Work out your standard of living costs today, at what it might be if youo retired. Lets say thats £20,000.
Now, retire at 67, and live until 90. Thats 23 (years) x £20k not accounting for inflation, or £460,000.
Have a think about how much money you need to save/make between now and age 67 to get to £460k or whatever your number is...
Scary eh 
In my case thats 28 years, or £16.5k a year.
This is depressing - I think I may send a letter to that boy and his wife in Largs!
coming up 50 quickly so we have our own home and a bungalow that we own mortgage free so what was there mortgages and what should be my pension contribution and bought two terraced houses on mortgages ( they should be paid off in 10 yrs) so giving me an income or a pot come 60 ish. realistically poor health we see me off before then but mrs tts should be ok esp. if she can snare some rich bloke!!
The government doesn't pay for anything.
The taxpayers do. That's us.
And in the case of pensions, our kids with their taxes. Who are going to have a hard enough time as it is.
The aging population is a fact of nature. Nothing to do with the government. And we'd vote out any party that made the necessary changes to NI and taxes.
I wouldn't expect much in the way of benefits when I retire c2035, there won't be the money to fund it. Only the very poorest will be fully funded.
My plan, Work longer (we live a lot longer than when retirement ages were first decided anyway), and then semi-retire.
And in the meantime a few less shiny bits and a little more saving...
Just bought a place in Spain and could now Retire by letting our house in East London.
But we are looking at buying a couple of cheaper properties in North of England to rent, and still keep
our London home.
But probably later cash in homes minus London home and buy a couple of places in Spain to rent
out has holiday and short stay lets.
You seriously can't rely on something that i just can't see you being able to live on
and may not even be there for when you do retire.
I have pensions plan and I chuck a quite a load of dosh at it but it will not support me in anything like the lifestyle I'm accustomed too, so I plan to work at least part time in some capacity for as long as my health permits or I croak.
I'll make sure i've no savings and will have long-since signed my house over to my kids. That way i'll have no assets and the government can pay my keep.Seems fair to me.
Pray you never need to go into a nursing home then, I wouldn't wish a state funded nursing home on my worst enemy. A truly awful way to live out your remaining time in this world.
Seems very strange to me to work hard your entire life, saving for your retirement, then give it away when you will most likely need it most.
Seems very strange to me to work hard your entire life, saving for your retirement, then give it away when you will most likely need it most.
How true is this!
I retired a couple of years ago, aged 50. I'd been paying into a final-salary scheme for 30 years and was very canny with my mortgage (mostly by not moving into increasingly more grand houses) and not getting into any other debt. I still think these latter factors are the ones that lots of folk seem to be missing. Having expensive cars, houses, holidays and other trinkets is one option, planning a bit for the future is another.
Scares me at the thought of it - you don't see people sat in front of macs in their 60s designing, you're burnt out way before then! Salaries don't compensate for this either, wouldn't recommend the industry to my kids!
+1 druidh Looking at retiring at 55. Although strangely I enjoy my job so happy to go on but keenly aware that these are my best years so making the most of them so making sure there's plenty of me time. In later years i have managed to avoid promotion and increased worlk load ha ha
I am sort of the opposite to Druidh - sold everything and put career on hold in the 90s so started more or less from scratch again at 30.
However have built up a lot of equity in property and do have around 15 years in final salary pension contributions. 9 more to go
I will have to work until 60 and will be not rich but I will take my less well of retirement in exchange for the fun I had spending the money along the way
Isn't it all about balance? There are people who work like mad, save most of it then drop dead early having never really enjoyed themselves which is sad. Then there are those (probably more common in later generations) who spend naively not realising how much it costs to build up a fund large enough to retire with enough to support a reasonable lifestyle (and what if you aren't healthier enough to work to an older age?). However getting the balance right is not easy. Proper planning is the best answer ie sitting down and working it out using projections (either yourself or with a proper financial planner).
And at Druidh, final salary pensions are generally great. It's just that most don't have access to them now and people tend to move jobs more frequently so rarely build up 20, 30, 40 years anyway.
