Sharing worry a relief
Mum Jane Berry says she learned about managing money and finances at a later stage in her life. She wished she’d taken more notice earlier. After 20 years of marriage she found herself divorced and a single mum. Jane, 55, from Colchester, Essex, now shares her journey via her blog Shoestringcottage. com. She explains: I didn’t really take much interest in finances and was a bit clueless, stumbling along and taking out credit for things like a new car and thinking I’d worry about paying it back Then later. I got divorced and had to find a way for my single income to pay for everything. I had to suddenly do a budget and find a way to pay back debt and create savings to fall back on. It took me a while to keep on top of my finances and I had lots of sleepless nights with worry.
I had to force myself to have the conversation that with family and friends I could no longer afford the big events and presents at Christmas. That took me a long time to face up to – I was embarrassed to admit it and felt mean. I suggested we stopped buying for adults and did a fun, secret Santa and only bought for the kids. The outcome was so different to what I expected. They were all fine and relieved too. A similar conversation with friends about nights out and holidays was tough too – but again such a relief and I don’t feel pressure to keep up. I’d advise anyone who is struggling a bit with their finances to act as quickly as possible. Don’t leave it until debts spiral as that can be very frightening. When you share things it seems to lift a lot of the pressure.
■ Two in five people aged 46 to 55 are approaching retirement totally unprepared, says pension insurance giant Aviva. That’s because people don’t know how much they have got put by for their old age.
Alistair McQueen, head of savings and retirement at Aviva, said: “Not knowing how much you have saved in your pension pots is like approaching retirement with a blindfold on.
“Retirement is very much in the control of the individual. The money saved now will be in their hands in the future, so now is the time to start making active choices to help achieve those retirement dreams.”