Rather a sweeping statement which I feel is unfair to the majority…
doubtless there will be some folk who fall into that category… I’m sure we all know someone who seems to float through life… without a care… while the rest of us work at it…
However, there is another side to all this. Many folk have made all the best-thought-through decisions… and just when things should be coming together, nicely… something totally unforeseen drops from on high with a thud… and everything planned-for is scattered in the wind.
As well as friends who are struggling in retirement we’ve also seen retired couples move back to the UK with very little money/assets despite working for 40+ years, clearly something has gone wrong be it poor choices or just simple misfortune.
I’ve also often thought that what you spend is just as crucial as the you income you have and I think many cannot adjust when their level of income drops.
Probably unfair to a few Stella, but some people might not be able to adjust to a life of retirement on pension incomes. Surely though if really struggling to pay bills there must be some sort of welfare benefits here in France.
Well the French have bigger pensions.
The ladies seem to manage regular visits to the hairdresser
and the men enjoy spending money on their cars.
Never had benefit or financial assistance.#
France is actually quite good once you drop below a low income…so healthcare covered, small income provided and lots of benefits.Ok for those who already have a base (but probably not good if young and trying to develop your life)
Not entirely sure that’s true. You can look up the income of your commune/surrounding communes on geoportail, and it’s generally quite modest (unless of course you live somewhere rich)
As with many things in life, luck plays a part in providing a reasonable pension. When I took my occupational pension in 2000, aged 61, the average life expectancy of a UK male was 76. Having been an insulin dependent diabetic all my adult life, I was expected to die aged 70 and was given an enhanced pension. The fact that I’ll be 82 next month is, in many ways, down to luck.
In addition, the rate of inflation over the past twenty years has been considerably less than expected. That is also just good luck. No planning could have made provision for that.
One of the more intriguing investment possibilities if you are working and don’t have a mortgage up to the limits is to buy SCPI (basically real estate investment funds) on credit. That way you pay off the credit over a number of years and are left with an income producing investment. Current annual returns are around the 4.5 - 6% mark, with a choice of office, industrial, retail or healthcare properties. It’s rather easier than buying and renting out a property though there is nothing to stop you doing both. Most pay quarterly, one or two monthly. I have about 50,000 euros in SCPIs and will probably add few more; it is a useful small extra income since as self-employed, I have good months and, er, less good months
I had not realised till recently that you can buy them on credit! Not sure how much you need to purchase for that to work or how much you need to earn to be in the frame for a loan, though.
I am 71 and continue to work: I run an estate agency which means full-on 48 hours a week implication. But like many of my contemporaries (19 year old student in that crucial year 1968) I never thought too much about ‘career’ or ‘pensions’. The result is that I have never done a job that I didn’t like or worked in a position where I have exploited employees (I don’t have any).
I have never earned much more than the SMIC … often a bit less. My different pension payments (from half a dozen European countries) come to a healthy €480 per month. Most of this goes to help my children finish their studies in faraway countries.
The point is: those people who thought ‘pensions’ and ‘careers’ all their lives will probably have a comfortable pension when they stop working at exactly 65 and a day (or 62 in France).
Those soixante-huitards who felt that there was more to life than work and salaries, that spent years exploring the world and its cultures, may have to work into their seventies.
It’s a choice that I do not regret.
Not disagreeing Stella. Just an observation. My best friend and I are both mid-60s. For some time now we have been thinking how lucky we have been. Born in the 50s, no major wars, the odd financial crash but as we were both public servants we didn’t notice, University paid for by the Government, housing relatively cheap when we needed it and then accelerated in price, final income pensions… we will have checked out by the time global warming gets really serious.
We have led a charmed life.
Sure beats negative interest on savings.
