pensions

[Yorick]

We get by on about 25k per year.
But we get a about half that from the apartment we have. So not drawing lots from savings.
My state pension kicks in in 3.5 years. And my small private pensions when I want.

[slowsider]

I'm sure it's not beyond the wit of man to adjust your draw down based on an assumed rate of inflation.

You hedge against it by using the money wisely, but that's been done to death and will only lead to pain on this forum.

That's partly cos you come out with the hedging comment after something like 'I don't plan on leaving anything in the bank when I die' . Since it's likely you have joint planning, if you pre-decease Mrs P, she'll need money in the bank.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Sort of related...

My parents both volunteer at the local hospital now they're retired. My Dad was telling me the other day that pretty much every shift he gets an old dear telling him "I'm 95 you know!"...of course they all think its remarkable, but as he says it's an every day occurrence now.

26 years after 55 only takes you up to 81

[Count Steer]

Just out of interest I ran through last months bank debits.(For 2) - Food shopping (not food out and about), council tax, energy, petrol, mobile phones, home insurance yadda yadda yadda (not home phone/broadband - s'quarterly, or car taxes, servicing, TV licence etc). £1300. Call it £1500 with the other bits in. ie £18k pa on 'essentials'. The food thing is probably a bit OTT - could shop much cheaper and there's 0 booze in it - but I don't think those sorts of figures are particularly unusual and the energy payment hasn't gone up yet, it was just one tank of fuel, and the council tax isn't on a 12 bed, 30 acre place, just a pretty typical home.

So, 18k after tax, for 'running costs' in SE England. After that it's whatever you want on clothes, hols, toys, home maintenance etc etc. Using the ×28 calculator that's £0.5M just for essentials.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I tell thee what, being alive is a costly endeavour.

[Yorick]

Rental property is the best pension. Guaranteed income every month and the property will appreciate in the long term.

[Couchy]

At age 58 £350k in drawdown could provide £1750 a month till you’re 67 when state pension kicks in, the drawdown would then reduce keeping a similar amount till you’re 80. After that you’d be on state pension only. I’m gonna aim for £400k and I’ll be happy with that but there is the wife’s pension which is a similar amount. We’ll live happily on £3500 or so a month as tbh that isn’t far off what we do now

[Taipan]

Personally I think that's insane, but we're all different, last year I flew a Spitfire at a cost of £6k an hour.

We cycle every weekend, we race several of them. Every holiday is cycling based (E.g Morzine), every adventure is cycling based... the world revolves around cycling.

If anything is insane, it's having a £6000 MT-07 in the garage lol. Sunny weekend, long weekend, yet the odds are, it won't move.

When you put it like that shirley you'd be better of with something like a c£3k XT660x for your mbike kicks?

[weeksy]

Personally I think that's insane, but we're all different, last year I flew a Spitfire at a cost of £6k an hour.

We cycle every weekend, we race several of them. Every holiday is cycling based (E.g Morzine), every adventure is cycling based... the world revolves around cycling.

If anything is insane, it's having a £6000 MT-07 in the garage lol. Sunny weekend, long weekend, yet the odds are, it won't move.

When you put it like that shirley you'd be better of with something like a c£3k XT660x for your mbike kicks?

Tbh mate I don't think it much matters what's in there, it gets used sometimes and I enjoy the mt07, I wouldn't use an xt660x more or indeed less.

The mt07 going or staying wouldn't free up that much cash as I'd want a low mileage immaculate one.

[Skub]

Rental property is the best pension. Guaranteed income every month and the property will appreciate in the long term.

Rental can be aggro if you get unlucky. BIL rented out a cottage which was fine until a tenant wrecked it,then buggered off. Before he fixed it up a squatter moved in and has cost him years of legal fees to get back to where he started.

[JackyJoll]

Rental property is the best pension. Guaranteed income every month and the property will appreciate in the long term.

Rental can be aggro if you get unlucky. BIL rented out a cottage which was fine until a tenant wrecked it,then buggered off. Before he fixed it up a squatter moved in and has cost him years of legal fees to get back to where he started.

Renting is a business. That makes it more of a job than a pension, in my eyes.

[Yorick]

Rental property is the best pension. Guaranteed income every month and the property will appreciate in the long term.

Rental can be aggro if you get unlucky. BIL rented out a cottage which was fine until a tenant wrecked it,then buggered off. Before he fixed it up a squatter moved in and has cost him years of legal fees to get back to where he started.

