Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

bendix

property.advert wrote: »

I
If I retire there, my "pot" will need to be large enough and with enough growth sufficient for me to go and live anywhere. The choice of Thailand will not be made on economic grounds.

Can't argue with that. My choice of Thailand is based on personal grounds - the economic argument is a happy bonus.

property.advert

bendix wrote: »

Can't argue with that. My choice of Thailand is based on personal grounds - the economic argument is a happy bonus.

Mine too. See you on the beach for a cold one !

bendix

Pobby wrote: »

Just has an e-mail from a couple of friends in Spain. They were living there on the cheap when a few years back you could. I think it was house bought and about £160 a week coming in. That in fact was doable.

The mail told me that so many were returning to the UK. Trying to sell homes with little success. We did think about a down size a few years back and buying an apartment there but it didn`t happen. Maybe for the good. I have to admit that our plan was to go there in a couple of years from now and living on about £400 a week.

So many are returning because they didn't plan it properly. Going overseas to live on £160 a week and not planning any contingencies to cover things like FX fluctuations is just plain folly.

It happens all the time in Thailand too. My plan is to have at least double what I need to live on to allow for reinvestment to cover inflation and any FX issues.

property.advert

bendix wrote: »

So many are returning because they didn't plan it properly. Going overseas to live on £160 a week and not planning any contingencies to cover things like FX fluctuations is just plain folly.

It happens all the time in Thailand too. My plan is to have at least double what I need to live on to allow for reinvestment to cover inflation and any FX issues.

I thought I would retire in Spain but the Euro largely killed that idea off some years ago. I suppose I saw Spain as a relatively cheaper place to live, which it was, compared to the UK, but property prices where I was going to go just rushed ahead and the GBP/EUR rate seemed to be eternally falling. The basic cost of simply living went through the roof as well.

I used to travel to Germany, Italy and Spain quite regularly and never bother about prices but with the Euro so strong against the pound, save the last period, it just became impossible to rationally take so many trips. Prior to that and even back into the days pre Euro, it was cheaper for me to fly to Germany, spend a couple of nights in a hotel, booze and eat to my heart's content and still have a cheaper weekend than going out in London for similar fayre.

exil

Some of these "numbers" are more than I spend now - and I earn a good salary and don't deny myself luxuries. Are we being realistic here?

jamesd

exil, a lot depends on what you're used to living on. Someone used to spending little will be happy on a lower income than someone used to spending a lot more. The one who's used to spending a lot mroe should have the money to put aside to produce a higher income in retirement.

exil

In which case they may not need any advice from me, who is currently wondering how I will meet my limited "numbers" even with a good occupational pension, no mortgage and 4 years salary in investments and savings.

The debate on Thailand as a haven for retirement seems bizarre - have these people not looked at the news recently?

jamesd

It's a developing country. A bigger long term worry is that price inflation may well make it gradually too expensive as it develops. It's good that the place is developing but a place that isn't developing would be a better long term prospect for continued low costs.

bendix

exil wrote: »

The debate on Thailand as a haven for retirement seems bizarre - have these people not looked at the news recently?

Yes, I have. Plus I lived there for five years and have property there, understand the political situation much better than Sky TV instant experts and Fleet Street headline writers.

The country is going through some turmoil. It will pass.

If you based your retirement decision based on media coverage, I would have thought the UK - with all its problems - would be way down any list of desirable places to be with its chav culture, its random violence, its endemic social problems, its benefit culture and its debt.

bendix

jamesd wrote: »

It's a developing country. A bigger long term worry is that price inflation may well make it gradually too expensive as it develops. It's good that the place is developing but a place that isn't developing would be a better long term prospect for continued low costs.

Oh well, Afghanistan it is, then.

Thailand will remain relatively cheap. There are simply too many people squeezed out of the wealth being made by the development to allow costs to soar too much. THAT is what the current turmoil is all about, at its most basic root cause.