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

[Cousin Jack]

........... I'm seeing it as a small bicycle/motorbike business of some description, be that buying and selling or polishing and cleaning then buying and selling, i am not quite sure yet. But i don't see it being Tescos. Restoring 1990s bikes and 2000s bikes in 10 years time, i do see how there could be a market in that, so maybe that'll be the road to go down................

Be very careful turning hobbies into a business. Your enthusiasm can mean you don't spot a massive risks associated with it.

I toyed with the idea of a gunshop specialising in pistols. MK was a big town, lots of shooters (more than you might think), and no decent gunshop for miles. Luckily I didn't venture down that path, if I had I would have gone bust!

You might think restoring old bikes is less risky than pistols, but if they ban petrol .......................

[Horse]

cheap as chips and beer

Give it a rest

[Taipan]

I'd be keeping our place here and would be looking for a second home.

I wouldn't bother, just rent somewhere for three months over winter then hand it back.
Keeping a second home abroad just for when you feel like it is just a millstone round your neck unless you're minted.

I keep our house in the UK but it doesn't feel like home anymore and it's just a liability and a bit of a pain to be honest. I could argue it's possibly an appreciating asset but it's costing me money just sitting there.

That's why and how our thinking changed about what to do when we retire. Early days were always buy a place abroad and eventually move out there. But I've never actually been to southern Spain, so would need to scout it out first and find somewhere that suits our needs and renting a place would give a good insight into what living amongst that community would be like. Plus their property market does seem like a waste of time, so we'd be better buying a flat here and renting it to provide the income to cover renting costs in Spain. Then i think I don't really want the hassle of being a landlord. This is when it all gets messy and I give up on planning anything!

I would like a place abroad though, because ideally i'd like to replicate what i have here with regards to household possessions and vehicles, so I can literally board a plane in what i'm wearing, without carrying any luggage and have a turnkey home waiting for me at the other end.

[Mr Moofo]

I have retired.

I worked for 25 years for the same company , who ( as a complete surprise to me) had a fine salary pension scheme), I also did addition AVCs . I left that and joined another company and bunged the maximum allowance by the government to top up m company pension - for 9 years.
I also had a few other pension bits and bobs here and there.
All of this came as a surprise as I am not the best long term fiscal planner - but the crux is that the previous employer wanted to close the final salary pension - and started offering impressive amounts to take my "pot" elsewhere. Which I did.
I have consolidated everything with a pension / financial advisor - and so the it has worked out well.

But some points from experience:-
I stopped work just as Covid hit. It was crap timing - travel plans have gone tits up - and you do get conscious about the sands of time.
Find stuff to do - for the first 6 months you will be really busy - after that , it gets slacker. You need hobbies
The winter is an absolute bummer - shit weather, cold, grey etc - unless you are busy elsewhere you could go mad.
I don't get fully retiring to somewhere far flung - whether Cornwall or the SoF. It takes you away from support network, friends, the stuff you like to do etc. It may be different for me, because I actually like where i live.
I can see the point in travelling somewhere warm fro the winter.
Volunteer - put something back into the community. I am now a qualified watchkeeper with the Coastwatch Organisation - and have just applied to the RNLI.
You would be surprised at how much money is spent on for related things , or the trinkets of being employed. equally, when you are not working, it is very easy to buy pointless shit.
I am hoping that Covid is sorted - and plans can back on track. At the ,moment because of restriction of movement , I do find frustration levels getting high. There is loads of stuff i want to do - but Boris says no!

[Yorick]

I'd be keeping our place here and would be looking for a second home.

I wouldn't bother, just rent somewhere for three months over winter then hand it back.
Keeping a second home abroad just for when you feel like it is just a millstone round your neck unless you're minted.

I keep our house in the UK but it doesn't feel like home anymore and it's just a liability and a bit of a pain to be honest. I could argue it's possibly an appreciating asset but it's costing me money just sitting there.

That's why and how our thinking changed about what to do when we retire. Early days were always buy a place abroad and eventually move out there. But I've never actually been to southern Spain, so would need to scout it out first and find somewhere that suits our needs and renting a place would give a good insight into what living amongst that community would be like. Plus their property market does seem like a waste of time, so we'd be better buying a flat here and renting it to provide the income to cover renting costs in Spain. Then i think I don't really want the hassle of being a landlord. This is when it all gets messy and I give up on planning anything!

I would like a place abroad though, because ideally i'd like to replicate what i have here with regards to household possessions and vehicles, so I can literally board a plane in what i'm wearing, without carrying any luggage and have a turnkey home waiting for me at the other end.

Why do you want a turkey ???

[weeksy]

Out of interest for the non-UK people here, what does it cost per year for health stuff outside of the UK and what level of cover does that bring ?#

Is there any likely reciprocal health cover like the EHIC card we have (i assume) now lost? If so, what would that cover ? If not, do the have an NHS type service abroad and how does it all work for non-birth residents, can you even get to be classed as a resident enough to get covered ?

