Enjoy it while you are alive!

Last week Lee-Annes Grandma, Evelyn, sadly died.

She was 90 years old and in relatively good health, but a fall in her home led to a chain of events and she suddenly passed away from us on our daughter Amy's 14th birthday.

Evelyn led a simple life, saving money away in wads of cash around the house as she didn't trust the banks and didn't want anyone to know her business.

This week we have been sorting out her few old belongings. She didn't have much in the way of possessions, she never went on holiday and lived in one room of the house, choosing to huddle by a gas fire rather than run her central heating.

It struck me in the last few days that we all leave this life with the same thing - nothing! We leave behind our possessions and our cash either for the next generation or the tax man.

We have decided that we are going to enjoy life to the full right up to the very last minute! We have also been thinking about a fantastic legacy we can leave - more of that later!

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy your retirement

I read a story today that literally brought a tear to my eye.

The times reported on the growing number of retired people who have taken out debt to fund their lifestyle without any means of paying it back. There are more people going bankrupt in retirement than ever before.

Some of the comments on this article are unsympathetic however I really feel for these people. They have shuffled in to retirement at a time when credit has been too freely available, every airport, every shopping centre, every service station have people pushing credit cards. Many young people don't understand the truth about money so it's a little unfair to think that these people entered into credit agreements with their eyes wide open.

I think this is only the start, unless we take saving for retirement seriously many more people will fall into old age debt.

Younger people say it is difficult to know what you will need in retirement, it seems so far away.

I happen to know what everyone wants in retirement, everyone want something different but I know exactly what each and every person wants.

Each person wants a lifestyle in retirement and the minimum they want is at least equal to the lifestyle they enjoy today.

Its time we started taking retirement seriously

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy your business

I was chatting to a Friend last night about his small business. He was unaware that at some point in time, soon after 2012 he would have a legal obligation to pay contributions in to a Pension for his staff. His business is only small, he employs three people and he wondered why he hadn't heard anything about this before.

I couldn't answer his question but we did get in to a conversation about the fact that most people didn't really understand how much income they would have when they decided to stop working.

I think it is worse than that, I don't think many people have thought about how much money they need in old age. Unless you know what you need how can you ever know if you have enough.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if a business owner could help his staff understand these two things and rather than just providing the minimum compulsory contributions when auto enrolment comes along, provide a quality pension scheme.

What a great way to show that you value your staff.

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy your life

Here is an interesting article. A multi-Millionaire is giving a huge amount of money as he has realised the money isn't making him happy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1249414/Austrian-millionaire-gives-away-2-7m-fortune-personal-possessions-happy.html

Money plays a massive part in our lives, it can be hugely beneficial but it can also cause lots of problems. The key is understanding what you want money for and why.

If money was no object how would you live your life? What would you do? Where would you live? Who would you be with? Where would you go? What possessions would you have? Only once we understand this can we start to work out how much money we need.

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy the facts

Hi

For those of you interested in the detail, here is the spending survey

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/fs0110.pdf

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy your appearance

I have just learned that in 2008 we spent the lowest amount since 2002 on clothing. This isn't based on the Manley family budget but is the findings of the National Office of Statistics survey on average family spending.

This got me thinking, is it the result of the recession, is it the fact that clothes have become less expensive in the past year, is it global warming and the fact that people are wearing less? I am sure it is a combination of all of these factors (with the possible exception of global warming).

It could also be that there is a greater understanding that you can't live your life on credit. I sense a return to core values, a better understanding of the truth about money.

I think this is a fantastic step forward, understanding what sort of lifestyle we want and how much it costs is the first step towards financial freedom (an interesting topic for a future blog).

I think we are possibly an average family when it comes to clothing. I spend very little, Lee-Anne spends a lot and up until now I have been able to steer the children towards sensibly priced apparel, although they have now reached an age where fashion is important so I think we will do our bit in the coming years to support the textile industry.

Until next time

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy watching things grow

I have just been talking to my son Matthew about saving for the future and the power of compounding. We have just worked out that if you could find a way of doubling your money every day for 20 days you could turn £1 into £1m.

This exercise was extremely useful as I would like a new Aston Martin and he would like a Yaught. We are half way there in that we have a £1 coin so all we need is to find a way of doubling it!

Any ideas please let us know

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy your Family

What a strange weekend we had!

My daughter Amy went away on a school trip this weekend. Nothing unusual about that you might think, and in many ways you would be right to think it.

The reason it was strange is that it had a very unusual effect on the rest of the family. Lee-Anne, who gets so stressed by Amys complete disregard for tidiness and order, was pacing up and down our tidy home. Matthew, suddenly the centre of our attention for the weekend, felt lost in the back of the car and at the dinner table, choosing to sit in her place. And as for me, I missed my play mate, my little girl who I torment relentlessly wasn't there.

Every weekend we do things that a normal busy family does, we have lots of fun and love each other to bits. I think, having spent a weekend with a missing piece we have learned to appreciate what we have a little bit more and we will make sure we enjoy it every day.

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy my Blog

So here it is, my very first post on the brand new Enjoy Blog. I am clearly writing this in the present however the purpose of this post is for me to look back on one year from now.

You see this is more than just a post, it is a milestone, a marker, something for me to look back on affectionately from something I now look forward to - The Future.

Like you, I have in my mind things I want to do, places I want to go, people I want to be with, things I want to own, people I want to be with, people I want to help. We all have desires, hopes, dreams, goals and yet most of us don't have a written plan on how to achieve them. Unfortunately this means that unless we stumble upon them through our lives they will remain a dream until the day our life comes to an end.

So, the purpose of this blog is to share with you some of my goals, plans and achievements and hopefully help you to find a way in which you can Enjoy your life without the fear of ever running out of money.

Together we can Enjoy and learn from each other.

Until next time, Enjoy yourself

Mark