Got a pension?

[jago25_98]

 I had a pension offered to me at work. hmm!

Pros:

- although it's not that secure it's still a diversification of funds
- the employer matches what you put in in the UK... so if you don't pay anything in you don't get that cash
- perhaps the future will be full of caring people after the unravelling financial devastation
- seemingly tax safe
- can convert to 3rd party funds. In theory this could even be physical gold or bitcoin(!)... but to do that it has to be done through a financially regulated company. I think it is possible though. Wouldn't it be great if it was as physical gold stored at your provider? I think it's possible... more info? I expect something like this wouldn't be allowed, the man probably prefers to keep the money in the country... but I've seen emerging markets funds so I think it's possible

Cons:

- probably be raided to fund a war, or pay off a debt
- has been raided in the past, have been badly managed in the past, could be raided by just buying a load of certain shares and then cashing out
- probably die before the thing pays out


 Whattayathink?

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[BookofNick]

I cashed in my 401ks, bought gold and silver. You'll get your money when you retire - unfortunately, it won't be worth much. Pay your tax and don't give your money to any third party. It's expensive, but having the power to hold your wealth and do with it as you wish is priceless.

I explain further here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ6kUH0y3GI

My 2 bitcents.

-Nick

[BioMike]

People from the Netherlands have to join a pension fund (done automatically, paid by the boss) and although I don't think it's a bad thing, the people in control (fund managers and government) often do wrong things (risky investments (Iceland, Greece), grabbing money from the funds when there is too much in there due to good financial investments (in the 90s)). I'm 28 years old now and even the baby boomers have to work now longer and get less pension due to the economic crisis, so by the time that I can enjoy my pension I expect to get nothing any more (all finished by the baby boomers who will go with pension in about 7 - 15 years).

[realnowhereman]

Assume (generously, governments always mess this up) average 3% inflation.

If a kilo of wheat costs $100 in year 0; and $103 in year 1 then your $100 from year 0 will buy you (100/103 =) 97.087% of the year 1 wheat that it would have bought in year 0.

Assume 45 years of working life.

Code:

(1/1.03)^45 = 26%

That is to say, that the contributions in year 0 are going to be worth a quarter of that when you cash in.

Conclusion: inflation is going to eat our pensions.

(It's more complicated than the above as you don't pay in all at once, and you don't pay in the same amount, and your investment probably earns a little bit, even if it doesn't beat inflation; but the point stands: inflation is what is going to destroy the value of your pension)

[ctoon6]

in the real world, if you have low interest savings accounts, you loose money from inflation. you would be better of buying bitcoins with it, or copper or something. head on over to the bank and cash out in coins. their.
US quarters contain 0.472311g of Ni and 5.197689g of Cu.

[nafai]

Buying US quarters would be silly, as their metal content is only worth about six cents.  Nickels have the same raw metal value, about six cents, but they only cost 5 cents instead of 25.

Of course, it is illegal to melt down coins for their metal content. Also, storing any noninsignificant amount of wealth on nickels (or pre-1982 copper pennies) would take a lot of space and be very very heavy.

Better to buy silver, it's only about $35 an ounce, and it sells for its metal value without having to be melted down like alloyed coins. Also takes up much less space and weight.

But if you really are interested in the metal content of small denomination clad coins, this site will be your best friend: http://coinflation.com/

[Fakeman]

The other key site is realcent.org, some people there are sorting pennies on a pretty big scale.

[MatthewLM]

I don't see why people don't just save normally and leave enough left for retirement.

[arnoldrimmer]

Pension ans Health care are paid 50/50 from Boss and the Employe her in Germany and its a Law

I dont really see the Problem in that??

[BioMike]

I don't see why people don't just save normally and leave enough left for retirement.

Because many people can't? I know enough people who are always in the red figures at the end of the month.

[jago25_98]

I don't see why people don't just save normally and leave enough left for retirement.

Tax. It's what you're supposed to do.

Like a said, it's not very safe but it might be better than having all eggs in one basket. In theory if one goes bankrupt you can lose it all (even trace the blockchain, in theory...) but with a pension it at least has the notion of safety, like you get a little of with a house.

My current view is to put 5-10% of savings into it. Not the 30% we're supposed to. But I wondered what other people think.

[FreeMoney]

I don't see why people don't just save normally and leave enough left for retirement.

Um, what is saving normally?

[Minsc]

I cashed in my 401ks, bought gold and silver

I did something similar except I put them all into bitcoins and when they were $14/coin too!