Pension stuff, how's it all looking ? HAve you prepared ?

[Count Steer]

I've only ever had one pension that wasn't a SIPP - the very first one I had as it 'appens, my R-R final salary one.

I've also never had anyone actually ask me where I want to "self" invest as far as I can recall. They've always just defaulted to somewhere unless I go out of my way to change it.

One of my colleagues made me laugh actually, he went on a big rant about Blackrock and how they're destroying the world and he wants to nothing to do with them. "You realise the default option for your company pension is a Blackrock fund right?" was my response

You'll need to make decisions about it when you retire or it just sits there in whatever endgame/Lifestyle you chose. That's when it becomes an actual SIPP. I assumed you had to choose stuff like risk/growth/Lifestyle options when you joined these schemes. I'm pretty sure I did.

[Mr. Dazzle]

IIRC - and that's by no means certain - they were all "we'll assume you're medium risk, speak now or forever hold your peace" written in the small print.

[Horse]

IIRC - and that's by no means certain - they were all "we'll assume you're medium risk, speak now or forever hold your peace" written in the small print.

My current one (see earlier post re gilts ) has a default but IIRC there's options depending on personal attitude to risk.

[MyLittleStudPony]

Some pension stealers take all of the pension. Some just take a little; they sometimes call themselves financial advisors.


Pension stealer!

[Bustaspoke]

I've also never had anyone actually ask me where I want to "self" invest as far as I can recall. They've always just defaulted to somewhere unless I go out of my way to change it.

When my employer froze the Final salary pension,they put us all in a SIPP with Legal & General.With this pension,unlike the Final salary one,we can choose the level of risk that we're prepared to take.
As I've never worked in the world of finance I've left L & G to make the decisions,but I check on it every month for reference.

[the_priest]

I'm going to be adding to my pension pot in lump sums as that is easier with one off hits. I cannot make monthly contributions without being hit with more charges. So save up and stick it in. That way I'll be able to get closer to the £25k/year mark on my pension including the State stuff, and also have the Final Salary Priest pension and wife's piddling school pension (it will be 4k/year at this rate...). So hoping to clear 30k/year and will use the cash pay out to add the latest solar system with battery to the house we own outright (loan paid off!)

[weeksy]

It's interesting to see how much people think they're going to need when they retire each month.

Without a mortgage etc i don't see my outgoings being THAT huge... i'm a simple boy really and an odd beer here at lunch or a bit of cake and coffee when out cycling, shouldn't be too much of a stretch on the budget.
I don't know yet whether i'll be burning through tanks of fuel on a motorbike, that remains to be seen. But as you'd expect i'll have a bicycle in there for sure.

I'm still struggling with what i'll actually be doing day to day though. If i have my way, it won't be in the UK though, it'll be in Burgundy... but i don't know how plausible that is at the moment.

[Mr. Dazzle]

When i look at what we spend, "discretionary" items are actually quite a way down the list! Mortgage, school, food, utilities, various insurances and the like.....they're easily rhe majority of my spending.

Obviously knock the first two off (hopefully!) but still....

add the latest solar system to the house

Perks of the chosen career I suppose. Just be sure to have a rest after.

[Count Steer]

I'm still struggling with what i'll actually be doing day to day though. If i have my way, it won't be in the UK though, it'll be in Burgundy... but i don't know how plausible that is at the moment.

Until you can imagine what you'll do (and you've a few years left to think about it) I'd say a) don't retire and b) then retire here first for a while before going to Burgundy - if you can't occupy yourself happily here, in France, unless you buy and restore a ruin, you'll be twiddling your thumbs - in French

When the time comes it's also worth seeing if you can taper by going, say, 3 days/week and see how it goes.

PS You could train as a bicycle mechanic, there's a few locally doing it from home and you've probably got as much experience as some of them.

[weeksy]

PS You could train as a bicycle mechanic, there's a few locally doing it from home and you've probably got as much experience as some of them.

Indeedy, although i'm not sure i'd bother 'training' as such, but yeah, doing mechanic stuff to pass some time would actually be quite nice in some ways. The only downside to that being i'd be quite selective on what i spanner on £200 shitters ain't coming into my garage that's for sure

[Count Steer]

PS You could train as a bicycle mechanic, there's a few locally doing it from home and you've probably got as much experience as some of them.

Indeedy, although i'm not sure i'd bother 'training' as such, but yeah, doing mechanic stuff to pass some time would actually be quite nice in some ways. The only downside to that being i'd be quite selective on what i spanner on £200 shitters ain't coming into my garage that's for sure

Yeah, some of the earlier technical courses look a bit noddy but I like doing courses.

The Cytech Tech 3 and e-Tech courses look useful and they run them in Oxford (Tech 3 includes wheel building).

