidays ( much to husband’s disappointment 😂) Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Thanks Richard and Jackie. x
Thanks Yvonne- it's always so nice to hear other peoples experiences. We love the idea of paying ourselves first- we were aware of that when we were working (but were never organised/disciplined enough to implement it😂), but never thought of it as a concept that would work in retirement. Will definitely consider this approach when we finally get our pensions!
Thanks for the tip and the lovely feedback. Have a great weekend👍
The wine subscription example of lifestyle creep made me laugh - so true though😂
Aldi wine for us now when we do have a drink 😂
One piece of advice to give young parents is to get them to invest the family allowance they get with their new born babies and invest it from day one. Money they've never had , so don't really need. We did that nearly 30 years ago and our ' kids ' now have huge pots of ' free ' money to be used as either a house deposit or long term savings. All for free. Great video.
Thanks for this John- we had friends that did this and it served them really well. Unfortunately back in the day, we really needed that family allowance to help us get by, so didn't have this opportunity.
We vividly recall a nightmare summer when the family allowance got cut, we had a pay freeze and our tax threshold changed all in one month. Overnight it slashed our income and put us in a tough situation for a while.
Thanks for the comment👍
The ability to go back and advise our younger self would be like a "Marvel super power".
Pretty much captured all of what i would have told myself.
There are definitely some things I can’t believe we were not more savvy about like not fixing our utilities and paying for memberships that we never used 🤣
Hi both! My wife and I are avidly watching your videos as we’re planning to retire early too. Your lifestyle and approach really resonate with the vision we have for our own retirement. We just wanted to say thank you for all the great advice and inspiration! I recently finished reading Die with Zero and feel strongly aligned with its philosophy. Having both lost our parents early (before they reached 75), we’re really motivated to maximize life experiences and focus on creating lasting memories while we can.
We’re currently looking into the transporter lifestyle and figuring out what specs and budget would suit us best. I’d love to hear about the hobbies you expanded on once you had more time. I’m planning to do more cycling, walking, and learning photography (just bought a second-hand DSLR camera).
Keep up the great work!
Hi Mike and welcome along! Glad to hear that you are finding what we do of use. It's always nice to hear nice things! You will probably realise from our book review of Die With Zero- it was a pivotal read for us and informs our thinking each and every day. Jackie is fed up of me banging on about Bill Perkins😂
It's great that you have similar ideas to us- we are uploading a van tour video on Sunday that you might find of use when thinking about a transporter. We love our photography and it has brought such joy to our lives. You don't need expensive kit, but there is a lifetime of learning out there. My aim with the DLSR is to get off the presets and take photos in manual mode. One day I might get close to the image quality that the iPhone produces😂
Thanks for the comment. Have a great weekend👍
I identify with so much of this. Am just glad that pretty much automatically I opted in to workplace pension. Financial issues weren’t so easy to address in the early days of the internet either. Like you, I don’t regret a single holiday, but probably do regret that drawer of now obsolete “latest tech”. I am quite interested though in the interplay between purchases and experiences, and how they aren’t separate, for example we are getting a new campervan, the planning and collecting it are all part of the experience, and are memorable even before the holidays begin.
Thanks for this Gillian- love some of the ways that you look at things. Really like your link between key purchases and experiences. Nelson our campervan has opened up a whole world of experiences that we would never have had if it wasn't for that particular purchase.
Thanks again for the comment👍
Wise words!
Thank you 😊
We have so much in common with you both…only trouble is we’re still working! Love your vlogs, keep them coming 🎉
Thanks Anna- it's always good to know that others share the same philosophy.
Thanks for the lovely comment. 👍
Such brilliant advice, as always!
Thanks Pauline- much appreciated!
Fantastic advice, will be forwarding to my children and grandaughter who has just began her working life.
