Retirement......

[TDYER63]

8 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

that not directly related is it?  The point I am making is that the state pension should not be means tested.  Its an entitlement not a benefit. Anyway, those with significant retirement incomes are taxed already in the normal way as it’s treated like any other income.

It is directly related. You are criticising an FM for potentially means testing a pension( utter bullshit IMO and I am not a fan of him) yet uncritical of someone who pays less than 25 % tax on almost £2 mio of income . Its the tax principle I was referring to, whether it be pension or otherwise. 
And people with generous retirement pensions absolutely get far more tax advantages than those who do not.
Those with significant retirement incomes can cope fine with a bit of extra tax.

Of course it all depends on someones conscience on how to distribute wealth. 

[Malcolm]

26 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

It is directly related. You are criticising an FM for potentially means testing a pension( utter bullshit IMO and I am not a fan of him) yet uncritical of someone who pays less than 25 % tax on almost £2 mio of income . Its the tax principle I was referring to, whether it be pension or otherwise. 
And people with generous retirement pensions absolutely get far more tax advantages than those who do not.
Those with significant retirement incomes can cope fine with a bit of extra tax.

Of course it all depends on someones conscience on how to distribute wealth. 

its down to how income, dividends and capital gains are taxed.  If you are a business owner and can control how you are rewarded you have a number of advantages. Not that I necessarily agree with that.

[TDYER63]

7 hours ago, slasher said:

😂 That’s one app I won’t be downloading!

I quite admire those who have a bit of clarity about the whole thing like Ramy & killiefaetheferry. I’m normally quite a decisive person but retirement seems like such a massive decision that has crept up on me. Mrs Slasher is a bit younger and stupidly didn’t pay into anything until you had to, so she will be years behind me as well which is another factor to consider. 
I guess I’ll kick the can down the road a bit and hope swathing budget cuts take the decision oot ma hands! 😂

I think you will know the time to go when it comes. I have been very indecisive up till now, making excuses to keep working, but various things have now made me more certain. 
I obviously dont know your own personal financial situation but if Mrs S is behind I would probably be looking to try and add more to her pension if there is any spare monthly cash . You dont want to have a big imbalance and you end up paying too much tax and Mrs S having plenty of capacity. Not that I am an advisor. Or Mrs Slashers lawyer !
DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER !!  😁

For anyone lucky enough to be earning above the standard tax bracket , if you can get by on the cash you earn at standard rate , get the top level earnings into a pension and save yourself 40% . Assuming the pension rules stay as they are, when  you retire you will get 25% of it tax free and possibly the remainder at standard rate tax  if your pension is less than whatever the top tax band is at that time. 

Though remember investments can go down as well as up 👀

 

[Big Ramy 1314]

Now, what about benefits? The whole time I was employed by my work I had dental, eye glasses, prescription drugs, massage, counciling... Now that I have retired, I can pay for these benefits, £70 a month, I refused. My wife works for the Canadian government, so she has transferred me to her benefits..

[Redz]

8 minutes ago, Big Ramy 1314 said:

Now, what about benefits? The whole time I was employed by my work I had dental, eye glasses, prescription drugs, massage, counciling... Now that I have retired, I can pay for these benefits, £70 a month, I refused. My wife works for the Canadian government, so she has transferred me to her benefits..

Knew it 🙄

[Big Ramy 1314]

7 minutes ago, Redz said:

Knew it 🙄

🤣🤣. Now that's funny!!

[Redz]

20 minutes ago, Big Ramy 1314 said:

🤣🤣. Now that's funny!!

It's a good thread / read Ramy 

Probably the most I've posted in years.......

[RDFH64]

1 hour ago, Big Ramy 1314 said:

Now, what about benefits? The whole time I was employed by my work I had dental, eye glasses, prescription drugs, massage, counciling... Now that I have retired, I can pay for these benefits, £70 a month, I refused. My wife works for the Canadian government, so she has transferred me to her benefits..

So you’ll still be able to get your councilling😜

[fringo]

1 hour ago, Redz said:

Knew it 🙄

😃

[duncan II]

1 hour ago, Redz said:

It's a good thread / read Ramy 

Probably the most I've posted in years.......

