Angellica Bell: Looking for inspiration and ideas to achieve your ideal retirement?
Angellica Bell: You're in the right place. I'm Angellica Bell, and this
Angellica Bell: is Rewirement. Today we're heading for the hills, or should
Angellica Bell: I say the beach views, waterways, and open roads. That's
Angellica Bell: because we're meeting amazing individuals who have relocated in later
Angellica Bell: life. Hundreds of thousands of people do it, so there's
Angellica Bell: no reason why it has to be a pipe dream
Angellica Bell: for you. If relocating or immigrating is on your bucket
Angellica Bell: list, you probably have more than a few questions about
Angellica Bell: how you can afford it, and whether it's wise in
Angellica Bell: the world we live in today, but I'm here to
Angellica Bell: help. Maybe you dream of living abroad, but don't know
Angellica Bell: how you'll manage health care, or perhaps you want to
Angellica Bell: buy a second home, but aren't sure how you'd fund
Angellica Bell: it. Maybe you just have questions about your pension and
Angellica Bell: benefits if you leave the UK. Whatever it is, I
Angellica Bell: hope you and I will be a little bit more
Angellica Bell: clued up in the next 30 minutes or so. I'm
Angellica Bell: going to be chatting to Legal & General's Andrew Kail, and
Angellica Bell: author, Celia Dodd, for their advice on everything you should
Angellica Bell: be thinking about ahead of your next big move. And
Angellica Bell: I'm really excited to introduce our colorful retirees for this
Angellica Bell: episode. We'll be speaking to Tina from her home in
Angellica Bell: Spain a little later, but first let's meet Jennifer. Jennifer
Angellica Bell: and her husband have lived on their narrowboat, Roamer, for
Angellica Bell: a decade now. When the county council they both worked
Angellica Bell: for offered voluntary redundancy during cutbacks, they retired at the
Angellica Bell: same time and made the decision to sell their home
Angellica Bell: in Hertfordshire and buy a new one on the water.
Angellica Bell: I think you should tell everyone listening where you are
Angellica Bell: right now.
Jennifer: I'm on a narrowboat, where I live.
Angellica Bell: So tell me why you have decided this is the
Angellica Bell: way you would love to live.
Jennifer: Well, I grew up in Sussex in Chichester, so I've always
Jennifer: lived near the sea, and my husband and I have always said
Jennifer: that when we retired, we'd either live on the water
Jennifer: or by the water. So we looked at it and
Jennifer: we said, Well, if we'd sell the house, we can
Jennifer: buy a narrowboat and retire onto a narrowboat and that's
Jennifer: what we did.
Angellica Bell: So you just took control of your money, said, This
Angellica Bell: is what we want to do and just did it.
Jennifer: Yeah, yeah. We sat down, worked out all the figures
Jennifer: and said, If we do this then we'll have no
Jennifer: mortgage, obviously we've got the expenses of running the boat
Jennifer: and boat licenses and that sort of thing. But we
Jennifer: sat down and we worked it all out. And we
Jennifer: worked out that with our pensions that we could afford
Jennifer: to do that and still have a nice holiday every
Jennifer: year. We go on a cruise every year, funnily enough,
Jennifer: we go back onto another boat.
Angellica Bell: Well, exactly. So, it wasn't also about quality of life.
Jennifer: Definitely, definitely. It's not easy, it takes its toll on
Jennifer: you physically, because when you are out, if you're on
Jennifer: the canals, you've got to keep jumping on and off
Jennifer: and work the locks and they're heavy and they don't
Jennifer: always work properly. So it's quite physical, but that's good
Jennifer: at our age, to keep us going and it makes
Jennifer: us get up and out we're not sedentary. But you're
Jennifer: out in the fresh air all the time. My husband
Jennifer: and I are both ex- forces and so we're used
Jennifer: to be nomadic anyway.
Angellica Bell: So what sort of community do you have living on
Angellica Bell: the water?