We rented for 15 years. Always did okay as we properly vetted the clients.

Our apartment here is in our basement so no chance they can misbehave

[Count Steer]

Rental property is the best pension. Guaranteed income every month and the property will appreciate in the long term.

Rental can be aggro if you get unlucky. BIL rented out a cottage which was fine until a tenant wrecked it,then buggered off. Before he fixed it up a squatter moved in and has cost him years of legal fees to get back to where he started.

We rented for 15 years. Always did okay as we properly vetted the clients.

Our apartment here is in our basement so no chance they can misbehave

My SiL owns the 2 flats above hers. For years, the tenants have been fine (they're all vetted) and some stayed for a long time, but the last one in the middle flat started out OK and gradually became the tenant from hell. Finally got him out and has had to spend ££s putting the place back in order, replacing stuff he'd dumped, sorting out the unpaid utilities etc etc etc. However, it may not be re-let. The experience was so unpleasant. The whole lot could be on the market soon.

OTOH a neighbour rents out a house he hasn't even visited - just lets the agency deal with everything (pays accordingly but it is hassle free). If it all works OK it's

[Whysub]

I retired 5 years earlier than I planned to, thanks to the total mismanagement and dumbing down of my work.

My pension therefore was for 33 years service (full pension at 40) but worked out it would be enough to live on. Had a decent lump sum in a bank account here which last year earnt 5% interest. I've not touched that in three years.

I'll be comfortable for years, so see absolutely no point in investing to make more (or even lose a load). When I die, my house, money and possessions will go to my brothers and sisters.

Maybe I'm not that financially savvy when it comes to investments, but if I had more, it would make absolutely no difference to the lifestyle I lead.

[Supermofo]

Had a look at mine today for the first time since Feb and lost 16k so far. Nice Just one kick in the balls after another at the minute!!

[Mr. Dazzle]

Had a look at mine today for the first time since Feb and lost 16k so far. Nice Just one kick in the balls after another at the minute!!

I feel you

It's a cheap time to be buying into funds, that's what I tell myself.

[Tomcat]

Hi All

I have several pensions running, all standard company programs and I want to combine them to make the most of them etc. Is there a comparison site that tells me which is run best/performs the best? I've had a look but cant seem to find what I'm after. TIA

I did a bit of looking around when I combined all my pension pots but there were so many options and so much small print I ended up just bunging them into the one that made the transfer easiest. I didn't do it until nearly retirement time so my portfolio stayed diversified, as it were, to guard against market shocks. Unless you've got one that is badly underperforming or overcharging there's little to be gained from combining them early on, IMO, YMMV, etc. I also got annuity and transfer values for each - there were a couple that were far better as annuities because they were guaranteed (and the return of new annuities is crap these days, thanks George Osborne and QE)

[Mussels]

I just transferred to a new pension so am looking at combining them but got a warning about the minimum age going up from 55 to 57, so transferring funds will mean I lose the ability to draw from them at 55. I plan so use the 25% tax free lump to pay off my mortgage and then increase contributions to match what I was paying, very tax efficient if I can still do it.

[Cousin Jack]

Maybe I'm not that financially savvy when it comes to investments, but if I had more, it would make absolutely no difference to the lifestyle I lead.

A long while ago I thought I was financially savvy. I invested in a couple of ISAs, 2 different companies managing them, one of them biased to technology, the other broad=based on the Footsie. Can't lose can I ?

Well I did, big time! Both ISAs were £7k at cost, at one stage one was worth a bit over £1k, the other a bit under.

Now I am a rate tart. I move my money around to get the best rate, but only with a govt £85k guarantee. I will never get rich, I may get poorer as inflation bites, but I won't go bust overnight.

[Count Steer]

Maybe I'm not that financially savvy when it comes to investments, but if I had more, it would make absolutely no difference to the lifestyle I lead.

A long while ago I thought I was financially savvy. I invested in a couple of ISAs, 2 different companies managing them, one of them biased to technology, the other broad=based on the Footsie. Can't lose can I ?

Well I did, big time! Both ISAs were £7k at cost, at one stage one was worth a bit over £1k, the other a bit under.

Now I am a rate tart. I move my money around to get the best rate, but only with a govt £85k guarantee. I will never get rich, I may get poorer as inflation bites, but I won't go bust overnight.

That FTSE based one....what the heck happened there?

The lowest in recent years has been about 3500 (2009) you'd have had to buy in at 24500 to lose 6/7ths and it's never been above 8000! Must be some corking dealing charges!!