Welcome to another Scotch Street article! For those who are new to Scotch Street, this is a place where we write stream-of-consciousness articles about personal finance after drinking scotch.
One of the rules of Scotch Street is that you can drink whatever you want!
Today’s article is written by, Tuppenny, who decided to trade the scotch with champagne. And a big happy 50th birthday to Tuppenny!
Don’t forget to visit Tuppenny’s blog: https://tuppennysfireplace.com/
About Tuppenny:
Scotch Street Guest Post – Tuppenny
Hi I’m Tuppenny and I responded to Scott’s call out for bloggers to provide a stream of consciousness whilst under the influence having a wee drink.
Scotch is so not my favourite drink, bleugh, so I have had a glass or two of champagne instead! It was my birthday, the big 50, and I happen to be known for liking a glass of champers so somehow ended up with more than one bottle of the stuff. What’s a girl to do but drink some?
Now this is a personal finance blog and indeed I can now call myself a personal finance blogger having setup my blog, tuppennysfireplace, 3 months ago, so I should be talking all things finance.
Having reached the grand old age of 50 I feel I am in an ok place with our finances although there is always room to improve. But on my to do list is to somehow influence my two daughters and how they view their finances. This is very much a work in progress as DD2 is at university and tries to remain blissfully unaware of the world of finances. She prefers to concentrate on the bank of mum and dad!
DD1 is all growed up with her own house, husband and pets but has yet to realise that house price increases are not necessarily a good thing. Nor are they a reason to re-mortgage and withdraw equity to buy a new car – aaargh!
I didn’t have a bucket list in the lead up to my 50th, indeed I still don’t although am toying with the idea of creating one, just because. But then I wasn’t bothered about turning 50, it’s just another birthday isn’t it? But because everyone else seems to feel it’s a big deal I started to wonder whether I ought to be reflecting on my life so far, should I be reviewing what I have achieved? Creating that bucket list of things yet to achieve?
I’ve worked my whole life in a target orientated environment so a few more targets wouldn’t be a problem. But I’m a FIRE blogger, this means I am writing about and actively aiming to becoming Financially Independent and Retire Early. And why do I want to retire early? Well one of the reasons is I want to get off the merry-go-round that is target achievement. The constant drive to tick another box, done that sir, how high sir, is wearing after a while. Especially if it’s with the same employer – I was with my first UK civil service department for 30 years.
And then I think again about helping my daughters find, what I would call, a better path with their finances. That spending it all on avocado toast – yes they both really do buy and eat this – is not all it’s cracked up to be.
I want them to see that working till 68 is not the only choice they have, that saving some of their money, rather than none, can create choices. They look at our FIRE plan and think we are slightly bonkers (maybe we are?) as we are not aiming for FatFIRE, more LeanFIRE. Because we have never earned big bucks and started late (around 40) if we wanted to retire with a nice fat stash then it wouldn’t be FIRE, it would be state retirement age.
If we waited until this standard retirement age and Mr2p died at the same age as his father did, we would only have 5 years of retirement. That is not something to look forward to.
Back to the daughters – what is my master plan? Slight problem at the moment is I don’t have one. Indeed I feel I’ve made quite a few mistakes when it comes to finances and my daughters. I’ve been fooling myself thinking they are the problem but having my blog and writing about them and me has made me realise that actually, I’m the problem. Or rather how I react to them is the problem.
I fall into the trap of trying to solve their problems or taking control because I think know better. I might indeed know better but actually that’s because I learnt through doing things myself and making mistakes. If I always try and stop my daughters from making a mistake perhaps they won’t learn? And perhaps they will always look to me to solve their problems? If I don’t want that then I need to let go and stop being such a control freak!
I need to look at their situation differently. Through the eyes of a millennial not a 50 year old:
DD1 and husband took out a 35 year mortgage – It enabled them to get on the property ladder, they wouldn’t now be able to afford their house due to the increase in prices if they hadn’t.
DD1 is currently relying on her husbands pension to support them both in retirement – It’s a great final salary pension and she says her plans include starting her own pension once her business has been running a year.
DD1 has credit card debt – She has it on 0% interest cards and is paying it down through side hustles she has created to bring in more income.
DD2 gets me to book all her train tickets home – She’s booked festival tickets so knows how to book a ticket if she really wants one!
DD2 comes knocking on my door for money when her loan runs out – She doesn’t have an overdraft or a credit card, she has no debt other than student loans and wants to keep it this way.
DD2 has spent a fair chunk of the lump sum her granny gave her 5 years ago – She still has half of it left and keeps it in an account that is difficult to access.
As millennials they are doing ok aren’t they? Better than some of their peers, less so than others. But it’s about what is right for themselves not the perceived wisdom of the world around them or a bunch of FIRE bloggers who got their sh*t together much earlier than most people.
So, about that bucket list – still thinking about it. But it’s time for another glass of champers at which point I will probably lose my chain of thoughts completely.
Big thanks to Tuppenny!
Here are some additional Scotch Street articles for you:
Scotch Street Guest Post – The Flawed Consumer – Glenlivet 15
Many thanks Robbie for an enjoyable reason to drink champagne!
No no thank YOU! Happy to give you another reason to drink some champers haha.
A cool post Tuppeny, always interesting to hear what comes to mind after a few glasses of fizz.
I’d say your daughters are doing well in life, they are young and very few people have their finances fully sorted then – I know I didn’t.