Early Retirement

Woofles

I will be 59 in January, and in part time employment which is quite physically demanding, and being only 5'2" and 8st I am now finding it very hard work. At the moment I am suffering from an intermittent back problem.

Because of the nature of my work I work some full time hours, as I am at the moment and some part time and have about eight weeks off in the summer, as you may have guessed it is linked to an academic environment.

My plan was to work through until next summer and not return in September, not wishing to face another winter of having to walk to and from work, half hour journey each way, and withdraw some money from a corporate bond to live on.

I now feel that to continue working is going to exacerbate the back, something I might add I have been fortunate in never having suffered with before, I am in a company pension scheme but have not contributed to it since being made redundant at 49.

Am I being realistic could I retire now, or am I making problems for myself at a later date.

I should add I am female and divorced, with no dependants.

Somewhere out there in the wild blue yonder there is another small pension from my previous employer, I have tried the link someone posted to the government site to trace pensions, but to be honest if I knew all the information they need I wouldn't need their help.

Having re-read this I seem to have rambled a bit, sorry but I hope you get the gist.

Debt_Free_Chick

Woofles wrote: »

Am I being realistic could I retire now, or am I making problems for myself at a later date.

Not sure why you're concerned, but there are two issues here. Firstly, "retiring" from your job - this is relatively easy as you just resign and stop working.

The pension, as I understand it, is not connected to this employment but to a previous one - is that right? Assuming the normal retirement age for your company pension is age 60, then you should only suffer a negligible reduction in your pension if you take it now. Of course, if the NRA is 65, then you'll face a bigger reduction. Why not contact the admininstrators and ask for two illustrations - what you would get at NRA and what you would get if you retired on, say, 1 October.

What problems do you think you might encounter by taking your pension early?

Somewhere out there in the wild blue yonder there is another small pension from my previous employer, I have tried the link someone posted to the government site to trace pensions, but to be honest if I knew all the information they need I wouldn't need their help.

To be honest, you're going to have to give them something to go on. Just fill in as much of the form as possible. Do you have absolutely no papers for this pension at all?

chesky369

You should also contact the department of work and pensions and get an estimate of your state pension from them. Then at least you'll know the basis of your income. I'm assuming your retirement date for the state pension is still 60. You might find you have to sacrifice quite a bit in the way of your company pension for what amounts to working another six months - but obviously if it pays out only after 65 that's another story.

One thing you might do in the interim is get your back sorted - have you been to a specialist about it, if not, that's worth a try.

seven-day-weekend

I filled in forms for the Pension Tracing Service with no other information other than I 'might' have been in the pension scheme between these dates and giving the name of the company.

They wrote back and gave me the name of the Pension Scheme and an address to write to, I sent the same information to the pension scheme and they were able to come up with the info that I had not been in the scheme.:(

So pensions can be traced on minimal information.

Also I agree about the State Pension, get your forecast. If you are female and 59 in January (just realised you are the same age as me!) you are still able to get your pension at 60 as your Retirement date is before April 6th 2010.

Woofles

Thank you everyone for your replies, I will give the tracing scheme another go, it was over twenty years ago and the company was a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Unilever so I'm not sure who actually was running it. I have registered with the gateway site of the governments for pension forecast, but the implementation has been but back I believe.

If I can find this pension I'm hoping that I can combine it with the other one. I may be living in cloud cuckoo land with regards to what either of them may be worth.

The back problem has only just started since returning to work this week, silly me managed to wrench my knee a fortnight ago and its just about getting back to normal, I may be favouring this leg and not standing naturally without realising it and making the problem worse.

Seven-day, yes we are the lucky ones in that respect, being born early in the year.

The sensible course is to get a forecast from the company pension I do know about.

It all seems doom and gloom, its not really, just when things aren't quite right life seems a little hard sometimes.

Debt_Free_Chick

Woofles wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your replies, I will give the tracing scheme another go, it was over twenty years ago and the company was a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Unilever so I'm not sure who actually was running it.

Contact Unilever first. That old pension might still be in the current Unilever scheme. If not, then the existing pensions people (at Unilever) may know where it is - you won't be the only one to have enquired about that scheme

The sensible course is to get a forecast from the company pension I do know about.

yup

It all seems doom and gloom, its not really, just when things aren't quite right life seems a little hard sometimes.

Well, you won't know until you get the figures. I think - and really hope - that you might be pleasantly surprised.

Who knows ... you may be one of those who can afford to retire and live on their pension. I do hope so. And don't forget the Money Saving Old Style Board on this site, which aims to have us live "as our Grannie did" and not to waste money on new-fangled gadgets/products. It will make your pension go further and ... what the hell else are you going to spend your time on

I'm envious, but looking forward to joining you in ten years' time - good luck.

Post back with any pension issues/questions :T

tanith

Woofles can I just say that 3yrs ago I went into panic mode when I realised I was going to have to retire early at 58 because of ill-health I was like a head-less chicken wondering how on earth I would cope but It really suprises me how much I manage to live on and pay all my bills and still have some left for holidays and savings.... I hope all goes well for you and you are able to retire soon and live a happy easier life...

bryanb

Many pension schemes have a rule that if you are unfit to do the job you last held with the company you can draw your pension early. A medical is obviously needed for proof.