Planning and saving up for our retirement - is there any point?

[EmeraldR]

Another issue to cover is if you plan relocate to another place at some stage, that the healthcare available to you is of a good standard and is easily accessable -some thing to reflect upon in terms of getting older and aging.

in my own instance the idea of living in some mountain village way out of the way seems attractive -but not practical if iam several hours away from emergency services etc , or I if havent financial resources to pay for them . I say that, as I have a few major health challenges that could necessitate proximity of there services. I have these resources in my current location so will probably stay put for the time being !

getting old/old age brings in a whole new set of challenges that I never fully considered when I was younger !!!

also the cost/insurance for health care etc

Every good wish to You Ant22

 

[Mike]

In terms of retirement and the systems where you put your money into, I think about how sustainable you think governments and related financial systems will be moving into the future. What kind of future do you think the UK and its systems have? From my fairly limited view of the UK it doesn't look good (and doesn't look good for all Western countries, including the US even with Trump shaking things up), their governmental financial and economic systems and their banking systems and what the governments are trying to achieve in terms of their people, society and culture. With that view, it would mean having any savings and investments outside of their systems in things such as precious metals, real estate depending on the current cost (I know the US market best and wouldn't recommend buying a house right now and to wait, if possible), possibly cryptocurrencies, some cash, and anything, such as food, that would make surviving in increasingly unpredictable, trying, and chaotic times easier, as the governments and systems continue to degrade and look to be imploding on themselves at some point.

I think we should all keep in mind that the Western governments and major institutions outside the government have wanted to poison and kill us (ie depopulation) with things like the Covid vaxx, and enslave everyone they can't kill. That brings a certain perspective to what to do with money and investments.

I think their will likely be a 'Great Reset', but possibly not along the lines of what the WEF and elites are planning. The current worldwide fiat currency system has about run out of steam when it comes to being viable. There has been push back from Russia and the BRICS against this system, as well. I think the viability of the current system is one reason you are seeing the BRICS break off from the West in terms of an alternative system. Gold looks to a major pillar of that alternative system, which is still under development. And gold is coming back into the financial systems in the West.

Besides having prepping type things set aside, like food and basic items and things one might need, I like to keep extra money I want out of the banking system, which is most of my extra money, set aside in silver that is in my own possession. I also have a house with a mortgage, which I hope to pay off as soon as possible. With paying off my house in mind, I also buy and speculate in cryptocurrencies with some success, but that is a bigger undertaking in terms of learning about the cycles, keeping up with it, and knowing when to buy and sell.

 

[SOTTREADER]

In terms of retirement and the systems where you put your money into, I think about how sustainable you think governments and related financial systems will be moving into the future. What kind of future do you think the UK and its systems have? From my fairly limited view of the UK it doesn't look good (and doesn't look good for all Western countries, including the US even with Trump shaking things up), their governmental financial and economic systems and their banking systems and what the governments are trying to achieve in terms of their people, society and culture. With that view, it would mean having any savings and investments outside of their systems in things such as precious metals, real estate depending on the current cost (I know the US market best and wouldn't recommend buying a house right now and to wait, if possible), possibly cryptocurrencies, some cash, and anything, such as food, that would make surviving in increasingly unpredictable, trying, and chaotic times easier, as the governments and systems continue to degrade and look to be imploding on themselves at some point.

I think we should all keep in mind that the Western governments and major institutions outside the government have wanted to poison and kill us (ie depopulation) with things like the Covid vaxx, and enslave everyone they can't kill. That brings a certain perspective to what to do with money and investments.

I think their will likely be a 'Great Reset', but possibly not along the lines of what the WEF and elites are planning. The current worldwide fiat currency system has about run out of steam when it comes to being viable. There has been push back from Russia and the BRICS against this system, as well. I think the viability of the current system is one reason you are seeing the BRICS break off from the West in terms of an alternative system. Gold looks to a major pillar of that alternative system, which is still under development. And gold is coming back into the financial systems in the West.

Besides having prepping type things set aside, like food and basic items and things one might need, I like to keep extra money I want out of the banking system, which is most of my extra money, set aside in silver that is in my own possession. I also have a house with a mortgage, which I hope to pay off as soon as possible. With paying off my house in mind, I also buy and speculate in cryptocurrencies with some success, but that is a bigger undertaking in terms of learning about the cycles, keeping up with it, and knowing when to buy and sell.

