I VISITED Beamish Museum recently and was struck by how well they portray the illusion of living in the past, while behind the facade sits some really incredible 21st Century logistics.

The running of a 40-acre living exhibit is quite some endeavour, and it’s testament to how well they do it that Beamish Museum continues to attract more exhibits, more visitors and more awards.

But it got me thinking to what extent we live in our own past, and don’t spend enough time looking to the future.

Is the way we think and act based on the illusory ‘way things used to be’, or are we the high-tech operation that lies beneath?

A friend of mine had a relative that sadly passed away recently, and bequeathed a sizeable sum to the family, despite always having lived a pretty basic and very frugal life.

This is great, but the family were actually a little bit upset that their relative could have done a lot more things with that money.

It’s a balance.

Maybe this person was content with the way they kept their money; maybe they would have spent more with the benefit of hindsight.

Maybe they just never thought about it.

They were certainly fixed on a very old-fashioned attitude toward saving, with the money just squirrelled away in a savings account, not really doing much.

The 21st Century approach is to take advantage of all the expert advice and new ways to save and invest.

Spending as little as you can, and keeping the surplus locked away is all well and good, but don’t forget to live.

With the state pension unlikely to provide a great standard of living, that’s something of a priority to put in place – and then there’s making sure your future generations are set off on the right track and provided for, but there’s nothing selfish about enjoying your life while you have the time and health to enjoy it.

Spend carefully, invest wisely, use ISA allowances, be tax-aware.

Provide for yourself, provide for your family.

All this is important, and getting the best possible result is really, really hard to work out for yourself.

That’s where financial planning and wealth management comes into play.

These are off-putting terms in some respects, but really it’s just about managing your money properly.

That’s why there’s not really a focus (as far as the client is concerned) on the raw figures and the bottom line of spreadsheets.

It’s more about creating a plan that helps a person get to where they want to be, and how they want to live their life.

It’s about giving a person the confidence that their money is being taken care of, is working hard for them, and that they can relax a little and devote time to what they enjoy or are hoping to achieve.

There’s certainly a chilled-out feel to Beamish Museum, echoes of a simpler time.

But there are also stark reminders of the toil and effort needed in those days gone by to ‘get by’ and ‘make ends meet’.

We have lives no less busy these days, but far more help on hand to ease the burden and we’d be daft not to take advantage of that.

From stopping work altogether to a slow and gradual reduction of commitments - retirement means different things to different people.

Making sure you can sustain the level of income you need as you move away from full-time employment or your business interests is key to a long and happy retirement.

And it’s also the key to being able to take time out, travel and get the opportunity to sit back and watch the world (or in my case today) the trams and bicycles go by.