Jennifer: You've got people from all walks of life. Some university
Jennifer: lecturers, we've got actors, we've even heard that Harrison Ford
Jennifer: likes going on one when he's over in the UK.
Jennifer: I don't know how true that is, but people have
Jennifer: said they've seen him on the boats. But you've got
Jennifer: people who are living hand to mouth as well, who
Jennifer: are totally off the grid, who want to be off
Jennifer: the grid, and everyone gets on with everyone. There's no
Jennifer: snobbery about it, everybody helps everybody. If you moor up
Jennifer: near a boat for the night, they'll come and say
Jennifer: hello and have a chat, especially if there's dogs around.
Jennifer: Dogs are the great, great communicator in boaters, everybody seems
Jennifer: to have a dog.
Angellica Bell: With your ex military background, being on a boat probably
Angellica Bell: really suits you, because you have to move from basis
Angellica Bell: to basis and travel a lot. Because I know some
Angellica Bell: people just like to be in one place, know where
Angellica Bell: they're at. Horses for courses, isn't it.
Jennifer: We were both in the RAF to start off with, and then
Jennifer: my husband transferred over to the army. And in the
Jennifer: 22 years that he did with the forces, we moved
Jennifer: 11 times. In the end, if you stayed anywhere more
Jennifer: than two years, I started getting itchy feet.
Angellica Bell: Now you've alluded to being quite financially savvy, Jennifer, but
Angellica Bell: tell me about the moment you retired, what happened and
Angellica Bell: what decisions did you make?
Jennifer: So we looked at what finances we had, because they'd said they'd
Jennifer: give us access to our pension as it stood at
Jennifer: that time. So we looked to that and we thought, Okay,
Jennifer: once we'd sold the house and how much a boat
Jennifer: would cost or how much it would cost to run
Jennifer: the boat. And we said, Yeah, that that will work.
Jennifer: It's got our military pensions as well, so that worked
Jennifer: quite nicely.
Angellica Bell: You're always on top of your money and you're budgeting
Angellica Bell: stuff as you go along.
Jennifer: I haven't always been. There are times when we've almost
Jennifer: been hand to mouth, in the old days when we
Jennifer: were young and had young kids, my husband was diagnosed
Jennifer: with cancer, so he was out of work for a
Jennifer: few years. So during that time it was a real
Jennifer: struggle, but we scraped through that. So I suppose part
Jennifer: of then, is not wanting to go back to that.
Jennifer: I look at my parents and my husband's mother who
Jennifer: survive just on a state pension. And she was on £
Jennifer: 50 pounds a week and having to pay rent and
Jennifer: find food and she couldn't afford anything. And we always
Jennifer: said we wouldn't do that, so when we came on the
Jennifer: boat, we said, Right, we've always got to keep enough
Jennifer: money for a major repair.
Angellica Bell: I love it. Is it your children, you got two children, what do they
Angellica Bell: make of it all?
Jennifer: They both think we're crazy.
Angellica Bell: So tell me about your plan for later in life.
Jennifer: The long- term plan is stay on the boat as
Jennifer: long as we're able. And I've always said to my kids, Next stop
Jennifer: is the nursing home, so they'd better save up now.
Angellica Bell: You don't say that. Oh my goodness.
Jennifer: They know I'm joking.
Angellica Bell: Obviously, obviously. Is there anything that you would do differently, as
Angellica Bell: your younger self, in terms of preparing for your retirement?
Jennifer: Yes, start sooner. I think if we were trying to
Jennifer: struggle on a state pension, none of this would have
Jennifer: happened. In my day, your employer didn't have workplace pensions,
Jennifer: or not many of them did. So, yeah, pay into
Jennifer: it. Don't opt out, pay into the work's pension and
Jennifer: make sure that you've got enough to live how you want
Jennifer: to live. Decide how you want to live when you
Jennifer: eventually retire and make sure that you've got enough money
Jennifer: to afford that. And I know it's really difficult. If
Jennifer: somebody had told me that in my twenties and thirties,
Jennifer: make sure you got a pension for when you retire, I'd
Jennifer: have laughed and said, " That's years away." It probably is for
Jennifer: a lot of people now, but I'm really pleased that
Jennifer: we're not having to chase a pension anymore.
