How many retired folks do we have on this forum?

I will look into it but I should send you a photo first - this stuff is not exactly good enough for croquet on the vicarage lawn.

Sniper - 

Congratulations on having the courage to make such a bold move!  Sounds like it has worked out well for you. Am curious, are there other ex-pats nearby, or are you pretty much on your own?  

Also, I read that last weekend there was more fighting between the Philippines army and the NPA. You mentioned intruders -- were they just the garden variety? Are you at a safe distance from the political violence? Hope so, because your oceanfront home sounds absolutely wonderful!

ATB.

Hook

Am 55, and retirement is 5-to-10 years away.  Depends on how well the markets perform, and how well my health holds up.

Our plan right now is to "snow bird" -- spend spring through fall here in Minneapolis, and winter in Pretoria, RSA, near Mrs. Hook's sisters.  This gives me 5-to-10 years to plan my second Naim setup...  ;-).

Hook

Hook, 

The fighting you refer to nearly always takes place on the island of Mindanao which is home to the overwhelming majority of the country's small Muslim population and not the whole of Mindanao, rather the fighting takes place around the relatively tiny area of Basilan. All very far from here I am glad to say. 

The Philippines is an astonishing backward kleptocracy/oligarchy and you need your wits about you. The country is run by a handful of powerful political dynasties each with their own private army. The murder rate is through the roof. Even the dogs have guns. Its feudal. Exploitation and domination is the name of the game. 

On the rare occasion I have to introduce intruders (local garden variety thieves or peeping Toms) to Millie I mean 9 millie  It is licensed to my wife (ex-pats are not allowed to have guns) but I can use it on our own property. I don't shoot at them but I certainly impress upon them need for a hasty retreat.  We have added security lighting recently some of which doubles as lighting for the pool at night. The local community know we have security lighting and at least one gun (and they believe we have security cameras and a direct line to the local police and that I work for the FBI - how this ridiculous rumour got around is a total mystery to me)

My immediate neighbour is a German called Hermann - Hermann the German is a retired army officer. Next to him is a retired American academic from MIT. There is a 71 year old Brit up the road who has a live in 18 year old girlfriend. We have an ex-pat community which I avoided for a long time to my cost. One needs advice here. It is easy to make costly mistakes. However, if you jump ship in the right place and you are suitably clued up this really is a great place to live. We don't have bars on the windows and we are next to the most famous tourist island in the country so there are ex-pats a plenty and people to talk too. Connections are important here. The British Government will even pay your state pension directly to a local bank. 

An entirely sensible precaution.

They do eat dogs. Our nearest local neighbour eats dogs. Snakes too. They call them 'exotic foods'.  

I read The Observer Book entry on the 'Edible' when a child and since then the suspicion of false memory has haunted me - until the internet confirmed it.

Of course, look long enough and the internet could probably confirm anything - if the Illuminati allow it.

Sniper,

     Really enjoying reading your story. Lots of bittersweet details.

Keep the faith

Paul

Back to the original question.

Is someone keeping count of how many retirees ?

Would be an interesting stat of percentage of forum?

<Pendantry> The thread is qualititatively interesting only. It will never yield statistics because the numerator is incompletely ascertained and the denominator wholly unknown. </Pedantry>

I retired in March aged 56 - simpply worn out with medical practice, NHS and private. I didn't specifically want to stop 'work' - I just couldn't do any more of what I was doing.

Retirement itself is a job, though. I am filling my time thus far, but I do feel that it can't be good for a nation, overall, to have fit people aged 50-odd doing 'nothing'.

Fraser

Bingo!

Speaking for the U.S only, retirement ages always amaze me. In this country when Social Security was created (during the Depression era 1930's) and the retirement age was 65 the average life expectancy of an American male was 64 and American female just a bit longer. Today many Americans retire or want to retire in their 50's even though good non-governmental pensions are much less common than they were 30 years ago and governmental pensions are also in the process of being scaled back. The average life expectancy is now late 70's for men and 80 or so for women. We wonder why things don't add up and the country in issuing debt on 35% of its yearly budget. Work 30 years saving just a percentage of your salary and retire for 25 plus. Does anyone do the math?

