When we reach our 50s, 60s, and beyond, usually with several decades of work behind us, our relationship with money often changes.
You may be working part-time by this stage of life, for example, or be fully retired, or even considering starting afresh in an entirely new career. Whatever your personal circumstances, your attitude towards money and spending patterns is likely to have evolved over time.
Here, we speak to three Rest Less members to find out how their approach to money has changed over the decades.
Gurdeep Burton, 60
Gurdeep, from Enfield, north London, worked as a primary school teacher in Enfield, Barnet and Tower Hamlets for over 30 years. She retired in December 2021 at the age of 58.
These days, she says has a more “balanced approach” to money than she had when she was younger. She explained: “When I was working it was about earning money, sometimes to the point of obsession. Living and enjoying life was secondary to the purpose of working. I let enjoyable things pass me by. Nowadays, I make the most of life and enjoy it.”
She still works as a part-time tutor in primary and secondary schools teaching English and maths, but only when it suits her. “I love doing this because it keeps me in touch with young people, but the money is the necessary means to an end, not the end in itself,” she said. “There is so much I can enjoy that costs little or nothing.”
She particularly enjoys yoga, hiking and reading, and has also recently started going to sculpture classes. When she’s hiking, she stays in hostels and bed and breakfasts.
When she was raising her children and they lived at home, Gurdeep was much more anxious about money. She said: “I was working full-time and most of the time was spent chasing my tail to make ends meet. Leisure time was squeezed in when I wasn’t working, and this usually consisted of taking the children on expensive activity holidays to entertain them.”
Now she’s retired, she lives off income from her Teacher’s Pension and supplements this with part-time tutoring. “It all balances out, and when I start to receive the State Pension I’ll give up tutoring.”
Laura Holland, 61
Laura, a former freelance costume maker, lives in Stratford, east London, with her partner Richard Lintott, who is retired from the civil service.
Laura, 61, admits that she “lived to work” in her 20s, when she worked as a customer liaison manager in a finance firm, and managed to pay off her mortgage by the time she reached the age of 40.
Once her outgoings had reduced, Laura retrained as a freelance costume maker and continued in this role until the Coronavirus pandemic hit in 2019. She now works two and a half days a week in a luxury clothing and accessories store, and runs unpaid workshops in the local community teaching people how to make clothes.
The couple receive an income from Richard’s Civil Service Pension Scheme and her part-time work. Their attitude to money hasn’t really changed over the years, she said, because they’ve never spent much on eating out and entertainment.
She said: “We haven’t really changed our lifestyle much since being students together, so despite not earning a lot we’ve still had a good deal of disposable cash to go towards savings.”
However, Laura and Richard, also 61, spend more on travel now that they have spare time, and hope to go to Japan next year. “I save a bit, but as we don’t have children there’s nobody I want to leave it to. If I was worried about money I’d go for equity release or something like that, which is always an option.”
She added: “I don’t worry about money though, and we’re well placed to weather the cost of living crisis. But food inflation and energy bills are a particular worry, although it’d be worse if we had an entirely fixed income.”
Barry Doswell, 58
Barry is an IT manager and lives with his wife Heidi, 57, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. They have two sons, Brad, 20, and Lou, 24, and Barry said that his mindset around money changed when he had children.
He said: “This changed my priorities when it came to what I was spending money on and that shifted my mindset too. I focused on saving for their education rather than long holidays or flashy cars, as well as my long term future.”
Barry pays £400 a month into a personal pension and also financially supports his youngest son through university. In general, he says he’s more able to focus on his financial priorities these days as he has a substantially higher salary than he used to.
He said: “When I was in my 20s, I knew I should be saving 10% of my salary into a pension, but I simply didn’t have the money to do that. But when I had children I realised that I needed to start, so it was then that I made sure I saved for the long term.”
He also started to think about how much he needed to save to receive a retirement income of £30,000 a year. “It became obvious that I couldn’t save enough but I got lucky and joined a defence company when I was 40 that still had a final salary pension scheme,” he said. “I worked out I’d be able to get close to this figure with the State Pension on top. I’m now in a lucky position where I have no debt and a good life – and I’m able to save.
“When Lou graduates from university and is settled into the world of work I will then think about retirement. So I reckon I’ll retire at around the age of 62 or 63. I’ll probably do a few driving holidays and some volunteering.”
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