Dan1502 - agree that FS pensions are coming to an end, but there are career decisions I made along the way, like turning down apparently better paid jobs with other companies. And like Pawsy_Bear, I was happy to turn my back on various promotions which might have seen me in more pressured, but ultimately more replaceable/disposable roles.
I have never earned enough to pay into a pension and the house I have a mortgage on will get sold when my son leaves school as my ex lives in it.Basically I have to work until I drop unless I kill off all my siblings and am the sole beneficiary of my parents estate.
I paid into a pension for years from when i was 20ish till 27, worked for a supermarket chain that was sold to another, then the store i worked in sold to another company, pension frozen and tbh no one seems to know whats happened to it, lost somewhere between retailers. I left that job and started a new job in 2008 and started a pension again in 2009, current rate it will pay me a modest amount. Stuffed as ive never had a mortgage never owned my own house or flat, always rented, from 1st of march next year i will be debt free, so plan on paying 10% of my salary into a savings pot for my future, ethier buy some property later in life or use this to fund my retirement.
I serious doubt i will reach retirement age, anything can happen in the next 30 years!
According to Mayan prophecies, we're all going to die next year anyhow - so rack up massive bills and enjoy the last few months of your lives - well until it turns out to be false and then we're fecked.
On the day I retire, I'm going to go and rob a bank.
If I get away with it, I'll have a nice fund to enjoy retirement with, and if/when I get caught - the state will pay for my board and lodgings, washing, TV etc, hopefully living out my years in a nice easy open prison.
(obviously, I could end up getting bummed to death in wormwood scrubs, but thats a risk you gotta take, innit :lol:)
I don't have any desire to retire early. Like druidh, I've made specific decisions about work, but mine have been to choose a career which I enjoy. Consequently I enjoy my job - the work is interesting, I'm constantly learning, and the people I work with are fun. So for me, going to work gives me mental stimulation and social enjoyment as well as an income. Sure, sometimes it's stressful, and I work long hours, but I also get 6 weeks annual leave plus bank holidays and TOIL, so I do have a fair bit of time off to travel etc (although my biggest problem is usually having too much work to do to be able to take all my leave).
I don't have a problem with working til I'm 67 / 68, given that the average lifespan has increased significantly, and I suspect that even after that I'd like to continue doing part-time research.
As for pensions, I do have one but I'm increasingly questioning if it's worth it, and whether it would be better to put the money into property instead.
Not worried about it but I'm not going to want to rely on the state. I'm 28 and I think I'll be looking at near 80 when I retire as the government age is going to keep going up to compenste for an increasing life expectency and the large number of baby boomers about to retire. A lot will change before I retire. WW3, flying cars, living on the moon, collapse of the west/rise of the east, alien invasion, the rapture...
Never had the option of a final salary and never will. I do save into the company pension scheme. Put in 6% of my gross wage and the company puts in another 12% on top. It's a good scheme, I don't need that 6% so I'll take the "easy" money they are offering. Might die before then but it's a risk worth taking.
I also have saving set up on top of the pension. Might need this money before retirement but at the minute I'm comfortable so try to put money away for the future.
There are suggestions kicking around of doing away with governemnt retirement all together. It's a relatively new idea for all but the very rich. It was originally set at 65 as that was the average life expectancy. It was a think tank so probably not to be taken too seriously but they suggested no pensions just disability benefits for when you were no longer able to work.
My plan is to emigrate somewhere warm and cheap to live when I get old. Little bit of money goes a long way in less developed countries and i'll free up space in the UK (or wherever I end up until I retire) for someone else and no miserable cold weather.
Instead of going to those kinds of countries now when I need to get on with my career I will go later in life when I have some savings and have sold off all of my assets.
as a pro stoner i never intend on working that much any way... will die of lung cancer long before retirement age..... IE waiting for parents to snuff it
After losing my Dad recently, Mum has been told Pops pension pot has lost 50% in the last 2 years!
I have never earned enough to pay extra into a pension, think I will be well stuffed!
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