One thought on “Excursion”

1. Pensions and other savings are all about making an attempt to balance your gratification over your life (and, for most people with children, balancing your lifetime gratification with your children’s lifetime gratification). So obviously, chucking all of your disposable income into a pension and living on beans doesn’t make sense. But racking up large debts while you overconsume housing and consumer goods doesn’t make a lot of sense either.

   Although it’s a gamble, most people underestimate how long they will live, and so tend to make poor choices on savings. We also make poor choices on spending; I’ve lost count of the expensive things I’ve bought that have given me little joy, though I do relish the cheap things that are endlessly delightful.

   There is something to be said for maximising tax-free savings as an alternative to pension pots (because annuities are indeed a highly inflexible system that provides little benefit). And I can’t quite see why I would pay into a flexible pension whilst also paying a mortgage out of after-tax income; paying down your mortgage as fast as possible has to be a good option for home owners. Ditto paying into a pension whilst simultaneously running credit card debts.

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