Something that doesn't seem to get mentioned

MacMickster

RenovationMan wrote: »

Interesting. What advice would you give to Graham?

My advice would be to pay to spend a few hours with a good independent financial adviser, rather than take investment advice from either an internet forum or the bloke with a big mouth (taxi driver) in the pub.

ILW

Linton wrote: »

RPI linked annuities are around 3%, fixed ones twice that.

Is what worth it? Saving for the future is always better than not saving for the future. Broadly and over the long term share prices tend to keep pace with inflation, although of course with wild fluctuations.

Whether annuities are worth it is another discussion.

That is what I always believed. But lately the BoE have admitted that they are happy to sacrifice savers through high inflation and low IRs to bail out those that took on too much debt. It does appear thet "the right thing to do" may have changed.

atush

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

Once I turned 30 my dad kept nagging incessantly for me to sign up to my employer's pension (it's a final salary one, but not sure how good that's going to end up being). So I did to shut him up. I'm not confident it will ever be worth it.

Too bad you didn't join earlier. Apart from his 'bother' in conceiving you and raising you, this is one of the best things he will have done for you- convince you to join lol.:beer:

It is mad when I hear people turing down a FS scheme. you will get 4x the pension others do for the same contribution.:eek:

Conrad

In town where my business is, and certainly in adjacent towns, there is a fair bit of wealth, but hardly anyone I meet has a pension, it just isn't the done thing. Plenty are savvy though and have thier own investments, typically property here and abroad, a share in a business, own a small shop most of which was converted to room lets - all sorts of imaginative investments really.

I have a small frozen pension, but think about retirment planning to an unhealthy degree, all based around property.

Linton

Snooze wrote: »

I'm pretty radical when it comes to pensions, ie. I don't have one and I don't hany any plans to have one and I am in my mid 30s. I've no doubt that most of the I-have-my-entire-life-already-planned-out-ahead-of-me brigade would be very "OMGWTF" at that but I choose to live my life as it happens and not worry too much about what may - or may not - happen decades into the future.

That said, I do agree with AD9898 that by the time I reach retiring age the state pension either won't exist or be worth so little that it's neither use nor ornament so I do have an ever-growing stash of cash accumulating in Snooze's Under-The-Mattress Savings Account LTD (not Government backed..).

I've seen it happen with other family relatives where they have scrimped, saved and lived frugally all their lives for "a rainy day" and then when they've actually reached retirement to enjoy all that money they've saved they have fallen ill and not been able to enjoy any of it. Sure, they've not had to worry about care costs but to my mind it's just one complete and utter waste of a life. I would much rather use my money when I'm still relatively young, fit and healthy to enjoy it rather than hoping I still am when I reach retirement age.

And anyway, speak to most retirees and they'll tell you how they were over the moon when their retirement day arrived; they went on their cruise, bought the new car, had the extension done, but now they are bored as hell and wish they were back at work! :rotfl: I am actually looking forward to still "working" well into my retirement simply because in my line of work it's something that I enjoy and will keep me occupied when I'm not doing other stuff. I think if you are PC literate and internet savvy you will not have a problem sourcing an income stream to support yourself in your retirement.

Let's hope that after working for another 30 years you are still thinking the same way and that your PC and internet skills will be of something of other than historical interest at that time.

I say let's hope because you wont have a choice.

Having been in the same sort of career, by investing in pensions and ISAs I was able to retire in my mid fities (only 20 years off for you) and now spend half the year on the canals, something I always wanted to do. And I dont miss those interminable meetings.

atush

Going4TheDream wrote: »

No definitely not, I worked with a guy who refused to join what was the best benefit of the job - an excellent final salary pension - he said why should I - the government will keep me in my old age! this was a guy who had worked at the company for about 22 years and was on a relatively good salary so could have retired with a great pension.

I dont know what the answers are, there are too many variants to put everyone in the same boat and come up with a one size fits all solution... personally I am prepared to take responsibility and go without certain so called 'luxuries' to be able to afford to try and help make my future more comfortable.... 20 odd years is a long time to sit in reflection and be bitter about your circumstances when you have no money for even the basics

This guy is a total Numpty. He is going to be sick as a proverbial parrot when he sees the pension his contemporaries will get. What a complete idiot.:eek:

RenovationMan

MacMickster wrote: »

My advice would be to pay to spend a few hours with a good independent financial adviser, rather than take investment advice from either an internet forum or the bloke with a big mouth (taxi driver) in the pub.

I went to an IFA for pensions advice and then posted his advice on here. Even Dunstonh was appalled, especially with the £12k the IFA would have trousered in commission. Incidently the £12k commission was all up front - ie. no trail commission where the IFA periodically checks how the investments are doing and advises accordingly. As far as the experts on the pensions board could tell, the IFA used a tool to select a random group of 'well known' investment funds that had no real underlying strategy or risk assessment and which would have taken all of 15 mins to choose from.

Instead I learned as much as I could from various sources and invested my pensions into a SIPP and managed it myself.

With small investments amounts such as Graham is indicating, going to an IFA would be a waste of time and money. He would be advised to build up his pensions pot in a cheap stakeholder and worry about seeing an IFA when he has actually built up an amount worth worrying about.

MacMickster

Conrad wrote: »

In town where my business is, and certainly in adjacent towns, there is a fair bit of wealth, but hardly anyone I meet has a pension, it just isn't the done thing. Plenty are savvy though and have thier own investments, typically property here and abroad, a share in a business, own a small shop most of which was converted to room lets - all sorts of imaginative investments really.

I have a small frozen pension, but think about retirment planning to an unhealthy degree, all based around property.

But then why not hold these investments in a pension plan?

StevieJ

atush wrote: »

Too bad you didn't join earlier. Apart from his 'bother' in conceiving you and raising you, this is one of the best things he will have done for you- convince you to join lol.:beer:

It is mad when I hear people turing down a FS scheme. you will get 4x the pension others do for the same contribution.:eek:

The top of my list when I was looking for a job as a youngster was FS pension, it meant my retirement was sorted for me without having to do anything

atush

Conrad wrote: »

In town where my business is, and certainly in adjacent towns, there is a fair bit of wealth, but hardly anyone I meet has a pension, it just isn't the done thing. Plenty are savvy though and have thier own investments, typically property here and abroad, a share in a business, own a small shop most of which was converted to room lets - all sorts of imaginative investments really.

I have a small frozen pension, but think about retirment planning to an unhealthy degree, all based around property.

The problem is you have all your eggs in one basket. DOens't make a whole lot of sense.

Nothing wrong with property being a part- even a large part of financial planning but shouldn't be the be all and end all. Instead of reaping 25% tax free lump sums, you'll be paying huge Capital gains taxes when you sell your property in your dotage.