[pauld]

Anyone got a pension plan and if so what,s the general concensus on the best type
for us self employed shiners?

[daz1977]

dont retire,  just get big and rent rounds out or employ and sit at home,  by the time a lot of use retire, pensions, will be worth nothing (gov)  and if u pay in to a private pension it can all be lost, if they go bust,   

[paul rulton]

after seein wot happened with my dad im not worried about a pension  stash the cash fella 
plus the sale of ur round  or as Blue Monkey get BIG 

[Ian Lancaster]

Pension plans are a CON

First Gordon Brown thieved all the interest, leaving us with not much more than the amount we put in, then the bankers screwed the financial system so pensions took another hit.

I've been paying into one all my adult life, last year it matured and I get the princely sum of £32.50 a week

Use your money to build a property portfolio, or to build a business that will keep you in retirement.  Saving is a way of giving all your money to some shark who promises to give it all back with lots of interest, but is lying through his teeth from the work go

[Tom White]

Normally I'd advise that you seek professional independent advice with regards pensions and self employment, but I reckon Ian Lancaster is on the money when he says that private pension schemes are a rip off.

Maybe a better site for some information would be Martin Lewis's Money Saving Website?

[elite mike]

Pension plans are a CON

First Gordon Brown thieved all the interest, leaving us with not much more than the amount we put in, then the bankers screwed the financial system so pensions took another hit.

I've been paying into one all my adult life, last year it matured and I get the princely sum of £32.50 a week

Use your money to build a property portfolio, or to build a business that will keep you in retirement.  Saving is a way of giving all your money to some shark who promises to give it all back with lots of interest, but is lying through his teeth from the work go

yep got to agree with ian

have done the same myself, its like throwing your money away every month

biggest con out

[lyndy]

ive got 5 houses i let out can be aright pain,but in 20 years time i should be made,think ian is right

[AuRavelling79]

ive got 5 houses i let out can be aright pain,but in 20 years time i should be made,think ian is right

How did you start off on the property game and how did you expand? If you don't mind me asking ...

[Gordon Saunders]

i got my bungalows

[paul rulton]

ine got 3 bird houses  :  not quite the same is it 

[lyndy]

bought my first one 20 years ago i let that out,while still living at my mums,when the equity had built up,took some money out of it,and put it down on another and so on,i sold 2 last year,just got the five now

[AuRavelling79]

bought my first one 20 years ago i let that out,while still living at my mums,when the equity had built up,took some money out of it,and put it down on another and so on,i sold 2 last year,just got the five now

"just got the five now" he says laconically! 

Well done you!

I know of a guy who came over here from Tenerife and worked as a live-in school caretaker in Bristol and he scrimped and scraped and bought a house and put students in it and about 15 years ago had six houses in Bristol, sold up and went back to Tenerife and had a "nice" villa built with the proceeds and used the rest of the dosh to live on.

He is a nasty little man  to be honest - estranged from his daughter and was also "distant" with his son who then died in tragic circumstances - but he certainly had his head screwed on with property.