Angellica Bell: I suppose another good piece of advice, if you can
Angellica Bell: live on a narrowboat, is make sure you get on with your
Angellica Bell: husband or partner.
Jennifer: Or have somewhere you can go, where you can scream and then
Jennifer: come back.
Angellica Bell: Jenny says the only downside to life on the water
Angellica Bell: is not having as much storage space as you do
Angellica Bell: in a house, a small price to pay for the idyll
Angellica Bell: of living on the water if you're a keen boater
Angellica Bell: though. I love how she and her husbands still make
Angellica Bell: sure they can take a holiday away. They have a
Angellica Bell: cruise booked for the Caribbean later this year. Next up
Angellica Bell: we meet Tina. Now Tina started planning her retirement in
Angellica Bell: Spain many years before finishing work at 55. She told
Angellica Bell: me how smart planning helped her and her husband have
Angellica Bell: a life of their dreams on the Costa Blanca.
Tina: I actually reside in (foreign language) , and that's just outside (foreign language)
Tina: . And for all you happy Benidormers, it's about 20
Tina: minutes away from there. I've actually been in Spain for
Tina: over 20 years and, whilst I was working, I bought
Tina: properties for investments for my old age. It was a
Tina: struggle at first, but I'm reaping the benefits now. I'm
Tina: in the process of selling some of my assets to
Tina: actually fund my lifestyle as I go into older age.
Tina: I did retire at 55 with the intention of building
Tina: a pension pot up, so I don't have to rely
Tina: on state pension. And I think if people are going
Tina: to come to Spain, they need to plan for that.
Angellica Bell: Tina's move wasn't an impulsive one. When she retired at
Angellica Bell: 55, she had already been planning her Spanish emigration for
Angellica Bell: 20 years.
Tina: I started this process in my thirties, early thirties, I
Tina: bought this little two- bedroom house, which is just five
Tina: minutes from the beach. We then sought to buy a
Tina: bigger property for our retirement, keeping this of course. And
Tina: our idea was to rent it out, which we did
Tina: whilst we were working, because even if you were working, you still
Tina: got bills at home to pay and you still got
Tina: to pay bills here, regardless of whether you're here or
Tina: whether you're not. So we had a small income from
Tina: here, which ticked this over, and then we bought a
Tina: villa. We've got fabulous views, but we had 59 steps
Tina: up to the front door, which is quite large. But
Tina: when you're young, that 59 steps is really not a
Tina: lot. But as you're aging, 59 steps is like a
Tina: mountain to climb just to get your own door. So
Tina: that's not really suitable for us anymore, so we have
Tina: to sell that really.
Angellica Bell: By starting early on her investments and working consistently, Tina
Angellica Bell: and her husband were able to secure the lifestyle they
Angellica Bell: have now. By getting clear on what she wanted for
Angellica Bell: later life, Tina was able to make short- term decisions
Angellica Bell: that have paid off long- term. So what advice does
Angellica Bell: she have for others who might want to move to Spain?
Tina: If you're going to buy a villa, just be very
Tina: careful in what you're buying. Look out, make sure that
Tina: there's heating, number one, because there's always something that's going
Tina: to go wrong with a villa. It's always cold in
Tina: winter, fairly hot in summer, so you need air- con,
Tina: hot and cold. And you really need to look around to
Tina: see in your location, if there are any services such
Tina: as shops, restaurants, and bars, because that's important as you
Tina: get older, because you need to walk to these and
Tina: you don't need to constantly drive. The language barrier is
Tina: a big problem. For simple things like sorting out an
Tina: electricity problem, it's a big problem because you don't speak
Tina: the language properly. Shopping's to not too bad, but if
Tina: you go into a market, that can be a problem,
Tina: because nobody's going to speak your language. And as you
Tina: get older and because you're working and you're concentrating on other
Tina: things, you don't always have time to learn the language,
Tina: because you've got to put a lot of effort into
Tina: that. I would recommend anybody who's coming to Spain to
Tina: really think very, very seriously about learning the language.
