Retirement, would you if you could?

[Drago]

Is final salary types aren't lucky - in my case it cost me 3 decades of 15% of my gross, when a lot of folk think theyre hard done by these days having to put half that aside. Hell, 10 years ago people complained vociferously about having to put 4 or 5% into a pension.

Then theres 30 years of crap shifts, sheet working conditions, being spat on, assaulted, having rest days cancelled and never got back, having considerable restictions on my private life, not even being able to live where I want without permission, and in my case being shot at twice and finally assaulted with sufficient severity to leave me permanently injured.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm a big boy and my life choices were mine and mine alone. Just making the point that its the result of 3 decades of sacrifice, and luck didn't really come into it.

 

[Lozz360]

I wasn't having a pop at people with final salary pensions, @Drago. I am also one of the few that have one and I consider myself very lucky. Although I didn't have to endure the trauma you did to get it (thank you for your service BTW). The pension is seen as such a liability to the provider, that they keep increasing the cash equivalent transfer value of it every year in the hope that I will take the money and run. From their point of view, I could start drawing it at age 65, live until I am, say 95, then marry someone in their 20s (extremely unlikely I know), I then die and she receives the spouses pension until she dies in her mid-nineties. The pension provider would have been providing an index linked income for 100-years or more. You can see why it is a valuable asset to receive and a potential liability to pay out.

 

[Drago]

It's cool, I know no offence was intended and none was taken

 

[cougie uk]

On a side note, all these folk who retire and say "I'm so busy now, I don't know how I found the time to go to work" are either lying or being deliberately obtuse.

My dog walks have got longer. Dog loves it and it's a great way to explore your area. 3+ hour walks really cut into your time !

 

[Drago]

Im neither lying nor obtuse. In order to take the load off Mrs D I do all the washing, cleaning, ironing, shopping, and this last 6 months have been decorating almost daily. I genuinely have days where I struggle to fit everything in.

 

[Slick]

IR35 change is going to impact the amount contractors can earn, we’ll essentially be employed on same terms as perm staff going forwards...

In my role I hire in contractors on behalf of my employer. IR35 has been floating around for a while now and I have done the test with HMRC to check we were compliant despite all the delays, so I do have an idea of how it will affect contractors. In my sector, the affect on earning potential will be minimal.

 

[lane]

Is final salary types aren't lucky - in my case it cost me 3 decades of 15% of my gross, when a lot of folk think theyre hard done by these days having to put half that aside. Hell, 10 years ago people complained vociferously about having to put 4 or 5% into a pension.

Then theres 30 years of crap shifts, sheet working conditions, being spat on, assaulted, having rest days cancelled and never got back, having considerable restictions on my private life, not even being able to live where I want without permission, and in my case being shot at twice and finally assaulted with sufficient severity to leave me permanently injured.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm a big boy and my life choices were mine and mine alone. Just making the point that its the result of 3 decades of sacrifice, and luck didn't really come into it.

While I agree having the opportunity of a final salary pension is fortunate; it does get me a bit when someone someone implies you are just lucky, when I know for a fact they have taken the easier option job wise, not paid 10% of their salary into to a pension for 30+ years, had more free time and less stress than me and then think its pure luck I can retire a few years before them. Or people who were happy to show off their nice company car over the years but never worried the company didn't provide a pension plan. It's a fortunate position to be in, but not just down to luck.

 

[midlife]

Is final salary types aren't lucky - in my case it cost me 3 decades of 15% of my gross, when a lot of folk think theyre hard done by these days having to put half that aside. Hell, 10 years ago people complained vociferously about having to put 4 or 5% into a pension.

Then theres 30 years of crap shifts, sheet working conditions, being spat on, assaulted, having rest days cancelled and never got back, having considerable restictions on my private life, not even being able to live where I want without permission, and in my case being shot at twice and finally assaulted with sufficient severity to leave me permanently injured.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm a big boy and my life choices were mine and mine alone. Just making the point that its the result of 3 decades of sacrifice, and luck didn't really come into it.

I thought the forces pension scheme was non contributory and the police pension 9.5-11%?

 

[lane]

I thought the forces pension scheme was non contributory and the police pension 9.5-11%?

Had that argument with my Dad who was a civil servant. He maintain he paid no contribution but that his salary was reduced to take account of what he would have paid. I suppose that makes sense as there was no pension fund for him to contribute to.

 

[dodgy]

I suppose any employer could claim to be paying you a non-contributory pension by claiming to be paying you more than they ordinarily would be.

 

[lane]

I suppose any employer could claim to be paying you a non-contributory pension by claiming to be paying you more than they ordinarily would be.

Unless they are paying the minimum wage.

 

[lane]

My brother was in a job with a final salary pension scheme. He went to work for a start up with no pension but share options he thought would make him rich when the company was sold. Unfortunately the company went to the wall.

Companies offer a range of perks, share options, company car (rarer now) profit shares etc. In the public sector you get a decent pension, but you do have to pay a chunk of your salary into it.

Friend of mine in the private sector got a final salary scheme and share options. He is retiring this month in his mid 50s. I do know he had to work bloody hard though.

 

[Drago]

I thought the forces pension scheme was non contributory and the police pension 9.5-11%?

Aye, the Green Machine was non cont when I was in, but I was paying into a private pension already as I knew I wasn't going to be a career squaddie or long termer. I've left the Army one alone, as I only did 4 years and can't claim until I'm 60, and to have brought it into my police fund would have been disadvantageous in the long term.

Dibble pension was 11% when I joined in 1991, but I always paid the 15% maximum. The current standard contribution is 14.5% today.

When I split from Mrs D Mark 1 I took a 6 month career break and signed with BSC, hoping for Iraq but was offered BG'ing in the US. That was $125,000 easy money, and even after the exchange rate and tax shenanigans left me enough to later buy 4 more years on the police pension (you could do that on the 1987 scheme). What was left went into an annuity.

So, yeah, I didn't quite serve 30 in the Dibble, but still paid 30 years of pension contributions.

 

[Lee_M]

I hear people about to retire say they're going to travel, visit friends, family etc. I say to them you need to know what you'll do on a wet Tuesday in November. You need interests/ activities.

wet Tuesdays are for fettling the kit car

as are wet Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

More fettling than driving in the last year

 

[Lee_M]

Is final salary types aren't lucky - in my case it cost me 3 decades of 15% of my gross, when a lot of folk think theyre hard done by these days having to put half that aside. Hell, 10 years ago people complained vociferously about having to put 4 or 5% into a pension.

Then theres 30 years of crap shifts, sheet working conditions, being spat on, assaulted, having rest days cancelled and never got back, having considerable restictions on my private life, not even being able to live where I want without permission, and in my case being shot at twice and finally assaulted with sufficient severity to leave me permanently injured.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm a big boy and my life choices were mine and mine alone. Just making the point that its the result of 3 decades of sacrifice, and luck didn't really come into it.

to be fair the second paragraph isn't a consequence of DB it's a consequence of the job you picked