How many years do you factor for retirement?

B0bbyEwing

Apodemus said:

But even if you get all that dialled in correctly, your pessimism is not good for you, as  this recent paper in Nature shows.

I agree, it's not.

But at the same time there's little I can do about it. It's my personality which has been formed from just life events over the years. 
You can palm individual occurrences off but when they build & build & build it just naturally impacts on your view of life.

To double quote as it ties in with each other:

anonmoose said:

Yes I think that's probably it Apodermus. I am a stress head and I think it often goes hand in hand with pessimism. 

In all other areas of my life I optimise health wise (no smoking, no drinking apart from occasional red wine, med diet, plenty of cardio). I am aware that stress management is my weakness so I constantly try to reduce my low level stress, talk myself down and rationalise. Easier said than done though when it's your nature.

To continue off of pessimism, I am also a total stress head. 

My patience is fairly close to zero & I get frustrated & angry very easily. My tolerance of other people has dwindled over the years to be virtually non existent and I firmly believe this stems from my job of serving the public. 

You get told lines like "they can't all be like that" and "it's only a minority that are like that" and I'm afraid I have to disagree. Maybe I just work in the idiot capital of the world but Joe Public has really changed my view of people over the years. I never used to be this way.

"Just change your job". It wont change my view of people. It's gone on too long now, the damage is done. 

B0bbyEwing

anonmoose said:

I do believe pessimism does have health impacts and I have to say all the very old people I have known (in their 90s or beyond) have been naturally optimistic and carefree about life's ups and downs. I don't know if age has made them that way or if being optimistic has helped them reach old age.

And it is correct to factor in technological changes but equally the pressure on the NHS means some things are being missed, people are waiting too long for treatments etc. Hopefully things will improve over time but this is something a pessimist also considers.

Full agreement with this.

It's crazy what effects stress and a negative outlook have. I believe it impacts more than we know & we already know that it impacts. 
BUT, with that said, you can't help who you are. It's all well & good someone telling you to cheer up, calm down & all the rest of it. If you can't do that then you can't do that. 

What I put in bold too - very good point. If only we could know.

Regards the NHS, my views on the medical system probably wont surprise you. 

This is based on being misdiagnosed myself on more than one occasion, having family members being misdiagnosed and cover ups being found and then having friends & relatives start to work in the NHS and see the system from the inside and ... it's worrying. No organisation, no communication and nonsense politics with people needing treatment suffering the consequences. 

Apodemus

B0bbyEwing said:

Apodemus said:

But even if you get all that dialled in correctly, your pessimism is not good for you, as  this recent paper in Nature shows.

I agree, it's not.

But at the same time there's little I can do about it. It's my personality which has been formed from just life events over the years. 
You can palm individual occurrences off but when they build & build & build it just naturally impacts on your view of life.

To double quote as it ties in with each other:

anonmoose said:

Yes I think that's probably it Apodermus. I am a stress head and I think it often goes hand in hand with pessimism. 

In all other areas of my life I optimise health wise (no smoking, no drinking apart from occasional red wine, med diet, plenty of cardio). I am aware that stress management is my weakness so I constantly try to reduce my low level stress, talk myself down and rationalise. Easier said than done though when it's your nature.

To continue off of pessimism, I am also a total stress head. 

My patience is fairly close to zero & I get frustrated & angry very easily. My tolerance of other people has dwindled over the years to be virtually non existent and I firmly believe this stems from my job of serving the public. 

You get told lines like "they can't all be like that" and "it's only a minority that are like that" and I'm afraid I have to disagree. Maybe I just work in the idiot capital of the world but Joe Public has really changed my view of people over the years. I never used to be this way.

"Just change your job". It wont change my view of people. It's gone on too long now, the damage is done. 

I think this is where we differ!     

I, too have spent many years dealing with the Public - both one-to-one and facing angry public meetings alone.  But as an optimist, I see that there is always a chance to change people's views, to get them on-side, to see the good in them and get them to see the good in me.  I used to have serial ranters who would repeatedly 'phone-up spewing hate-and-vengeance but end up thanking me for letting them have their rant and go off in a happier frame of mind.  They probably still thought that I was an incompetent idiot, but I had become their incompetent idiot.

And I don't ascribe to the "it's too late, the damage is done" approach either.  It's never too late, things can always be improved.  I suspect you are rather better at handling the public than you are giving yourself credit for, perhaps you can use these skills to work with a more grateful subset of the public?

FrankRizzo

DE_612183 said:

I work on the basis of regular income - from the point when both me and the mrs are 67 we'll get 2 state pensions and about 3 private pensions - from all of that I get a figure of "X" income per month.