Angellica Bell: There's a strong ex- pat community where Tina lives. She
Angellica Bell: says being able to get along and enjoy meeting like-
Angellica Bell: minded people is important when you're starting over somewhere new.
Tina: You do tend to meet like- minded people. Round here,
Tina: everybody knows everybody, because it's a very, very small urbanization.
Tina: It's only about 62 properties and it's divided into two
Tina: halves. So on this little half here, where I've got
Tina: property, there's only about 40 houses and there's a lot
Tina: of different nationalities round here. Some people have got a
Tina: different attitude towards life and their cultures are quite different
Tina: to yours, so you have to be a bit lenient
Tina: in that way.
Angellica Bell: Tina loves to walk her French Bulldog puppy, Gizmo, locally,
Angellica Bell: but that's not something she feels comfortable to do on
Angellica Bell: an evening in the UK.
Tina: Well, if I was in England, I certainly wouldn't take
Tina: my dog out on my own. And I tend to, when
Tina: I'm in the UK, not go out after seven o'clock. I'm in
Tina: the house, because I don't feel comfortable. I'm here on
Tina: my own at the moment and there's a bar up the
Tina: road. I go there quite frequently. I take the dog,
Tina: of course, because you've got to take someone live with you, so
Tina: you don't feel like Billy no- mates. I've got no
Tina: problem with going into a bar, having a glass of
Tina: wine. They don't care, they just give you a half
Tina: a beer, they don't bother you and whatever. And there might be a
Tina: few holiday makers there, a few English people, and then
Tina: they start talking to you, because everybody's happy, they're all
Tina: on holiday.
Angellica Bell: Tina says understanding the different expenses is crucial to planning
Angellica Bell: for your retirement abroad. She's 59 years old, so has
Angellica Bell: a little way to go before she can claim her
Angellica Bell: state pension, and the rules for healthcare are different in Spain.
Tina: If you're under 65, you have to pay for your
Tina: own healthcare if you're going to stay here for any
Tina: length of time and become a resident. The cost of healthcare
Tina: here is not cheap and people think it's going to be a bit
Tina: like the UK. You arrive and whatever, after a couple
Tina: of months you'll integrate and you can access their health
Tina: service. Well, not here you can't. You have to pay before
Tina: they'll actually do anything for you, or you have to
Tina: show you've got means to pay for the treatment. So
Tina: for somebody like me, no healthcare, I'm under 60 and
Tina: this year I've paid € 1, 200 for the healthcare, which
Tina: is not a lot you might think, but it's unlikely
Tina: that I will actually access any health care here, simply
Tina: because at the moment I'm in very good health. I
Tina: do think that the cost of living is more expensive
Tina: here than it is in the UK. An average shop
Tina: here would be, for two people, about € 90. Lamb is
Tina: very, very expensive, you can pick up a piece of
Tina: lamb in the UK for £ 7, over here that's going
Tina: to be 20 to £ 27. Fish is very expensive here, the
Tina: general cost of living is very expensive here. Soft furnishings, my
Tina: God, even now I bring over curtains and cushions and
Tina: things like that, because they're three times as much over
Tina: here. I'm just going to put the thing in, because it's raining, believe it
Tina: or not. People come to Spain and retire to Spain
Tina: thinking they're going to get sunshine 365 days a year.
Angellica Bell: One more thing Tina highlighted was the importance of mentally
Angellica Bell: preparing to live some distance away from family and old friends.
