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

[MyLittleStudPony]

Pension stealers!

[JackyJoll]

If it was a fair system no doubt you could make money simply by investing in BlackRock for example because there is no doubt at all they are going to make a shit ton of money when we enter this next recession. Chances are though that there will be some special rule that means while these asset management companies make an absolute fortune, their lesser investors will end up getting shafted. Investment capital will be pulled out of the virtual world into real tangible assets like artworks or even gold long before the entire system goes tits up.

Speaking of disasters, looks like a number of very rich people are going to become considerably richer as Hawaii is allowed to burn its way through the homes of those who actually live there. Many of whom made the mistake of refusing to sell up to developers when they had the chance. Bit like the crooked pub if you ask me.

As an aside, I finally twigged why rich assholes like Billy Gates (and Oprah Winfrey in Hawaii) are desperately buying up farmland, as if they care about growing food or doing anything positive for humanity. Turns out it is a massive capital gain tax scam for the super rich (and landowners). There are huge subsidies or capital gains offset specifically for "farmland". Land increases hugely in value of course so you would expect capital gains to also increase. Nope. In fact the super rich get state handouts, millions, merely by dint of the fact they call it "farmland".

I sincerely believe we are entering the "endgame" for our capitalist system. If you're not rich yet, you never will be. The super rich will simply change the rules of the game until they own everything. On the face of it not a terrible prospect for someone like me who could easily live on whatever meagre "universal income" our masters condescend to hand out. Not so good for your pension pot now that they're clearly coming after the middle classes.

Oprah set Hawaii on fire!

[Count Steer]

Not that it's got much to do with pensions (unless you're a farmer) but UK arable farmland ave £/acre rose to £10,600 in 2022 cf the previous peak in 2014 of £10,000. Not exactly inflation beating. The attraction is, of course, in subsidies/tax breaks which might explain why James Dyson et al own so much of it. It was ever thus - what did a king give his favoured ones? Land. Now the new arriviste gentry are 'industrialists' and 'entrepreneurs' but the old gentry still own huge swathes of it.

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/country-l ... ners-20175

[MingtheMerciless]

Lex Luthor : [laughing] Before that. He said, "Son, stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are no damn good, but they will always need land and they will pay through the nose to get it!

[Count Steer]

Lex Luthor : [laughing] Before that. He said, "Son, stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are no damn good, but they will always need land and they will pay through the nose to get it!

'Buy land. They don't make it any more'.

PS Oh yeah, Lord Elon owns 6,000 acres (of Texas, so just a small ranch) too.

[Screwdriver]

I appreciate the inherent value of land but this is how the system is being "gamed". These tax breaks, subsidies, handouts <whatever> were never intended to be used for the purposes of tax avoidance. One assumes they were to allow "poor" farmers to survive and prosper through the in/outs of a highly variable business model.

The opposite is now the case as land is being used as a sort of tax dodge by the super rich who are buying it up along with and sometimes in spite of owner/farmers. I think this is also the EU plan for large swathes of Denmark and the "land grab" (if that's what it is) in Hawaii could be a a step too far if half the population of an entire state effectively get swindled out of house and home by the very state instruments which are supposed to support them.

I don't know how all this ties in with pensions and pension schemes. I rather suspect this is how enormous wealth is accrued and hidden from the people who are funding it. I would not be surprised in the least if there's suddenly a massive "hole" in pension schemes after the next inevitable financial collapse while incredibly at the same time, the asset management companies which run those schemes find their profits have doubled (again).

[Yorick]

Over the last 3 pages I've read a right fucking mix of patronising bollox, shit and expert crap. I have no idea what any of of it means.

I did it my way without knowing any of it.

But makes me giggle all the experts ramming their shit down folk's throats. Oh, and most of them are still working, so they can't be very good

There's thousands of expert financial advisers out there. If they were any good, they'd be retired. Think about it

[Felix]

Over the last 3 pages I've read a right fucking mix of patronising bollox, shit and expert crap. I have no idea what any of of it means.

How do you know its patronising?

[Horse]

Over the last 3 pages I've read a right fucking mix of patronising bollox, shit and expert crap. I have no idea what any of of it means.

I did it my way without knowing any of it.

IIRC (and I don't know your pension arrangements) you did it by working hard, investing in property (which is work in itself) and being made redundant at an opportune moment. If right you had control over two of them and you took control of things that could.

[JackyJoll]

I did it my way without knowing any of it.

[MyLittleStudPony]

True potentials slogan is > "do more with your money" anyone know what that means.

This?

Pension stealer!

[Count Steer]

In response to the comment that there's no actual advice on the thread, here's some suggestions and thoughts on non-final salary pensions.

The value of your pension pot will go up and down. While you're working, going down isn't bad - in fact it can be bonzer, it means your money is buying more 'units, shares' whatever each month so when things pick up the ratchet effect is

Avoid draining it while it's in a down phase as the ratchet works the other way. So, be flexible on retirement date and/or build a safe pot of savings ie savings account, Premium Bonds etc that you can tap into in order to defer/reduce calling on the pension pot.

If the markets are when you do retire, pull some tax free cash out and do that ^^^ with it (rather than buying a Ferrari ), again so you can limit the drain on the more volatile funds if the markets stoof again during retirement.

Pay down/off your mortgage (debts) before retirement (or plan to move/downshift, preferably before you retire). You need to know what your outgoings will be as far as poss and mortgage costs rising when you're retired is a bit

Whatever you think you'll need in retirement, add 30%+

Usual disclaimer: I'm not a financial adviser but I have had a financial bruise or two and might have learned a bit from them.

