When You Retire ? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bringbackrattles
- Start date
ovduk78
Well-Known Member
I want to retire in 3 years time when I'm 60 but will probably wait until my son finishes school a year or so later. I've got a reasonable pension pot but not enough to retire on now and quite a bit in savings so I suppose I will start using that before my pension. I want to buy a campervan and tour France, Spain & Italy for a couple of months but realise that may not be long enough. I'd love to convince my wife that we should move closer to the midlands so I could watch CCFC more often and hopefully I'll get the chance to get my golf clubs out on a regular basis.
Astute
Well-Known Member
Having a younger child will dictate what you can do for a bit. I have a similar problem. When I am 60 I will have an 18 and 19 year old. So am working on plan F. Wife retires now. Moves to France if able. 17 year old wants to be a teacher. So she can become fluent in French and become an English teacher there. They have a shortage. Two younger ones will soon pick the language up as we would drop English until it comes to them as second nature. I stay here and continue to work. Then When I have had enough I retire and we do the motor home thing.
I wonder what plan G will look like.
ovduk78
Well-Known Member
We have friends who live in the French Alps and they were telling me that education is free in France until they are 26. They have a real shortage of qualified tradesmen, like plumbers, electricians & carpenters, which is annoying for our friends as 2 of their kids are nearly fully qualified but prefer to do nothing or work in a ski hire shop. I'd love to move to France but my wife wouldn't and it is probably too late for me with regards to Brexit as I have no claims to anything other than a UK passport.
Plan A for me is that our son is showing an interest in Chemistry at school and my brother is manager of a chemical manufacturing company in Daventry so if he can keep up his interest he should be able to get a job and my wife won't want to be too far from him so we can all move down. If my son ditches Chemistry at the end of the school year I shall be having words with him and I will have to come up with a plan B, then a C, D,E etc!
tommydazzle
Well-Known Member
What happened SB? Are they still a blight on the Italian business community?
Astute
Well-Known Member
Brexit isn't going to happen this month. That is why I said wife moves to France if able. We are in the same situation as yourself there.
I have a sister and my mother already living in France. They have a problem with affordable tradesmen. I do work over there for the price of a drink or meal each time I visit. I would be inundated with work as a handyman if I wanted it.
My sister moved over with a 13 year old. They gave him a personal tutor to go to lessons with him. He was speaking fluent French within a year. But they now want him to stay at school an extra year to catch up. So I don't have a problem taking my kids there.
The reason I would stay here is I have a decent job I enjoy and want to build up more pension. I want to be able to retire when I move there full time.
Our plans will need fine tuning as we find out more with Brexit. But we are ready to go. The wife is only 52 but ready to retire. I am nearly 51 so not long before I can choose to retire and take my pension.
tommydazzle
Well-Known Member
Have you ever thought about spending lots of your time on chat forums? They can be educational and you meet lots of (mostly) nice people.
Otis
Well-Known Member
I considered it, but then concluded it might make me look like a bit of a sad twat.Have you ever thought about spending lots of your time on chat forums? They can be educational and you meet lots of (mostly) nice people.
tommydazzle
Well-Known Member
Somebody tell him......
ovduk78
Well-Known Member
I hope it all works out for you. We don't know what is going to happen with Brexit and hopefully those that want to move to other EU countries can, I am sure if people are financially secure then there is no reason to stop them moving over, I can't remember what it was like before we joined the EU but we had Brits living in Spain long before we joined.
My friends owned a 10 bedroom ski lodge and built a smaller one in the back garden and sold the big one, they live on 1 side and they rent out the other side. The electricians bill was 25,000 euros per side!!
I am 57 and ready to retire but my wife who is 50 loves her job and I can see her working till she is 67. The thought of me retiring at 67 is just depressing!
Otis
Well-Known Member
It's depressing for me as well and I don't even know you.
Astute
Well-Known Member
My wife has spent most of her working life bringing kids up. She wants to enjoy the time with the youngest ones growing up and with the grandkids instead of having work dictate everything. I work shifts and only work about 140 a year. So I have seen more of the kids than she has. So I am happy for her to pack up work.
bezzer
Well-Known Member
Don't worry, only a small percentage is in shares. The rest is in cash and bonds. It's also a managed SIPP so less risk involved.
I've taken plenty of advice of the past 18 months and the SIPP is part of my pension provision. I also have a Stakeholder pension and also contribute to a company pension (not FS).
Grendel
Well-Known Member
A low risk pension would have a portfolio in several areas and equity growth (effectively shares) would be around 30% of the portfolio
Astute
Well-Known Member
Spot on. A pension isn't something to gamble with.
I am a bit of a gambler. But I have only gambled with what I can afford to lose. A pension is something you can never replace as you get towards time to need it.
I could take a large amount for my FS. But it is a guaranteed pension for life that goes up with inflation. And it doesn't cost me a penny for someone to look after it. Yes I could have taken the risk of not living or investing it and making money. That money could then have gone to the kids. But sod the kids. They will end up with enough anyway.
But I should have about 100k in another pension. 15% shares. They are invested in consumables that pay a dividend. This goes into more shares. It is going into drawdown. Will take it all out by 67. Then When my state pension kicks in my tax bill won't be too big.
bezzer
Well-Known Member
The rule of thumb regards portfolio risk is -
Cautious - 50% Fixed Interest, 30% Cash and 20% Stocks and shares.
