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In later life, and particularly in retirement, many people
have concerns about their finances. Most of us will be on a
fixed income and there will probably be limited
opportunities to materially increase that income through
work. (Although, if you have a look at our
Guide to Part-time Work in Retirement
you may find help
there if you want to find some work). So for many people,
the focus on finance in retirement is to make the most of
our money. At the moment, what with the 'credit crunch' and financial uncertainty in general, this is becoming increasingly important.
Concerns about finance can affect our
whole outlook to later life, so sorting out our finances is very
important both psychologically as well as practically. First of
all we have to ensure that we can make ends meet. When we are
confident that we can do that, then we can think about how to go
about enjoying our later life as far as possible. Making the
most of our money will help us to do that.
 There are a number of things that we can and, in some cases,
should do in order to help this process:
- Analyse our finances so that we know exactly how much we
have coming in and going out on a regular basis
- Get some financial help
- Put it where it is going
to work hardest for us
- Spend it wisely on the everyday necessities so that we
have more to do with as we wish
Making the Most of our Money links
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As we get older, and particularly in retirement,
the ideal financial circumstances are low inflation and high
interest rates. If we have any sort of pension, be it a company
or state one, if inflation is high our pension will not keep up
with the increase in the cost of living. Assuming that we have
no mortgage in our later years, we want our money to make money
for us. Hence our wish for low inflation and high interest
rates. The problem is that the two are, by and large, linked, so
we get high interest rates when inflation starts to rise ands
vice-versa.
Currently, we have reasonably low inflation, which is
good, (although it's now rising, with some things such as fuel and utilities getting very expensive indeed), but also quite low interest rates, which is not so good.
So we need to make the most of our money so that it will go as
far as possible.
That phrase, 'Make the most of our money' is key in later
life and most people want to do it for one or more of three
reasons:
- In order to make ends meet
- So that they can put a little bit away for a 'rainy
day', for example if inflation does start getting higher
again and the pension can't keep pace with it
- So that they have a bit more to spend on enjoying later
life rather than just surviving.
- So that we can make better and more wide-ranging choices
in retirement (see the page 'Analysing
our Finances')
This Guide is to help you make the most of your money and to
provide some help with your personal finances so that you will
be able to make the most of your money so that you have more to
spend or save as you want.
So click one of the links in the box and start the laterlife
Guide to Making the Most of our Money.
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