[Pope vader]

what things have you got inplace for your retirement?

as looking at getting a pension

[elite mike]

dont bother mine is worth less than it was 10 years ago

like chucking  my money away every month   

[lyndy]

I've got 5 properties to sell when the time is right

[sunshine windows]

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 

[stuart mc]

buy gold sovereigns instead

[andyM]

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.

[Dave.]

Everyone loves a bit of Silver

[AuRavelling79]

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?

[Londoner]

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..

[AuRavelling79]

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! )

[Londoner]

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.

[Danny Guest]

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

[dd]

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.

[markymark]

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.....

[lee_dewing]

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

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

[weetot]

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

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.

[DaveG]

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.

[g.brookes]

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

[AshWhite]

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

[g.brookes]

what specifically do you mean by investments.  theres millions of different stocks you can buy.  how can you possibly quantify that?