Saturday 25 July 2015

Pension Pot.


                                                                                                                                                                      Hello Everyone!
Especially new followers Carol, NannyAnny and Undomestic Diva on the follower bar and jangray, Bronzewing and Rebecca on Blog Lovin. It is really good to see you here.
I recently saw a couple on the TV who are going to use a draw down from their pensions to travel the world. This couple both had pensions and my guess were a professional couple, probably with decent pensions. They appeared to have done their homework and good luck to them, though it is not a move that I would make, nor equity release.
I must admit to being anxious about draw-down. I am concerned that some older people might be taken advantage of. You might think that I am being patronising here and that people know what they are doing. I agree that many do, but my experience as a Social Worker tells me that some older people are vulnerable from fraudsters with "investment" advice or likely to be targeted/befriended by family members and so-called friends and neighbours.
"Bless him, my grandson is having a difficult time. He has finished college and would like a year out before he settles down"
"My granddaughter says that if she had a car she could get a job"
"My son needs a short term loan for a holiday. He works so hard he deserves a break"
"My nephew has been using drugs but says he isn't using them anymore and needs a bond to get himself a flat and make a new start"
Now there is nothing wrong with helping family out. That's what families are for, helping each other, but I have heard these statements and similar so many times when an older person has cashed in an insurance policy or similar. They are so pleased to be able to help their relative out and I suppose if they never see the pay out again (they probably wont) it was money they never had (though have paid into) but draw-down reduces the amount of money they need to live on in the long term and the loss of it will impinge on a person's standard of living.
For those not familiar with Drawdown, put simply, a person can take a percentage of their pension pot as a lump sum. Clearly this will reduce the regular pension payments afterwards.

 A headline in my Sunday paper a couple of weeks ago stated that "People in their 20s have retirement mapped out - but they aren't saving" The article says that twentysomethings expect to retire at 63 on an annual income of £23,000, which many plan to spend travelling the world. They believe that they don't need to start saving until they hit 30 and almost half believe that they can rely on a state pension to give them a decent income.  Just how much of that is likely?!

And am I the only person who doesn't want to travel the world?!

Just watched an article on the news about a young woman who is the first apprentice Bee farmer. She works on her dad's farm and hopes one day to take over the business. Good for her! I was especially pleased to see the old cobbled together hives that are still in service after many years in the elements. It made me feel better about our apiary (after looking at some of the hives of beauty that I see on other blogs)
 We took our first honey harvest this week. Hive No 1 yielded  60lb of honey, which is a good start. We hope to find time remove the supers from Hive No 11 and 4 today.
Having seen the projections for the winter weather as a result of a very active El Nineo (how do you spell it?) I shall be kicking into Prepper mode for the next couple of months, putting stores away....oooh I do love harvest time.
Enough of my ramblings for now.
Hope to be back soon
Gillx









15 comments:

  1. This drawdown of pensions seems to be as dangerous as swimming in shark infested water. So many people out there are sharks, preying on those who are not money savvy. Lets face it all the information about pensions are couched in language that is as easy to understand as Welsh is to pronounce. Even those who feel that they are happy with this ought to take advice from more than one source and then think long and hard before jumping into the water.

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    1. I really struggle to understand some of the information that I receive and I am considered to be literate and of average intelligence. How must those less fortunate manage?

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  2. I am not expecting anything to be left in the pension pot when I retire, it is drying up they keep moving my retirement age its now 68 but my sister who is a year older is 65 how do they work that out, we have never put money into private pensions thank goodness when you hear of all the problems there has been I am glad, we invested in rental properties instead, I dont want to travel the world I am happy up my mountain.
    I need to check on our hives hoping the sunshine holds today so I can open them.
    we are preparing for a harsh winter, Hay is ordered for a autumn delivery and I am stocking up on animal feeds, we have plenty of food stores for ourselves, Logs we are still working on. plenty of stand by's for power cuts :-)

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  3. I have all three state pension, private pension and a rental property that will be mortgage free next year. Hubby has two pensions. These have cost us a lot of money over the years but it will enable us to have a better retirement although we couldn't spend willy nilly ;0)

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  4. You've worried me now! A harsh winter would be OK here but not in a rented property or a caravan, and how can I get stores in if we might be moving? Oh dear.
    I don't want to travel the world either, just a few places in this country and as for pensions - relying on the children to look after us in our old age!! - Ha!

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  5. Thanks for the warm welcome!

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  6. Thank goodness I am too old to bother about pension pots. I get all my pensions from various sources and find it quite adequate for my life style thank goodness.

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  7. What good is a £23 000 pension when they get to 63 - that's in 41 years time. £23 000 will probably be the equivalent of £1 000 then...

    RMan had a pension fund - which ended up making more money for the agent than for his fund. He cashed it in in order to purchase our smallholding. Pointless paying into something which isn't performing and isn't going to provide a pension. Rather let our hard work provide for us in the future.

    Sad, isn't it - how extended families used to look after each other years ago. Not many of those left, so it has become a case of everyone for themselves...

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  8. I don't want to travel the world either! I'm very happy in my little corner!
    Pensions do worry me as it's very hard in this economic climate to save to put into them.

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  9. I do travel the world, but only on my computer.
    I would not mind a few more local day trips.
    I really do need to stock pile more for winter.
    I do need to save more!

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  10. I have no pension, but have made my own arrangements. Somehow I have more confidence in my own method than I would ever have in a state pension.

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  11. I am surprised El Nino effects you.
    We watch the El Nino or La Nina it very carefully because the storms off Mexico are what pulls or blocks the monsoons storms into Arizona and California during summer.
    We are lucky to have some rain but the storms are not behaving like they should.

    cheers, parsnip

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  13. I must send you some photos of your bees. They visit our lavender every day and seem to be loving it!!!

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  14. I'll be happy just to have the money to do a little travelling in this country, never mind the world! Pensions are a worry. Our private pensions rely on interest rates to make it worthwhile, and their value has dropped considerably over the last few years. So, now approaching 50 and nearing the mortgage being paid off by overpaying it every month, where do we invest our money for our futures? It's something we need to look into carefully.

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