[the_priest]

I have my pension pot from working in the charities which I was able to consolidate. I will also receive the state pension and my Church Pension, which I am going to top up each month. I will also top up the charity pension as that one is my biggest pot of money. We are going to buy a two bed flat in a University town and rent it for a small income stream. It will be a bolt hole when we need it in retirement. As a priest, I will never "fully retire" and will continue to take services/funerals/weddings etc for long as I am mentally and physically able. That is how it is for me. The wife loves gardening and we will travel. We love our children, so want to where they are for as long as possible and have our base where they can join us. Wife will have her meagre state pension and school pension... every penny counts. I think we will be comfortable, but so long as we are warm and have food on the table I won't complain.

[Yorick]

EHIC is dead. If you are working here as a taxpayer, then you are covered by Spanish NHS.

Otherwise it's compulsory to have private health care. Decent cover starts at €1000 a year. I pay 1400 but started later and it's the best.

But, to balance that out. Our total tax bill for huge villa and 5 vehicles is 900€ a year.
And zero gas bill.

[weeksy]

EHIC is dead. If you are working here as a taxpayer, then you are covered by Spanish NHS.

Otherwise it's compulsory to have private health care. Decent cover starts at €1000 a year. I pay 1400 but started later and it's the best.

But, to balance that out. Our total tax bill for huge villa and 5 vehicles is 900€ a year.
And zero gas bill.

Not a ridiculous figure to find then.

[Yorick]

And wall to wall totty all year round. Just sat for 5 mins on sea front and watched all the lady surfers getting rigged up

[Mr. Dazzle]

And wall to wall totty all year round.

You've seen through my 'university lecturer' plan then.

[Yorick]

And wall to wall totty all year round.

You've seen through my 'university lecturer' plan then.

Do they wear tight wetsuits and skimpy bikinis?

[gremlin]

And wall to wall totty all year round.

You've seen through my 'university lecturer' plan then.

Yoz is more 'Universal lecher'.

[Yambo]

Out of interest for the non-UK people here, what does it cost per year for health stuff outside of the UK and what level of cover does that bring ?#

Is there any likely reciprocal health cover like the EHIC card we have (i assume) now lost? If so, what would that cover ? If not, do the have an NHS type service abroad and how does it all work for non-birth residents, can you even get to be classed as a resident enough to get covered ?

In Turkey you need health insurance to get residency. There are no reciprocal arrangements. If you are on holiday and need medical treatment you'll have to pay or have insurance. With private health insurance it;s the same as anywhere, you need to shop around for not only the best price but also the best cover. Any existing conditions are either going to cost you more or not be covered. I pay the government health insurance scheme. A few years ago we were told we had to have health insurance. I was close to 65 and private was going to be expensive and I had pre-existing conditions. The government scheme didn't ask about any of that and didn't require a medical. It was also reasonably priced so I signed up. The price has gone up over the years - it's based on the minimum Turkish wage and inflation is high but the pound/TL exchange rate has also improved for me over the same period and it's a bit cheaper now then when I started. Current cost for me is around £80 a month. It would be the same cost for a family so a better deal if I was still married. People I know with private cover are generally paying more than me.

In addition, the doctors at the government hospital tend to be better. I can make appointments on line for the gov't hospital. whereas at the private hospitals I can just roll up, see if there's a slot, pay a nominal fee (about £12 ) because I'm in the gov't scheme and see a specialist. I can take my choice and it all works well.

Dental treatment is cheaper than the UK and arguably better, I know lots of people who book their dentist for work when they book their holidays. Optical stuff is about the same price as UK and your eye test is done by a doctor at one of the hospitals. Opticians only sell glasses.

[Potter]

I would like a place abroad though, because ideally i'd like to replicate what i have here with regards to household possessions and vehicles, so I can literally board a plane in what i'm wearing, without carrying any luggage and have a turnkey home waiting for me at the other end.

That's what we've always done, we board a plane with one suitcase and build a life.
I could get on a plane tomorrow naked (ha) and turn up at my UK house and I have everything I need except fresh food. I buy two lots of anything I like and have one set at each house.

It's very convenient when you travel, I just take my passport and wallet.
It's also nice to walk in to your clothes hanging up and your shoes where you left them.

Out of interest for the non-UK people here, what does it cost per year for health stuff outside of the UK and what level of cover does that bring ?#

There are levels of cover, but for a comprehensive plan it's north of £7k a year (per person). But that's private five star, we'll tuck you in at night type stuff, I don't know what an individual basic plan would cost but it would still be expensive and you wouldn't want to do it on a budget.
(but then a business class flight is £4k, so it's relative I suppose)

[Bigyin]

When i was young i didnt even think about pensions. I left the RAF at about 24 and joined the Police and was asked if i wanted to sign over my military pension. Didnt have a clue and asked the copper in training dept what he thought and was told "Do it, you can retire earlier" so i did.

