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UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Pope vader on November 05, 2011, 08:42:51 pm

Title: pensions
Post by: Pope vader on November 05, 2011, 08:42:51 pm
what things have you got inplace for your retirement?

as looking at getting a pension
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: elite mike on November 05, 2011, 09:29:50 pm
dont bother mine is worth less than it was 10 years ago

like chucking  my money away every month   :'(
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: lyndy on November 05, 2011, 09:31:07 pm
I've got 5 properties to sell when the time is right
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: sunshine windows on November 05, 2011, 10:02:52 pm
If anyone would like me to look after their pension funds for them id' be quite happy to.

Saw the film 'Tower Heist' at the cinema last week and i'll look after your  investments wisely  ;D
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: stuart mc on November 05, 2011, 10:19:49 pm
buy gold sovereigns instead
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: andyM on November 06, 2011, 08:22:50 am
buy gold sovereigns instead

Good advice Stu.
Although investing in silver is also a good investment because they reckon there isn't enough silver bullion in the world and demand is soaring.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: Dave. on November 06, 2011, 08:25:53 am
Everyone loves a bit of Silver ;D
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: AuRavelling79 on November 06, 2011, 10:44:16 am
It's a tough one isn't it? On the basis that we haven't had lyndy's good foresight or good fortune my take on this is as follows:-

Some ideas-

Keep as healthy as you can by taking regular exercise and drinking and eating sensibly. This lets you work as long as necessary.

Save some money in an ISA regularly (say £100/200 a month) for ten years and resolve "not to touch it".

Buy your house which will give you a cushion of capital to play with.

Expand your business so you have a saleable asset/income when you are no longer able to work.

If you can buy a property it's a good 'un as you can get rental income and assume a rise in value over the long term.

.....

I like the precious metals idea but I wonder if we are with gold and silver where we were with property five years ago - approaching a peak?
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: Londoner on November 06, 2011, 10:56:07 am
Private pensions are just a waste of money. Quite a few years ago I took out a seperate private pension to top up my company pension.
I have the latest statement here They predict my pension will be £30 a week. Thats less than I am paying in. If I had payed that money into a ISA all these years I would have had about  £40 grand plus as a nest egg, and I could have payed myself £30 a week out of the interest..
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: AuRavelling79 on November 06, 2011, 11:25:21 am
That's a good point Vince - and you can even eat into the capital - eg you retire at 66,67,68 with 40K and get 2% interest - well that's £40 a week. At 66,67 0r 68 you get your state pension as well. 

But when you get to 75 you don't need so much sell the car, stop holidays abroad - so start using the capital - take 4K a year for beer money and you'd get to 85/86 if you are still alive. And then you can use your house capital or take a short trip to Switzerland if you're so inclined! (Your kids would take you I'm sure! ;D)
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: Londoner on November 06, 2011, 02:21:33 pm
Yeah its a rip off because they have my money and all they are going to do pay me virtually the interest on the money I have in there. Then I die and they keep it. Hardly seems like a fair deal to me, and the law actually protects them by saying no way can I get my money back off them.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: Danny Guest on November 06, 2011, 02:58:40 pm
im not looking this far ahead yet. im having too much fun in the present.
regards investment i stick by two rules:
1.stick to what you know
2.sometimes the best investments are the ones you dont make

the only real risk in business is when you dont know what your doing

danny
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: dd on November 06, 2011, 03:11:50 pm
Advantage paying into a pension is you get tax relief on contributions which you do not get with an ISA, this will be either at 20% or 40% depending on income.

There is no difference as far as I can tell with paying into an ISA as you could if you so wished choose the same fund for your pension.

Only difference currently over an ISA is you have to use 75% of your pension fund on retirement to purchase an annuity unless you opt for "Income Drawdown" on retirement. Whereas you can do what you like with your ISA fund, including the temptation of spending it before you reach retirement.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: markymark on November 06, 2011, 07:55:19 pm
Not knowing too much about the whole pensions thing, I do know enough that if the initial investment is share based, at the moment it'll be doing sweet fa but through pound-cost averaging it'll be soaring in 2-4 years when the economy finally starts to pick up. Kerching!....
Unless Greece defaults, the euro crashes, the banks are cleaned out through exposure to bad Italian and southern European debt and we all end up living in straw huts and caves eating berries and moss and working for some polished pebbles or - if we find a good employer - sprouts.

