Reply to: A happy day for Cyberman

[Stan.goodvibes]

I don't think I will do nothing and will probably carry on contracting part-time to an extent. This just means that there is no financial pressure to work, which is a great position to be in.

Agree. I thought it was everyones goal to be financially independent. I nearly got there, but life intervened rather drastically so its a little bit back to the drawing board.

Good on you for getting there, especially in the current deflationary environment.

I think the retirement thing is a bit of a gyp - I have zero faith in any govt to be in a position to pay me anything when I am older, and recent events (Bernie Madoff anyone?) make me wonder if any investment is truly safe.

My plan is the same as it always has been - building up a rental property portfolio. It has its downsides but at least some crappy banker can't fritter my property away in a crap invesment vehicle, and rental income is generally inflation-proof.

[Cyberman]

It does look like I will get no compensation for the Equitable Life debacle. Fortunately, I stopped paying in after 1997 due to GB's tax dividend credit stealth tax. I suppose I was one of the few that immediately saw this move for what it was, but rather ironically he did me a favour by deterring me from putting any more into the scheme.
I still had about 16K in there for almost 10 years and got 15K back two years ago which I put into a SIPP. Pretty terrible really, but some guy I was reading about today was getting paid a pension of 10K already, and they reduced it to half that. Scandalous !!
Then 10K of that went into Northern Rock, so HMG really have scammed me so far, but I still reckon us shareholders will win in the end.

[bogeyman]

Debt-addicted Government bangs another nail into savings culture coffin

Brilliant headline. Wish I'd written that.

[Sysman]

Another happy day for me .... it's been announced that Equitable life pensions holders will get compensation due to failure of the regulator, the FSA !!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7830964.stm


Hopefully, this will also have a knock-on effect with Northern Rock whose problems were also caused by regulatory failure !!

Not so fast.

It has been a long, hard fight for campaigners

“It has been a long, hard fight for campaigners,” said Mark Hoban, a Conservative lawmaker who speaks on Treasury matters. “While the Treasury dithered and delayed to save the prime minister, 30,000 policy holders have died without seeing compensation.”

Equitable Life compensation payouts may face means test

Fears mounted that hundreds of thousands of policyholders in failed mutual insurer Equitable Life could be denied Government compensation simply because they are wealthy.

Debt-addicted Government bangs another nail into savings culture coffin

None of Equitable's without-profits policyholders will get a penny compensation this year– and Ms Cooper added that the Government may not even hit the two-and-a-half-year target for payouts set by Ms Abraham. To add insult to injury, the Treasury Minister studiously avoided the "c" word – preferring to talk of "an ex-gratia payment scheme" rather than compensation.

Worse still, she repeatedly insisted that payments will only be made to those whose loss has been "disproportionate". Nobody can be quite certain what this means – other than another beanfeast for the lawyers and further delay. But Equitable's policyholders will not be the only losers in this long-running saga. The savings ratio has collapsed to a 20th of its level in 1997, when more than 10pc of household income was set aside for the future. This shameful scandal will deter many others from saving and investing.

[Liability]

I just don't want people to think that I'm going to get too lazy !!

LOLOLOL. You earnt it - sod the rest I say

But you know what'll happen right? You'll get bored and will want more challenges and better contracts and will end up working your back side off -even though all it will be doing is adding 0's to your bank balance - oh the pressure and stress of that! :-)

[Cyberman]

do you want to rub it in anymore?

[Again - excellent mate and agree - great position to be in! thats my mission to be mortgage and debt free within 4 years]

I just don't want people to think that I'm going to get too lazy !!

[Liability]

I don't think I will do nothing and will probably carry on contracting part-time to an extent. This just means that there is no financial pressure to work, which is a great position to be in.

do you want to rub it in anymore?

[Again - excellent mate and agree - great position to be in! thats my mission to be mortgage and debt free within 4 years]

[Cyberman]

OK call me the odd one out but I have no plans on ever retiring. I actually enjoy what I do and while I may not carry on working full-time I have no intention of selling my trainers and becoming my own grandad sitting round the lounge watching reruns of Last Of The Summer Wine.

Given that we can realistically expect to live a further 30-odd years beyond retirement, I suspect that I'll always be wanting to have a business of some sort.

Of course financial freedom is nice, but thats a whole nother ball-game...

I don't think I will do nothing and will probably carry on contracting part-time to an extent. This just means that there is no financial pressure to work, which is a great position to be in.

[Stan.goodvibes]

OK call me the odd one out but I have no plans on ever retiring. I actually enjoy what I do and while I may not carry on working full-time I have no intention of selling my trainers and becoming my own grandad sitting round the lounge watching reruns of Last Of The Summer Wine.

Given that we can realistically expect to live a further 30-odd years beyond retirement, I suspect that I'll always be wanting to have a business of some sort.

Of course financial freedom is nice, but thats a whole nother ball-game...

[Cyberman]

Another happy day for me .... it's been announced that Equitable life pensions holders will get compensation due to failure of the regulator, the FSA !!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7830964.stm


Hopefully, this will also have a knock-on effect with Northern Rock whose problems were also caused by regulatory failure !!

[Cyberman]

Damn.... I've been rumbled

[Pondlife]

Mods. Someone has clearly hacked in to Cyberman's account. I am outraged at this lack of security!

We'll have links to his Guardian blog posts next!

[Cyberman]

And what with your house going up 10% every year forever, you really are laughing all the way to the bank.

Actually, being a single man, I am considering letting my 4 Bed detached for further income and renting something much smaller in warmer climes. Then I really will be quids in. Then of course the state pension comes into play at 65, which will be a nice bonus. SMUG

[Cyberman]

Yes, it's index linked with a minimum rise of 3% and maximum 5% per year depending on the RPI. I must say though that if we get hyperinflation, which is expected, 5% will be inadequate.

Thinking about this a bit more, 3% minimum could be very advantageous if we hit a long-term deflationary period. SMUG

[DimPrawn]

Yes, it's index linked with a minimum rise of 3% and maximum 5% per year depending on the RPI. I must say though that if we get hyperinflation, which is expected, 5% will be inadequate.

And what with your house going up 10% every year forever, you really are laughing all the way to the bank.