The Leisure Seeker

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The Leisure Seeker

Those that are not retired have many rather cliched ideas about retirement. Invariably these involve lots of leisure, cruises, golf and gardening. Most of the retired people I work with often voice that they are busier than ever, its simply that they don’t have to turn up for paid work.

The Leisure Seeker is a gentle movie about the Spencer’s, John (Donald Sutherland) and Ella (Helen Mirren) who decide to take one last once in a lifetime trip together in their recreational vehicle, a leisure cruiser. Their adult children are left confounded at what they perceive to be irresponsibility, given that John is clearly suffering from signs of dementia.

Memory Lane

The couple take a trip down memory lane, with mixed results. Johns dementia creates a scenario where his confusion about who, where and when he is, leads him to expose some deeply buried secrets. He is also paranoid that Ella is having an affair with Dan Coleman, who he believes is the secret motivation for their trip together.

The cruel irony of John’s dementia means that he is not even aware of the loving nature of their trip, a special excursion to Hemingway’s house in Key West, John’s literary hero, of whom he has recounted many insights to his English students throughout his career.

How does it End?

Any good financial planner will inevitably address the question of your life expectancy. All planners work on the basis of attempting to ensure that your money lasts just a little longer than you do. Naturally, this is educated guesswork and requires regular reviews. However, we also need to be mindful of the difficulty of an ending of a life. Simplifying arrangements where sensible to do so, without ruining years of sensible investment strategies and estate planning.

The film exposes the need to discuss these issues with someone trusted, certainly it would make sense for your planner to have an idea or awareness of your intentions, as it would be for your family, though the emotional dynamic of family relationships makes such a conversation problematic and rich material for drama.

The truth is that all of us face an ending, it’s simply a question of how, why and when. Here is the trailer for the film, which being small, is now reaching the end of its run in selective cinemas.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

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Dementia – Suppose I Lose It

Dementia – Suppose I lose It

Radio 4 will be running a programme this evening at 8pm, which will be a highly personal view of dementia. It features a well-known married couple – Timothy West and Prunella Scales who are interviewed by their long-time friend Joan Bakewell. The preview this morning sounded enganging, expressing the very practical, personal and real problems that anyone suffering dementia can face.

Becoming infirm is not a topic that many people wish to talk about, yet it is, in my opinion a vital part of proper financial planning. After all, the job of a financial planner is the attempt to make your money last as long as you, ensuring that it doesn’t run out. Yet we all know that should we ever require care at home or in a residence, this can be incredibly expensive and is often referred to as a “ticking time bomb” within press and political circles. One of the scenarios that I model for clients is precisely this problem and of course there are implications for ensuring that not only your Will is up to date, but also that you have Lasting Power of Attorney in place.

The broadcast promises to be interesting and is on this evening at 8pm, Radio 4, called “Suppose I Lose It”. It will be available on the BBC i-player afterwards presumably for the usual time-limited period.

Dominic Thomas