It is a good thread, but making me feel awful about some of my early career decisions. I'm 50 now and genuinely don't see how I'll be able to retire before 67 or whatever. Those (the majority here?) talking about retiring in 50s, it blows my mind. I've had good professional level posts since graduating late 20s but not made great pension provision. I had a council pension, for example, but in order to consolidate at one point, I moved it to an inferior product. I then worked for myself a wee while and had no provision. Latterly, due to ill health, I've moved to a home-based, poorly paid job. I pay into a pension but I think my combined private pensions over the years will be minuscule, therefore will be working till state pension age. And then pick up that pittance.

Enjoy your respective retirements, folks, but think of us mere mortals.

[EddardStark]

I’m 59 in Sept. State Pension starts in 8 years if I make it that far😊. I have investments, private pensions and savings which hopefully will still mean something in 8 years. 
 

Truth be told I don’t think retiring early is an appealing thought as I can’t envisage what I would do. We do a lot of weekend walking and short breaks already so not sure retiring would enhance those activities. 
 

I was made redundant 8 years ago from a highly paid job so I’ve kind of retired from high earnings if you know what I mean 😂. 
 

Been working for the Civil Service for 4 years now. No stress, no pressure to work beyond my hours and hybrid working. I am tapping into my savings to sustain a moderate lifestyle though. So unless ill health intervenes I’ll keep on working. 
 

I genuinely feel sorry for those of working age  at 50 years and younger. They are genuinely being shafted whilst pensioners on very very good private or defined pensions have just received a 10.1% increase in their state pension. 
 

I don’t think there will  be a state pension in 50 years time. 

Edited April 7, 2023 by EddardStark

[Malcolm]

46 minutes ago, EddardStark said:

I’m 59 in Sept. State Pension starts in 8 years if I make it that far😊. I have investments, private pensions and savings which hopefully will still mean something in 8 years. 
 

Truth be told I don’t think retiring early is an appealing thought as I can’t envisage what I would do. We do a lot of weekend walking and short breaks already so not sure retiring would enhance those activities. 
 

I was made redundant 8 years ago from a highly paid job so I’ve kind of retired from high earnings if you know what I mean 😂. 
 

Been working for the Civil Service for 4 years now. No stress, no pressure to work beyond my hours and hybrid working. I am tapping into my savings to sustain a moderate lifestyle though. So unless ill health intervenes I’ll keep on working. 
 

I genuinely feel sorry for those of working age  at 50 years and younger. They are genuinely being shafted whilst pensioners on very very good private or defined pensions have just received a 10.1% increase in their state pension. 
 

I don’t think there will  be a state pension in 50 years time. 

 

there are too many old people living too long that the maths are starting to fail.  
 

combine that with the old assumption that 7% annual growth in western economic investment would continue forever which it is now not and you can see there is a huuuuge problem.

 

this (along with climate change) is why Governments globally are planning the Great Reset.  The introduction of digital currency, government control and a revaluation of financial assets that will make everyone poorer.  I expect we will see a new digital currency introduced with some kind of exchange rate against existing currency that gradually erodes their value.  You will only be able to spend the new digital currency.

The reality is that it’s all a big ponzi scheme and the actual tangible assets are a scarce resource.  We are all going to be poorer.  

 

 

 

[slasher]

12 hours ago, duncan II said:

It is a good thread, but making me feel awful about some of my early career decisions. I'm 50 now and genuinely don't see how I'll be able to retire before 67 or whatever. Those (the majority here?) talking about retiring in 50s, it blows my mind. I've had good professional level posts since graduating late 20s but not made great pension provision. I had a council pension, for example, but in order to consolidate at one point, I moved it to an inferior product. I then worked for myself a wee while and had no provision. Latterly, due to ill health, I've moved to a home-based, poorly paid job. I pay into a pension but I think my combined private pensions over the years will be minuscule, therefore will be working till state pension age. And then pick up that pittance.

Enjoy your respective retirements, folks, but think of us mere mortals.

Sorry to hear that m8 but you’re definitely not alone on that score. Plenty of women in particular could tell you a similar story, years out of the workplace to raise a family, years working part time just to pay child care and no extra money for a pension.