Tina: When you do come out here to live, everybody wants
Tina: to come, everybody. But after a couple of times, they
Tina: they've had that, they've done that, they don't want the
Tina: holiday anymore, and I think families do drift. My advice
Tina: would be, to anybody who's thinking of doing what I'm
Tina: doing, is do your research. Don't always settle for the
Tina: first place you see, and always look to the future.
Tina: Because if you're 30 or 40 or even 50, you
Tina: could be very healthy and there are things that won't
Tina: phase you, but then add another 20 years onto that
Tina: and then put yourself in that position and then look
Tina: back. If you can, if it's possible, get an understanding
Tina: of how that particular country works, because each country have
Tina: their own cultures and the way they operate things. Simple
Tina: things like electricity, water, they all work differently. Think very,
Tina: very carefully where you're buying and how long you want
Tina: to stay there. And also think about how you want
Tina: to leave that asset to your family or whoever, because
Tina: they will pay inheritance tax on that and that's really
Tina: a massive chunk of your hard earned money.
Angellica Bell: It's fabulous to hear how Tina and Jennifer took the
Angellica Bell: leap and fulfilled their dreams in retirement. I hope that's
Angellica Bell: inspired you. Some really wise words from Tina about thinking
Angellica Bell: about how that transition impacts your relationships with family and
Angellica Bell: friends back home. It sounds like having a great community
Angellica Bell: and building friendships in your new place is a really
Angellica Bell: important part of relocating later in life, wherever you choose
Angellica Bell: to go. Now, Tina and Jennifer have raised some important
Angellica Bell: questions that they've both had to navigate. From deciding to
Angellica Bell: sell the family home, to looking at how healthcare and
Angellica Bell: state benefits work when you're abroad, there's a big practical
Angellica Bell: side to work out for such a move. To help
Angellica Bell: us find some answers I'm joined by Legal & General's Andrew
Angellica Bell: Kail, CEO of Legal & General's retail retirement, and author, Celia
Angellica Bell: Dodd. Thank you so much for joining me. Celia, you've
Angellica Bell: written a book called Not Fade Away about how to
Angellica Bell: make the most of retirement. What inspired you to write
Angellica Bell: this book?
Celia Dodd: Well, I was really interested to know why people dread
Celia Dodd: retirement so much, because it should be the best time
Celia Dodd: of our lives when we can do exactly what we
Celia Dodd: want to do. And it seemed to me that there was a
Celia Dodd: mistaken link between aging and retirement, and actually, retirement is
Celia Dodd: all about changing, it's not really about aging at all.
Celia Dodd: I talked about 60 retired people, from a train driver
Celia Dodd: to a top fashion designer, to find out the mistakes they've
Celia Dodd: made as well as the successes they've had, because I think that's a really
Celia Dodd: good way of working out what works for you, hearing
Celia Dodd: other people's stories about what worked for them. Of course retirement's
Celia Dodd: changed, it's changing all the time, as you don't have
Celia Dodd: to retire. People now are doing all kinds of different
Celia Dodd: things, they're not retiring, they're doing part- time work. So there's
Celia Dodd: a huge amount of choice and I think people can
Celia Dodd: feel a bit bewildered by the choice. So I wanted
Celia Dodd: to guide them to make really good decisions, to make
Celia Dodd: the best of what could be a fabulous time of life.
Angellica Bell: Well, you highlighted something that I've been talking about with
Angellica Bell: my friends a lot, since they've heard I've been doing
Angellica Bell: this podcast. They were like, Retirement, it's one of those
Angellica Bell: words which has this stigma attached to it and something
Angellica Bell: that will be years down the line and it's made
Angellica Bell: them think about it and assess what they want to
Angellica Bell: do and who they want to be. And I think
Angellica Bell: one of the things you want to do is to
Angellica Bell: allow people to think about new possibilities for themselves at
Angellica Bell: whatever stage of their life.