Love all the coments, so many great suggestions in ways to save .☺️💰
Thank you - hindsight is a wonderful thing! We also love other peoples comments and advice on the vlogs - so many years of experience between us all 😊
Interesting video - thanks. I think guiding the next generation to save earlier than you/we did is an interesting concept. I’m just finishing a 40 year career in the corporate world . I was lucky, I started with nothing, worked hard, bought a house, saved, built up a pension and savings, and now I can retire. Standard stuff. If I was starting now, it would be different. I wouldn’t start with nothing, I would start with student debt, may be £60/£70k. Buying the house would take longer as a consequence and would cost much more. Savings and pensions become more of a dream than a reality. I think this is driving much of the behaviour around today. The shear scale of the task to save for a house and pension is so great that many don’t bother and just live for today, spend what they have and the future will get sorted at some point - either by themselves or by the state. I don’t see an easy solution sadly.
This is so true! We really feel for the younger generation because they really are playing on a different field to what we did. The student debt that our children are carrying is ridiculous, but luckily they are quite reflective and see it as another "tax" that is taken before they see their monthly pay packet. Likewise, getting on the housing ladder has always been a challenge, but for todays youngsters it is even harder.
Thanks as always for your insightful observations. Have a good one👍
Thanks so much for your honesty regarding your finances, my wife and I were both in the same situation when we were bringing up or kids, head in the sand is exactly how I ran things and to be honest to a large degree I continued with that attitude until only a couple of years ago when everything came to a head so to speak. As a couple were in a much better place now but oh how we have wasted thousands of pounds over the years. Thanks again for your advice, let's hope there are some younger viewers watching who might take what you say seriously and avoid the mistakes that I have made. Keep up the good work, really enjoying your videos. Dean 🙂
Its a hard one isn't it - it is so easy to look back on what you have done and realise how much better you could have looked after your finances but at the time I suppose other priorities took over our lives. I hope our children have taken on board just some of our advice now that they are both homeowners and in their late 20's because it is an even harder different world for them and every little helps. What annoys me the most is how much money we just wasted by not keeping a closer eye on things like the gas and electric bills and paying for a gym we never used - thousands wasted!
Glad to hear you are back on the right tracks moving forwards - thanks for watching and sharing your own experiences x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust I am sure like us you were only putting the children first and building the best family life possible which is something ,despite the financial difficulties that we got ourselves into at the time have never regretted for a minute, all our three boys have turned out to be the most wonderful, fulfilled and happy people you could ever meet. Now in our late 50's we are now in a position to be excited about our future together and your videos I am sure will be greatly contributing to that end. All the best to you both :)
Your journey with spending is so similar to our family. That messy middle when the kids are growing up and work is busy really catches you off guard when it comes to spending!! We also sorted ourselves out in our early forties and hope to be able to retire in our mid fifties, but blimey it would have been so much easier if we had been a bit more intentional throughout those early years. Keep up the great work guys, absolutely love hearing your thoughts and watching your travel journey, can't wait to be following in your footsteps in the years to come!
Thanks Gareth- we are glad we weren't the only ones😂 A messy middle pretty much sums up our experiences! You are exactly right in that it hasn't been a limiting factor- but it would have made life so much easier!
Many thanks for your lovely, supportive and kind words🙏. Have a good one👍
Great video, I am in the process this year to pass all this advice onto my son who's 23. When I make him aware of what he's earned YTD and where his money has gone. He's a little shocked that the online games and the gregg's add up. Thanks again for a great video.
Our son’s girlfriend was amazed how much she saved by not buying a coffee everyday and putting the money in a savings account instead when they bought their house - she now just takes a travel flask to work. It’s hard for them to get a balance of enjoying life but being mindful in what they spend 😊
Absolutely wise advice. Well done!!
Thank you 😊
Its this sort of advice that needs to be taught in schools. There's another income stream for you. Visiting schools and teaching young adults how not to succomb to the marketing hype and understand the choices they make.
A colleague of mine justified buying pre-prepared meals because she was time poor - she was working in a very busy, well-paid job which she loved. I heard that little voice in my head say it as an excuse when i was shopping.
