State pension

Oh and to add to the above overpaying on a mortgage is also sound advice as said above this reduces the long term interest charged.

When I reached sixty they put the bus passes to sixty six as well as the senior citizens season tickets, my timing is impeccable so this is no surprise.
I think it unreasonable to expect someone who has had a hard manual job or an outside site worker to carry on working until 70.
At the same time it's also unfair for one section of the nation's workforce to be allowed to retire before another whatever their job descriptions are.
So at a certain age people should be given the choice of retirement or to continue working.
You would be surprised how many would choose the latter, they missed their calling in life, they should have been born as pack horse's.😂
Seriously though the more people who are kept in work also affects how many people are kept out of work.
The day's of a young lad learning a trade for like has long gone, it's all hire and fire today.
How are today's youngsters going to earn enough points to get a decent pension, let alone a mortgage with zero hour contracts and agency work?
It's the fault of people like me who have reached 65, I should have done the decent thing for the economy and snuffed it.

I can see preparing for your pension age makes sense, however....If you can guarantee that you will be alive to enjoy it that's fine, but no one can. I've seen lots of people go without only to die just after retirement. The truth is that there is no satisfactory plan for your old age. If you save, it will all wither away, if you don't, you will get help but it wont be much. This is how it is, so its hard to criticise the decisions someone makes. A lot of it is down to how things pan out health wise and how happy you are to live on a low wage.

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Originally Posted by boingy

I can see preparing for your pension age makes sense, however....If you can guarantee that you will be alive to enjoy it that's fine, but no one can. I've seen lots of people go without only to die just after retirement. The truth is that there is no satisfactory plan for your old age. If you save, it will all wither away, if you don't, you will get help but it wont be much. This is how it is, so its hard to criticise the decisions someone makes. A lot of it is down to how things pan out health wise and how happy you are to live on a low wage.

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It’s not just about providing for yourself into an old age from my point of view Boingy.

I’ve always wanted to ensure I left enough money to safeguard the future of my three children and my grandchildren.

One of my daughters has been left badly expose by a s h I t house of an ex husband so it’s a good job we are able to help her.

Each to their own path though I guess.

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Originally Posted by mickd1961

It’s not just about providing for yourself into an old age from my point of view Boingy.

I’ve always wanted to ensure I left enough money to safeguard the future of my three children and my grandchildren.

One of my daughters has been left badly expose by a s h I t house of an ex husband so it’s a good job we are able to help her.

Each to their own path though I guess.

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I can respect that Mick.

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Originally Posted by boingy

I can see preparing for your pension age makes sense, however....If you can guarantee that you will be alive to enjoy it that's fine, but no one can. I've seen lots of people go without only to die just after retirement. The truth is that there is no satisfactory plan for your old age. If you save, it will all wither away, if you don't, you will get help but it wont be much. This is how it is, so its hard to criticise the decisions someone makes. A lot of it is down to how things pan out health wise and how happy you are to live on a low wage.

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It's not a binary choice. You can put some aside and enjoy life. Also if you put money into your personal pension or any other savings (Buy To Let was a great option) it belongs to your estate and if you do go early your dependents benefit.

Agree 100% about overpaying on your mortgage. I give my kids cash each year but insist it is used for this purpose. They take great delight in showing mom and dad how much they have saved and we a get a warm glow from seeing it! The saving for the 3 of them is in excess of £100,000.

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Originally Posted by mickd1961

Some incredibly stupid retorts on here.

Firstly, my main point was that if you spend all your life and then want to exist on £150 per week State Pension ( I don’t know the exact figure ) then you deserve a miserable retirement.......you’ve had 50 years to sort yourself out.

Secondly, did I say I’d lived a life of penury?

25 years of successful business have afforded me the things I’ve wanted in life but more rewarding has been how I’ve been able to help my three kids.

I made the decision not to just blow the money all the time, I’d paid off the bigger house I’d bought three years after moving in back in 2001 and could’ve lived mortgage free.

I decided to remortgage and use the money as deposits to buy rental properties and the rents have paid the mortgage and thus they’ve cost me nothing to buy.

The best decision I ever made, the only pity is that I didn’t inflict further pain on myself 15-20 years ago buy buying even more.

I have a very basic life which suits me, last year I bought one new tee shirt, this year I changed my almost 5 year old car.

Next year I’m off to Australia if they’ll let us in.

I strike a balance between enjoyment now and knowing I won’t be queuing up to collect £150 at the Post Office 7 years from now and having to turn the heating off and put a rug over me whilst I watch TV.

Like 123 days.....you can’t rely on any government!

By the way.....the £150 will be gratefully received.......I’ll have paid in for 50 years at that point with not a single days claim due to unemployment.

I’ll probably use the money towards house deposits for my grandchildren or to help pay for my care home.

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I retired at 55. £176 a week I get. Agree totally with the sentiments of this post and a few details apart is how we have decided to manage our lives.

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Originally Posted by 9goals2hattricks3pen

I retired at 55. £176 a week I get. Agree totally with the sentiments of this post and a few details apart is how we have decided to manage our lives.

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Did you buy that plot you’d been looking at 923?

This is the great thing about property when you have your skills and background, you can be “retired” and still do a project which I like the idea of.

There’s a cottage in our area with a large separate garage/barn type structure and a separate field which I have my eyes on.

It’s quite run down and I’ve been tipped the wink it’s going to be sold this year so I’m hoping to pounce once it does, I guess it’ll then take me a couple of years to do what I want to do to the various bits.

This excites me more than my “day job” but I’m intending to sell the business to my daughter and son in law in the next 12 months so a project like this would be an exciting new start for me.

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Originally Posted by mickd1961

Did you buy that plot you’d been looking at 923?

This is the great thing about property when you have your skills and background, you can be “retired” and still do a project which I like the idea of.

There’s a cottage in our area with a large separate garage/barn type structure and a separate field which I have my eyes on.

It’s quite run down and I’ve been tipped the wink it’s going to be sold this year so I’m hoping to pounce once it does, I guess it’ll then take me a couple of years to do what I want to do to the various bits.

This excites me more than my “day job” but I’m intending to sell the business to my daughter and son in law in the next 12 months so a project like this would be an exciting new start for me.

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Put in an offer subject to change of planning. Guy who worked for me for many years is putting up the bulk of the money I'm in for 25%.

I haven't seriously had the urge to dabble until lockdown came along.