Forum readers

sandsy

So who of us is young then?
'Fraid I can't wear that hat one any more

But I am still young enough to be working - though I am aiming to retire as young as pension plans will allow me.
And in the meantime, I enjoy sharing the knowledge I've accumulated in the financial services industry over the last 25 years.

redbuzzard

Seigfried,

I think you are confusing sensible planning with worry.

I didn't join the RAC because I was worried about breaking down. I joined so I don't have to worry about breaking down when it happens.

I'm not young though, just immature.

UsernameAlreadyExists

dunstonh wrote: »

The fact you hate me and other valuable contributors to this board despite never meeting them is a sad reflection of your personality.

On the contrary, it's not "you" that I despise (because, as you point out, I haven't met you), it's your job - for the reasons I've posted on various other threads.

Retirement planning is a very tender subject for me at the moment. My own father died less than 6 months after he retired from a rapid onset of Fibrosis, and my partner's mother was killed in a head on collision car accident less than two years after her retirement. It makes ME wonder why the hell I should scrimp and save through my working life building a massive pot that I may never get to enjoy.

Part of me wonders if I should spend, spend, spend now and be pouring my money back into the economy now to share it around, and IF I get old think "what the hell" and rely on the state.

Another part of me wants to hoard, hoard, hoard, but I wonder how much I'll enjoy my money when I have alzhemiers and can't get out of a chair without help.

Either way, I won't listen to an FA/IFA thanks

dunstonh

kidmugsy wrote: »

It's not often that you miss the point twice, Dunstonh. One of my points was exactly that the management were to blame, as "take command" might have told you. When the fools should have been thinking like actuaries they were thinking like salesmen.

My other point was that there was no lesson as profound as "... there are forces so much greater than ourselves at work". The forces were all too much like ourselves, the lessons not profound but entirely commonplace.

I get you now.

rs65

siegfried wrote: »

When I was young, the subject of pensions was seldom a matter for discussion

When I started work, final salary schemes seemed to be the norm so I didn't give a thought to retirement, other than thinking that after 40 years I would be retiring on 2/3rds salary.

Sadly not quite the case. My defined benefits scheme ended in 2005 and it has been defined contributions since.

FatherAbraham

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

Retirement planning is a very tender subject for me at the moment. My own father died less than 6 months after he retired from a rapid onset of Fibrosis, and my partner's mother was killed in a head on collision car accident less than two years after her retirement. It makes ME wonder why the hell I should scrimp and save through my working life building a massive pot that I may never get to enjoy.

Because the scenario you describe is quite unlikely to happen (at least in general, it may be different in the specific case of genetic predisposition to diseases). It's human nature to overestimate the risks of significant events, which have recently happened, happening again.

Even if you are likely to have a short life, because of genetic predisposition to a terminal disorder, you shouldn't advise other people in genral not to save for their retirement.

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

Either way, I won't listen to an FA/IFA thanks

Whyever not? Talking to a skilled independent financial advisor could save you plenty of money, and provide solutions to problems which you didn't know how to solve.

Warmest regards,
FA

doughnutmachine

siegfried wrote: »

As a father, I think it is highly commendable that young people should be mindful of the future. I also think that worrying too much about it when you are young can overtake the joy of actually living for the present. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) we don't know what the future holds for any of us, and the lesson of Equitable Life should be that it is impossible to control our futures when there are forces so much greater than ourselves at work.

tbh the lesson i took from equitable life was not to trust opaque investments that give guarantees that are not worth the paper they are written on.

margaretclare

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

On the contrary, it's not "you" that I despise (because, as you point out, I haven't met you), it's your job - for the reasons I've posted on various other threads.

Retirement planning is a very tender subject for me at the moment. My own father died less than 6 months after he retired from a rapid onset of Fibrosis, and my partner's mother was killed in a head on collision car accident less than two years after her retirement. It makes ME wonder why the hell I should scrimp and save through my working life building a massive pot that I may never get to enjoy.

Part of me wonders if I should spend, spend, spend now and be pouring my money back into the economy now to share it around, and IF I get old think "what the hell" and rely on the state.

Another part of me wants to hoard, hoard, hoard, but I wonder how much I'll enjoy my money when I have alzhemiers and can't get out of a chair without help.

Either way, I won't listen to an FA/IFA thanks

This reminds me of a discussion I had with our CAB trainer, when I was learning to be a part-time volunteer adviser. She was a married woman who had chosen not to pay her own NI contributions (which used to be possible, the assumption being that she'd get a smaller pension through her husband's contributions rather than a full one through her own). Her argument: her mother had died in her 60s and hadn't had time to 'get any of her contributions back' so it wasn't worth it. My argument was the opposite. My mother had also 'scrimped and scraped' doing low-paid menial jobs but paying her own NI contributions. She bought stamps for herself - her employers were supposed to do this but didn't bother, just as well she didn't rely on them or she'd have had nothing. The woman she worked for 'didn't see why she wanted to retire at 60' - it was a bit of a 'Remains of the Day' scenario where the old servants were supposed to carry on until they dropped. Anyway, my mother found that she was better off in retirement than she'd ever been during her working life, but she didn't live long to enjoy it: she died in her 64th year. That didn't convince me that it 'wasn't worth paying for'. I paid full NI contributions although I'm in the generations that could have opted for the reduced married women's contribution. Just as well I didn't. I'm in my late 70s now and, although DH and I both worked until we were 67, we each have full retirement pension in our own right plus some annuities, SERPS etc and we do quite well.

My younger daughter was very keen on pension schemes. She always joined her work pension scheme from day one. She did so in November 2002 when she started a new job - it was the LGPS. Well done to her, but she died at the end of that year, only 6 weeks after she started the job with the county council. Her widower was paid 3 months of her full salary and also, the insurance on her earlier pension scheme paid off her mortgage, so that was one thing less he had to worry about.

Part of me wonders if I should spend, spend, spend now and be pouring my money back into the economy now to share it around, and IF I get old think "what the hell" and rely on the state.

Another part of me wants to hoard, hoard, hoard, but I wonder how much I'll enjoy my money when I have Alzheimer's and can't get out of a chair without help.

There is so much that could be said against these arguments. In no particular order, it is not inevitable that you'll get Alzheimer's. Even if you do and you need help to 'get out of a chair', it's much better to be able to pay for the help you need rather than 'rely on the state'. Just what do you think you'd get, if you rely on the state? 'Spend, spend, spend' on what? A lot of consumer goods - well, that will certainly benefit the Chinese economy, our economy to a lesser extent.

I've recently had some elective surgery in the private sector and I paid for that myself. It's called 'cosmetic' but it's really about comfort and convenience. I've saved more since retirement than I ever did before, and mainly, that's because there are 2 of us each with our own income and living simply but comfortably. I couldn't possibly have had that surgery if I'd had to 'rely on the state'. Nor could I have had the bathroom remodelled, a new roof, various modernisation jobs done on this 1930s bungalow. All those are to make life more comfortable, safer, easier for us.