Double Retired
Veteran
Joined: 31 Jul 2020
Age: 70
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,198
Location: U.S.A. (Mid-Atlantic)
The advice I give my younger relatives is:
"Having money is useful. It you want to have money all you have to do is 1. Get money 2. Keep it."
That is, have an income and live below it.
Since I cannot see the future I don't know how much money I will need in the future so I always try to live well within my means so I can give future-me more money.
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When diagnosed I bought champagne!
I finally knew why people were strange.
What kind of jobs are you currently working?
None, I'm retired.
What kind of jobs did you used to work?
Science research.
Growing organic herbs.
How many times did you get made redundant and for what reason?
Never. I was once on a 3-year contract for a university but after 6 months they gave me tenure. Somebody must have thought I was useful. Making somebody redundant from a permanent university post was unheard of. The organic herbs co-operative was at risk of going bankrupt so I suppose that would have been a kind of redundancy, but they never really paid me anyway, it was an Enterprise Allowance thing where the State paid us £40 a week, and then after that I was on unemployment benefit and doing voluntary work for them, which amounted to the same deal.
. . .I did do voluntary redundancy from my first job, but I could have stayed on.
What kind of unearned income do you have?
A few pounds a year from building society interest, which is less than inflation so it doesn't really count as income in real terms. It could be argued that my pensions are unearned, but I paid National Insurance and occupational contributions for them while I was working, so as far as I'm concerned I earned those. The State gives me about £10 every year to help with energy costs. I also have a senior citizens' bus pass that allows me to ride on off-peak buses for nothing.
What kind of good or bad spending habits do you have?
Depends what you mean by good and bad. I don't waste much money AFAIK. Most of it goes on food, energy, USA apartment rent, UK council tax, travel expenses between US and UK, wife's car and her medical and communication expenses, a few ordinary clothes. Very little frivoulous stuff.
What kind of jobs are you currently working?
I work as a cleaner for a kids therapy centre. I empty bins, sanitise desks, keyboards, mice, kids tables, the waiting room tables, the staff kitchen and a huge kids gym that has play and therapy equipment.
I do paperwork for an autistic man once a fortnight for three hours. Before I start the actual work, he likes to have a bit of a chat over a coffee. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met.
I don't know if this counts, but I do volunteer work for the Salvation Army. My job is to hang clothes that are donated and have been sorted onto a rack in certain categories (men's, women's, kids). I then price tag them all, count them and then take them out into the shop. Other people hang them where they're meant to go and I continue on to the next rack of clothes. Advantage: Finding great clothes for cheap prices.
What kind of jobs did you used to work?
I used to be a forklift driver, front end loader driver, machine operator and boiler operator. All at a mushroom farm. When I first started there, I picked mushrooms for about a year. I was pretty slow though, so I asked if I could work in a different department.
I worked at a bakery packing pies. There was more to this job like cleaning pie tins, etc. I left because the hours were too much. 60+. Advantage: The yum pies I got to eat every day for lunch. Disadvantage: the cuts and burns I got from being clumsy.
How many times did you get made redundant and for what reason?
I got made redundant from KFC when I was 18. The boss said, "You're not a people person are you?" Haha, nope! I had no idea about autism at that time.
What kind of unearned income do you have?
I'm on the Disability Support Pension. Depending on how much I earn, the DSP is adjusted accordingly. I've been on it for over 15 years.
What kind of good or bad spending habits do you have?
When I really set my mind to it, I can save. I managed to save enough to get air conditioning installed in our house (I have a housemate) and just recently bought a new fridge. But I'm trying to save for another car and that's not going well since my cleaning job hours have been cut. Online shopping is probably where I have wasted money.
What kind of jobs are you currently working?
I'm retired.
Prior to that I was on Long-Term Disability for 10 years from my employer.
What kind of jobs did you used to work?
I had one career for 30+ years (including the LTD)
How many times did you get made redundant and for what reason?
Never, except once I was forced to move site locations when I was a newbie.
What kind of unearned income do you have?
I don't know what that means.
I get a Pension from my employer, and Disability Insurance from the government.
I earned them both by paying into them for decades.
What kind of good or bad spending habits do you have?
I barely buy anything for myself.
I barely even own clothes.
I likely spend too much on vet bills and pet food.
I don't go overboard but with six of them it's costly.
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I never give you my number, I only give you my situation.
Beatles
What kind of jobs are you currently working?
I'm a computer geek - specifically doing IT in healthcare.
What kind of jobs did you used to work?
A lot of computer geekery. I've built phone operating systems, both Android and Nokia. I've done comms, games, graphics, early internet stuff. I write operating systems, SDKs and engines, rather than applications. Before that I sold vegetables and wine, and did historical research.
How many times did you get made redundant and for what reason?
I drank myself out of a job once. Happily I'm a long time sober now.
I once worked for a startup which was bought out and closed down. We got 24 hours' notice.
What kind of unearned income do you have?
I have a private pension which I've built up over the last 15 years. (Yes, only 15 years. I wasn't very responsible when younger.) I have small investments in ISAs (a type of British tax-free savings account), Premium Bonds (another British investment which pays dividends in random prize draws rather than in interest), and a savings account.
What kind of good or bad spending habits do you have?
I'm quite a miser, except where it comes to holidays. We enjoy travelling and cruising. We have no kids, so we have more disposable income than others. (The trade-off, of course, is when we are old and senile we will likely end up in a care home, rather than have kids who might look after us.)
I save most of my income otherwise. I don't drink or smoke. I'm not fashion-conscious; I'll buy clothes and shoes when my existing ones wear out.