They jacked our contribution up from 3% to 8%, but it turned out that 500million pound hole was too big to plug
still it isnt all bad the new scheme is still pretty lucrave for 8 or so years.Getting Old
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They jacked our contribution up from 3% to 8%, but it turned out that 500million pound hole was too big to plug
still it isnt all bad the new scheme is still pretty lucrave for 8 or so years.Personally i think property is the best investement long term, its hard at the beginning, but if you look at the market over a long period of time, it only appreciates in value.
Once you hit 65, downsize your house realise some of that capitol and hey presto a decent chunk of cash to tide you over for the cold winters
Once you hit 65, downsize your house realise some of that capitol and hey presto a decent chunk of cash to tide you over for the cold winters
With the current property prices I don't know how anyone who wants to get on the property ladder will afford to save anything, let alone put anything towards a pension. A very small family home is likely to cost ~£1800 per month around here, fine for anyone who bought their places 3 years ago at £100K and their morgage only rolls in at £550 per month and it's all very well saying put £1K per month away in savings/annuity but where the hell is that amount of money supposed to come from when you both earn the same figure?
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Property is fine if you can get on the property ladder :-/
Me, I've started up a personal pension plan this year, put some excess funds from my bank account into it, and putting away some money a month into it. Also got an ISA set up which I transfer money into each month.
However my financial situation may change in a year or two, so may not be able to afford to put money into the pension fund. However I'm still living with my parents at the moment so I'm doing my best to squirrel money away.
Me, I've started up a personal pension plan this year, put some excess funds from my bank account into it, and putting away some money a month into it. Also got an ISA set up which I transfer money into each month.
However my financial situation may change in a year or two, so may not be able to afford to put money into the pension fund. However I'm still living with my parents at the moment so I'm doing my best to squirrel money away.
Bah, I'm not gonna need a pension.... that's why I've had a kid. I'll just live with him and complain about how easy life is for his kids compared to when I were a lad. 
Actually, I've been paying in to my pension every month since I started working. Only problem is that I've not got round to lumping the 3 previous pension plans I've got in to my current one. Must get round to doing that at some stage.
Actually, I've been paying in to my pension every month since I started working. Only problem is that I've not got round to lumping the 3 previous pension plans I've got in to my current one. Must get round to doing that at some stage.
Only people with cook island blood can own land there, outsiders can build a house on land that is leased, but the owners of the land can just come and make you pull it down, or take it when ever they want. basicly to keep the land in tribal familys. My family is the Pubake blood line, we are one of the chief familys if you ever vist Raratonga you will see the name Pubake all over the place.
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How much would it take to buy a plot of land?
And what if I were to build a property on leased land and provide a security presence so strong that no-one would make me pull it down and take the land back?
The first is a serious question, the second not so, but still a viable option.
I would love to visit Cook Islands, always been described to me by other travelers as the closest place to paradise on Earth, give me free accommodation?
This explanation doesn't really wash with me, because post-war babies have very only recently been reaching the standard retirement age (and even then, only women). And it's been a problem long before 2005 when postwar babies hit 60.
So what I'm driving at is that we are yet to fully see the effect of this. We already have a pensions crisis (due to increasing life expectancy) and it will only get worse once the babyboomers start collecting their pensions en masse.
Here's some life expectancy stats from the ONS:
1983-85 - M: 71.5 F: 77.4
1988-90 - M: 72.6 F: 78.2
1993-95 - M: 73.8 F: 79.1
1998-00 - M: 75.0 F: 79.9
2003-05 - M: 76.6 F: 81
So, the mid-80s the average person would be expected to be a pensioner for 6.5/17.4 years. By the middle of this decade, this stat has risen to 11.6/21 years. And bear in mind this is a hugely lagged stat since those people won't be retiring until the future.
Look here: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=949
You can see that in actual fact so far the effect of an aging population has yet to be fully felt, because it has been offset somewhat by a decline in the number of children (i.e. the number of workers has been increasing too). Or in other words, our workforce has been bolstered by the babyboomers over the past 40 years or so. Once they are fading away into retirement, we could be in trouble due to the declining birth rate over the same period.
