Having enough funds

[stevewool]

Many of us are at the age where we are on the final leg of our life and we have to budget, did you ever think when you was in your early 20s even 30s that you will need extra cash when you was about to retire, i did not even think about it plus i did not even think of a pension outside what the government state pension.

Yes i started a private pension well it was a company pension and its done quite well , it would have done better if the ex wife did not take her half, but then again i would not be here if she did not so i one way she did me a favor.

Reading what others seem to be entitled to in the later years from where ever there was working and paying into there is such a vast difference from when you can start to collect it and how much too, plus who is entitled to it if you pop off .

I am so glad that i have the extra private pension and i am so glad i can still work for that little longer to increase the funds for our future.

We all think we do not need that much when we are older , but that is ok if you are staying where you have been all your life , but if suddenly you are alone and maybe homeless, wifeless and sort of penniless , well having those extra  funds just may come in handy .

So try to save as much as you can when you can, it may come in handy , but then again you may not live long enough to enjoy it , but thats life "A fine line"

[Mr-T]

Well not thinking about getting old and saving enough is what many of us guilty of.  I also have a similar back ground to you Steve. Ex took half of my pension plus other things. But it is a trade off. Who is happier now. Thank God i can still live decently on what i have. Could always use more but do i really need it, not really.

Main thing i am in fairly good health, wife and child is provided for. That is my #1 priority, my family. No vice, do not gamble, no smoking and very little alcohol consumption. What keeps me occupied, i love to ride my bike (bicycle) keeps me healthy and takes away the boredom. 

[Jollygoodfellow]

1 hour ago, Mr-T said:

No vice

Here, borrow mine ,   

[Kuya John]

43 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Here, borrow mine ,   

I guess that makes you the Vice Captain  JGF.

Well back to the same question how much is enough.

Looking back we can all see where we  made some wrong decisions, but most of us made it through and here we are.

Regrets I had a few but then again to few to mention I did it my way.........hey that would make a good song

Edited July 28, 2017 by Kuya John

[Snowy79]

One thing I'm seeing more and more is foreigners coming over here with grand ideas of what they need. Having spent a long time looking for properties and land to invest in I've seen so many foreigners at the later stages of their lives selling up to downsize.

Just today I went to view a motorcycle to buy and noticed the person selling it was also selling a house that I'd viewed on the internet. As I viewed it I was thinking to myself how big the house was. It's about three times the size the average family would need. The guys wife was explaining that they were selling everything up and downsizing. He is in his 80s and struggling getting up and down the stairs ( I think he's ready to pop his clogs and she's cashing in now before the family get their share) . Even his motorcycle looks like he's never rode it as it's too big.

The internet is full of huge houses for sale and nearly all by foreigners trying to downsize. The problem is they built them probably 20 years ago and the style looks dated. Chances are they'll be pushing up the daisies before the property sells. This made me realise that sometimes people blow a lot of their funds straight away thinking they'll throw it at property and can always sell it and live off of the profit. Maybe it's better to start small and enjoy your money, just keeping enough for emergencies. Lots of people will be passing away property rich and as the saying goes " you can't take it with you."

[AlwaysRt]

15 minutes ago, Snowy79 said:

He is in his 80s and struggling getting up and down the stairs

Yup, you want to see me roll my eyes at light speed? Tell me you are building your retirement house with all the bedrooms upstairs so you can enjoy the view. Even better, tell me how you only have 6 stairs to climb to the front door. Um, you are retiring and continue getting older. People getting older often have problems climbing up and down stairs,, great planning there genius. 

Oh sorry. my bad, you plan on having your 42 kilo Filipina carry you up and down, I forgot...

OK, sorry for real if I offended anyone. I realize not everyone has built hundreds of homes, a couple dozen of which were handicap accessible.

[expatuk2014]

We are lucky as when we arrived here in 2011, my wife owned " The Family Home " which she had built why she was working , she lived there with her mother until they had a row, so my wife then built a home for herself to live in. This was the home we lived in when we arrived from the UK. The wife and her mother made up and all was fine.

My wife wanted to knock it down and build a 2 story home which we did  which  is where we are living now. If one of gets so bad we cant climb the stairs then we will move into " The Family Home " which has remained empty since the mother passed, and is only used when relatives come to stay it has 3 bedrooms and is a single level home. We wiil offer our home to her younger sister who has her own small home, or we may rent it out. We shall see how things turn out.

[Snowy79]

14 minutes ago, AlwaysRt said:

Yup, you want to see me roll my eyes at light speed? Tell me you are building your retirement house with all the bedrooms upstairs so you can enjoy the view. Even better, tell me how you only have 6 stairs to climb to the front door. Um, you are retiring and continue getting older. People getting older often have problems climbing up and down stairs,, great planning there genius. 

Oh sorry. my bad, you plan on having your 42 kilo Filipina carry you up and down, I forgot...

OK, sorry for real if I offended anyone. I realize not everyone has built hundreds of homes, a couple dozen of which were handicap accessible.

It's one of the reasons I'm building on a hillside. The house will still be on two levels but I'm aiming to build as modern as possible. The plan being to have the road go to the side of my house in line with the upper floor doorway. I'll be walking into for all intents and purposes a self contained flat (apartment). On-suite bedroom with a sensible sized living area for a comfortable settee and a small kitchen. The front of the house being as much glass as possible leading out onto a large balcony which I intend to spend many a day sitting in looking out over the sea and islands. On the same level I'll also have another en-suite bedroom that I can access via mine but it'll also have it's own entrance door from the outside for when I've got guests. 

There will be an internal stairway between the rooms leading down to a proper kitchen and living area which again will lead out through glass doors onto a nice wooden decking and the garden area. My thinking is it can be a family home or a retirement home.

[stevewool]

2 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

One thing I'm seeing more and more is foreigners coming over here with grand ideas of what they need. Having spent a long time looking for properties and land to invest in I've seen so many foreigners at the later stages of their lives selling up to downsize.

Just today I went to view a motorcycle to buy and noticed the person selling it was also selling a house that I'd viewed on the internet. As I viewed it I was thinking to myself how big the house was. It's about three times the size the average family would need. The guys wife was explaining that they were selling everything up and downsizing. He is in his 80s and struggling getting up and down the stairs ( I think he's ready to pop his clogs and she's cashing in now before the family get their share) . Even his motorcycle looks like he's never rode it as it's too big.

The internet is full of huge houses for sale and nearly all by foreigners trying to downsize. The problem is they built them probably 20 years ago and the style looks dated. Chances are they'll be pushing up the daisies before the property sells. This made me realise that sometimes people blow a lot of their funds straight away thinking they'll throw it at property and can always sell it and live off of the profit. Maybe it's better to start small and enjoy your money, just keeping enough for emergencies. Lots of people will be passing away property rich and as the saying goes " you can't take it with you."

Just a nice place with a view all for under 1.5 million peso, the rest of the cash is to enjoy life, that's my thoughts.