Do you have a plan for your future life?

[hitrewind]

I've always been a relatively spontaneous person – lived in lots of different countries, done some very unusual jobs, and followed my nose most of the time.

The past 5 years I've been more 'settled' in one place, and although I know I'll move on again at some point, I only have a rough idea of where and how.

I've started working with a financial planner in the last couple of weeks to make some sense of investments and savings (I don't live in the UK and it's a bit complicated) and he's been asking me questions about my plans for the future.

Do I want to have a big birthday party to save for? Where do I want to live? Do I have any big goals, like more significant travel or going back to university or (for example) learning to sail? What age do I want to retire? How will I spend my retirement?

Bear in mind I'm 35 – this all feels a way off, but it's also an interesting exercise to take myself through.

I don't have (and don't want) DC so that won't dictate much – and it's got me wondering how many people have a clear plan, and how many, like me up until now, are largely making it up as they go along.

Do you have clear long-term life goals (apart from the usual marriage / DC / buying a house ones)? What are they?

Financially
Long term: family holiday in oz
Midterm: saving for dcs boarding school year (not in uk, big thing here, sort of gap year meets finishing school meets summercamp).
Short term: new car, new surface on the driveway.

Other stuff - well not really. I cant really envision my own goals before dc have left home. Im sure something will spark in the run up to the dc leaving.

No.

Because if I have learned anything in life, you have no control really over what happens.

I’ve had a lot of devastating things happen that no amount of planning could have controlled or
helped with.

Money has been saved for something but has been lost in an instant due to some unforeseen shit occurring and having to go on that.

I’ve seen a family member meticulously plan and save only for illness to scupper everything.

I don’t plan a thing now, for good or bad.

Not really. I'm a single parent so I can't really see beyond that at the moment. DS is nearly 9 so I'll maybe start thinking about it in a couple of years when he starts becoming more independent. I'm 31 so I've got a lot of working years ahead of me, at the moment I'm doing a minimum wage job that allows me flexibility for school runs, etc. So I'll start thinking about maybe progressing a bit more in a career.

I have a fantasy plan though, which involves winning a shitload on the lottery and never worrying again.

Because for all the awful things I have been through in my life, not one of them would have been made worse by having 20 million pounds in the bank.

One thing I wouldn't do is spend a lot of money on one thing e.g. a holiday or a party. You need to be really careful where your money is going and get the best use out of it.

DP and I have talked about this. We're both around 50 and a bit fed up with aspects of life really, but not far from a crossroads: kids so not long until they're out of education and hopefully settling somewhere independently, parents may die and potentially leave us money which could give us a lot more financial security, and who knows what is happening with our jobs (public sector, good pensions but threat of redundancy ever-present).
So we've resolved to carry on as and where we are for the next 5+ years (if our jobs allow us to), and then reassess. I would love to move away from London but only if our parents were dead and didn't need us here. And maybe our children will want to use our family home here as a stepping stone to taking well-paid London jobs, or maybe they'll settle at the other end of the country and we'll want to move closer to them. Can't make these decisions for a bit longer.

My DH is a financial planner. These questions are so they can understand what your goals are and plan appropriately, rather than trying to shove you into a one size fits all. You don't need a solid plan. Plans change anyway which is why advisors (not UK) have to review everyone's portfolios every year or two.

We don't have a plan except to focus on paying our house off, travel more, get DC through to adulthood, put money into Super (pension). I've seen too many people get ill, have financial issues, pass away or just have life change their circumstances to think a plan will work. I find it also makes you rigid today around a possible tomorrow (or twenty years time) that might not happen the way you expect.

Long term: putting money in a mix of pensions/stocks and shares as we REALLY want to retire from our busy, corporate jobs early.

Medium term: most savings going to this atm, saving a deposit for a bigger house; we currently live in a 1 bed and want to keep hold of this and sell it later to support the early retirement plan but do want something slightly bigger to live in!

Short term: always have a holiday pot on the go and a pot for house maintainence etc.

@LeeMucklowesCurtains I'm sorry you've been through so much. And I agree – you never know what's coming. The planner I'm working with gave me two quotes when we started working together:

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” (Zig Ziglar), and
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." (Mike Tyson)

He said: always have a plan so you have something to aim for (as you're saying, @TravelDreamLife ) and it'll get you taking action, and always know that whatever you're planning for will almost certainly get knocked off-course.

It's one of the things that made me trust him, to be honest – he's very frank about what he does.

It's just been interesting to think about what I MIGHT aim for, if I were to do so – to think long-term as well as responding to what comes up moment to moment.

Interesting as well to see how you're all approaching it! @user1471548941 how early are you hoping to retire?

No. I've learned life is too unpredictable. I just live as it comes.

I do have children, I'm a widow, and their future needs means planning to some extent. I want them to be able to afford to buy a property and/or go to university. I also want to make sure that I have enough money to continue my lifestyle in to old age, and if that should require care as I'd like not to be too much of a burden on my children.
Things like birthdays , paying off a mortgage etc are not a factor - I own my house outright and get passive income from investments, but these may need to be liquidated in order to meet above needs.
I think some planning is wise, with the knowledge that life can change (my husband died suddenly when my kids were small and we had a huge, uninsured, mortgage).
As I tell my kids: it's good to have a roadmap, but there may be lots of detours along the way.