What kind of pension do you have?

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

I've got no pension. Social security I plan to claim as soon as I am of age. Sarah Silverman willing. It will be on the puny side.

Looks like you might have to face the gruesome prospect of selling your body for sex !

[Jingthing]

I've got no pension. Social security I plan to claim as soon as I am of age. Sarah Silverman willing. It will be on the puny side.

Looks like you might have to face the gruesome prospect of selling your body for sex !

Indeed. You mean ... again.

[55Jay]

I am soaking the American tax payer dry. With Military Pension, Civil Service Pension, VA Disability Payments, Social Security and My Thrift Saving Plan. Thank you American tax payer.

You sound so proud of stealing from us American tax payers. I have a similar stream of pension income that arose from 40 years of hard work. I didn't have to lie or stretch the truth in order to increase the total sum, so therefore I don't believe that I am soaking the American taxpayer for ill-gotten gain like you do. There is a certain amount of resentment towards folks like you who not only make a lot of money but have the gall to shove it in our faces and say, "Hey stupid, keep working and pay taxes, so I can continue living high on the hog">

Perhaps he was making light of the prevailing, programmed attitude in the States re: recipients of EARNED government benefits, soft shoeing on the entitlement crowd which is a significant part of the Democratic voter base.

It wasn't so long ago that the economy was booming and accordingly, US Gov employees and military were at the lower end of society, often categorized as unable to get a REAL job making REAL money in the REAL world, relegated to shaving their heads, giving up certain rights and quality of life, for less than adequate wages.

Now things aren't so good, at least that what the government is saying, and suddenly, government employees and military are way over paid and have far too generous retirement plans.

Usually takes a while for the media Psyop machine to get society re-programmed and regurgitating the desired sentiment. I'm a bit amazing at how quickly they got the sheep on message this time.

[Noi657]

Shove your pensions where the sun don't shine! Your young, take advantage of the governments 5% deposit scheme! buy a property! rent it out! 25 years... There's your pension!

[DeeMockMark]

I am soaking the American tax payer dry. With Military Pension, Civil Service Pension, VA Disability Payments, Social Security and My Thrift Saving Plan. Thank you American tax payer.

None of that is free money. You worked for all of that. You served your country both as military and a civilian. You paid into SS. And was disabled doing a highly hazardous work for your country.

But I have never heard of the "My Thrifty Saving Plan" that is tax payer funded.

[DeeMockMark]

I am soaking the American tax payer dry. With Military Pension, Civil Service Pension, VA Disability Payments, Social Security and My Thrift Saving Plan. Thank you American tax payer.

You sound so proud of stealing from us American tax payers. I have a similar stream of pension income that arose from 40 years of hard work. I didn't have to lie or stretch the truth in order to increase the total sum, so therefore I don't believe that I am soaking the American taxpayer for ill-gotten gain like you do. There is a certain amount of resentment towards folks like you who not only make a lot of money but have the gall to shove it in our faces and say, "Hey stupid, keep working and pay taxes, so I can continue living high on the hog">

Perhaps he was making light of the prevailing, programmed attitude in the States re: recipients of EARNED government benefits, soft shoeing on the entitlement crowd which is a significant part of the Democratic voter base.

It wasn't so long ago that the economy was booming and accordingly, US Gov employees and military were at the lower end of society, often categorized as unable to get a REAL job making REAL money in the REAL world, relegated to shaving their heads, giving up certain rights and quality of life, for less than adequate wages.

Now things aren't so good, at least that what the government is saying, and suddenly, government employees and military are way over paid and have far too generous retirement plans.

Usually takes a while for the media Psyop machine to get society re-programmed and regurgitating the desired sentiment. I'm a bit amazing at how quickly they got the sheep on message this time.

Yes maybe he is just being a little trollish because as I told him.....

"None of that is "free money." You worked for all of that. You served your country both as military and a civilian. You paid into SS. And was disabled doing a highly hazardous work for your country."

Why does he make light of it??

I don't know.

Especially about military service.

Edited January 7, 2014 by DeeMockMark

[55Jay]

I am soaking the American tax payer dry. With Military Pension, Civil Service Pension, VA Disability Payments, Social Security and My Thrift Saving Plan. Thank you American tax payer.

