Hi Andy, welcome to Flyertalk! I'm sure one of the ambassadors will be along soon to give you the formal welcome One thing to be aware of is you only get five posts a day for a period.

Lifetime Tier Points count towards Gold For Life status, collect 35,000 in a lifetime and you have, as it suggests, Gold status renewed until you eventually expire. Lifetime Tier Points do not count towards your annual collection, it is the other way round, i.e. what you collect in your collection year will be added to your lifetime tier points.

Suggest you take a look at this thread (can be found in the forum dashboard too): Your guide to the Executive Club, attaining status and earning Avios | 2022 edition - FlyerTalk Forums