[goldenfleece]

Talking to a colleague today who revealed they have a complete financial 'life plan' or 'design' that covers the rest of their life. At the age of only 31, they have mapped out there life in the form of stringent budgeting that reveals exactly how much money they will have at retirement age, how much left on the mortgae in 20 years, how many new cars they will buy and what price, costs for each annual holiday, savings plans, hobby budgets, how much to spent on what each year, etc, and the complete map of what is in between. Its a 40 page, one page per year database and assumes factors like an annual % rate for inflation, salary increases, tax changes, early retirement, illness, redundancy etc etc, with a seperate gross total economic worth for each area at the end of working life.

It is very scary.....does anyone else seriously plan the rest of their lives by budget projections dated 40 years in the future??? Is this possible?? So many factors will change such a design that is hardly seems practical to sit down and work it all out.

[Nate]

Is he financially sound at this moment in time?
If so - and he thinks he can follow it, fair play!

I do not have a financial plan - nor a daily/weekly budget. I spend what ive got. Consumer through and through. Sickening really - I wish i could save

As for it being possible to predict 40 years down the line.... not so sure about that.

[spyro2000]

I bet you any money it goes nothing like what they have planned.

[taxman]

Sounds better than trusting to dumb luck.

Mind you a 40 year plan isn't much use if you get run over tomorrow

[samc]

Jeeezzzzz, I presume they have no social life to be spending their nights and weekends working that out.

How do you how much each holiday will cost? And what if you just fancy a few days away to Paris etc.. does the plan allow for spontaneous spending?

No we don't. I think it would scare me. I worry about financial stuff enough and we are ok.

[Bago]

Wow, they must've done their homework.
I've heard of a '5 year plan', but never a '40 year financial plan' !

Maybe they are goal-orientated ppl, and think they can definitely meet certain targets in life. Most ppl know life doesn't work out like that. I have a rough idea of my salary and pension and things, as to what things cost. But things like how much are babies, how much is an average house in the UK...blah blah... I don't try and scare the hell outta myself by finding out.

[depoix]

if hes 31 now i hope he has allowed for price increases, imagine by the time he retires he will be paying a fiver for a pint and maybe four pound for a loaf,let alone the cost of heating and cooking,its good to be positive but there will always be the x factor, my old manager used to tell me he had invested in pensions for years,so that when he retired he would be extremely well off, he died six months after he retired. good luck to your mate though,hope it all works out as planned

[Ellybum]

It all sounds too grown up for me! Im a "live for today" kinda gal. Maybe not a sensible attitude to take, but having had my dad die at the age of 39, it makes you wonder, whats the point of all the sensible planning if you're not around to enjoy it? Having said that, I'm not materialistic in any way shape or form, so I'm happy if I've got it and I'm happy if I haven't!!

[goldenfleece]

I live for today as well. Have a plan for about 3 days ahead and thats it. Life is too empheremal for long term planning.

[wendygs]

This is reminiscent of a person who was the son of a family I used to work for; he had mapped out his entire financial future and as I understood matters was working for a Bank in order to secure his pension on retirement. Although a pension would certainly be very nice, I think it is sooooooooo sad that someone so young only has that in mind.

[johnfbailey]

Yeah. Ten years ago I worked with someone like that. He even knew the day of the week that he would retire on in 2020-something. They sacked him a year later and he's working in B@Q now!

[fnkysknky]

I don't know what I'll be doing in 40 minutes never mind 40 years.

Gf does a financial plan but after seeing it going repeatedly wrong when an unexpected bill comes along e.g. car repair then I've got no interest in it.

[livestrong]

i used to have some plans.. quite extensive really i guess... but now... life is too short... i'm living for the moment...

[cloudybay]

Originally Posted by goldenfleece

Talking to a colleague today who revealed they have a complete financial 'life plan' or 'design' that covers the rest of their life. At the age of only 31, they have mapped out there life in the form of stringent budgeting that reveals exactly how much money they will have at retirement age, how much left on the mortgage in 20 years, how many new cars they will buy and what price, costs for each annual holiday, savings plans, hobby budgets, how much to spent on what each year, etc, and the complete map of what is in between. Its a 40 page, one page per year database and assumes factors like an annual % rate for inflation, salary increases, tax changes, early retirement, illness, redundancy etc etc, with a separate gross total economic worth for each area at the end of working life.

It is very scary.....does anyone else seriously plan the rest of their lives by budget projections dated 40 years in the future??? Is this possible?? So many factors will change such a design that is hardly seems practical to sit down and work it all out.

He really needs to get a life. Does his sad little equation account for having sex 2.7896 times per month between now and death? He needs serious help.

[Edd]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Sounds like hes spent the last ten years slogging away and realised that if hes going to get out of the rat race, he has to plan ahead.

My dad had a similar plan - i never knew about it all the time i was growing up, but it was a 25 year plan for retirement. He sat and calculated how much he'd need to put away each year to have a comfortable retirement, adjusted it every year for salary increases, and changes to costs of living, changes in circumstance. And he did it too - makes me very proud.

I dont have a plan myself - which i know drives him mad I should start planning now - but my 25 year plan certainly wont allow me to retire as early as he did. When he told me he was retiring i said how lucky he was, but really it wasnt luck at all - it was good planning.

One of the largest potential problems we have in this country at the moment is that too few of us have a plan, or savings. As a generation, we faced with the very real possibility that we will have to work until the day we drop dead. Good on your friend - i hope his plan works out!

[Cyclone]

I have a budget that runs out to June 2010 at the moment.
I also adjust it at the end of every month for over and under spending.

It isn't supposed to set limits on what I can and can't do, it just gives me some idea of how doing something now will affect things in the future.

Without a basic understanding of your monthly income and expenditure how do you know whether you can afford a new car or a holiday (or even a few days in paris at short notice)?

[KidPhunk]

What ever happened to having fun and taking a few risks - yes planning may make things more secure but you could easily become terminally ill or get hit by a bus tomorrow, and cause of all the planning and saving, you've done nowt with your life, as you were waiting to do x when you had achieved financial y or whatever - stop living for tomorrow and live for today - I'm realising that more and more - I've had alot of lose in my family, people dying too young, I don't want any regrets if I live to be old! I've made a few cock ups already but my life plan is not so strict so i can rectify them and go in a new direction which is what I'm doing now!!

Plus a full life plan at 31 is just sad! bet he's a right laugh down the pub!