For long marriages, who can name the wedding anniversaries? I will put you out of your misery. It’s Sapphire for 45th, Gold for 50th, Emerald for 55th, Diamond for 60th, Platinum for 70th, and Oak for 80th.
For those that reach them each is a milestone which will want to celebrated by the couple themselves and their friends and family. Very few will reach these landmark celebrations before their retirement.
I can remember a talk being given a few years ago by a chief executive of a care home group. She liked to send cards to her residents on their birthdays and wedding anniversaries. She was bemoaning how difficult it was to find 70th wedding anniversary cards.
Personally, I have not come across a couple celebrating their 80th wedding anniversary. It is not beyond possibility and a good news story for those who like to spread such news. The family photos will record children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and possibly, great-great grandchildren. The stories and tales that would be shared at such a gathering could fill a book.
Special celebrations cost money. Yet at the same time they can boost the morale of an ageing person. An event to look forward to. Enjoying the celebration and the company. The memories of the day.
It is not just the gathering that a couple may wish to celebrate a special anniversary with. What about that holiday they always dreamed of? Then there will be grandchildren reaching age milestones and getting married. Will the grandparents want to give them a special gift?
This overlooks the Bank of Mum and Dad (BOMAD), or grandad and grandmother, where younger generations need financial help to get them to the next stage of their life.
This shows that retirement spending is not linear. As with working life there are peaks and troughs. Whereas working life is the accumulation of wealth, retirement depends upon the successful decumulation of that wealth.
While we are working, we can smooth the spending peaks by saving some of the cost in advance and using credit cards, bank loans and other finance to pay off the balance. In retirement there may not be the spare income available to be able to use these methods.
Approximately 70% of retired households own their homes outright. Some do not see that as part of their retirement wealth. They prefer to see it as their children’s inheritance. But, wealth is not just money. Events that bring joy, can improve health, and can also create an inheritance of happy memories that have great value.
Recent product developments in the equity release drawdown market mean a large withdrawal of equity from the home is no longer necessary. It is possible to drawdown just the amount required to finance the event or activity that is planned.
There is much to be said for using available pensions to determine the day-to-day standard of retirement living and the equity in the home for those one-off extras that make life worthwhile by having something extra to look forward to; something extra to enjoy; and something extra to remember.
To pay back borrowing through conventional means requires a reduction in other spending. Alternatively, if income is increased to pay for those extras, the sustainability of that income may be placed in jeopardy and tax may have to be paid on the additional income. Borrowing through equity release drawdown needs to be measured against these risks and additional costs, not just the headline interest rate.
For many retired households, a modern equity release drawdown product may be just the wedding anniversary present they are seeking.
Bob Champion is chairman of the Air Later Life Academy