Realistic pension gains?

B0bbyEwing

anonmoose said:

You can look online what statistics say is the average but more importantly you need to have some idea of what you need. 
But I wouldn't spend to much time looking at averages, it really doesn't tell you much.

I guess you're right. Well actually, you are right when I think about it.

You look on the TV, listen to the radio & they talk about average earnings being much more than mine, average or maximum temperature is like 15 degrees hotter than it is but then it's hang on, they forget there's a world outside of London kind of thing.

Point being, you're right, it doesn't really matter what the average is, it's what I've got. 

I don't suppose I'll need 12 months of budgeting but once we get in to the proper swing of it (it still needs tweaking as we're going along at the mo), we'll have a good idea of what we need to spend & what we choose to spend & we can use that to get some kind of idea.

Providing fuel doesn't cost like £10 a litre by then as an example & throw my calculations out the window  

B0bbyEwing

Audaxer said:
I would say that is an excellent performance so far this year. Most investment portfolios are still showing a loss this year to date.

I wanted to put yours in its own post - 

how do you know?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking how you know.

I read on here & people say oh things are going up, that's because of ABC, things are coming down, that's because of XYZ.

Maybe you guys read from specific channels or something but I just take it as it comes. I have a look - oh it's gone up 10%, that's nice. Oh it's gone down 15%, that's a bit crap but oh well at least I'm buying lower with 30 years still ahead.

But I couldn't begin to tell you the why.

Albermarle

B0bbyEwing said:

Audaxer said:
I would say that is an excellent performance so far this year. Most investment portfolios are still showing a loss this year to date.

I wanted to put yours in its own post - 

how do you know?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking how you know.

I read on here & people say oh things are going up, that's because of ABC, things are coming down, that's because of XYZ.

Maybe you guys read from specific channels or something but I just take it as it comes. I have a look - oh it's gone up 10%, that's nice. Oh it's gone down 15%, that's a bit crap but oh well at least I'm buying lower with 30 years still ahead.

But I couldn't begin to tell you the why.

I would have thought it was obvious. The regular posters on the forum take an active interest in investing and financial matters, so to a greater or lesser extent are much more clued up than the average person on these issues. 

You look on the TV, listen to the radio & they talk about average earnings being much more than mine, average or maximum temperature is like 15 degrees hotter than it is but then it's hang on, they forget there's a world outside of London kind of thing.
Point being, you're right, it doesn't really matter what the average is, it's what I've got. 

To complicate things there are three different measures of average earnings, based on statistical mathematics.

The mean average- this is where all the UK salaries are added up and divided by the number of workers. This gives the highest figure as it is affected by a very small number of people earning stratospheric wages (like footballers). I think this figure is over £30K pa.
The median average is the mid point of all salaries, where 50% of people earn more than that, and 50% less. I think this is around £26K pa
The mode average is the salary that the highest number of people earn that figure, which I think is around £22K pa.

All three are statistically valid, but the first one is not that meaningful in real life.

[Deleted User]

B0bbyEwing said:

Audaxer said:
I would say that is an excellent performance so far this year. Most investment portfolios are still showing a loss this year to date.

I wanted to put yours in its own post - 

how do you know?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking how you know.

I read on here & people say oh things are going up, that's because of ABC, things are coming down, that's because of XYZ.

Maybe you guys read from specific channels or something but I just take it as it comes. I have a look - oh it's gone up 10%, that's nice. Oh it's gone down 15%, that's a bit crap but oh well at least I'm buying lower with 30 years still ahead.

But I couldn't begin to tell you the why.

Look at major indices, and their performance year to date.  VLS 60 (which holds world stocks and bonds) shows -8% YTD. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/0P0000TKZK.L/profile/

Aggressive tech funds did worse.  

S&P500 is -18% year to date but GBP dropped 12% vs USD, so US market dropped around 6% if counted in GBP.  Europe dropped more.

Most (all?) major investment classes are down YTD.  So nobody is in the black unless he just bought currency and counts in GBP.  And thats before you start counting in real terms and account for inflation. 

Note that volatility is quite high, so depending on the reporting date being a bit old your results can vary quite a lot. 

cloud_dog

@B0bbyEwing, Fidelity have some useful retirement guides, one of which 'Power of 7' may help you put your age / pot of money in to some context.

bostonerimus

B0bbyEwing said:

Audaxer said:
I would say that is an excellent performance so far this year. Most investment portfolios are still showing a loss this year to date.