Celia Dodd: Absolutely, life is full of possibilities. But as I say,
Celia Dodd: I think people can think of retirement as quite a
Celia Dodd: passive phase, (inaudible) , pipe, and slippers. In fact, you've
Celia Dodd: got to be more proactive than perhaps you ever were
Celia Dodd: at work. You've really got to seize the hour and
Celia Dodd: look at or investigate all the possibilities and maybe make
Celia Dodd: mistakes. See mistakes as experiments and a way of working
Celia Dodd: out what you want to do next. But yeah, I do really want
Celia Dodd: to allow people to see all the wonderful possibilities there
Celia Dodd: are out there.
Angellica Bell: Well, Andrew, I want to bring you in now, because thousands of people choose to have
Angellica Bell: a longterm change of scenery when they reached their freedom
Angellica Bell: years. So what sort of locations do people head for
Angellica Bell: most? Because it's not always sunshine and sand, is it?
Andrew Kail: Yeah, so many people have a plan to relocate when
Andrew Kail: they retire and I think we've seen, with COVID, that
Andrew Kail: started to change it as well. People feeling that they
Andrew Kail: want to move away from cities or be closer to
Andrew Kail: family. So the reasons that people want to relocate, yes,
Andrew Kail: they could be by the sea or doing something different,
Andrew Kail: but there are lots of other different reasons too. And
Andrew Kail: actually some research we've done recently at Legal & General shows
Andrew Kail: that over 3 million people in the UK, 50 and
Andrew Kail: over, are thinking now, as a consequence of COVID- 19,
Andrew Kail: of relocating in retirement.
Angellica Bell: Oh, wow.
Andrew Kail: We did some work last year, looking at migration hotspots,
Andrew Kail: where were people going in the UK. The southwest, Dorset,
Andrew Kail: Shropshire, and Wiltshire were the top ones. And interestingly, we were
Andrew Kail: seeing some migration away from cities. So large cities like
Andrew Kail: London, Birmingham, and Bristol, people were moving out to quieter
Andrew Kail: pastures. I think with COVID and the ability to operate
Andrew Kail: remotely, that trend will likely continue.
Angellica Bell: So, Celia, what do you find as being the most common
Angellica Bell: challenges people face when relocating?
Celia Dodd: Well, I think finding new friends and new social networks,
Celia Dodd: which go hand in hand, and finding new stuff to
Celia Dodd: do, which is a problem when you retire wherever you
Celia Dodd: are. But establishing yourself in a new place, and I
Celia Dodd: think the biggest challenge is that transition. So, the first
Celia Dodd: couple of years when you've left behind things and you're
Celia Dodd: probably still missing things, but you haven't yet found all
Celia Dodd: the new stuff. I think a lot of people find the actual move
Celia Dodd: is quite a good bridge between the old life and
Celia Dodd: the new, it's a project in itself, if you like.
Celia Dodd: Making the house nice, the garden, that can work really
Celia Dodd: well. Again, it's essential to be proactive and maybe do
Celia Dodd: your research before you go.
Angellica Bell: Now one thing that comes up a lot is that
Angellica Bell: there's this uncertainty of financial needs. When people do want to
Angellica Bell: make a big change in their life, what sort of
Angellica Bell: things should we budget for, if we're moving somewhere new
Angellica Bell: in retirement, Andrew?
Andrew Kail: I think it's retirement more generally, you have to plan this really carefully. I
Andrew Kail: think if you start to relocate, there's some really obvious
Andrew Kail: thing that you need to think about. The cost of living of where
Andrew Kail: you're going to be and the type of retirement you're going to
Andrew Kail: have. So what are you planning to spend your money
Andrew Kail: on? We heard Tina talk about how they need to
Andrew Kail: think about steps and that, if this is a property
Andrew Kail: or a location you're going to be in later life,
Andrew Kail: the way you'll use that property in later life could
Andrew Kail: be quite different. And so some really practical things like
Andrew Kail: the accessibility, the location, the convenience of where you choose to
Andrew Kail: relocate to is really important. And they're not really obvious (inaudible)
Andrew Kail: overlook it, accessibility to utilities, including healthcare. And then
Andrew Kail: the final one I would say is, where do you
Andrew Kail: want to travel to, and family? If you have moved
Andrew Kail: to somewhere remote, because that's your idyllic location, who are
Andrew Kail: those loved ones you're going to want to get back
Andrew Kail: and see? And of course, making sure you budget for
Andrew Kail: those travel costs, if that's going to be something that's
Andrew Kail: important to you.