Thanks for this Liz- I know that the banks try to do some hearts and minds stuff with kids in school, but somehow it seems to miss the mark. One of the best units I ever taught in maths was on this theme- the kids were actually quite shocked about taxation and NI contributions until they realised that things in life don't come for free. They were also quite shocked in short term "payday loans" that are becoming more of an issue day by day. I find it hard to believe that you can now buy a pair of trainers on finance...a crazy world we live in!
The psychology and societal influences of consumerism is quite fascinating.
Thanks for the comment🙏
Great video guys and great tips. Hopefully the younger generation will take note. When we first got married 39 years ago we got a jotter and had a page for all of our outgoings ie Electric, Gas, Phone, Christmas, Holidays etc and we put so much away into each section each month from our salary. Only after that would we look at what we had left to spend on ourselves. We still do the same with the jotter after all these years…….we do now put a bit more in the holiday section each month though 😂😂 Keep safe guys. You’ll be looking forward to Thailand. Irvine & Karen.
I love that you still record all your out going in a jotter - a great habit to have formed all those years ago. The travel section of our outgoing is definitely the biggest and most enjoyable section 😊
Great video and so true! I can identify with so much of this and your words of hindsight just mirror our lives 20 to 30 years ago! Thankyou for being so frank and sharing. Luckily at least one of our children has had their head screwed on correctly and is very cute around their money!
Thanks - hopefully our 2 have taken onboard some of the pearls of wisdom that we try and give them occasionally!
Everything you said chimed with me and my experience going through life and getting to my mid-60s (when did that happen!?). If only I’d had my current wisdom when I was in my 20s, but then again I suspect I would have made different choices/mistakes so probably wouldn’t be any better off. My big thing learned through bitter experience is avoid the trap of debt wherever possible and keep in mind that if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is!
I certainly agree with your point about cash is king. If you haven’t got the money in your pocket then you can’t afford it.
You should also develop some “life-hacks” (horrid phrase) for yourself. When I was particularly strapped for cash I would only withdraw money from an ATM on a Wednesday. That way I always had some money left for the weekend and if I spent it all then it was only 2 days (Monday and Tuesday when I spent less anyway) until I could get the next lot out😊
Thanks for these insights Alec- really helpful. We love our cash is king practice, but we really like your idea of taking the cash out on a Wednesday- the weekends are always a cash conundrum! This will definitely help out!
It's lovely to hear that other people have a similar philosophy to us. We have found since we retired that we crave much less, don't need as much and generally just embrace a simpler lifestyle.
Thanks for the comment. Have a great weekend👍
Lifestyle creep is key. We were lazy savers as well. So many things we would do different now that we know what we know!
Thanks for this...always good to know we are in good company and not alone😂
Thanks for the comment👍
Really enjoyed this video, such brilliant advise. I’ve always been a saver from when I got my first wage many moons ago. I gave a third to my Mum for board, a third for me to spend on clothes, toiletries, going out etc and a third to save. I was always hoping to be able to increase the savings budget but I worked for our family business and my Mum did the office wages so every time I got a rise she put my board up! I wasn’t happy at the time but it makes me smile now.
Thanks for this Jill- you were clearly much better than we were😂 Your mum clearly was a very wise woman. Not sure it was fair that she used her "insider knowledge" on your pay rises though😂😂😂
Have a great weekend👍
Yep I made a lot of those mistakes too but thankfully I learned quickly to get off the hamster wheel of spending and consumption. It's a never-ending cycle if we aren't paying attention. Working in marketing also forced me to realize that companies will never stop selling; it's up to the person to stop buying.
Thanks for this Tina...
"it's up to the person to stop buying." So very true!!!!
Having the inside track on marketing must be fascinating. Understanding our own minds and how they tick is such an interesting subject.
