revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I've said it before. You can have anything you want, but it's not free.

We retired at 54/50 on a 3* pension in the sunshine.

My Best Man's missus wanted 5* pension so they both had to work to 65.
They fly first class to 5* resorts. Plenty of dosh.

I hated working so made the right choice for me.

Yep, some folk need lots of money in retirement and like to tell everyone about it.. and some folk don't.

Dodgy69 wrote: Fri Feb 20, 2026 9:54 pm Yep, some folk need lots of money in retirement and like to tell everyone about it.. and some folk don't.

I hope the first category doesn't include me

I see the new state pension is to be £241.30 a week! The wife and i could easily live on £442.60 a week! We both have private pensions to go on top of that too! Maybe I'm worrying too much about keep working to top up my private pension?

The tax man gonna like you, jack in work and start pulling your pensions.

Dodgy69 wrote: Sat Feb 21, 2026 12:54 pm The tax man gonna like you, jack in work and start pulling your pensions.

Don't understand a word of it mate. I'm thick as mince when it comes to financial stuff. I can earn it, but no idea about managing it.

Me and mine.
I gave up on that work thing at Christmas 23, a year before I could collect my state pension.
I lived on the cash found under the sofa for year whilst on my travels, helped by my (ex) Boss who insisted on keeping me on the payroll for several months.
I have an income from a property in the UK,and am living a good life with that and what DWP gives me.
I have a pot, that I have pissed in for what seems like most of my working career, but as of yet, I haven’t taken anything from it. Yet.
My circumstances are that I am waiting for the powers that be to come to a decision on whether I am allowed to stay in my current location. If they decide not to let me stay, then I will be forced to return to Blighty, bad news for me, and bad news for my tenants. That is when I will have to be delving into the Pot o’ Plenty as a replacement income.
If, I am allowed to stay, and so to my tenants, I will be absolutely minted, but would then have that issue of getting hold of my money in the most tax efficient way possible.
Life’s hard.
Got to go, the Lowes boys are just about to come out and show the world what they are capable of in dodgy conditions. (Oh, and Tarren)

Tax avoidance is what it's all about in retirement, avoiding big tax that is. Too many folk are working and they really don't need to. Works pensions allow us to retire early, so we should retire and enjoy our time.

When you're dead it's too late to change things.

Dodgy69 wrote: Fri Feb 20, 2026 9:54 pm Yep, some folk need lots of money in retirement and like to tell everyone about it.. and some folk don't.

I find this so incredibly sad.

My son-in-law went to secondary boarding school and Uni in the UK and he's not a UK national but understands the culture, we were having lunch with the family over at theirs and he was talking about one of my cars in the UK and he asked me if I worry that one of the neighbours sees it and gets resentful and it becomes awkward. His parents have a place in the UK and in the same conversation they told us that they purposely don't have nice cars there just for that reason, they have a base model 3 white Tesla each, purposely chosen so no one will be resentful towards them, I actually felt ashamed to be British when they told me, that's what people think of us.

weeksy wrote: Fri Feb 20, 2026 4:14 pm

But you'd be surprised at the annuity rates, for a 20 years at £40k (a bit more actually), you're not looking near a Mill...

As always it depends on how you want to live and need to live. I won't need a great deal more than i have currently, i think

I've looked and I can't find an annuity that would suit us @ £40k a year, admittedly I didn't limit it at 20yrs, so that's where the difference is.
I'd fear getting to my 70's and still being reasonably fit and having to scrimp and live miserably, I know what it's like to be actually hungry and cold from poverty and I have no wish to revisit. I remember my grandad buying tooth tincture because he couldn't afford a dentist until he got paid.

I don't think we even need £40k a year, we don't spend that now when we're in the UK for a month, so I doubt we'd spend that much, but the odd big purchase or having the roof fixed could skew the number.

IccyV2 wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 11:15 am

weeksy wrote: Fri Feb 20, 2026 4:14 pm

But you'd be surprised at the annuity rates, for a 20 years at £40k (a bit more actually), you're not looking near a Mill...