I wanted to put yours in its own post - 

how do you know?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking how you know.

I read on here & people say oh things are going up, that's because of ABC, things are coming down, that's because of XYZ.

Maybe you guys read from specific channels or something but I just take it as it comes. I have a look - oh it's gone up 10%, that's nice. Oh it's gone down 15%, that's a bit crap but oh well at least I'm buying lower with 30 years still ahead.

But I couldn't begin to tell you the why.

The short term variations in markets and the reasons for them are not relevant to your long term saving for retirement. Neither is the performance of anyone else's portfolio. Be frugal, never spend more than you earn, avoid debt wherever possible, save regularly into a simple index tracker portfolio, pay off your mortgage if you have one etc.

B0bbyEwing

Albermarle said:

I would have thought it was obvious. The regular posters on the forum take an active interest in investing and financial matters, so to a greater or lesser extent are much more clued up than the average person on these issues. 

lol. I gathered that much. But where does that interest take them?

To explain - 

I got interested in banking. Just your usual savings and current accounts, years ago after earning £0 on a wedge (a wedge to me at the time).
I knew about this site as a way to handle your money a bit better because Martin was on the TV telling everyone he can save them money or make them money, so I came here & started reading articles.

Oh that's offering that, that's offering this, so on & so forth. Ohhh, that's how it works (yeah I know, sounds stupid but at one point I didn't even grasp interest rates - it was just something I'd heard about. I had no interest, but then I had interest & read about it).

So from there I built a level of understanding & started playing the merry-go-round with my money for the next 10-15 years.

So these people have an interest - I gather that, but you can still have interest yet no knowledge. How do they get their knowledge?


In all honesty I think it's very likely going to be something I wouldn't be able to take on. I'd put a few quid on it being many long articles that would probably serve me best when I can't sleep at night - articles leaving me feel like my head's just been turned inside out so probably a step too far for me. Set it & forget it is probably the best thing for me.

Doesn't stop the curiosity though. When I see others doing well & I always ask how & whether it's something I feel I can do or am willing to do.

Audaxer

B0bbyEwing said:

Audaxer said:
I would say that is an excellent performance so far this year. Most investment portfolios are still showing a loss this year to date.

I wanted to put yours in its own post - 

how do you know?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking how you know.

I read on here & people say oh things are going up, that's because of ABC, things are coming down, that's because of XYZ.

Maybe you guys read from specific channels or something but I just take it as it comes. I have a look - oh it's gone up 10%, that's nice. Oh it's gone down 15%, that's a bit crap but oh well at least I'm buying lower with 30 years still ahead.

But I couldn't begin to tell you the why.

I know that my portfolio was down 5.7% this year to the end of August and compared to what many other posters on here have said, that seems to be better than many portfolios. As another example, globally diversified multi assets funds like the Vanguard Life Strategy funds and the HSBC Global Strategy funds are all down this year to different extents depending on the risk level.

If your pension is up 1.45% this year, not including this year's total contributions and not including the tax relief added, then the investments in your pension have performed very well.

billy2shots

BObby, what area of the country do you live?


My reason for asking is minimum wage is the same regardless of the part of the country someone is but housing costs vary dramatically (I know you are not on minimum wage, using that as an example of wage Vs shelter). 

You are not overly inspired by your wage but you could be in a much better position than someone with a higher wage but living in a more costly area. 

I've never paid higher rate tax (this  next tax return may just be the first time)
but live in Bournemouth an expensive place to live. £700k for my 4 bed house (nothing special about it). 

I love to search on Rightmove and the equivalent style of house in other areas can be had for £375-£400k. 
I can't believe why all northerners are not driving around in Ferrari's. 

Albermarle

So these people have an interest - I gather that, but you can still have interest yet no knowledge. How do they get their knowledge?In all honesty I think it's very likely going to be something I wouldn't be able to take on. I'd put a few quid on it being many long articles that would probably serve me best when I can't sleep at night - articles leaving me feel like my head's just been turned inside out so probably a step too far for me. Set it & forget it is probably the best thing for me

You can learn a lot just by reading this forum regularly !