You sound so proud of stealing from us American tax payers. I have a similar stream of pension income that arose from 40 years of hard work. I didn't have to lie or stretch the truth in order to increase the total sum, so therefore I don't believe that I am soaking the American taxpayer for ill-gotten gain like you do. There is a certain amount of resentment towards folks like you who not only make a lot of money but have the gall to shove it in our faces and say, "Hey stupid, keep working and pay taxes, so I can continue living high on the hog">

Perhaps he was making light of the prevailing, programmed attitude in the States re: recipients of EARNED government benefits, soft shoeing on the entitlement crowd which is a significant part of the Democratic voter base.

It wasn't so long ago that the economy was booming and accordingly, US Gov employees and military were at the lower end of society, often categorized as unable to get a REAL job making REAL money in the REAL world, relegated to shaving their heads, giving up certain rights and quality of life, for less than adequate wages.

Now things aren't so good, at least that what the government is saying, and suddenly, government employees and military are way over paid and have far too generous retirement plans.

Usually takes a while for the media Psyop machine to get society re-programmed and regurgitating the desired sentiment. I'm a bit amazing at how quickly they got the sheep on message this time.

Yes maybe he is just being a little trollish because as I told him.....

"None of that is "free money." You worked for all of that. You served your country both as military and a civilian. You paid into SS. And was disabled doing a highly hazardous work for your country."

Why does he make light of it??

I don't know.

Especially about military service.

I know why. It's the same, cynical feeling I get watching the House and Senate on CSPAN lately.

[ExpatJ]

I'm 42 yrs old, brit- this is where im putting my pension funds-

- US blue chip dividend stocks- oil companies, JnJ, McD etc set to reinvest the dividends automatically- will set this up this year and leave for 10-20 years. When i retire i will collect the dividends and use as an income stream.

- One or two rental properties in Asia (have one , fully paid off)- get a decent building which has a management office and agent to find tenants- i pay them about 10% of my annual rental income but well worth it since they do all the work- when you are retired the less work managing properties the better (esp if you are in ill health). .

- Annuity- just before retiring i aim to buy a package of annuities that will give @2,000 USD per month - a nice solid, reliable foundation pillar to a pension.

- Luckily i also work for a company with defined benefit pension- so depending on how long i can work with them (job security sucks) and when i retire this should give me 2,000- 7,000 $ per month.

Im not eligible for any UK state pension since im not paying NI.

Critical issue is security- try and get relatively secure income streams (annuity, fixed pension) as the foundation of your pension- if you are only relying on dividend stocks and a draw down pension fund (e.g 401K) you spend your retirement stressing and budgeting for fear of money running out!

[FiftyTwo]

- Annuity- just before retiring i aim to buy a package of annuities that will give @2,000 USD per month - a nice solid, reliable foundation pillar to a pension.

Im not eligible for any UK state pension since im not paying NI.

Critical issue is security- try and get relatively secure income streams (annuity, fixed pension) as the foundation of your pension- if you are only relying on dividend stocks and a draw down pension fund (e.g 401K) you spend your retirement stressing and budgeting for fear of money running out!

Let me pick you up on this one.

$2k/month, annuity return is about 4% for a fixed income, 2% for index linked.

So you need to invest $600,000 to buy that fixed annuity or $1,200,000 for an index linked income.

Yet an investment of $200/year (voluntary class 2 NI) for 35 years to get your UK pension, total $7,000 for a return of $700/month isn't worthwhile.

Something tells me you haven't seriously thought about your pension.

Edited January 9, 2014 by FiftyTwo

[SheungWan]

Shove your pensions where the sun don't shine! Your young, take advantage of the governments 5% deposit scheme! buy a property! rent it out! 25 years... There's your pension!

An awful lot of people got caught out on that in the recent crisis and things didn't work out as they thought they should.

[AyG]

I'm 42 yrs old, brit- this is where im putting my pension funds-

- US blue chip dividend stocks- oil companies, JnJ, McD etc set to reinvest the dividends automatically- will set this up this year and leave for 10-20 years. When i retire i will collect the dividends and use as an income stream.