As always it depends on how you want to live and need to live. I won't need a great deal more than i have currently, i think

I've looked and I can't find an annuity that would suit us @ £40k a year, admittedly I didn't limit it at 20yrs, so that's where the difference is.
I'd fear getting to my 70's and still being reasonably fit and having to scrimp and live miserably, I know what it's like to be actually hungry and cold from poverty and I have no wish to revisit. I remember my grandad buying tooth tincture because he couldn't afford a dentist until he got paid.

I don't think we even need £40k a year, we don't spend that now when we're in the UK for a month, so I doubt we'd spend that much, but the odd big purchase or having the roof fixed could skew the number.

Based upon your posts, you'll be OK

weeksy wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 11:23 am
Based upon your posts, you'll be OK

That's a possibility, but if I live for 40yrs and we have a few black swan events, including some stock market crashes and crazy inflation then I'm at risk the same as the next man, probably more so if the next man has some sort of government backed pension scheme.

I am entirely at risk of the economy, there is only so much you can invest in and if it all goes wrong then I could lose the lot, so it's certainly not a given that anyone with a few quid is automatically bulletproof, unless they've got insane generational wealth and I certainly don't.

This is where these conversations can help, I'm obviously investing in the stock market but it's a risk, I have some money in the bank, I have a few assets and an NS&I account. I'm interested in what other people do to try and spread any risk.

Well things like a defined annuity are bulletproof are they not?

I mean we could all live to 100 and be skint, but surely in your 90s you're going to spend a lot lot less

weeksy wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 11:44 am Well things like a defined annuity are bulletproof are they not?

I mean we could all live to 100 and be skint, but surely in your 90s you're going to spend a lot lot less

It's wise to keep money for medical stuff. To be able to go privately when long NHS waiting lists.

It's more likely you'll need money for assisted living than illness and by fook does that cost some!

Taipan wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:10 pm It's more likely you'll need money for assisted living than illness and by fook does that cost some!

This place is very versatile. When we bought it, it was 3 self contained apartments.
We opened the top 2 together for us and bottom we let.

In later years we could use top apartment for a live-in carer/nurse.

2 bedrooms on middle floor and just wheel us out onto the pool patio, where i am now

Maybe I'm weird but if I'm that tucked that I need a full time carer, I'm not sure if give a shit any more. I'll take a crap bed in a crap nursing home

Yorick wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:17 pm

Taipan wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:10 pm It's more likely you'll need money for assisted living than illness and by fook does that cost some!

This place is very versatile. When we bought it, it was 3 self contained apartments.
We opened the top 2 together for us and bottom we let.

In later years we could use top apartment for a live-in carer/nurse.

2 bedrooms on middle floor and just wheel us out onto the pool patio, where i am now

You wont get many tenants when you smell like a leaky urinal!

weeksy wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 11:44 am Well things like a defined annuity are bulletproof are they not?

I mean we could all live to 100 and be skint, but surely in your 90s you're going to spend a lot lot less

Yeah that's why I was interested when you said you'd got an annuity that paid you out £40k a year because all the ones I'd looked at wanted about a million quid for that and whilst it would be a comfort I think I'd rather have the million quid unlocked and able to be accessed, imagine locking in your million and then finding out you've got a few years to live from some horrible disease, you'd probably want to go a bit mad and enjoy things whilst you can and if it's locked up....

I don't think it's possible but I'm looking to try and strike a balance, or at least find an annuity that is so attractive that it's worth the risk.

I have very little confidence in any of the classic things FAs talk about, property is a dead horse now, all my mates are selling their houses because the law has turned against them, the stock market is very volatile with the new world order and wars springing up all over, Crypto is basically a pyramid scheme and a massive gamble all rolled into one.....there isn't a lot for a bloke who's worked very hard, values every penny and wants the quite reasonable expectation that after all that graft it won't just go up in a puff of smoke.

Taipan wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:21 pm

Yorick wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:17 pm

Taipan wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:10 pm It's more likely you'll need money for assisted living than illness and by fook does that cost some!

This place is very versatile. When we bought it, it was 3 self contained apartments.
We opened the top 2 together for us and bottom we let.

In later years we could use top apartment for a live-in carer/nurse.

2 bedrooms on middle floor and just wheel us out onto the pool patio, where i am now

You wont get many tenants when you smell like a leaky urinal!

He's managed so far