I’ve the union man at Ravenscraig to thank for mine. As soon as I turned 18 he stuck a form in front of me and said ‘here, get that fuckin signed, you’ll thank me later!’ How right he was. I nearly cancelled it a couple of times when I saw how much it was costing but thank fuck i didn’t.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good! 👍

[slasher]

15 hours ago, TDYER63 said:

I think you will know the time to go when it comes. I have been very indecisive up till now, making excuses to keep working, but various things have now made me more certain. 
I obviously dont know your own personal financial situation but if Mrs S is behind I would probably be looking to try and add more to her pension if there is any spare monthly cash . You dont want to have a big imbalance and you end up paying too much tax and Mrs S having plenty of capacity. Not that I am an advisor. Or Mrs Slashers lawyer !
DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER !!  😁

For anyone lucky enough to be earning above the standard tax bracket , if you can get by on the cash you earn at standard rate , get the top level earnings into a pension and save yourself 40% . Assuming the pension rules stay as they are, when  you retire you will get 25% of it tax free and possibly the remainder at standard rate tax  if your pension is less than whatever the top tax band is at that time. 

Though remember investments can go down as well as up 👀

 

Thanks Tidy!

I am going to look into loading a lump sum into Mrs Slashers pension and maybe some AVC’s to see what difference that would make. There’s not much fun to be had being ‘home alone’ with no one to play with.

Ironically, for the first time in a long time she is actually loving her job and there’s a real possibility of career advancement. Who knows how she’ll feel in a few years though!

The joys of marrying a younger model 😂

Edited April 7, 2023 by slasher

[duncan II]

1 hour ago, slasher said:

Sorry to hear that m8 but you’re definitely not alone on that score. Plenty of women in particular could tell you a similar story, years out of the workplace to raise a family, years working part time just to pay child care and no extra money for a pension.

I’ve the union man at Ravenscraig to thank for mine. As soon as I turned 18 he stuck a form in front of me and said ‘here, get that fuckin signed, you’ll thank me later!’ How right he was. I nearly cancelled it a couple of times when I saw how much it was costing but thank fuck i didn’t.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good! 👍

Yeah, that was good advice you got. 👍

Ach, I'm not bitter. I made my bed. And I'm not gonna be on the streets. As you say, others will be in a similar position or worse off.

[TDYER63]

1 hour ago, slasher said:

Sorry to hear that m8 but you’re definitely not alone on that score. Plenty of women in particular could tell you a similar story, years out of the workplace to raise a family, years working part time just to pay child care and no extra money for a pension.

I’ve the union man at Ravenscraig to thank for mine. As soon as I turned 18 he stuck a form in front of me and said ‘here, get that fuckin signed, you’ll thank me later!’ How right he was. I nearly cancelled it a couple of times when I saw how much it was costing but thank fuck i didn’t.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good! 👍

Totally agree. I forced my husband to start a personal pension in the late 80’s when we were in our 20’s , but it was absolute luck more than clever financial planning. I just did it because I had a non contributory pension so we could afford one of us to pay some money into another pension. When you dont see the money going into your bank account every month you dont miss it and adapt. Easy to say though with 2 salaries coming into the home.

There is a bit of emotional guilt though for women who work full time with kids. I only had a 6 month break from work with both my kids and have worked full time since 1980. At the time you just get on with it. I was the main source of income. Looking back now though I feel I missed out on a lot of my kid’s childhood . I was so lucky my mum helped with childcare. But I worked every weekend and 3 weekdays for 4 years so she only had the kids 3 days a week.

When our mortgage finished, about 8 years ago, I just paid all the money I was paying into my pension. Otherwise I would have just squandered it. That has helped a lot. 
Also, when we had a mortgage we had some rainy day savings. It was for meant for emergency so I did not want to put it towards my mortgage. So I got an offset mortgage meaning i was only borrowing the difference between my mortgage and my savings, it meant the interest was a lot lower and more capital was being repaid. 
This is just an idea to consider  for anyone in this situation. 

@duncan IIyou are due a bit of good fortune. As Slasher says, better to be lucky than good. Loads of people work their butt off and still struggle, others are in the right place at the right time. Life is not an even playing field. 

[TDYER63]

1 hour ago, slasher said:

Thanks Tidy!

I am going to look into loading a lump sum into Mrs Slashers pension and maybe some AVC’s to see what difference that would make. There’s not much fun to be had being ‘home alone’ with no one to play with.