Have a great weekend👍
What Richard said about the wine made me laugh 😂😂
We have now inflation down graded to the odd Aldi bottle of wine 😂😂🍷
Hello, we thoroughly enjoy your videos & your journeys on RUclips. You’re now our ‘go to’ RUclips Channel! 😃 Something I would be really interested to know, as a keen photographer, is how you have navigated your way on RUclips & how you manage your data, backups, which software & cameras/microphones, you use, etc. You have come such a long way from your early videos & I’m sure everyone (including me) would be interested to know more about your steep learning curve. Thanks 🙏🏼 Looking forward to your next video! 😊
Hi- thanks for this and welcome to the channel. We are glad that you like what we are doing!
We have just chatted about your suggestion on our walk today and have decided to pop it into the pipeline. We are thinking of a video that covers all the points that you have raised as we get a number of questions about just this from other subscribers. It may take a while to be published, as we have a pretty packed travel schedule for the next couple of months- but it will be done.
Thanks for the inspiration. Have a great weekend👍
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you and have a great trip!
You mentioned convenience food. Richard, have you read Chris Van Tulleken's book about Ultra Processed Food, I think it would be right up your street 😊
No I’ve not heard of that one - thanks for the recommendation 😊
Amazing book, great on audible!
Have you considered sharing your budgeting, financial planning spreadsheets etc.? (Your own numbers taken out of course!). I’m sure such templates etc would be helpful to many people, I know I would find them helpful in my own planning 👍
It's not really that sophisticated to really share with people. Despite what we may say, we are pretty novice spreadsheeters😂 We project our ideal monthly budget forward and then track against it with our actual spend, our fixed monthly costs, extra expenses in the month and then a total actual expenditure calculation.
We automate it to track against our projected spend over the course of the year and it helps us to see how we are going.
Hope that this helps? 👍
Agree with so much of this.
We have just checked our monthly payments and moved from EE to a PAYG SIM deal and saved £7 each a month and still get the same.
We always check for car and home insurance as loyalty unfortunately no longer pays
Along with using a shopping list and meal plan, and each annual pay rise we always increase the monthly overpayment on the mortgage with half of it we are doing well to get retired by 55 (currently 43)
Thanks for this Amanda- one thing we have learned since retiring and reviewing all of our outgoings is that there are always savings to be made. Even relatively minor savings add up over time. We cannot believe how wasteful we have been over the years. We could have made things so much easier.
Don't get us started on insurance😡 Loyalty counts for nothing- we are fed up the the standard excuse of "cost of living crisis" as a reason for putting premiums up year on year. They just don't seem to care and are seemingly happy to lose customers (presumably as they are making so much money!). Rant over😂
Many thanks for the comment. Have a great weekend👍
Great video.
Thank you 😊
There is a saying, “ you don’t know what you don’t know, but once you know you must do better.” My spouse and I, found once the children’s college tuition bills started coming, that we needed to change our financial habits. Budgeting is our friend. Yes, you can survive with no credit cards. Working two jobs each and paying off $225,000 in 4 years was what we did to be financially strong. I wished to our younger self we said no to wants. We are 57 and 61, relocated to a more affordable place and loving our togetherness and being available so much more with our kids and grandkids. Time and memories is important.
A great outlook on life - time and memories are definitely what is most important to us now! We are so much better at budgeting now - age and experience helps with that 😊 Thanks for watching the channel x
If your company has a SAYE scheme put as much in as you can. It's a great way of saving and you can't lose. I used to save my pay rises too
Oh how we wish we had saved at least some of our pay rises in our 20’s and 30’s 😂 like all other things it is a habit and once you have got into that habit it is easy to keep it up 😊
@@earlyretirementwanderlust The other thing is only buy a car on a loan not on HP otherwise you are a slave to changing your vehicle every 3 years.