At my current rate of saving my pension should be worth around £22,000 per year in today's money when I retire.
Not a huge amount but assuming I don't have a mortgage by then it should be enough.
I've got other investment vehicles as well as my pension though so I shouldn't just have to rely on this.
Not a huge amount but assuming I don't have a mortgage by then it should be enough.
I've got other investment vehicles as well as my pension though so I shouldn't just have to rely on this.
I can't believe only one other person has noticed this.
Absolutely classic. It's like what old people do - get words muddled up in almost every sentence.
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Your final salary pension won't be protection either, they'll slowly chip it away so its worth nothing !
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I can retire at 55 on a police pension
hope i live that long
hope i live that long
yet the government is quite happy to supply non working chav/chavettes with large houses and enough benefit money to live happily on. People who have not done an honest days work in their life (unless you count dishonest) get a free house and money yet people who have lived through wars, worked hard are getting an abismal amount of cash to survive on.
I've never understood how the UK has managed to totally screw up its pension system for so long. The entire setup over here is so primitive and dodgy, I have no faith in it whatsoever. 
Back home in Australia, we have superannuation. If you're between 18 & 70 and earning above A$450 a month (and the vast majority of working Australians are), your employer is required by law to pay 9% of your annual salary into your superannuation scheme. You can also make additional contributions at your leisure.
Strict regulation has resulted in a very stable superannuation industry; you hear about failing pension plans all the time here in the UK, but it's virtually unknown Down Under.
The results of the Australian model speak for themselves:
Australians are the world's richest superannuation holders, thanks to a stronger domestic currency and the previous government allowing people to put as much as $1 million tax-free into their retirement savings, a report shows.
Australians had an average of $63,794 invested in managed funds at the end of the last financial year, the AFG Global Fund Management Index showed. Local super funds, on average, outperformed their peers in a top-10 list that included the United States, Canada and France.
In the year to June 30, 2007, the amount managed by Australian managed funds grew by 32.4 per cent. By comparison, the value of American managed funds climbed by 8.5 per cent to $43,458 and UK funds rose by 23.2 per cent to $17,515.
AFG Financial Planning dealer principal Ross Nayler said the stronger Australian dollar, now trading at around 90 US cents, and laws allowing people to put up to $1 million tax free into their super savings helped make Australia a world leader.
Source.
See also this Guardian article from 2004.
When I return home at the end of this year, my superannuation package will be waiting for me, and I'll just pick up where I left off. By the time I retire, it should be a tidy little sum.
Back home in Australia, we have superannuation. If you're between 18 & 70 and earning above A$450 a month (and the vast majority of working Australians are), your employer is required by law to pay 9% of your annual salary into your superannuation scheme. You can also make additional contributions at your leisure.
Strict regulation has resulted in a very stable superannuation industry; you hear about failing pension plans all the time here in the UK, but it's virtually unknown Down Under.
The results of the Australian model speak for themselves:
Australians are the world's richest superannuation holders, thanks to a stronger domestic currency and the previous government allowing people to put as much as $1 million tax-free into their retirement savings, a report shows.
Australians had an average of $63,794 invested in managed funds at the end of the last financial year, the AFG Global Fund Management Index showed. Local super funds, on average, outperformed their peers in a top-10 list that included the United States, Canada and France.
In the year to June 30, 2007, the amount managed by Australian managed funds grew by 32.4 per cent. By comparison, the value of American managed funds climbed by 8.5 per cent to $43,458 and UK funds rose by 23.2 per cent to $17,515.
AFG Financial Planning dealer principal Ross Nayler said the stronger Australian dollar, now trading at around 90 US cents, and laws allowing people to put up to $1 million tax free into their super savings helped make Australia a world leader.
Source.
See also this Guardian article from 2004.
When I return home at the end of this year, my superannuation package will be waiting for me, and I'll just pick up where I left off. By the time I retire, it should be a tidy little sum.