My Retirement Plan

The word pension and retirement was mentioned in a conversation the other day by a much younger guy here in Peru the other day and it brought into the spotlight the long term and hidden consequences of being a contractor. I basically have no pension plan to speak of, I did a pension assessment in the UK when I was last back there and from all the money I paid in over the years and it appears I would get about £50 a week now, and that isn’t a great deal but convert into dollars and that is about $80 and that is a large retirement sum for when I finally kick off by boots in Costa Rica. I also plan to retire early from this game of world travel and no sleep, I would prefer to stop doing it full time about 55 years old and I need a pot of money ready to be able to go on holidays and buy a nice car now and again. The important thing is living in Costa Rica as the basic cost of a life there is so incredible low that you can have a nice retirement. Listed are costs of life in my new home country on a weekly basis

1, Heating bills =$0 ( even during the cool months it is shorts weather)
2, Electric bills =$2 ( and this is for a family of 4 )
3, Local council taxes =$1
4, Water bill =$1

Locally produced fruit and vegetable are pretty cheap and if you live in the country will be free basically fruits grow all year round.
The imported items from the USA and Japan are expensive at the moment and will come down as the country joins the Central American free trade agreement. Hopefully reducing the price of cars as they have a 40% tax on new and 110% on second hand cars, really old cars are valuable items in Costa Rica, like antiques.
So my planning for my retirement now goes something like. I have my house already, not paid for yet by the way, June the 28th final payment. And I have a small pension from the UK and my costs are about $4 a week so I cannot be bothered to think about a proper pension plan, I will save what I can over the next 10 years or so from my contracting money and I will enjoy life travelling about while I am still physically able and see all those places my mother never got to see. And when I am old and decrepit I can sit on the veranda and watch the sun go down and know the $4 a week I need to find will be OK, I was talking to Cole, a work colleague and his heating bill for New York State was $650 a month during the winter months, that is a killer and his local property taxes are a couple of thousand a year, not what you need as you get older. So I need some items to make my retirement complete, a large tatty straw hat, a vest with holes in it, a tatty pair of shorts and a pair of leather flip flops, I think I can manage that.