{"text":[[{"start":5.44,"text":"If you’re like me, you’ll have spent much of your adult life attempting to become financially secure. I have pensions, investments, assets and houses full of possessions that are probably worth considerably less than I imagine."}],[{"start":17.942,"text":"I’ve tried to plan ahead, put money aside and prepare for the future, but occasionally a Rolls-Royce has diverted me from the core mission."}],[{"start":26.64,"text":"The problem is, at 56, I am starting to suspect the future has other plans."}],[{"start":31.45,"text":"Prompted by ringing in my ears in the still of the night and by my other half urging me loudly, I recently went to get a hearing test."}],[{"start":38,"text":"The prognosis was not encouraging. Soon, I’ll need hearing aids. If you’d asked me a few weeks ago how much they’d cost, I’d have guessed at a few hundred pounds. Try £5,000. Just so I can hear a hearing specialist tell me how much it’s going to cost to fix the problem."}],[{"start":55.36,"text":"Something else I’d not budgeted for? Mice. They’ve decided that electric cables make an excellent addition to their diet. My electrician had to cut holes in the ceiling to find the short circuit. Then came the hole-filling and the subsequent redecoration."}],[{"start":68.772,"text":"Since Dave, the decorator, was already there, repairing the exterior paintwork damaged by the summer heat seemed sensible. Then I discovered the drainpipes were blocked with moss and assorted gunk, causing a leak in the garage. And the garden doors had rotted."}],[{"start":82.423,"text":"The cost of maintaining the ageing guy and his ageing pile is never-ending."}],[{"start":86.601,"text":"Intellectually, it’s common sense to prepare financially for the future — and the reality of a draining bank account when costs are rising is to be expected."}],[{"start":94.8,"text":"But how can you plan for when something genuinely serious crops up?"}],[{"start":98.72,"text":"Wherever you look for advice, retirement is treated as though it comes with a specific date and a defined financial outcome. If you have saved enough and it all goes to plan, you’ll be rewarded with financial security so you can focus on the things that really matter. Like growing dahlias or lupins."}],[{"start":115.263,"text":"But things go wrong all the time. I’ve got friends in their forties already talking about retirement. I admire their confidence."}],[{"start":124.15,"text":"My dad lived to 91. Nobody told him, or the rest of us, that vascular dementia would mean two years in residential care. In my imagination, I’ll live to 95 and remain as perky as I am now. Health, however, isn’t guaranteed. Living a long time isn’t the same as living well or independently."}],[{"start":142.56,"text":"Consider another scenario: I attended a wedding overseas in the summer. Two days before the event, we met the other guests at a drinks reception. The following morning, one of them died unexpectedly. Friends and family have also faced cancer, and some are no longer with us. Rather like an ice bath, events such as these focus the mind."}],[{"start":163.563,"text":"Don’t worry, I’m not about to blow my life savings and book a round-the-world cruise. But neither am I one to deny myself life’s pleasures in order to squirrel away cash to fund an indefinite future."}],[{"start":174.67,"text":"The truth is, I’ve never been this old, and I’ll never be this young again. Yes, my hair has turned grey, and there’s a growing bald patch, but I’ve decided to accept both rather than wage an expensive and futile war against nature. (After all, you can always tell when a man dyes his hair by the purple tinge you see under harsh lighting.)"}],[{"start":193.574,"text":"Instead, I’ve decided to embrace the liberation that comes from accepting you have no real control. At any rate, most of my predictions about how my life would turn out have been wrong, so why apply that flawed logic to future financial plans?"}],[{"start":208.237,"text":"Sure, every wealth manager and financial planner in the country will scoff — or else fall about laughing — but I’ve developed a simple fix: I have a 20 per cent rule. Do not consider this financial advice (as if you would!) but I’ve found that there’s little in life that cannot be accounted for or dealt with by this contingency."}],[{"start":226.542,"text":"Life has a habit of exceeding the budget — so I increase the budget by a fifth."}],[{"start":231.2,"text":"I’ll continue to plan, invest and undertake maintenance. But I won’t forget the concerts, holidays, cars, fizz and experiences along the way."}],[{"start":240.677,"text":"Yes, I could save every penny for my future self. The trouble is, he’s already expensive to run, his hearing is going, and the house needs more work."}],[{"start":248.696,"text":"I’ll have to assume you agree with me because I can’t hear the applause."}],[{"start":252.24,"text":"James Max is a broadcaster and columnist. On the socials @thejamesmax"}],[{"start":260.74,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792826399_1933.mp3"}