CUK Success Barometer: Retirement Survey

[LondonManc]

Remember, they will still let you rot in a NHS care home, the feckers

But they also get to choose it.....

[PurpleGorilla]

Remember, they will still let you rot in a NHS care home, the feckers

I don't see myself making it much past 70 tbh, so don't think it will be an issue.

[LondonManc]

I don't see myself making it much past 70 tbh, so don't think it will be an issue.

I used to have a car like that.

[SueEllen]

For me @ 28 this is a pretty scary question, as it seems likely a lot of 'generation y' will be working till we drop. This is why I started looking into contracting in the first place, one of the biggest appeals being able to have T̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶x̶t̶r̶a̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶1̶s̶s̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶ a future that wasn't dependant on me working to the grave... I would be disappointed in myself if I was still grinding away full time in 20 years.

You need to work differently.

Unlike OAPs who worked day in day out with x weeks holiday a year planning to do it all in retirement. Then either dying before, getting divorced or an illness like dementia you need to take 2 years out a decade to do things like travel, spend time with young children, or whatever. This is one of the benefits of being a contractor - having some months of in the year.

BTW while I know wealthy pensioners most of them don't sit on their behinds all day or spend most of the year on holiday. They make up the organisers in charities, are local councillors and some still run their businesses. The poorer ones I see working in my local supermarkets, B&Q and delivering leaflets.

[clearedforlanding]

For me @ 28 this is a pretty scary question, as it seems likely a lot of 'generation y' will be working till we drop. This is why I started looking into contracting in the first place, one of the biggest appeals being able to have T̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶x̶t̶r̶a̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶1̶s̶s̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶ a future that wasn't dependant on me working to the grave... I would be disappointed in myself if I was still grinding away full time in 20 years.

At around 28 I adopted a "3 year old" policy. ex-corporate 3 year old, top of the range in their day laptops, ex-leasing FSH rep cars like Mondeos, 3 year old Sony TVs etc.

Nothing on credit*, overpaying mortgages as much as possible & wised up to index trackers & tax efficient investments (ISAs in my day in the UK).

Where did the cash to invest come from? I bought things ONCE. £400 work shoes that lasted 7 years, classic well made clothes, not fashion, Miele kitchen stuff and white goods, Roche Bobois furniture. Everything I bought could be fixed. High upfront cost cost, still have most of it.

*but I used credit cards for everything, just paid of balance in full. Amex & Visa cards that paid air-miles. A bit of manufactured spending here and there and great holidays for a family of four for 2 months of each year.

28 is a great time to start. I wish I hadn't pissed away the money until then.

[ZARDOZ]

I would not want to retire too early i.e much before mid 50s.
1/Sooner or later I'd get bored
2/ the other half would think I was taking the p1ss as she would carry on working


At the moment I'm only working part of the year anyway. I could do that happily up to 55 perhaps do odds and ends past that. As said above doing nothing usually leads to premature decline in some way.

[eman]

28 is a great time to start. I wish I hadn't pissed away the money until then.

I'd like to think I've been relatively sensible until now, divorce was amicable and I've made a decent dent in my mortgage. I kinda wish I'd looked to go contracting sooner, but then again I've been building up nearly 9 years of experience in IT. Ideally I'd like to use contracting to get my mortgage paid off in 5 years and then start working on plan b - to the other comments about retiring too early, I agree, but I would certainly like to be able to transition into something I really enjoy, and being in a position to comfortably take months as opposed to weeks off.

[PurpleGorilla]

You need to work differently.

Unlike OAPs who worked day in day out with x weeks holiday a year planning to do it all in retirement. Then either dying before, getting divorced or an illness like dementia you need to take 2 years out a decade to do things like travel, spend time with young children, or whatever. This is one of the benefits of being a contractor - having some months of in the year.

BTW while I know wealthy pensioners most of them don't sit on their behinds all day or spend most of the year on holiday. They make up the organisers in charities, are local councillors and some still run their businesses. The poorer ones I see working in my local supermarkets, B&Q and delivering leaflets.

This sounds great. I'd love that.

But (and I know I keep banging on about it) if you want a half decent house in the south west of England you are talking half a million quid. So even after a stocking deposit you are paying £2000 a month on a mortgage.

So how does the 'young up and coming' both work to live, AND get the fruits of their labour?

I'm all ears, because I clearly am doing something wrong (saving £25k / annum and going backwards).

[clearedforlanding]

I'm all ears, because I clearly am doing something wrong (saving £25k / annum and going backwards).

Yes, you are. You are saving £25k per annum. Invest it.

The idea is to make you money work for you, not the other way round.

Consider some "accelerated paths". My neighbour ****ed off to Qatar for 2 years with his wife & 2 kids. Had a bearable time. He now owns an apartment in Madrid's equivalent to Notting Hill mortgage free.

Another friend is SE UK did the same in Saudi. Compounds are not that bad and some can be great fun.

[LondonManc]

This sounds great. I'd love that.

But (and I know I keep banging on about it) if you want a half decent house in the south west of England you are talking half a million quid. So even after a stocking deposit you are paying £2000 a month on a mortgage.

So how does the 'young up and coming' both work to live, AND get the fruits of their labour?

I'm all ears, because I clearly am doing something wrong (saving £25k / annum and going backwards).

If you're 40 and want to semi-retire at 55-58, BTL is the way to go. You have to be prepared under the new taxation laws that you may not make a profit each month. However, if you can get 4 properties on the portfolio, you'll see a significant amount of equity in them by the time you're 55 and then can start planning the sweet spot for selling each one.