Ironically, for the first time in a long time she is actually loving her job and there’s a real possibility of career advancement. Who knows how she’ll feel in a few years though!

The joys of marrying a younger model 😂

😂 oh my heart bleeds for you. 
I’m lovin the diversity on here what with your younger model and killae’s more mature lady. 
My friend is 13 years younger than her husband. He has just retired last year and she is freakin out as all he does is watch TV. He is a keen all year round golfer but has hardly been to the golf. So I think you , and others, are wise to be considering what you would do in retirement before taking the plunge. 
Best of luck to Mrs S , hope she breaks through that glass ceiling . Girl power ! 💪😁

[duncan II]

14 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

 

@duncan IIyou are due a bit of good fortune. As Slasher says, better to be lucky than good. Loads of people work their butt off and still struggle, others are in the right place at the right time. Life is not an even playing field. 

👍

My wife's a teacher so she's loaded! We'll be ok. Also ever hopeful my 8-year-old will become a well-paid gaming genius and keep me in my old age. 😄

[phart]

15 hours ago, duncan II said:

It is a good thread, but making me feel awful about some of my early career decisions. I'm 50 now and genuinely don't see how I'll be able to retire before 67 or whatever. Those (the majority here?) talking about retiring in 50s, it blows my mind. I've had good professional level posts since graduating late 20s but not made great pension provision. I had a council pension, for example, but in order to consolidate at one point, I moved it to an inferior product. I then worked for myself a wee while and had no provision. Latterly, due to ill health, I've moved to a home-based, poorly paid job. I pay into a pension but I think my combined private pensions over the years will be minuscule, therefore will be working till state pension age. And then pick up that pittance.

Enjoy your respective retirements, folks, but think of us mere mortals.

Don't worry I have no pension to speak of. I've been primary caregiver to my gran for vast majority of my adult life. I'll not be retiring at all.

I've worked for half a year at a time when able to, and i've been collecting qualifications as I can along the way. The rate my gran is going though she might need me for another 10 years and that's her 95 now.

Probably be in the 70's retirement age by the time i get there.

[killiefaetheferry]

36 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

with your younger model and killae’s more mature lady ?????????????????????????????

[killiefaetheferry]

What gave you that impression? She's 5-6 years younger than me 😂

[TDYER63]

37 minutes ago, duncan II said:

👍

My wife's a teacher so she's loaded! We'll be ok. Also ever hopeful my 8-year-old will become a well-paid gaming genius and keep me in my old age. 😄

😂

You married a teacher so that was definitely a good decision on your part. 

And  yeah, forget all that bullshit about kids spending too much time on consoles, when did playing Barbies ever make anyone a millionaire 😁
 

[TDYER63]

24 minutes ago, killiefaetheferry said:

What gave you that impression? She's 5-6 years younger than me 😂

😂😂 I must have misread your post.

In that case forget diversity, ya bunch of shallow bassas 😁

 

 

[ThistleWhistle]

Sign of the times unfortunately that Snow White's going need make do with 6 but probably glad it's Grumpy taking early retirement 😉 

Hope you enjoy it Ramy - all the best 👍 

[bonzo]

On 4/6/2023 at 8:21 PM, duncan II said:

It is a good thread, but making me feel awful about some of my early career decisions. I'm 50 now and genuinely don't see how I'll be able to retire before 67 or whatever. Those (the majority here?) talking about retiring in 50s, it blows my mind. I've had good professional level posts since graduating late 20s but not made great pension provision. I had a council pension, for example, but in order to consolidate at one point, I moved it to an inferior product. I then worked for myself a wee while and had no provision. Latterly, due to ill health, I've moved to a home-based, poorly paid job. I pay into a pension but I think my combined private pensions over the years will be minuscule, therefore will be working till state pension age. And then pick up that pittance.

Enjoy your respective retirements, folks, but think of us mere mortals.

Ducan, I'm with you... haven't got a pot to piss in but our work was bought out by a large company about 8 years ago who "forgot to copyright " the product, now a few years we've been making the same product in a different colour. Not saying we're dragons den material but we hope to annoy a couple of bigger companies and they might buy us out......if not I'm working till death's door 😉