I paid a shitload every month into the pension to the extent at the beginning i almost opted out to cover the mortgage etc but stuck with it thankfully.

The pension has been changed and fucked about with by assorted governments with each promising "this will be the last time" but i think there are now 3 versions of the pension with each one offering a lower return for more being put in. I was in the very fortunate position of being one of the last eligible to leave on the 1987 scheme which meant mine wasnt messed with at all from what i signed up with at the start. The transferring of my military pension meant i was able to leave on a full pension 2 and a 1/4 years before my full 30 years required service.

Because of this i walked out the door aged 51 in June 2019 rather than aged 54 in sept this year. The lump sum made sure i cleared my extensive debts i had been managing for many years and allowed me to put some towards the mortgage as well but thats now my only large outgoing aside usual bills as no loans, CC or finance anymore. I also bought a small holiday rental property which brought in some limited income last summer and hopefully will in future

I spent the first 6 months really busy as we had just moved into a country cottage that needed doing up top to bottom. After that i looked around for a part time job to keep busy and bring in more income to allow us not to have to think too much about future finance. When i was in service we all spoke about retirement and figured we needed about 700 quid a month on top of the pension to bring us to our previous take home wage. I had an option of going back full time on shifts doing something similar for a lot of money but would have put me into 40% tax bracket so fuck that and i wanted less stress and no shifts.

A local bike school was looking for instructors so i thought i would have a look and one thing led to another i am now (or was before the govt locked us down) doing CBT training for kids and novices and renewals to keep them legal. The pay is fairly crap (below minimum wage) but i am doing something i enjoy and want to do so that offsets it entirely. I made enough from it each month to more thn hit my required number and hope to do so again. At the moment i am living off my monthly pension payment so the account is slowly decreasing but not enough to panic about. Lockdown means no income from either training or holiday rental but many others are in a far worse position than i am.

TL;DR ..... pay into a pension as much as you can, its worth it in the end and makes life easier

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I don't begrudge anyone their government pension, especially those that did dangerous jobs, I could have had one if I'd stuck with government employment, but it didn't suit me, my own piss poor pension is a combination of a misspent youth, a poor employment history and leaving jobs because I was bored.

I got fucked over by BT changing the pension scheme and not putting enough money into whilst taking money out of it to give people taking early retirement early pensions, and now there's no money left in it, a colleague who worked for British Steel is in the same situation.

Anyway enjoy life now, you don't know how long you'll live.

[Noggin]

"Seasons" means getting 6 months cold, dark and wet. And short days.

Not necessarily. We have seasons and while we get wet winters ( a necessity when your water comes straight out of the ground) it doesn't rain every day and we have a lot of beautiful weather this time of year. The rain of course helps to keep everything green and growing which is something we feel differently about (although I was amused by your waxing lyrical about how green your island was a few days ago).

Cold and dark? Meh.

The almond trees will be in blossom soon around here and locally we grow a lot of oranges - they're a winter fruit so add a bit of colour to all the green.

My comments were aimed at UK and northern Europe. You went to where you are for similar reasons to us.

We get decent seasons, but you do have to like a bit of snow!! I couldn't live down in the valley permanently or even in Annecy full time as it's too damn hot in the summer and more wet than snow in the winter. Up here I get the best. Sunshine summer and winter. Not too hot summer and lots of lovely snow in the winter. This winter is a bit weird as there has been less sun than normal!! But it'll be back soon

[Bike Breaker]

Out of interest for the non-UK people here, what does it cost per year for health stuff outside of the UK and what level of cover does that bring ?#

Is there any likely reciprocal health cover like the EHIC card we have (i assume) now lost? If so, what would that cover ? If not, do the have an NHS type service abroad and how does it all work for non-birth residents, can you even get to be classed as a resident enough to get covered ?

The UK government said the EHIC card is still valid until each individual card expires. After that, it will issue a new card which will have the same benefits in the EU as the existing one. There are some places that don't accept it and not all countries provide the same emergency healthcare.

[Yorick]

Out of interest for the non-UK people here, what does it cost per year for health stuff outside of the UK and what level of cover does that bring ?#

Is there any likely reciprocal health cover like the EHIC card we have (i assume) now lost? If so, what would that cover ? If not, do the have an NHS type service abroad and how does it all work for non-birth residents, can you even get to be classed as a resident enough to get covered ?

The UK government said the EHIC card is still valid until each individual card expires. After that, it will issue a new card which will have the same benefits in the EU as the existing one. There are some places that don't accept it and not all countries provide the same emergency healthcare.

That doesn't apply to residents