Nothing wrong with retiring early.

its just about moving to a new phase of your life and enjoying new things.

but also important to give the young fellas a chance to work and contribute to society

My father has done very well. We went to Hong Kong in 1961 and my Dad worked for the Civil,Aviation dept as an Air Traffic Control Officer till 1980 when he retired at 55. He is still drawing his pension at the age of 87 which has been protected and index linked for all these years. He even has a Pension from his time in Kenya 1956-1960, but it will only buy a few Mars Bars.

Sadly very few of us will achieve this level.

Also when the UK State Pension came into being in about 1948 the retirement age was 65 and most men dropped prior to this and some made it till 67. Also there were about 10 working for each pensioner.

Today we have to retire at 65 and drop at 82 and about 2-3 working for each pensioner.

So pensions are basically no longer affordable for the tax payer.

Also there are many who have never contributed to the system yet get benefits others have paid for.

I have no idea how we can provide for the future.

David

<pedantry style="from rainy downtown York">

The spelling of this comment is qualitatively poor </pedantry>

Fair cop.

I type my submissions in Notepad, hence no spell-checker is available while proof-reading off the screen allows many errors through.

Fraser

I have!

There is another approach to pensions generally, and that is actually to treat the 'pension fund', as it is loosely known, as a fund!

Under this arrangement, the person leaving work is told of the value of their fund and can then take it over whatever term they choose. If they die mid-term, the balance of the fund is credited  to their estate  for dispersal according to the term of their will.

It is thus up to the individual to take the gamble on their lifespan, and not up to the general pension scheme. Collaterally, spouses would get nothing - reflecting their contribution - on the contributor's decease, save what had been left to them in the deceased's will. If the contributor is on a second or third marriage and the spouse is substantially younger, they can, under present arrangements, be a non-contributory drain on the pension scheme for decades.

The first requirement of a pension scheme is that it works mathematically. This does.

Fraser

I retired aged 59 six years ago, after close to 40 years chasing fishing crooks around the waterways of Oz and some offshore work with the Navy boarding foreign fishing vessels. Relatively late in the piece I accepted a  promotion to training manager, a job that turned out to be not to my liking, too many "other duties as directed" in a small outfit, so I eventually left.

I still do a bit of contract training, just finished working with East Timorese fisheries officers here on a federal exchange program. Really enjoy helping these guys, just lovely people.

Most days I roll out of bed about eight, hop on the bike and ride for an hour or so on the beautiful Fernleigh Track near home, then Bach or Beethoven, coffee and a book for a couple of hours. In the afternoon, depending on the weather, I might go for a dip at the beach or maybe take wife Elaine shopping. Evenings are for playing  records.

Repeat as directed.

Bazz

Sounds great. That's a retirement lifestyle I could get into.

Hmm.. learnt something at the Naim forum again. I must confess, the topic was started in a subtly sarcastic fashion. The forum did feel like it was full of old folks with nothng better to do... Apologies.

Accumulation (rather than defined benefit) schemes much as you describe are now the norm in my experience (Australia and Canada). They can only lose all the money they are managing down to zero, but (unless the fund also borrows to invest or pay expenses) can't end up owing anything. No accumulated unfunded liabilities to bring companies (and governments) down.

Of course, fees and charges typically mean that the funds deliver less than zero investment growth in real terms (on average) as the financial industry continues to siphon wealth away from those who created it.

Chaps

I retired 2 years ago at the age of 61.

I have spent half of that time in Spain and other European countries.

This is without doubt the best time of my life.

One surprising result of being retired is despite having more time on my hands, I spend less time on the internet as it now seems somewhat boring. 

Regards

Mick

I'm 55.  I always planned to retire at 60.  Then I got divorced at 47.  I now am remarried to a wonderful Chinese Malaysian girl, have a 4 yo and a second one on the way.  I've just returned to the UK and will be living in Aberdeen.

Life is great - my kid(s) are wonderful and I feel 20 again.  Cant imagine why anyone would want to stop work in their 50's.  I guess I'll be working till I'm 70 and am looking forward to bringing another family up all over again.

Oh, and my system is wonderful too

Good for you Colin.

Live life to the max

Hello Colin

Its each to his own on this one,but 3 mornings a week i get in my car and drive to my sports club to play tennis(sometimes Squash),then its in the bar for a few jars and maybe a bit of scoff. When i am driving to my club i am watching all these people heading into London stuck in traffic that aint going anywhere fast,and they are doing this 5 days a week just to earn a crust.

Let me think about this......i can play tennis or i can sit in traffic for hours on end.

Mista H