- One or two rental properties in Asia (have one , fully paid off)- get a decent building which has a management office and agent to find tenants- i pay them about 10% of my annual rental income but well worth it since they do all the work- when you are retired the less work managing properties the better (esp if you are in ill health). .

- Annuity- just before retiring i aim to buy a package of annuities that will give @2,000 USD per month - a nice solid, reliable foundation pillar to a pension.

- Luckily i also work for a company with defined benefit pension- so depending on how long i can work with them (job security sucks) and when i retire this should give me 2,000- 7,000 $ per month.

Im not eligible for any UK state pension since im not paying NI.

Critical issue is security- try and get relatively secure income streams (annuity, fixed pension) as the foundation of your pension- if you are only relying on dividend stocks and a draw down pension fund (e.g 401K) you spend your retirement stressing and budgeting for fear of money running out!

If you're planning on retiring to Thailand this is seriously risk. US stocks, annuity, pension - all of them exposed to exchange rate risk. It makes much more sense to align one's income sources to one's home economy and the neighbouring area. For me, one third of my equity investments are in Asia (excluding Japan, China) and a further 5% specifically in the SET.

As for "buy and hold" of blue chip stock, blue chip stocks don't remain blue chip for ever. Of the original DJIA components, only General Electric remains. Where are American Tobacco Company and US Leather Company now? More recently Bank of America, Alcoa and HP have all been dropped. Companies rise and fall. Their business can become irrelevant and the management can fail to adapt to new market conditions (think Kodak, Polaroid).

Whilst security is important, annuities are a terrible investment given current bond returns. You are also dependent upon your annuity-provider remaining in business. Over what could be 30 or 40 years, that might happen. Personally I prefer to draw down from my investments. Taking 4% or less per year and the money should never run out, so no sleepless nights for me.

[ExpatJ]

I'm 42 yrs old, brit- this is where im putting my pension funds-

- US blue chip dividend stocks- oil companies, JnJ, McD etc set to reinvest the dividends automatically- will set this up this year and leave for 10-20 years. When i retire i will collect the dividends and use as an income stream.

- One or two rental properties in Asia (have one , fully paid off)- get a decent building which has a management office and agent to find tenants- i pay them about 10% of my annual rental income but well worth it since they do all the work- when you are retired the less work managing properties the better (esp if you are in ill health). .

- Annuity- just before retiring i aim to buy a package of annuities that will give @2,000 USD per month - a nice solid, reliable foundation pillar to a pension.

- Luckily i also work for a company with defined benefit pension- so depending on how long i can work with them (job security sucks) and when i retire this should give me 2,000- 7,000 $ per month.

Im not eligible for any UK state pension since im not paying NI.

Critical issue is security- try and get relatively secure income streams (annuity, fixed pension) as the foundation of your pension- if you are only relying on dividend stocks and a draw down pension fund (e.g 401K) you spend your retirement stressing and budgeting for fear of money running out!

If you're planning on retiring to Thailand this is seriously risk. US stocks, annuity, pension - all of them exposed to exchange rate risk. It makes much more sense to align one's income sources to one's home economy and the neighboring area. For me, one third of my equity investments are in Asia (excluding Japan, China) and a further 5% specifically in the SET.

As for "buy and hold" of blue chip stock, blue chip stocks don't remain blue chip for ever. Of the original DJIA components, only General Electric remains. Where are American Tobacco Company and US Leather Company now? More recently Bank of America, Alcoa and HP have all been dropped. Companies rise and fall. Their business can become irrelevant and the management can fail to adapt to new market conditions (think Kodak, Polaroid).

Whilst security is important, annuities are a terrible investment given current bond returns. You are also dependent upon your annuity-provider remaining in business. Over what could be 30 or 40 years, that might happen. Personally I prefer to draw down from my investments. Taking 4% or less per year and the money should never run out, so no sleepless nights for me.

Some good points. I currently live in Thailand and i have half my total stock portfolio in Thai stocks (so have taken a beating last month or so!)- ultimately i plan to retire to the US with frequent trips to Thailand (maybe split half half time wise).

