Anonymous 2:
Different strokes for different folks, we're not aware of your situation, but you reach a point, say at retirement, when you drop your income level but realise assets in values you may have only dreamed of in earlier life, such as redundancy payments, pension drawdown, share save benefits, share options previously locked in etc. maybe house sale. So suddenly someone previously earning say £50,000 pa is now on £25,000 pension but with £500,000 cash. No more employer drip feeding funds in monthly pay, you're on your own, do with it what you will, spend it all and look forward to a later life in poverty or spread it out?
The trick is to estimate how long you're going to live and how much you will need at different stages of your life, say: equal to salary income from 50 - 65, 50% of this from 65 - 75, maybe more or less beyond that. So you need to save or seek income from capital with minimal risk, since you will not have an opportunity to replace losses through earnings. The biggest threat is inflation.
This is why I question whether gold is the right shelter for 5, 10, 15 years, selling off as required, I like the thought of bullion I can touch but worry about insurance, plus I'm bound to give ingots to grandchildren for Christmas.
Another idea I had was things like Al Capone's revolver which came up for auction recently, to buy as an investment, not to protect my bullion.
If annuities were not so piss poor we wouldn't have this dilemma.