The Economic Situation and us....

Jonbvn

baileysbattlebus wrote: »

I haven't looked at Malaysia, though I did know they had a retirement programme. I will have a look at it tonight.

OH lived in Singapore for a while and did some touring in Malaysia - don't know what he thought of it. I dare say he will tell me.

I would suggest you ignore the latest on Sky News regarding the caning of a woman for drinking alcohol.

bendix

Jonbvn wrote: »

Although Thailand is a fantastic tourist destination, I am not convinced that it is such a great place to retire to. Language and visa issues spring to mind immmediately.

Have you considered Malaysia? Most people speak English, and they offer a program called Malaysia my 2nd Home Program which overcomes the visa issue.

I lived and worked in Thailand for five years. Happiest time of my life. While there, I learned to speak the language and acquired a wife. Such is life.

Visa issues are not a problem for retirees. From the age of 50 you get a rolling one year retirement visa if you can show either 800,000 baht (£14,000) in a bank account, or have evidence of income of around £1000 per month income. This is for single people. If you're married to a local, the financial requirements are halved.

Generali

bendix wrote: »

I lived and worked in Thailand for five years. Happiest time of my life. While there, I learned to speak the language and acquired a wife. Such is life.

Visa issues are not a problem for retirees. From the age of 50 you get a rolling one year retirement visa if you can show either 800,000 baht (£14,000) in a bank account, or have evidence of income of around £1000 per month income. This is for single people. If you're married to a local, the financial requirements are halved.

So what's the advice? Ditch the OH and marry a Thai as it's more MSE!

bendix

Generali wrote: »

So what's the advice? Ditch the OH and marry a Thai as it's more MSE!

Whatever works for you, Generali . . .

Harry_Powell

Getting back to the finances...

Are you not going to be penalised quite significantly on your OH's pension if you take it early at 56 instead of the more usual age of 60 or 65?

Do you have any specific health issues that makes you want to retire at such a relatively young age? As you pointed out, you'll have half your current income if you retire at 56, have to sell your current home to sweeten the pot and possibly may have to move to a country with a cheaper standard of living. Given these choices I think I'd rather carry on working, certainly until my pensions and investments hit 75% of my current income.

Thrugelmir

Harry_Powell wrote: »

certainly until my pensions and investments hit 75% of my current income.

at 87,88, 89 ? :rolleyes:

Jonbvn

bendix wrote: »

Visa issues are not a problem for retirees. From the age of 50 you get a rolling one year retirement visa if you can show either 800,000 baht (£14,000) in a bank account, or have evidence of income of around £1000 per month income. This is for single people. If you're married to a local, the financial requirements are halved.

They also change the visa rules for farangs every second day!;)

Harry_Powell

Thrugelmir wrote: »

at 87,88, 89 ? :rolleyes:

If the OP is going to be on 50% income at age 56, then it's not inconceivable to believe that they could be on 75% income at age 65, given gains in the stockmarket & housing markets (both of which are at or close to rock bottom right now) a better rate on their pension or annuity and the fact that they will receive their state pension.

Personally I think rather than work, work, work then stop, stop, stop, I would hope that I put in a bit of planning first and started to wind down. For example, if I were in the OP's position with what I guess is a family home, I'd be looking to downsize before I retired so that I had a much better idea of the amount of income I would need in retirement. A smaller house is cheaper to run, usually has cheaper council tax, etc. It would also give me an opportunity to do any building/renovation work on the new house while I still had an income. Plus I could invest the money gained from downsizing and it would have time to grow - again giving me an indication of expected income.

Retiring early if fine if you have health issues (which means you can also qualify for a larger pension due to reduced life expentancy) but it's a luxury most people cannot afford and while it's a very attractive proposition it should not be approached lightly, especially if you're going to be on half your working income and when that income is mostly dependant on one person (if the OP's OH dies then the income from the pension will be greatly reduced to half or even a third).

Thrugelmir

Harry_Powell wrote: »

If the OP is going to be on 50% income at age 56, then it's not inconceivable to believe that they could be on 75% income at age 65, given gains in the stockmarket & housing markets (both of which are at or close to rock bottom right now) a better rate on their pension or annuity and the fact that they will receive their state pension.

Personally I think rather than work, work, work then stop, stop, stop, I would hope that I put in a bit of planning first and started to wind down. For example, if I were in the OP's position with what I guess is a family home, I'd be looking to downsize before I retired so that I had a much better idea of the amount of income I would need in retirement. A smaller house is cheaper to run, usually has cheaper council tax, etc. It would also give me an opportunity to do any building/renovation work on the new house while I still had an income. Plus I could invest the money gained from downsizing and it would have time to grow - again giving me an indication of expected income.

Retiring early if fine if you have health issues (which means you can also qualify for a larger pension due to reduced life expentancy) but it's a luxury most people cannot afford and while it's a very attractive proposition it should not be approached lightly, especially if you're going to be on half your working income and when that income is mostly dependant on one person (if the OP's OH dies then the income from the pension will be greatly reduced to half or even a third).

Markets are at rock bottom ( or possibly not) for a reason. To invest now on that basis would be sheer folly. Markets are bi directional.

baileysbattlebus

Harry_Powell wrote: »

Getting back to the finances...

Are you not going to be penalised quite significantly on your OH's pension if you take it early at 56 instead of the more usual age of 60 or 65?

Do you have any specific health issues that makes you want to retire at such a relatively young age? As you pointed out, you'll have half your current income if you retire at 56, have to sell your current home to sweeten the pot and possibly may have to move to a country with a cheaper standard of living. Given these choices I think I'd rather carry on working, certainly until my pensions and investments hit 75% of my current income.

Yes we do lose quite a bit of OH's pension - we lost even more of mine as I took it at 50 -

Our outlook on it was - you don't know what's round the corner and that we would take the pension at the earliest feasible opportunity and have some time while we were relatively young to enjoy ourselves. Life is too short.

We married at 21 and started a family at 25 - so our younger years were spent on housing and children and very little else.

We lost my mother at 56, a BIL at 52, I have lost several friends to cancer in their mid to late 50's, our neighbour (a single parent) was buried last week, on Thursday, in his 50's and left 2 school age (teenage) children, he was ill for 3 months. These are the main reasons we want to retire early. I know life expectancy is getting longer but it's not guaranteed for everyone. I know I could be knocked over by a bus.

We don't have to sell the house - but it makes sense to sell it. The house has 5 bedrooms, study, utility, large lounge, large kitchen, large dining room - it is quite a large family house - we brought our family up in it. We will rattle around in it like peas on a drum.

We would like a smaller 3 bed house if we stay in the UK, we don't have to live abroad - it is an option that I have been mulling around for a little while. It probably won't happen - but who knows.

Although we will have under half of our current income - £40k a year is more than enough to allow us to live fairly comfortably. People bring up familes on less. Both pensions are index linked - there is no maximum rise per year - but there is a minimum of 3%, it is 3% or the rate of inflation which ever is greater. So inflation won't eat up the income.

OH also has a hobby that is a small money maker, he builds and flies model planes - piston engined and jet engined. He makes and sells fibre glass bits for some of his own plans (and sells the plans) and bits for other planes he has built. So it could be grown if he wanted it too, currently just a few thousand a year and he isn't trying - it's by word of mouth. So there is potential there and it is something he really enjoys doing.



The retirement aspect is something we've looked into carefully. Also we won't be paying NI - OH should fall out of the higher tax bracket too. And in 10 years there will be 2 full state pensions - if they are still around.