I have my van and a 53 plate mini as a run around 🤣
@suewheeler5795 oh I definitely fell the the never ending merry go round of car finance and swapping cars 😬
So many of these ring true…..oh for that Time Machine ! It is good though to at least pass on these thoughts (and examples !) to our kids…though we do get a bit of eye rolling from mentions of compound interest 🤪
To be fair I still don’t understand the intricacies of compound interest and then Richard then starts talking at me about atomic habits 😂
@@earlyretirementwanderlust 😂
I love these videos, they really get me thinking of all of the things I could’ve done differently. Also the best thing you’ve done is stay together. If you get that wrong it’s very costly. Your dad was very smart, I remember reading all about ‘planned obsolescence’ This iPad I’m watching you on is perfectly adequate, but every day there’s an app that won’t work or a website I can’t look at. Maddening to be forced into buying a new one from Mr Apple! The computer will be obsolete next year also! Let’s hope the suggestions of budgeting, avoiding bad debt, investing for the long term and increasing the savings rate as earnings grow reaches younger viewers. X
Thanks for this Louise- hindsight really is a wonderful thing. Dad loved to have banter about Mr Apple (occasionally referred to as Mr Acorn😂😂😂)- but I do really think he had a point. Love your phrase of planned obsolescence- defo going to steal that one for the future😉.
We keep trying to speak about these things with our kids and they seem to be taking it on board- even if they sigh occasionally when we chat🤣
Thanks for the comment🙏
Awe your kids will thank you one day! Love Mr Acorn. It can’t be worse than my grandad calling M&S Marks and Suspenders! Oh bless them. X
When I first got married I worked with a lady who when she and her husband had a pay rise would save 10% of it, so over the years the savings went up. I never thought it would amount to much but she retired at 50 with their mortgage paid off.
Such a wise woman she was. Why we didn't have that wisdom, we don't know! It would have made life so much easier. Thinking back now, we cannot believe how easily we were persuaded to spend more. Our lifestyle inflation was constant😬
There are definately more wants when we are younger. When i think of all the money i wasted on clothes/makeup bags that i did not really need😮.😮😮😮😮
Agreed- as we get older, life seems to get much simpler...along with our needs. We are loving the simple life.
Thanks for the comment👍
Spending wisely even if you have more money makes a big difference, but other than avoiding paying rent of any kind( saving by paying of a mortgage, owning phone car outright ) I would invest in yourself or accumulate valuable experiences while you can. Interestingly nowadays young people need to often be poked to do stuff in the real world… ( iPhone camera has improved a lot since 11; often battery performance drops off with dilemma spending on new battery or new phone) other item to save on is insurance . I never insured my phone, and saved up about 2-3 phones doing that for example…
So true! Investing in self is something that doesn't come naturally to many people, yet it is often an example of planting seeds that will germinate and grow in years to come.
In so many of our previous phones- the battery dying was the main issue that forced us to replace. ATM the iPhone 11 is still going strong on this front, although if we do a lot of filming it suffers. We carry a £20 power bank in case of emergencies rather than having to resort to a new phone😂
Thanks for the comment👍
Great conversation as always and good tips too.
We have never had SKy per se but eldest son does and seems to pay plenty for it but can afford to. We instead get NOW tv SKy Sports and SKy films for short contracts. These work out so reasonable for our budget. We also get free Disney via our Lloyds bank account - especially good if grandkids are here and it is raining! And we have basic Netflix too.
Re the tech stuff- my phone is 4 years old and doing great; my Ipad is 7 years old and no issues. Having recently listened to Stuffocation by James Wallman - did you recommend that to us? I have a revised outlook on things and feel that me and hubby are on the Experientalist path now!
We had sky for many years then swapped to BT Tv which saved a huge amount and now we don’t have either and only watch basic Netflix and Amazon prime - funny how life styles change 😂 we are too busy now to watch much TV!
I think young peope today have no chance for the most part of early retirement…. working from high school is low payiing jobs. going to college si HIGH tuition.. and kinda medium paying jobs for most.. early retirment is prolly less then 1% of people.. which makes is a myth.. not a chance...
Sadly I think you are right for many of todays younger generation - hopefully we have given our own 2 children enough advice and support to help them on their way to at least have a chance