Still, mustnt grumble..... ;D
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: lee_dewing on November 06, 2011, 08:20:33 pm
I'm 40 and worried myself to bits as had a private pension when i was in early 20's stopped it and never started up again use to be in different industry back then.

Been w/c for 8 yrs.

Got a book of amazon re-private pensions; by a guy who is an expert and writes for FT.

Read a couple of pages and nearly tore in half.

Looking at stats you would need to accure half a million pound before you retired which would give you £25,000 a year, i think this meant i would need to save about £600-700 a month :o

All these insurance sales people telling you to give em £100-£200 a month to give you a good retirement should be shot; i think putting this amount away if you just started your working career out of school would still be doubtful.

The stock market is on it's ar5e more than ever; mind you since the late eighties has the stock market ever been good :(

p.s here's that book i got.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Financial-Pensions-Wealth-Retirement-Guides/dp/0273727850/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320610530&sr=1-2

Minds slung in the loft should have had it to hand this weekend to throw on the bonfire.

think what Gold say's make's since.

Also as said i think property is proven to be a sound investment over shares/private pensions.

Lee
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: weetot on November 06, 2011, 08:43:23 pm
I'm 40 and worried myself to bits as had a private pension when i was in early 20's stopped it and never started up again use to be in different industry back then.

Been w/c for 8 yrs.

Got a book of amazon re-private pensions; by a guy who is an expert and writes for FT.

Read a couple of pages and nearly tore in half.

Looking at stats you would need to accure half a million pound before you retired which would give you £25,000 a year, i think this meant i would need to save about £600-700 a month :o

All these insurance sales people telling you to give em £100-£200 a month to give you a good retirement should be shot; i think putting this amount away if you just started your working career out of school would still be doubtful.

The stock market is on it's ar5e more than ever; mind you since the late eighties has the stock market ever been good :(

p.s here's that book i got.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Financial-Pensions-Wealth-Retirement-Guides/dp/0273727850/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320610530&sr=1-2

Minds slung in the loft should have had it to hand this weekend to throw on the bonfire.

think what Gold say's make's since.

Also as said i think property is proven to be a sound investment over shares/private pensions.

Lee

Mines a similar case, agree with all of that. ???
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: DaveG on November 06, 2011, 09:02:05 pm
We wont have a mortgage by the time I'm 65 and plan to sell the family home for a big fat profit and buy a little place somewhere. I also hope to rent out the business to my son for a couple of hundred a week(in todays money) and live off that.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: g.brookes on November 06, 2011, 09:08:32 pm
considering we are all of a self employed mindest, i find the ide aof a pension difficult- giving your money to someone else who chooses how to invest it, potentially losing you money.  i think i would prefer to stick to trying to max your ISA allowance and/or getting a mortgage and paying it off asap
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: AshWhite on November 06, 2011, 09:23:57 pm
Investments in the stock market have outperformed bank savings rates for every 18 year period since the markets were established. Past performance is not, of course, a guarantee of future results :)

Title: Re: pensions
Post by: g.brookes on November 06, 2011, 09:50:59 pm
what specifically do you mean by investments.  theres millions of different stocks you can buy.  how can you possibly quantify that?   
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: AshWhite on November 06, 2011, 09:54:56 pm
Investments into the FTSE100.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: AshWhite on November 06, 2011, 10:07:55 pm
I apologise, it's 93 out of 94 18 year periods.

If youd like to read more

http://www.lovemoney.com/news/savings-investments-pensions/investments/11793/a-clever-way-to-beat-inflation

I've studied and passed my Securities & Investments Institute broker exams, and my CeMAP exams - I would invest in funds over savings accounts every time.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: trevor perry on November 06, 2011, 11:10:31 pm
gold has increased on average 30 percent per year for the past ten years try getting that rate from any bank or isa i know nothing is certain and it could go down in value but lets face it in the current climate there is no gauranteed safe place to invest your money
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: Danny Guest on November 07, 2011, 12:15:14 am
gold has increased on average 30 percent per year for the past ten years try getting that rate from any bank or isa i know nothing is certain and it could go down in value but lets face it in the current climate there is no gauranteed safe place to invest your money
If you go out tomorrow and invest in gold how do you know that gold hasnt just hit its peak price? Just like buying property at the height of the market in 2007 you could be throwing your money away.

