Presenter: Tom Stevenson
If you don't know where you want to go, you'll almost certainly not get there. Setting targets is an important first step, but they need to be realistic and flexible because we all know that things don't always go to plan.
Lloyd
Our current goals, uh, really are around maintaining the sort of lifestyle we, we have developed in retirement. So that means being able to travel, being financially secure here.
Jeremy
I suppose my medium term goal is to ease gently into a, a situation where I'm working a little bit less, but the gardening will stay part of my life as long as I'm fit and healthy enough to do it.
Amber
Going forward we wanna be financially comfortable. That's very important. We wanna live in a nice house and have a nice standard of living and be able to go on holiday. Um, although I suppose it's also not all about money as well, and we're definitely aware of that, aware of that.
Jamie
Yeah, I think the most important thing really is to be happy and healthy. Um, having enough money to be comfortable and not worried about it is a big bonus. Um, and something you can plan for.
Kristina
In ten years time I'd hope to have maybe bought a house, um, done it up into what I envision is the-- my dream house. So I would have done the kitchen up, um, have a nice big island, maybe an area to, um, still host supper clubs if I'm still doing them in the future. I'd love to have a nice big garden as well.
Further down the line, um, I wanna be healthy, happy and I guess that can only be achieved with my investments, as they're an avenue, they're a way for me to be able to achieve these goals.
Susan
My goal is to have a lot of money put away for my children, but also my grandchildren, especially for their education. What I really hope that they're healthy, most importantly, and, and successful in their chosen careers.
Abbie
We hope to have some more children in the... in the future. [LAUGHS]
Sam
Yes. And, uh, and also moving to another house as well.
Abbie
Yeah, that's gonna be a big life moment and a change.
Sam
Yeah. 'Cause where we're at the moment is a two bedroom place and...
Abbie
Yeah.
Sam
...it's already feeling quite...
Abbie
Yeah, a bit cramped.
Sam
...cramped isn't? So we want to move house and...
Abbie
Yeah.
Sam
...obviously plan for more children as well.
Abby
I think life skills go hand in hand with finance, because we need to ha-- have the finance to achieve our life goals.
Sam
We have changed how much we're saving as well, because we just-- at the moment we're unable to save the full amount before Una was here.
Abby
Gotcha.
Sam
But now Una is here we're having to save a little bit less than what we used to.
Abby
But we know that in the future will go up again.
Sam
Yeah, but I still think it's important for us that no matter what our fin-- our income is for the household, we are still saving.
Abby
Well we try to.
Sam
Yeah.
Abby
We would like to have enough money to have the house that we would like to have.
Sam
Yes.
Abby
Um, but ultimately, sometimes we feel like-- even now we don't feel that money is everything, because actually, you know, just making the choice not to go back to work right now just means that being with Una for me is actually more important. If we have to sacrifice having living on one side for a while, then we'll do that.
Lloyd
I think that over time our focus has changed from, uh, accumulating more money, accumulating wealth, to thinking about more, um, wider life goals, so. I understand that for young people it's very important to accumulate a, a pot of money, uh, because that enables the choices later on in life. And happily we've reached the, the later stage now where we realise we don't need more stuff, uh, and luckily we don't need more money.
Jeremy
I think we've had more fun in our 50s than in any decade, um, up to now.
Lloyd
Mm.
Jeremy
So, if we can continue to build on that, uh, into our 60s and, uh...
Lloyd
Yeah.
Jeremy
...who knows?
Amber
One way of ensuring that we have a comfortable life going forward is regular saving, and that's definitely something that we're both quite good at at the moment I think.
Jamie
Yeah.
Jamie
Putting money away so we can retire as early as possible, and en-- enjoy life, um, without having to, to work for our entire lives is definitely something that we're-- we will be thinking about.
Susan
In ten years time I hope to see a huge difference in my life. Potentially piece of mind, financial security, my kids all settled and happy with the choices they have made and pursuing those choices.
Kristina
There's always gonna be something down the line that you're saving for.
Kristina
It's not about amassing as much money as you possibly get your hands on, because you don't want any prizes from doing that. It's about being sensible with your investments and using the knowledge and your research to be able to save and live the lifestyle that you want.
Jeremy
Financially we were absolutely at our best a couple of years ago, but where we are right now, which is nowhere near our financial best, we're probably the most fulfilled.
Lloyd
For me, uh, a big turning point came with redundancy [PICTURE where I hadn't focused on how much is enough, I was just focused on saving. And it was only taking a step back and looking at my finances that I realised actually, if I focused more on what it was I wanted, as an end goal rather than the money per se, that I realised actually I do have enough, to feel comfortable. Money is not the end goal in itself.
Jeremy
And I think the happiest moments in life don't come from how much you have.
Presenter: Tom Stevenson
So, in the end, money is not the goal itself, but the means to achieving a life we want to live. While your savings and investments won't buy you happiness, they might well point you in the right direction towards the healthy, happy life we all want. Even if our goals start out the same, life just gets in the way, and being realistic and flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances is key. Setting achievable goals, getting started early, sticking with it and rolling with the punches, that's what we mean when we say 'invest for life'.
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