[Screwdriver]

I **think** I dodged a bullet and started my pension payments before the value tanked. No idea if that is true but I was given a figure a year or so ago and that’s the figure I get now (except it just got bumped up by 10%).

So did I get lucky or will my monthly pension payment vary according to the vagaries in the market?

[Horse]

My thoughts, C&P from the other thread.

But you say that... however not the 'how'. My pension is work based and 'invested' in different portfolios as i suspect many are...

The problem is... what to do, how to do it and the potential risk associated. I can't take mine out and move it (well, maybe i could but i suspect there'd be penalties) and even if i could, where would i move it to... As a customer/consumer/client, you make the assumption that whichever provider you're with are doing their best to make you money, because of course the more you make, the more they make... so makes sense.

But the 'guidance' here is often exceptionally vague... why, because, well, no-one really knows the answers.

Yes, I made that assumption too. Based on however many years of their history.

Caveat on what follows: I am, by no means, a financial whizz. Total amateur.

My 'wealth' (and I'm not in anything like the earnings, savings, spending leagues of many here) is spread around. Mortgage paid off (by overpaying), no debts, some savings, meagre pension pots, smaller final salary pension.

The lesson from last year is, as the financial companies always say, 'previous performance etc ... ' The last few years have shown how random the world can be when it puts its silly head on.

Potter and others have been fairly vociferous that 'poorer' financial times are ahead. In simple terms, prices of everything up, interest rates up. Worst case recession, depression.

Some planning for that is fairly obvious: reduce debt, increase reserves. If you invest or save, then diversify.

When I had the opportunity, I paid the maximum into the company scheme. I *might* have been better putting that into something else.

I had an AVC running independent of any company scheme - but it was on the farm truck.

As to 'what' or 'where' you invest, I have no idea! I'm certainly not the type of person to buy watches. I know one who, on a whim, bought £10k of bitcoin. He's now semi-retired with a £0.5M nest egg. There was a guy who ran a US safety forum who was saying 'buy them, now!' I didn't. Partly because (like watches), I've not really had chunks like that to risk, but also - this might surprise you - I'm fairly risk averse

Get views, thoughts, ideas, options
Talk to an IFA or two, tell them what and why
Take some control in a way that suits you

Most important: decide NOW what you and MrsW want in the future.

And a sad, upsetting, honest, fact: I saw the state-funded home my father went into for the final months of his life. Filly and I want to avoid that if the time comes.

There's an old line that "growing old is mandatory, but growing up isn't". In this instance, it is.

[Count Steer]

I **think** I dodged a bullet and started my pension payments before the value tanked. No idea if that is true but I was given a figure a year or so ago and that’s the figure I get now (except it just got bumped up by 10%).

So did I get lucky or will my monthly pension payment vary according to the vagaries in the market?

Sounds like the Willy Wonka golden ticket...a final salary pension, it should only go up in line with inflation.

[Horse]

I **think** I dodged a bullet and started my pension payments before the value tanked. No idea if that is true but I was given a figure a year or so ago and that’s the figure I get now (except it just got bumped up by 10%).

So did I get lucky or will my monthly pension payment vary according to the vagaries in the market?

Sounds like the Willy Wonka golden ticket...a final salary pension, it should only go up in line with inflation.

And, if so, the value should be guaranteed, shouldn't it?


AAMOI, if there are funds remaining when the final pensioner stops receiving payments, what happens? Party time at the providers?

[Count Steer]

Sounds like the Willy Wonka golden ticket...a final salary pension, it should only go up in line with inflation.

And, if so, the value should be guaranteed, shouldn't it?


AAMOI, if there are funds remaining when the final pensioner stops receiving payments, what happens? Party time at the providers?

Yes...but...I still consider what might happen if mine suddenly disappeared. In theory the government would step in but if you're going to do Domesday scenarios.. (Mine ended up with a UK, national, absolutely, fundamentally strategic organisation owned by....global asset management firms BlackRock and Vanguard, public pension funds, notably those of Norway and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority ie asset/dividend removers not infrastructure investors, same as all the water companies).

WRT winding up a pension outfit, I always assumed the parent company took the major slab out as they'd also put in. If they're no longer extant...dunno.

[SSS]

I dont have any pensions, not one. Dont believe in them. Seen many getting stuffed over with pension providers and annuities.

Mrs SSSs dad was one of the Equitable Life pension holders when it went bust. He received nothing - retirement plans in tatters after many years paying in. Last i heard they were going to be offered pennies in the pound on wind up, but he died before that happened (happening?)

So given im 50 and getting closer to retirement, the plans ive put in place is invested in property, land, precious metals etc. The retirement plan is to become a part time farmer and set up a horse livery yard to supplement the state pension (if it even exists by the time I get there)

[Count Steer]

Mrs SSSs dad was one of the Equitable Life pension holders when it went bust. He received nothing - retirement plans in tatters after many years paying in. Last i heard they were going to be offered pennies in the pound on wind up, but he died before that happened (happening?)

I didn't realise this but it appears the government (taxpayer) shouldered some of the blame (cost) for the Equitable Life fiasco due to regulatory failings. (I know 2 people that fell foul of it). It appears people were offered something like 1/3 of the difference between what they got from EL and what they would have got from a different provider. That doesn't sound like what the people I know got, which was a fraction of what they expected in total ie not an amount + 1/3, more like 1/3 or less. It was a complete cluster-up because they'd over-contractually promised to some and that drained the coffers. The ones that did OK wouldn't take less in order to bail out the others, which is fair enough I suppose...'your problem, not mine'.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... nal-report

[Horse]

I dont have any pensions

the plans ive put in place is invested in property, land, precious metals etc.

You don't have formal pension savings * but you have planned and arranged diverse provision.

* perhaps with tax benefits