On a long enough timeline, I think the above may happen or their will be a major system reset.

What I can't say though is how that timeline corresponds to our own individual lifespans. The UK for example has been around for hundreds of years (maybe more?) and so I don't think you one can say it'll disappear in the next 15, 20 or 40 years. The US is like 200 or so years old.. very young still for a country.

I just think that things may not necessarily happen as quickly and as dramatic as thought. Our lifespans are but a blink of an eye whilst we are embedded into systems that operate on much longer time lines.

 

[meadow_wind]

Many great advice in this thread!
I was also thinking that, since we can't rely too much on this rigged financial system, what we can rely on are our own skills, as long as we are healthy (as many members pointed out). So one of the best things we could do would be to invest in ourselves in order to be able to "work" as long and as old as we can. Of course, as we age, physical work might have to be diminished, so having other skills such as someone who does consultations, teaching, writing, online skills, etc. could all be worthwhile in the long run.

 

[Il Matto]

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about old age and end-of-life arrangements, like pension plans and savings, and I'm curious about how others here are approaching retirement - if at all

Oddly enough, my wife and I have also been talking about this quite a bit (made all the more interesting by the fact that she is currently reading The Wave!).
So, we both have private pension funds that we pay into each month and of course we will both be eligible for state pensions should we ever get to that point (also assuming that the UK Government hasn't raised the retirement age to 80+ by then..). We have both decided, though, that we can't rely on these. We will keep paying into them, mostly because said contributions are taken out from our gross pay anyway.
To the best of our abilities, we're aiming to build our savings in the short term so that we can invest in some property in Europe, with any luck.
Having read the input of others on this thread, I'm definitely going to look into other forms of investment as well (namely, precious metals) - some really good advice here!
All this being said, my wife and I have also discussed 'the future' in these terms: we would do well to first and foremost invest in our own development and cultivate a diminished attachment to how things might turn out; we simply don't know what the future may bring, but we can help each other to let go of assumptions and enjoy riding the rollercoaster together.

 

[DianaRose]

I have a good 30+ years of work before I get to retirement age. Personally, I don't contribute to pension as it does take quite a bit of my pay check, and I see the difference when I have the full.

Also, I don't bother for the following reasons: 1) Seeing how the world is going, I don't believe that I'll ever get to see my 60s. Not even sure that I'll reach 40. 2) If cataclysm/ economic collapse/ plague haven't destroyed our society within the next 10 to 15 years, given how things are going, I doubt that the world will be close to anything we know anyway. Probably more like one of those survival movies in a dystopia. 3) I feel like even if I were to invest, knowing how easily government change the rules these days, there's a high probability that I wouldn't ever see that money!

Obviously, if I were already retirement age or near retirement, then it would make sense to contribute, just in case.

 

[DianaRose]

On a long enough timeline, I think the above may happen or their will be a major system reset.

What I can't say though is how that timeline corresponds to our own individual lifespans. The UK for example has been around for hundreds of years (maybe more?) and so I don't think you one can say it'll disappear in the next 15, 20 or 40 years. The US is like 200 or so years old.. very young still for a country.

I just think that things may not necessarily happen as quickly and as dramatic as thought. Our lifespans are but a blink of an eye whilst we are embedded into systems that operate on much longer time lines.

Yes and no. If you look at economic collapse and war time, you see that things can change in the blink of an eye. One day you go to work as normal, the next you have to scavenge to search for your next meal. Same for Covid when from one day to the other, everything closed.

Complete destruction might not happen overnight. But collapse that leads to major change in how we live and put us in survival only mode can and has happened nearly overnight in some places.

 

[bowerbean]

I can fully understand not putting your money into pension plans that could go poof or become worthless due to the devaluation of the dollar. What I would do is take that amount of money that would have gone into a pension plan and spend it on real assets. Storable foods and equipment, land, gold and silver, and whatever else that would help me live through any upcoming disasters.
This is what I am currently involved in doing myself right now as I have no pension plan either. We just have to do the best we can with what we've got.