If that's enough that's fine, as the pensions will go up over time anyway.

Sorry if this is a silly question - but if you stop working today e.g aged 51 and you do that calculation based on todays pensions statement - do the figures in the statement reflect todays money at retirement age, or by the time you retire would those figures change to reflect increased costs at retirement age?

I have some personal issues and would like to retire at 51 and obviously not access my pension. I think savings would allow me to live a basic life until retirement age but im concerned when i finally get my pension would i be getting todays figures which would not reflect the cost of living at retirement age.

solidpro

B0bbyEwing said:

1) averages - bit like when people talk about temperatures. 

OT but curious....Just to clarify, do you dismiss statistical evidence across the whole world showing that global temperature is rising "because of london" or did you mean something else?

anonmoose

I think there will always be idiots B0bby, but the trick is not to let them upset you. Part of my trying to reduce stress has included trying to change the way I act to other people's stupid behaviour. I also pay attention and focus on the kindness people show. 

It's easy for me to say as I am self employed so I could cut people loose in the work environment if they are really awful although in practice I don't. 

But you will occasionally get altercations  and the way you deal with it is more important than the way they do.

For example a few months ago I witnessed a woman in the supermarket literally push in front of an elderly woman in a forceful way.   I spoke out as it was so wrong. The woman who pushed in threw a torrent of abuse at me and was screaming and shouting the shop down. The old me would have argued back, and stressed out myself and the poor old lady.

Instead I very calmly said you must be in a desperate rush, I am sure this lady won't mind you going first, she can go in front of me instead. I hope your day improves. I smiled and the 'push in' looked confused and furious but had nothing to say back to my kindness. 

Usually I would have been stewing on the altercation all day but I felt good about how I dealt with it and the push in was probably left feeling embarrassed about the situation.

You will always get idiots just don't let them stress you out. Kindness often unbalances them and stops them in their tracks. Also I try to think they must have a very unfortunate life to go around behaving that way. Just glad I am not them.

DullGreyGuy

FrankRizzo said:

DE_612183 said:

I work on the basis of regular income - from the point when both me and the mrs are 67 we'll get 2 state pensions and about 3 private pensions - from all of that I get a figure of "X" income per month.

If that's enough that's fine, as the pensions will go up over time anyway.

Sorry if this is a silly question - but if you stop working today e.g aged 51 and you do that calculation based on todays pensions statement - do the figures in the statement reflect todays money at retirement age, or by the time you retire would those figures change to reflect increased costs at retirement age?

I have some personal issues and would like to retire at 51 and obviously not access my pension. I think savings would allow me to live a basic life until retirement age but im concerned when i finally get my pension would i be getting todays figures which would not reflect the cost of living at retirement age.

Need to read what it says, most provide a forecast of what it will be at normal retirement age rather than stating what it is today and what that would give you in X years time if the number didn't change. 

masonic

FrankRizzo said:

DE_612183 said:

I work on the basis of regular income - from the point when both me and the mrs are 67 we'll get 2 state pensions and about 3 private pensions - from all of that I get a figure of "X" income per month.

If that's enough that's fine, as the pensions will go up over time anyway.

Sorry if this is a silly question - but if you stop working today e.g aged 51 and you do that calculation based on todays pensions statement - do the figures in the statement reflect todays money at retirement age, or by the time you retire would those figures change to reflect increased costs at retirement age?

I have some personal issues and would like to retire at 51 and obviously not access my pension. I think savings would allow me to live a basic life until retirement age but im concerned when i finally get my pension would i be getting todays figures which would not reflect the cost of living at retirement age.

It's more complicated than that. If you are planning to buy an annuity, then annuity rates could change over that time, as could the performance of your pension investments. Most will give an illustration in 'today's money' which will account for average inflation and growth, but there will be lots of uncertainty in that number.

FrankRizzo

newatc said:

I seen, not literally, some work colleagues die within a short time after retirement so I was determined to retire early which I did at the age of 53 and to date have been lucky enough to have enjoyed 20 years of retirement. My parents died at the ages of 68 and 82 and had a much harder life than me so I don't think that is much of a guide. I live in a retirement area and I've seen many of my neighbours age and some survived until their nineties. Of those that did, none had an enviable life in their 90s so I for one will settle for a mid-eighties finish.
We are comfortable financially but who knows what the future will hold but it is something I no longer worry about. 

Hi, did you draw down your pensions or did you use saving to live until pension age? I would like to do something similar and looking for tips from someone who has done it.

Millyonare

The only stat that really matters is healthy life expectancy (HLE).

HLE is the stat that enables you to "do stuff" in your retirement.

HLE in the UK is, on average, just 63yo...