Re: blue chip stocks- obviously if a stock is downgraded, or company is failing i would sell and reinvest elsewhere during the 10-20 year period. So i should say buy-hold-monitor.

If you have the money - i would still advise planting in annuities - though not at current rates- peace of mind more than bonds.

[ExpatJ]

- Annuity- just before retiring i aim to buy a package of annuities that will give @2,000 USD per month - a nice solid, reliable foundation pillar to a pension.

Im not eligible for any UK state pension since im not paying NI.

Critical issue is security- try and get relatively secure income streams (annuity, fixed pension) as the foundation of your pension- if you are only relying on dividend stocks and a draw down pension fund (e.g 401K) you spend your retirement stressing and budgeting for fear of money running out!

Let me pick you up on this one.

$2k/month, annuity return is about 4% for a fixed income, 2% for index linked.

So you need to invest $600,000 to buy that fixed annuity or $1,200,000 for an index linked income.

Yet an investment of $200/year (voluntary class 2 NI) for 35 years to get your UK pension, total $7,000 for a return of $700/month isn't worthwhile.

Something tells me you haven't seriously thought about your pension.

lol- love the last sentence, you scoundrel ;-)

Last time i checked it was about 400,000 $ for a 2000 per month annuity- could have chnaged- as i said , rates will improve in 10-20 yrs.

but you have only looked at the annuity portion of my pension- that will likely be the smallest income stream of my multi source pension income streams (rental property, company pension, dividends).

I havent paid NI for more than 15 years, so too late now to get state pension (i left UK more than 15 yrs ago, never been back).

[Jasun]

Buy a property through a self-managed pension fund, enjoy tax-free rent for the next 25 years until it's paid off, then sell it.

[FiftyTwo]

[i havent paid NI for more than 15 years, so too late now to get state pension (i left UK more than 15 yrs ago, never been back).

That's just wrong information.

You are 42 now, left 15 years ago, so that means you have about 7 years NI at least.

You can buy 6 years of arrears right now, giving you 13 years in total.

That leaves you 25 working years left, another 22 years payments will give you a full pension.

In recent history, best annuitys paid 5% fixed.

Even with $400,000 to invest, at that rate it would take you 20 years to recoup your annuity payment.

But after 10 years, inflation would have made your annuity practically worthless.

That just doesn't make financial sense.

Edited January 9, 2014 by FiftyTwo

[ExpatJ]

[i havent paid NI for more than 15 years, so too late now to get state pension (i left UK more than 15 yrs ago, never been back).

That's just wrong information.

You are 42 now, left 15 years ago, so that means you have about 7 years NI at least.

You can buy 6 years of arrears right now, giving you 13 years in total.

That leaves you 25 working years left, another 22 years payments will give you a full pension.

In recent history, best annuitys paid 5% fixed.

Even with $400,000 to invest, at that rate it would take you 20 years to recoup your annuity payment.

But after 10 years, inflation would have made your annuity practically worthless.

That just doesn't make financial sense.

I only paid in 2 yrs NI for various reasons - plus the rule (as far as i can tell in my research ) is if you haven't paid for 11 years or something like that , you cant buy years up to catch up or expect a state pension even if you pay NI from now on.

Annuities- as i said more secure than bonds, esp if spread around- plus also as mentioned i would only recommend if someone has significant enough assets in which case 2-400K into an annuity is a nice stress free stream. If you only have 2-400K to play with in your total retirement pot then i certainly would not recommend annuities.

Edited January 9, 2014 by ExpatJ

[ExpatJ]

Well first off, and if you can, try to become a Non-resident of your Home Country. So you can "Legally" stop paying taxes to them. If you are living here and paying their, you are not getting very much for your Tax Dollars. Renew your Passport at Your Embassy, to see what I mean. Besides that, you can do much better with your Pension Money then any government can do. Keep in mind there may be no Pension Money left by the time you need it.

