Count Steer wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2024 7:40 am
LOL. It's not for 'doing nothing' it's money arising from doing rather a lot. State and company pensions aside (which aren't 'free', we put money in) a fair chunk of ours is money we earned and saved. Pleasure deferred if you like.
We studied/trained and worked hard, moved jobs, moved locations, earned decent money and planned ahead. (Managed to enjoy ourselves most of the time too
). I see no reason why that means we should be living on gruel in a hovel.
PS Oh yeah we paid and still pay taxes, so we aren't a total drain on society.
I'm well aware of all that, (my army pension was non contributory
) and I still pay taxes but that wasn't the point. Why you think that you're going to need an income of £60k a year during retirement is laughable. If you've been earning enough to provide a £5k a month pension (fair play to you!) then I would suggest you'll have most of what you need for retirement; no mortgage, car, insulated big house (may be too big for retirement when you only bump into the wife now and again) good social scene etc. What you gonna do with all that cash?
Just about all of the expats in this village are retired, most of them on way, way better pensions than mine. A neighbour of mine (single woman in her 70s) came here and stuck a £million in the bank - she'd worked in a bank in the City (Chase possibly) bought 4 properties, new car etc etc etc. Of course, her £1m is no longer worth that due to serious inflation here but she's still loaded. She's also one of the most unhappiest people I know. Sits in her big house (hers is a triplex, mine a duplex) all day with the aircon going cos it's chilly in winter and too hot in summer. Rarely goes out.
Another is called 'First Responder'. I think he managed photography shoots for Kays catalogue or some such thing. He has a big house more to the back of the village and is certainly not short of a bob or two. The 'First Responder' nickname? He sits on facebook all day and when someone posts something, anything, he is the first person to make a comment. What a sad fucker.
There are others with big pots of money and decent monthly incomes - they keep a couple of bars open during the winter. They have no life and although they have a car "so that I can go out when I want to" they rarely buy petrol. Quite a few of them tell me they envy my lifestyle - I'm usually busy doing something boats or doing things for others (I don't take payment) like today, I'll be helping another expat put his outboard motor back together. He's selling the boat because he can't find the time to use it enough. He's too busy watching films on the TV and telling me about them when we have a beer on a Friday evening.
The rest probably all have a nice pot of money in the bank to fall back on and a decent enough monthly income but they still, like me, buy their fruit and veg in the market on a Monday - the cheap option. But fair play to them, they managed to not die just after retiring so they can spend their time in a great place doing fuck all and waiting to die, still wealthy.
Now of course, you won't be like them just as they would have said before "I won't be like that". But time will tell.
Retirement is what you make it but in general, it doesn't need a lot of money. It needs a decent attitude.
I don't have a pot of money to fall back on btw, I get a monthly income from 3 pensions (one of them currently just £53 a month). But I'm a lot better off, happier and healthier that the fat cats.