Reply to: 80 will be the new retirement age

[Sysman]

Modelled it last month. It's not great.

For something like that you shouldn't be looking at the short term. Acquire a bit here, a bit there over the years and it will add up.

[PAH]

Modelled it last month. It's not great.

One of my older cousins once gave me a model railway he built using an old door as the base. Had a tunnel and everything.

Was pretty impressed at the time (being pre-teen) though it taught me at an early age that land speculation can be fraught with problems. My parents made me throw it away when we moved house and there wasn't room for it.

I do wonder if it was one family 'heirloom' worth keeping seeing as there's a model railway shop that's still open in my old hometown, and has been there at least 30 years. So there must still be quite a demand for this stuff to fill your man shed with.

[MarillionFan]

Apparently there's a massive waiting list for allotments. Could it be a worthwhile investment to buy a nearby field and divide into allotments to rent out to the local oldies?

I assume they pay a monthly/annual fee for their small patch of land?

Also, as the field is already agricultural maybe it wouldn't be a change of use that requires permission.

Modelled it last month. It's not great.

[Sysman]

Years before i retire. But i would hope to have a minimum 'pension takehome' income of £50k p/a(in real terms) excluding any state pensions when I do retire.

That reminds me of the guy I met in 1985-ish who claimed he wanted to "make a quarter of a million by the time I am 30 and then retire".

There's actually little point putting a hard figure on "x" so far into the future.

[PAH]

I've put my old man's name down for an allotment. It'll keep him out from under my feet now that he's struggling to find work. And it gives me the space I need for my own business.

Apparently there's a massive waiting list for allotments. Could it be a worthwhile investment to buy a nearby field and divide into allotments to rent out to the local oldies?

I assume they pay a monthly/annual fee for their small patch of land?

Also, as the field is already agricultural maybe it wouldn't be a change of use that requires permission.

[northernladyuk]

Small house tends to mean small garden especially if it's a modern shoebox.

The shed will be too near the house.......

I've put my old man's name down for an allotment. It'll keep him out from under my feet now that he's struggling to find work. And it gives me the space I need for my own business.

[SueEllen]

That's what the shed is for.

You spend all day in there, potching about, while she makes the dinner.

.

Small house tends to mean small garden especially if it's a modern shoebox.

The shed will be too near the house.......

[MarillionFan]

Yes, my parents were chuffed when they paid the mortgage off early.

Within a year or two, the rates and water came to £1200 a year, and that was over 30 years ago. Their mortgage payments had never come anywhere near that sum.

Years before i retire. But i would hope to have a minimum 'pension takehome' income of £50k p/a(in real terms) excluding any state pensions when I do retire.

[Sysman]

Council tax - could easily eat up a large part of your income.

Yes, my parents were chuffed when they paid the mortgage off early.

Within a year or two, the rates and water came to £1200 a year, and that was over 30 years ago. Their mortgage payments had never come anywhere near that sum.

[PAH]

Nearly right. Gold chocolate coins. Can eat the chocolate and trade in the gold.

The perfect survivalist investment short of a kitted out nuclear bunker.

[escapeUK]

So you're still better off having no pension, getting state pension and it topped up with pension credits to around £200/week, unless you can contribute hundreds per month to your own pension to come out only slightly better off once you consider you won't be getting any of the benefits you would if on state only pension.

I think the best of both worlds is to save for your pension in gold coins, totally off the radar and claim whatever you can.

[PAH]

Are there no Prisons? Are there no Workhouses?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Old_Dutch_(song)

Nope. Against human rights.

[PAH]

All you do it just go on benefits to top you up to the income *they* think you need to live on. I saw this with my two grans. One no pension, so free home, free council tax and money for everything else. Other gran good pension, she owned her own home, so paid for everything herself.

Very little difference between the two.

Same with mine. One grandparent has been on the disability for years and gets a free bungalow and has more disposable 'income' than my parents. My dad (her son) thinks she did an Albert (Only Fools and Horses) and took a dive to get on the sick as she's now fitter than he is, but as she's nearly 90 they won't be re-evaluating her needs.

Another grandparent had a few pensions from companies he worked at over the years meaning he was over the threshold for pension credits and other benefits so was worse off for it. Despite going for years with a reduced wage due to all the contributions he made.

So you're still better off having no pension, getting state pension and it topped up with pension credits to around £200/week, unless you can contribute hundreds per month to your own pension to come out only slightly better off once you consider you won't be getting any of the benefits you would if on state only pension.

Trouble is this is likely to change over the coming decades but what will happen if people don't or can't afford to save a significant part of their wages over their working life (if they have a job)? Surely there will always be some form of state aid?

I'm thinking of changing my private pension to a SIPP so I can make some bad investments and get on the scrounge when I'm older. Though with the poor performance of my pension over recent years it looks like the 'professionals' are doing that for me.

[bobspud]

They mostly live in somewhere too large. They should sell up and give the young people a chance at the decent sized homes.

I'm working from home at the moment and will be for the next few years. If I didn't have a dedicated office to hide in for most of the time, I would probably kill, or be killed by my wife...

The idea that I could end up in a small house with no personal space and have to face my wife day in and out with little hope of repite makes me beg for the chance to work to 80!

[BrilloPad]

There is your issue.

Lots of old folk own their own homes so when the boiler goes, the roof leaks, etc they need to pay for it out of their own pocket.

Oh and it's worse if you live in a conservation area. So that leaky roof you need to replace now can only be replaced with a specific material which triples the price.

They mostly live in somewhere too large. They should sell up and give the young people a chance at the decent sized homes.