This should save you a lot of money by avoided taxes (legally I may add) but lets just use this $1,000 a month savings you talked about. Next find a safe but also good paying Dividend Stock. There are many out their! My favorite one owns many Liquor Stores in Canada and the USA. Right now they are paying a Monthly Dividend, which they have been doing every month for over 10 years now, at an Annual Rate of Return of 7.5%. You may have to pay 15% Tax on your Dividend, but this can be sheltered by taxes in a Government Approved Retirement Funds. Since people drink in good times, and bad, there is a very good chance they will continue to grow and continue to pay out this Dividend.

You are now half way there. But also the hardest part is coming next. Continue to contribute this $1,000 every month to buy more Stock and reinvest all your Dividend Money back into this as well. Many companies have Dividend Re-investment Plans, in which you normal Dividend Payment goes back to buy more stock automatically. By doing this you usually get a discount of between 5% to 10% on the Stock Price which is a good deal for you. Now here is the Magic to doing all this.

If you find a Safe Stock that only pays you 7%, and not 7.5% like mine, but reinvest your Dividends, and continue to invest $1,000 a month, by the time you reach age 55 years old you would have a total saving in this Stock equal to $682,000! Now if you just start spending only your "Monthly Dividend Payments" which you receive at 7% Rate per year, this gives you $47,740 a year to live off. Or about $4,000 a Month! Much better than a $900 Pension Payment you may not get as by then it will only go to people who have no money at all. You also still have this $682,000 in the bank while with a Government Pension you have nothing but your monthly payments.

But this is all assuming that in all these 23 years nothing changes with this Stock, which is highly unlikely. I see my Liquor Stock to continue to grow as older retired people drink more then, when they have more time on their hands, and in some cases money. Populations will continue to grow and people will continue to drink alcohol. So there is a better chance that this Stock will be double in price by then, and paying out double the Dividend as it does today. Hope this Helps.

But there is one more thing you might want to know about and maybe have some control over. The 3 Golden Rules of Living and Working Overseas. They are as follows:

1) Do all your Banking in one country where you do not Work or Live! I prefer My Home Country Bank.

2) Work in one Country were you do not Bank or Live. By "Live" I mean where you set up Permanent Residence.

3) Live in the Third Country where you do not Bank or Work .

The reason for this is that it is very difficult to tax someone who does not live in that country or work their. With the exception perhaps being from people from the Good Ole USA. But not 100% sure about that either They also can't tax you if you just live their but have no money coming in or earned their. They can tax you where you work but usually not the first year. Most cases your employer takes care of that anyway, as part of your Contract. So...their you go...and Good Luck.

You are wise thinking about saving now. My hat comes off to you if you can really do this and stick to your plan. Failure comes when you did not put enough money away when emergency's happen, and they will come. Also, if you squeeze yourself too tight on a budget and find out later that there is nothing left over for fun money or trips back home. A Divorce will cut your feet and savings into half! But your Tax Savings would probably equal this $1,000 a month savings, or exceed that anyway. So if you can avoid taxes this means you don't have to save anything but still have this money come Early Retirement Time. Just don't tell the wife about this Investment Account!

Good Luck!

On the liquor stock, Are you talking about LIQ? That's a good tip- just had a quick look at that and i think i will put some money into it.

[AyG]

On the liquor stock, Are you talking about LIQ? That's a good tip- just had a quick look at that and i think i will put some money into it.

On January 8th 2004 LIQ closed at 14.56. Ten years later on January 8th 2014 it closed at ... 14.56 (source: Google Finance). The level of income may look good, but as an overall investment this is just mediocre. 7.5% a year before tax isn't something to write home about. Over 10 years to date it under performed the S&P 500 by around 50%.

[ExpatJ]

On the liquor stock, Are you talking about LIQ? That's a good tip- just had a quick look at that and i think i will put some money into it.

On January 8th 2004 LIQ closed at 14.56. Ten years later on January 8th 2014 it closed at ... 14.56 (source: Google Finance). The level of income may look good, but as an overall investment this is just mediocre. 7.5% a year before tax isn't something to write home about. Over 10 years to date it under performed the S&P 500 by around 50%.

I would have been disappointed if i had bought 10 years ago. Buying now though, there is good upside since it seems oversold and with current low interest rates, 7.5% is rather good.