Average age of death

Albermarle

SouthCoastBoy said:

Linton said:

Thrugelmir said:

hugheskevi said:

ukdw said:

A bit like average life expectancy getting later the older you get (as averages are dragged down by people who die young)
 I suspect that healthy life expectancy works in the same way.

A guy in his 60s in a 5 mile trail race I ran on Wednesday night finished in 37 minutes - running faster than 7 and a half minute miles over trails and hills at that age is impressive, and I would say he looked like he was in his 40s from his appearance.

A guy I worked with some years ago was fit as a fiddle. Teetotaller, never ever smoked, no excess bodyweight. At 39 developed an incurable brain tumor. Spent the last 3 months of his life in a hospice. We all live our daily lives hanging by a thread. Make the most of every day. As it maybe our last. 

The mothers of two people I know reached their 100th birthday this year.  Dont spend today what you may need tomorrow.

The dichotomy of life. I think the morale of the story is live for today with an eye on the future, but don't wish your life away and say, "when I retire...", just do it now. I know I am definitely guilty of putting too much emphasis on the future. I need to change my thinking, covid has helped me realise how fragile everything is.

Yes and on the other hand people who say just live for today and forget about tomorrow , are also wrong as  unless you are unlucky or very old , there will be a lot of tomorrows to deal with.
Difficult to get the balance right..... 

sevenhills

Albermarle said:

Difficult to get the balance right..... 

Someone like myself that earns £15K+ per year might not be too worried about relying on the state pension and a small amount of cash, whereas someone that is used to earning £30K+ might be fearful of having to rely on the state pension and PIP.

The average earning of posters on here will be much higher than the national average.

cfw1994

SouthCoastBoy said:

Linton said:

Thrugelmir said:

hugheskevi said:

ukdw said:

A bit like average life expectancy getting later the older you get (as averages are dragged down by people who die young)
 I suspect that healthy life expectancy works in the same way.

A guy in his 60s in a 5 mile trail race I ran on Wednesday night finished in 37 minutes - running faster than 7 and a half minute miles over trails and hills at that age is impressive, and I would say he looked like he was in his 40s from his appearance.

A guy I worked with some years ago was fit as a fiddle. Teetotaller, never ever smoked, no excess bodyweight. At 39 developed an incurable brain tumor. Spent the last 3 months of his life in a hospice. We all live our daily lives hanging by a thread. Make the most of every day. As it maybe our last. 

The mothers of two people I know reached their 100th birthday this year.  Dont spend today what you may need tomorrow.

The dichotomy of life. I think the morale of the story is live for today with an eye on the future, but don't wish your life away and say, "when I retire...", just do it now. I know I am definitely guilty of putting too much emphasis on the future. I need to change my thinking, covid has helped me realise how fragile everything is.

Hey, that’s my signature you described!!

Malthusian

sevenhills said:

The average earning of posters on here will be much higher than the national average.

Average UK national household income is £47kpa before tax (although the median is considerably lower). There will definitely be some high earning posters on here but I think the MSE Pensions forum regulars can probably be fairly described as a mix of the comfortably off and the happily frugal, with not that many high rollers.

Just an anecdotal instinct formed by observing the type of issues that tend to come up on this forum and the amounts of money involved.

If threads on here were along the lines of "Is it better to put my private jet in my wife's name or in an offshore company" I'd agree.

Terron

Malthusian said:

sevenhills said:

The average earning of posters on here will be much higher than the national average.

Average UK national household income is £47kpa before tax (although the median is considerably lower). There will definitely be some high earning posters on here but I think the MSE Pensions forum regulars can probably be fairly described as a mix of the comfortably off and the happily frugal, with not that many high rollers.

Just an anecdotal instinct formed by observing the type of issues that tend to come up on this forum and the amounts of money involved.

If threads on here were along the lines of "Is it better to put my private jet in my wife's name or in an offshore company" I'd agree.

The median median household income is about £30k and median is almost certainly the better statistic to use given that the distribution is so skewed. I am pretty certain that the median for forum regulars is higher, but the lack of extremely high incomes probably reduces the skewness. The benefit forum likely has a lower median.

Last year I moved above the UK median for the first time since 2013 due to starting to take some pensions.

In a property forum I read regularly there was disagreement last year about whether £75k is an average income. I am certainly well below the median there.

Ibrahim5

Generally to retire early you need a large income and invest a large proportion of it. Once you actually retire your INCOME is normally quite low. You would have to have a massive amount invested to earn a good income. However you use your investments as income. I find it strange because I am a millionaire which I always think of as 'rich'. However I can't spend that much because it has to last a long time (hopefully) and a lot of it is tied up in property.

Terron

Ibrahim5 said:

Generally to retire early you need a large income and invest a large proportion of it. Once you actually retire your INCOME is normally quite low. You would have to have a massive amount invested to earn a good income. However you use your investments as income. I find it strange because I am a millionaire which I always think of as 'rich'. However I can't spend that much because it has to last a long time (hopefully) and a lot of it is tied up in property.

I too am a millionaire with a lot of my wealth tied up in property, mostly BTLs. Until I started taking my pensions I was making less than the UK median income, but that was plenty to live on. Now I have more disposable income than I every had when I was working full time, mainly due to not saving into my pension.

A million is more than enough to generate a decent income (~£25k) without using up capital. Though BTLs require more work than some investments you can pay people to do most of it for you (I do). I operate in an area with high yields that I know well, as I grew up here. That may not be possible for other people, but I am sure there are alternatives. Being able to live comfortably whilst only working about 1 hour a week feels pretty good to me.

I suppose if most of your wealth is tied up in your home it might be different. My home is probably worth about £250k.

I go have a couple of DB pensions and a GAR. They have limited protection against inflation, but I have a full state pension to look forward to in a few years.

I started to spend more but was stopped by Corvid. I had hoped to go to watch some of the Ashes in Australia later this year.

Ibrahim5

I don't have any property investments just my main home. If you spend £25K a year people don't really equate that to the 'millionaire' lifestyle.

Terron

Ibrahim5 said:

I don't have any property investments just my main home. If you spend £25K a year people don't really equate that to the 'millionaire' lifestyle.

Have you read The Millionaire Next Door? Most millionaires don't live the 'millionaire' lifestyle. Spending a lot does not go with accumulating wealth.

NedS

Ibrahim5 said:

I don't have any property investments just my main home. If you spend £25K a year people don't really equate that to the 'millionaire' lifestyle.

It equates perfectly to me. Say your house is worth around £400k and you have a pension pot of around £600k (making you a millionaire), and you draw 4% income, you have £24k per year, before tax, to spend. If you are lucky, that £600k is evenly split with your spouse and you can draw your income over two tax allowances and avoid paying any income tax.

Perhaps you were confusing millionaire with billionaire