Moderate - 40% Fixed Interest, 10% Cash and 50% Stocks and shares.
Adventurous - 25% Fixed Interest, 5% Cash and 80% Stocks and shares.
My SIPP is invested in a pretty Cautious way.
Astute
Well-Known Member
A pension with a 30% investment in the stock market isn't low risk.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
I took it out because the DBS has penalties for early take. Effectively I doubled the value of the fund by withdrawing it early.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Yes it is that is the definition of low risk - medium is 30 - 50% and high above 50% - pension funds wrap the pension typically in two alternate strategies in different companies. There is a degree of hedge funds and bond ownership which effectively is a hedging process and also property but the purpose of share ownership is to target elements of growth
Astute
Well-Known Member
A lot of people I have seen retire have worked themselves into the ground. There is a happy medium. Go as soon as you can comfortably afford to but before your health starts to deteriorate. Then keep yourself occupied once you do retire.
Astute
Well-Known Member
How can 30% be low risk when you say medium risk is 30% to 50%?
bezzer
Well-Known Member
My FS pension was going to pay me £10.5k pa when I reached 65. The figure I received for taking the funds out of the FS scheme was 43 times the pension I would have received. It's only been invested for 13 months but it's already grown by 8% so I'm fairly pleased. I intend to to the full 25% next January and then the fund will be changed to an even more cautious fund.
Like you said, a pension isn't something to be gambled with. I just want to have a comfortable retirement and also make sure my children have the means to get on the property ladder if that's what they want to do.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Because 0 to 30 is typically classed as low and 31 enters medium territory
Astute
Well-Known Member
You did well to get offered anywhere near that. I checked mine and only got offered the normal x20. If I had got offered x30 I would have taken it.
Astute
Well-Known Member
Low risk in pensions is having the aim of getting the same return if it was invested in cash. Low to medium is for a return of just over a cash investment. This could include a partial stock market investment but 20% maximum and is for those not worried about a bit of risk. 30% in the stock market is medium risk.
bezzer
Well-Known Member
Yes I was pleasantly surprised by the amount. A couple of ex colleagues who were also in the same scheme were offered less, but they were older than me.
It was still a huge decision to make because the pension at 65 wasn't that bad.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
It isn't as a some of the investment is hedged
Astute
Well-Known Member
I am still only 50 and never got offered more. The reason why more is offered by many pension schemes is that they have to have much more in the scheme than is needed as they also have to be invested in low risk these days. And this is expensive. Once you are paid off your risk to them has gone.
Astute
Well-Known Member
But 30% in stocks and shares is not low risk whatever the rest is in. 30% of the pot is in a higher risk investment.
Low risk is all about that. Low risk. And these days any investment in the stock market is anything but low risk.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
No as some share funds are hedged
tisza
Well-Known Member
completely agree.
Again maybe the advantage of owning own companies - stressful in many ways but the freedom/opportunity to manage own time better.
In my case there is a slight fear factor of when my father sold up and retired from running his companies in his late 60s. Went downhill pretty fast when there wasn't the high level of day-to-day stimulation. sadly dementia set in pretty quickly and he's a shell of the man he used to be.
Again father-in-law was a journalist who worked on into his early 70s. Sadly again dementia set in when he stopped working and led to his death 18 months later.
A cruel disease dementia.
Astute
Well-Known Member
You said 30% invested in shares was low risk and 30% to 50% was medium risk. You were right on the part of 30% invested in shares is medium risk.
Again low risk is trying to match what you would get from a cash account. Low risk is still a risk. Like company loans or government bonds.
The stock market is a risk higher than low risk. And putting about a third of your money into medium risk doesn't become low risk.
If you went to an independent financial adviser who wasn't looking at investing on your behalf he would tell you to get all of your investment out of shares at least 10 years before retirement. He would tell you to go low risk.
Sky_Blue_Dreamer
Well-Known Member
I dread to think how old I will be when I can retire, probably about 70 at least.
Probably should look at pensions and all that
Definitely - the earlier you do it the longer the pot gets invested and the more you get to retire on. No idea how old you are or if you're employed/self-employed but if you're an employee definitely look at a works pension if for no reason than the contributions your employer will make too. Put the highest percentage you can afford in as usually the amount the employer puts in goes up the more you put in.
Don't worry about being stuck with their provider though, as you can move it or transfer it from them nearer your retirement if you want. You don't even have to take an annuity anymore with defined contribution schemes (which pretty much all schemes have been for a number of years).
Personally I wouldn't go too high risk unless you're really willing/can afford to lose the money - low to medium risk is a perfectly fine strategy as long as you're patient - much of the big increases in the pot happen in the last 10 years or so and it can feel like you're not getting much added value at the start. Don't go putting all your eggs in one basket either if you're going down a personal pension plan/SIPP - make sure you get a diversified portfolio and/or check that any financial advisor etc is registered with the FCA.
At the moment there's tons of uncertainty because of Brexit and Donald Trump keeps on saying and doing dumb things that spooks investors and the markets (though if you go medium-low risk you won't have that much put in stocks anyway - mostly likely bonds, property and cash) so there's quite a few giving negative returns on investment over the past couple of years but as I say it's more important the length of time you invest more than anything. There'll be some really good returns to even it out over the years.
*This is based on the rules now and those can of course change over time.