Angellica Bell: Also moving on to talk about Jennifer and her husband, they were really
Angellica Bell: brave in selling their house, because they'd always wants to
Angellica Bell: retire in the water and they did it. But there
Angellica Bell: are some financial options for people who want to keep
Angellica Bell: their bricks and mortar as a safety net, aren't there?
Andrew Kail: Yeah, there are. It's, as ever with retirement, you need to
Andrew Kail: think about how you're financially going to do what you
Andrew Kail: want to do. But a market that's changed very significantly in
Andrew Kail: recent years is the lifetime mortgage market or the retirement
Andrew Kail: interest only market, where you can now stay in your
Andrew Kail: property until you move into care or until the end
Andrew Kail: of your life. But you can get funding based upon
Andrew Kail: the equity in that property, and that's becoming a very well
Andrew Kail: used product.
Angellica Bell: Yeah, so they don't have to actually sacrifice everything they've got, but they
Angellica Bell: can release some money and still enjoy what they want
Angellica Bell: to do in the amazing years of their life.
Andrew Kail: Absolutely.
Angellica Bell: Now Celia, both Tina and Jennifer have made new friends
Angellica Bell: and found a supportive community to go with their new
Angellica Bell: lifestyles. How important is this in later life and what
Angellica Bell: organizations can you recommend people take a look at to
Angellica Bell: find like- minded connections?
Celia Dodd: I think it's absolutely essential wherever you are, but obviously
Celia Dodd: it's particularly important when you've moved to a new area,
Celia Dodd: to feel that there are people around you who would
Celia Dodd: step in if something went wrong. If you got locked out of
Celia Dodd: your house, something minor, or if you had an accident,
Celia Dodd: you really want to feel you've got a supportive community
Celia Dodd: and good friends. I think people struggle with identity in
Celia Dodd: retirement often, and friends are really good way of building
Celia Dodd: your self- esteem, building your sense of yourself and new
Celia Dodd: friends in a new environment can really encourage you to
Celia Dodd: try new stuff. They see the new you, if you
Celia Dodd: like, obviously friends are life enhancing, they're wonderful and they're
Celia Dodd: what we all need. So I think it'd be good
Celia Dodd: to hit the ground running before you retire by looking at
Celia Dodd: organizations. There's obviously things like classes, universities do a lot
Celia Dodd: of higher education classes now, learning alongside people is a
Celia Dodd: really good way to get to know them. Think about
Celia Dodd: something that you have always wanted to do, perhaps had
Celia Dodd: to give up, you loved as a child and just
Celia Dodd: start somewhere. Local community websites are also a really good
Celia Dodd: place to start. They're now great, they're full of all
Celia Dodd: kinds of different activities and events. And also volunteering, actually.
Celia Dodd: Volunteering is great. Volunteering now isn't just working in a
Celia Dodd: charity shop, although that can be great fun, it can
Celia Dodd: be targeted to your particular skills and interests and that's
Celia Dodd: a great way to meet like- minded people of all
Celia Dodd: ages, which I think is quite important in retirement. Not just
Celia Dodd: to meet people who are all the same age as you.
Angellica Bell: Yeah, no, exactly. And I think we forget that in
Angellica Bell: each of our lives, we go through cycles of friendships.