No matter what you invest in its always vulnerable to economic fluctuations and we all know by now that these run in cycles

Title: Re: pensions
Post by: NBwcs on November 07, 2011, 12:56:22 am
The big draw back with isa,s is that come the day you need help off the government, they take your savings into consideration and you,ll probably get nowt, whilst they wont count your private pension. Mines still going into an isa mind, but not an ideal situation.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: richard jagger on November 07, 2011, 05:57:27 am
Invest in  property as were can you invest and get someone else to pay for it,in form of a tenant.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: Londoner on November 07, 2011, 07:10:13 am
Advantage paying into a pension is you get tax relief on contributions which you do not get with an ISA, this will be either at 20% or 40% depending on income.

There is no difference as far as I can tell with paying into an ISA as you could if you so wished choose the same fund for your pension.

Only difference currently over an ISA is you have to use 75% of your pension fund on retirement to purchase an annuity unless you opt for "Income Drawdown" on retirement. Whereas you can do what you like with your ISA fund, including the temptation of spending it before you reach retirement.

You get tax relief on a pension when you pay the money in but ALL of the money you get out of it is taxed. With an ISA all of the money you take out is tax free so swings and roundabouts. Personally I think I would rather have the tax free income at the end

My big beef with pensions is they keep your money. You might retire and die a month later, bye bye to all that money. Nothing to leave to the family, just gone.

At least with the money in your control you have options. Pensions give you no control.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: dd on November 07, 2011, 09:12:21 am
You can take 25% of your pension as a tax free lump sum and have to use the rest to give you an income which will be taxed as such, so personal tax allowances will apply.

If you were to use an ISA to create an income in the same way the same tax rules would apply to the income.

Investing in property is a great idea but personally I do not have enough money to buy another house and rent it out. I would think the majority on this forum do not either.

If you keep cash in the bank or an ISA you are losing money because inflation is higher than the interest you get on your savings.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: trevor perry on November 07, 2011, 11:53:42 am
gold has increased on average 30 percent per year for the past ten years try getting that rate from any bank or isa i know nothing is certain and it could go down in value but lets face it in the current climate there is no gauranteed safe place to invest your money
If you go out tomorrow and invest in gold how do you know that gold hasnt just hit its peak price? Just like buying property at the height of the market in 2007 you could be throwing your money away.

No matter what you invest in its always vulnerable to economic fluctuations and we all know by now that these run in cycles



 i agree with you that is why it is wise to spread your money into different areas then if one takes a hit the others carry it a bit, my point was that for the past 10 years gold has been a very good investment with a 30 percent per year return and if you have spare savings then surely it is worth putting a bit of it into  gold, if you just leave your money in a savings acount offering 3.5 percent interest then in reality your money is slowly disapearing in real terms because inflation is now more than 5 percent so you have to take some risk on how to make your money work for you. Personally i think the whole economy has had it and no matter where our money is put it is going to take a big hit but that doesnt mean i should bury my head in the sand and try and do nothing rather i will take each day as it comes and like the saying says nothing risked then nothing gained.
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: Mike_G on November 07, 2011, 02:51:41 pm
Trevor has made a good point, diversify. Its more than likely a good idea to have lots of smaller investments rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.


Heres a few ideas
 
1. Isa's are almost certainly a must, its probably the only one thats 100% guaranteed. (other than a savings account which you will be taxed on) So fill your ISA's before your savings account and make sure you keep an eye on the interest rate you are getting on the isa, if its not a competitive rate move it

2. Property. As already mentioned if you can afford to get a buy to let, it might be a good investment (but you will almost certainly need to pay tax on these) Or buy a big expensive house now and then downsize (this way you avoid capital gains tax etc)

3. Stock markets, gold, silver etc. Prices can rise alot but they could go down as well. Some make an awful lot of money out of it, most it seems, do not.

4. Sell or rent your business, the latter could provide you with a good steady income for a very long time

5. State Pension. Dont forget you will get this, if have no other income it will be at least £130 a week. 

5. Retire abroad, somewhere where the cost of living is cheaper, that way you will not need such a big pension, not suitable for everyone but it will be for a few, me included!
Title: Re: pensions
Post by: ants on November 07, 2011, 04:06:06 pm
premium bonds are pretty good.i won £500 on them last week.
you can only hold £30,000 worth though,  [ i say only ;)] ypu know what i mean.