Money needed to retire

Pension poverty is, I’m afraid, with us now. Energy increases, council tax increases around the corner, food and drink increases and who knows what else is going to hit us? For some, I fear it will be a hard life in retirement. I assume a lot will try and continue working.

If you can defer your state pension you get 1% increase for every 5 weeks- 10% a year. Best saving rate out there!
 
In Australia it is means tested and we may go down that route but can’t see it being scrapped.
I’m not up to speed on how means testing it over there works. But would that mean someone who had a decent income over their lifetime and blown the lot would be considered in the same way as someone who simply hadn’t been able to afford to save?
 
But many jobs, especially those on a higher income, mean you need to move to a city and so living at home isnt an option. Paying 40-50% of your salary to pay a landlords salary means saving a deposit isn't an option.
True, but there’s also plenty of people who could save for one and live beyond their means to chase a lifestyle.
 
I’m not up to speed on how means testing it over there works. But would that mean someone who had a decent income over their lifetime and blown the lot would be considered in the same way as someone who simply hadn’t been able to afford to save?
Consumption of savings is a thing before retirement. We would have to ask our Australian board members but there is an assets tests of some kind and owning a home does come into to it when they start to taper the state pension although your primary residence value is not taken into account In the assets test
 
Some companies will let you job share, I know someone who had a job share offshore, worked two weeks on six off, he was still on over £40k, I asked about it where I work but it was a no. They said I only work half the time anyway..😀
 
The planet only has a few years left anyway. You'll feel a bit silly if you've scrimped and saved for your entire working life just to find that the world ends a few weeks after you retire. I manage just about fine. But I don't have an extravagant lifestyle. No wife, no kids, no fancy holidays and just me and the dog and the Ranchus to worry about. I barely even drive anymore these days. I just invest most of my modest monthly income in booze and cigs to try and ensure that I won't live for very much longer. Seems like a sound and sensible plan to me.
 
The planet only has a few years left anyway. You'll feel a bit silly if you've scrimped and saved for your entire working life just to find that the world ends a few weeks after you retire. I manage just about fine. But I don't lead an extravagant lifestyle. No wife, no kids, no fancy holidays and just me and the dog and the Ranchus to worry about. I barely even drive anymore these days. I just invest most of my modest monthly income in booze and cigs to try and ensure that I won't live for very much longer. Seems like a sound and sensible plan to me.
Ah but like Arthur Dent just consume a few pints quickly and an alien will whisk you away to enjoy retirement on another planet at the end of the universe.
 
The planet only has a few years left anyway. You'll feel a bit silly if you've scrimped and saved for your entire working life just to find that the world ends a few weeks after you retire. I manage just about fine. But I don't have an extravagant lifestyle. No wife, no kids, no fancy holidays and just me and the dog and the Ranchus to worry about. I barely even drive anymore these days. I just invest most of my modest monthly income in booze and cigs to try and ensure that I won't live for very much longer. Seems like a sound and sensible plan to me.
I hope that's in jest.
 
The planet only has a few years left anyway. You'll feel a bit silly if you've scrimped and saved for your entire working life just to find that the world ends a few weeks after you retire. I manage just about fine. But I don't lead an extravagant lifestyle. No wife, no kids, no fancy holidays and just me and the dog and the Ranchus to worry about. I barely even drive anymore these days. I just invest most of my modest monthly income in booze and cigs to try and ensure that I won't live for very much longer. Seems like a sound and sensible plan to me.
You sound like me, apart from the fags and the booze and the dog. 😀
 
The £10900 figure they give as a minimum is only about £1000 a year above the state pension. Whether that state amount is enough is a another matter, but if you’ve got a reasonable income and aren’t daft with your money that additional fee k would be very very easy to achieve over a 40 year work life.
Personally I don’t think the state pension is enough, and I also realise that people on low earnings would struggle to save towards an additional pension pot after meeting basic living costs.

However.
I think there’s a big problem these days with people who have a reasonable income who are daft with their money. There’s plenty of £4-500 a month leases whizzing up and down the a19 at rush hour, and new estates don’t seem to have any trouble selling “luxury” homes. All very nice. But if you haven’t saved anything towards retirement while chasing that lifestyle, it’s going to turn into borderline poverty literally overnight when you hit retirement. That’s going to be some bump back down to earth!
I think a lot depends on how your role models, usually parents, dealt with money.
My parents both hard working, and working class, lived very much hand to mouth.
We had a holiday every year, decent clothes and food but they never saved. If there was a few hundred quid in the bank either mum would have bought a new outfit b4 dad blew it at the bookies !
Psychology shows that some people cannot sleep at night if they have savings until it's been spent.
Once we are comfortable with not spending our spare cash we can plan for our future. Pensions are the best because they aren't easy to access, and then the tax savings for working people.
I saved about £10 I into my personal pension back in the 1980s which has grown to nearly £100 k in the meantime.
A lot of my friends said I was wasting my money at the time.
 
I wonder what are the chances of the state pension not existing in 15/20/25 years or it being reduced significantly.
I worked in Oz and there's a compulsory Pension lump drawn from your pay packet.
I guess you could look on it as just another tax but it's ring fenced and you get regular statements as you would with a normal pension scheme.
I like it. Takes some of the burdon from the State and makes people working contribute.
 
I worked in Oz and there's a compulsory Pension lump drawn from your pay packet.
I guess you could look on it as just another tax but it's ring fenced and you get regular statements as you would with a normal pension scheme.
I like it. Takes some of the burdon from the State and makes people working contribute.
Yeah seems like a good idea to me.
 
We have it here, in the workplace pension scheme. But you can opt out.
It's a joke. I was PAYE for time on a very good rate and the agency put my contributions into their Pension provider. I checked them out and they had a 1 star rating. Told the agency I didn't want to use them but use my own and they said it's them or nobody.
So I told them to stick their pension provider and jacked and went with a different agency.
 
Hoping to pack in at 58 so fewer than 10 years to go. Lump sum from a FS scheme, decent income and a few savings to do various things with, then at 67 the state pension will also kick in for the wife and me. Income will be fine, paying for most stuff, no rent/mortgage critical to that.

No way I can face working until I’m 67, count myself fortunate I can leave much earlier.
 
Back
Top