Most BE members are a whole lot younger than me, so this post is for the codgers old enough to share my situation and general reminiscences. It would be nice to hear from them, if they would be so kind. To swap histories, you know... that sort of thing.

Some retirements are short-term, some long-term, and some forever. Some are involuntary, others happily welcomed. Happy, sad... comfortable, uncomfortable... timely, untimely. Part-time and full-time. Much depends on one's personal and family circumstances. Not all households are equally pleased or displeased at the reality - or indeed the expectation.

I first retired at the age of 30, figuring we had enough money (nearly $50K - not bad for 1970) to retire to the caves of Crete and live with the hippies ensconced there. All I had to do was earn a decent annual return, playing the Australian stock market....R-i-i-i-ght...! My next retirement a few years later started with a stake of $70K. No stock market attempt. Just buy a Kombi van and drive across to Crete and the hippies with our new baby. I mean, babies don't eat much, right? And they never get sick, at least with a disease the hippies wouldn't know how to fix... Whoops! After re-thinking the plan for a few years, in a rented house in England, I was lucky enough to get a very well-paying job in Cayman. I quit that after the usual three years, in 1981, and became a house-husband, looking after our young boy. That was wonderful. I wrote a few unpublishable books and life was simple, until I was persuaded to open an office for the local Chamber of Commerce in 1986. An excellent choice, for the first two years... Then the local politicians took exception to an out-of-control, anti-income-tax Chamber of Commerce and pulled my residence-permit. The British FCO went into bat for me and allowed me to stay on the Island, but only if I didn't take a job again. So for the next thirty-odd years I was limited to a once-a-week consultancy with a brave and supportive local entrepreneur. A few months ago, I reckoned that 85 was old enough not to bother any more. Sigh...

Now I'm really and permanently retired. And about time, too, I suppose! Anybody else in the same boat, or something like it?

Then the local politicians took exception to an out-of-control, anti-income-tax Chamber of Commerce and pulled my residence-permit

Lemme guess........Bush?

No, Benson. Well, Benson and the whole Exco - indeed the whole twelve-member parliament, at the time, with Linford maybe a sole dissenter. It was a fun time, really. Exco wanted to introduce a 10% government-monopoly pension fund for all employees, to be taken out of wages. The Chamber's Directors agreed with me that any such payroll imposition could be the fore-runner of other payroll-levies, such as had been done elsewhere in the Caribbean, and that would introduce a tax on incomes, in our tax-free paradise! My monthly Chamber Newsletters were scathing in their criticism, and highlighted the danger. The Newsletters were sent to - and read by - all Chamber members' employees, which meant that my/our anti-tax rants reached most of the Islands' prospective taxpayers. There was a general election coming up, and the politicians favouring the draft Law just couldn't afford to risk losing their seats. (The UK government sent across a little man to persuade the natives to allow the measure to pass, but he was laughed out of a crucial meeting, and fled home.) So we won the battle. After the election, the government did introduce a compulsory pension-fund for all employees, but the money went to private commercial management companies, not to the government. Therefore not a "tax on incomes", to be a fore-runner of any other government expenses.

My Work Permit was not renewed, and even my permit to reside was revoked. I persuaded the FCO (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the ruler of all British colonies) to over-rule the local politicians on the residence issue, but not the Work Permit. My wife and son were granted "Caymanian Status" (local citizenship) in due course, but I never was. I hustled around to find a sympathetic replacement Manager of the Chamber - a local who didn't need a Permit, and all was well there. I started writing a weekly column (unpaid!) for one of the local newspapers. In time, its content became notorious for its strong human-rights and immigrant-rights stance. I called that venture "getting my licks in"! My political enemies never tried to expel me again. I suspect they think I have powerful friends in the FCO - which I don't.

Jamesy... You're a lot younger than I am, but I'd be interested in how you see the rest of your life panning out. I'm presuming that you're a tax-haven man, and I wonder how the Channel Islands compare with Cayman. (When I was looking for a job back in 1977, I flew down for an interview in Guernsey, but didn't get it. Also had an interview in London for a job in Jersey, but missed out on that too. Cayman came good, and that's been my home ever since.)