Angellica Bell: Whether it's school, university, we're always having to meet new
Angellica Bell: people and they come into our lives for different reasons. Whether
Angellica Bell: you're starting school, the school mums, it's just another phase,
Angellica Bell: isn't it, and an exciting phase.
Celia Dodd: Absolutely, it's a really exciting phase. One of the best
Celia Dodd: things about relocating is that you're going to meet fabulous
Celia Dodd: new people and that's incredibly stimulating and rejuvenating, actually. It's wonderful.
Angellica Bell: Now, Andrew, if you are thinking of moving to another
Angellica Bell: country, what sort of things do you need to consider to make sure you have the money you need as
Angellica Bell: you age?
Andrew Kail: Make sure you get proper advice from an independent financial
Andrew Kail: advisor to think this through, because there's the budgetary planning
Andrew Kail: you can do yourselves and the lifestyle that you know
Andrew Kail: you want, but you can and need to understand how
Andrew Kail: your pension, particularly UK pensions, will translate into those overseas
Andrew Kail: territories and whether there are any issues or complexities you
Andrew Kail: need to factor in, whether that relates to your state
Andrew Kail: pension or your private pension. So I think that advice
Andrew Kail: is critical alongside, as I said, you really carefully researching
Andrew Kail: where you're going, cost of living, and the type of retirement you're expecting to have with some of
Andrew Kail: those additional costs factored in.
Angellica Bell: If you've got a couple who've got two totally different
Angellica Bell: ideas of what they want to achieve in retirement or where
Angellica Bell: they want to relocate, how can that be sorted?
Celia Dodd: Interestingly, there was just such a couple that I interviewed
Celia Dodd: in my book and they went away to a hotel
Celia Dodd: for a weekend and hammered it out by quite a
Celia Dodd: logical process of working through all the pros and cons.
Celia Dodd: I think that's the thing. If you sit down, go
Celia Dodd: away separately, write down all the reasons why you want
Celia Dodd: to move to a certain place and then you come
Celia Dodd: together and see where you can compromise and see where
Celia Dodd: there's overlapping areas. Then just hammer it out, because both
Celia Dodd: of you will have good reasons for doing some things
Celia Dodd: and bad reasons. This particular woman had a complete obsession
Celia Dodd: with living in the Lake District. Well, that was completely
Celia Dodd: impractical. Her husband wanted to sail in the sea, he
Celia Dodd: wanted to see sailing, so he wanted to move somewhere
Celia Dodd: completely different. So in the end they did come to
Celia Dodd: a very happy compromise, but I think you just have
Celia Dodd: to sit down and talk to the other person and
Celia Dodd: listen to what they say and be open to new ideas.
Angellica Bell: Well, I think they might have been a lucky couple.
Andrew Kail: I'm just thinking, in my house, my wife would say rule
Andrew Kail: number one is listen to the boss and rule number
Andrew Kail: two is when in doubt refer to rule number one. So, I
Andrew Kail: know what we'd be doing.
Angellica Bell: I'm going to use that on my other half. Thank
Angellica Bell: you for that, Andrew. Sounds like keeping your options open by planning ahead
Angellica Bell: with smart finances is crucial to enjoy living wherever you
Angellica Bell: want in your retirement years. And if you know where
Angellica Bell: you'd like to be when your retirement adventures start, why
Angellica Bell: not start planning now? You can find all the links
Angellica Bell: we've mentioned, plus more great tips and information, on the
Angellica Bell: website at legalandgeneral. com/ retirement. Next time we're hearing about
Angellica Bell: people who found love in later life and had to
Angellica Bell: think again about their finances after relationship change. Join us
Angellica Bell: for sound advice from the experts on new love, planning,
Angellica Bell: and navigating conversations with your children.
Speaker 7: I think it's quite magical to be honest with you. I can't
Speaker 7: believe that I can be lucky enough at 66 to
Speaker 7: find romance again.
Angellica Bell: I'm Angellica Bell, follow Rewirement on your favorite platform and
Angellica Bell: I'll catch you next time.