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just to make it really boring like..you'd probably need the quals to help with getting insurance? You'd need insurance to cover a) people's stuff getting nicked while it's in your care and b) people getting hurt as an alleged result of your work?

Sounds like a job to me.

Life is never straightforward

[weeksy]

Just to make it really boring like..you'd probably need the quals to help with getting insurance? You'd need insurance to cover a) people's stuff getting nicked while it's in your care and b) people getting hurt as an alleged result of your work?

Sounds like a job to me.

Life is never straightforward

You're likely correct on all of the above matey... which is why it'll arguably not happen lol.

[Mussels]

I've had liability insurance in the past, they were interested in the line of work but not any qualifications.
It is a good point though, doing business involves some regular costs so you need to do x amount of work to cover those costs plus time spent on paperwork. It makes odd jobs a bit less attractive even if it's just filling in a self assessesment tax return.

[Docca]

I don’t know squat about money. I do know that we’ve always spent what we’ve got. Yes, I have ‘some’ savings- but it’s negligible.

My kids currently: 17, 15, 12 x2 and 10. Off the top of my head, current kids costs include:

- driving lessons @ £36/ lesson (2 a week)

- horse riding @£65 per lesson per week

- drama club @£50 per week

- trumpet lessons @£60 per week

- art lessons @£40 per week

- school trip stuff. Currently £800 this month ( for 2 trips). Usually 5 trips a year.

That’s before you get in to clothes, commuting, furniture, other hobbies, food etc.

For grown ups: I now commute to London once a week. Once you get your train fare, lunch, parking - that’s £80 a week.

Then the mortgage is £2.5k /month

My pension is going to be ok, but the kids need to move out to give me a fighting chance

[Yambo]

I'm still struggling with what i'll actually be doing day to day though. If i have my way, it won't be in the UK though, it'll be in Burgundy... but i don't know how plausible that is at the moment.

Until you can imagine what you'll do . . .

I'm not so sure you can do that. The fact is, once retired you can do what you want to do - at that time - and what you think about now may not be what you think about later. What you will have of course is time to do what you want and when you want.

I have a couple of hobbies; I make model boats but it's not a business, not work so I don't spend all day every day butchering small bits of wood. It's very much a wet winter day pastime now as good days are going to be different, mainly outdoor days. A few years ago I made some boats and paddleboards. Right now I'm repairing/refurbing the paddleboards after 5 years of abuse. I made them so it seems to be my responsibility to remake them. Making the boats was a bit of therapy for me but the work now is more like work and I'm finding it hard to motivate myself. I don't watch the telly so evenings are spent reading, popping into here and other forums and if the skies are clear trying to take photos of stuff you can't see. The reading and forum stuff is usually part of the learning curve for that. If I'm up late, I have the time to sleep late.

The simple fact is, when you have time to play with, you can do what you want. Maybe just sit and watch football or soaps on t'box, drink tea with friends, walk in the hills, ride your bike, whatever.

Planning that sort of shit is impossible because you know full well the plan goes out the window with first contact with the enemy. At best, you'll make up your mind in the evening what you might do tomorrow. Next week? Who the fuck knows what's going to go down!

[Count Steer]

When i look at what we spend, "discretionary" items are actually quite a way down the list! Mortgage, school, food, utilities, various insurances and the like.....they're easily rhe majority of my spending.

I just totted up a typical month of debits for the two of us inc house bills, petrol, food, car(s) parking etc etc (didn't include stuff like coffees, clothes or other non-essentials and there were no car taxes or insurances that month, also have no mortgage) - £1300

(The for the month besides that was an unexpected £1800 bill for car repair/service/MOT...I expected it to be about £360 )

I could squeeze quite a bit out of that ie run one car, buy cheaper food, use less energy etc but that's where the 'comfy' bit comes in.

[Potter]

I reckon you know when it’s time to retire and if you don’t feel the pull of it then it’s not time.

[weeksy]

I reckon you know when it’s time to retire and if you don’t feel the pull of it then it’s not time.

Nah, i could happily agree with the idea today.... the bank account disagrees.... if i never went to work when i was 30-40-50 i'd have been fine with it

[Bustaspoke]

I just totted up a typical month of debits for the two of us inc house bills, petrol, food, car(s) parking etc etc (didn't include stuff like coffees, clothes or other non-essentials and there were no car taxes or insurances that month, also have no mortgage) - £1300

(The for the month besides that was an unexpected £1800 bill for car repair/service/MOT...I expected it to be about £360 )

I could squeeze quite a bit out of that ie run one car, buy cheaper food, use less energy etc but that's where the 'comfy' bit comes in.

Because I had been planning to retire/go part time for a few years I had been keeping an eye on the monthly outgoings & for me it's £1000 a month plus any holidays.When I was asking ex workmates & a few friends who'd retired they all commented that you don't need a lot of money for everyday expenses.