Also... I wonder - and would be interested to know - how much the children of emigrants (from wherever) are influenced by their parents' migrations. In my observation, they (the children) are more likely than not to emigrate themselves, in their turns - either temporarily or permanently. What does the team think? By the same token, children sent to boarding-schools seem to me to be keener to experience the big wide world at first hand. Here too, I don't mean all of them will go wandering, but are more likely than their the non-boarders. Any thoughts?

Guernsey is a tremendous place to live and in a LOT of ways not dissimilar to Cayman. My wife and I call it the CayGuern Islands. Very small and everyone knows everyone or went to school with them or is related. Exactly like Cayman. Substitute Bush, Watler, Ebanks and Thompson for Le Page, Bourgaize, Le Marchant and Brouard and you get the idea. But there certainly ISN'T any level of entitlement like Cayman or 'ex-pat bad' rhetoric. From what I can gather, the States of Guernsey has similar issues as CIG but without the entertainment value of Duhwayne Seymour and outright corruption. People are so polite and have a very relaxed mindset that we love. It isn't our forever place though. Grandchildren are drawing us back to Caledonia and our island living days are numbered unfortunately. And the cost and grief of getting off island is starting to grind. Aurigny is the airline and they have us over a barrel more than Cayman Airways even do. We loved both adventures. Guernsey is far prettier and easier to live in than Cayman but Cayman has the year round weather and social aspect that I loved. The plan for me when I retire from the police is to teach adult education and I can't do that here either.

Jamesy... Google tells me that Guernsey levies tax on local income - salaries, etc. That seems a bit naughty, for an "international tax haven"! Jersey too! Is there a minimum income? Does bank-interest and the the like attract income tax? If so, I'm surprised!

Tax 'haven' is a bit of red herring. The income tax is set at 20% and there is no VAT, inheritance tax or capital gains tax. We have some MAJOR hi-rollers here and easily on a par with Cayman. Plenty Ferraris, Bentleys, Range Rovers and Porsches on our roads. And we regularly get Super Yachts in the harbour filling up with fuel as there isn't tax on it or something like that. I don't own a Super Yacht yet. Both my wife and myself have decent jobs as we did in Cayman but the cost of living here is starting to bite a lot of locals. Not the crippling cost of Cayman but relatively speaking, it is expensive. It's been another amazing adventure after Cayman. I'd love one more shot elsewhere but She Who Must Be Obeyed has stamped her foot

Jamesy... The thing I've always liked about places that don't tax incomes, is that we employees can put money aside for our retirements ourselves, and not rely on the government giving us old-age pensions according to what they (the governments) decide. The fact that we are usually pretty well paid in real tax-havens is a factor in that satisfaction, of course! I did pay tax on my skimpy earnings when I was young - in Australia for a few years, in England for six months and in Canada for a year and a half. Since leaving Canada in 1967, I haven't paid any income-tax anywhere, and now in my old age I just can't be bothered chasing down any pension entitlement from those three early countries. Not worth the effort. I'm not filthy rich by any stretch, but have enough to see me through. And indeed, to see my son and grandchildren through, on a basic level. Can't ask better than that, right?

So, what's the current situation where you are? And, where might you go next? My bugbear is income tax. I've always been OK with other taxes; governments have to get money for building roads etc. As you know, Cayman levies a sizable import duty on most goods brought to the island - and fair enough. There were other taxes too, taxes on non-Caymanians buying houses, for instance. Back in the 1980s the politicians tried to bring in a government pension-scheme financed by deductions from wages, but it was knocked on the head by the Chamber of Commerce. (I don't know if you were on the Island for that nasty battle!) I'm not in the tax-haven business these days, but I keep an eye on things there and elsewhere. So I'm interested in what you have to tell me. Cheers, G