Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

LL_USS

It is interesting to work out your "NUMBER", and now as many of us have concluded, the number for retirement can be so different across individual cases. It can be surprising to see that we can live with quite a small amount.

I have looked at this for a while and feel my number should be fine. Yet these days i am pondering on another question - Do I really want to retire early or not (let's not talk about "whether it can be an option for me or not").

 

I have aimed to work till 65 - then today my colleague from India say they can retire fully at 58 back home, another friend in a country in East Asia says as female she will contribute enough to "national insurance" to retire at 50, and the "normal age" for women to retire there is 55.

We keep on working and working here in the UK and sometime forget how loooooong our worklife is, compared to other countries.

I like my work but it is quite busy. Continuing for 10 more years is good but suddenly I am thinking... for 20 more years... - can be a stretch. 

Yet, there is a BUT, when we retire what can we do outside of travelling and volunteering (including helping our children with their own children, perhaps)? For the majority of UK we don't have enough sunshine and night life to keep us happy retiring early, I suppose (I am missing the night life in Fira, Santorini - you don't feel it even when it was already midnight. Even London cannot provide that). Early years in retirement will still be exciting when it's new. But then what about after, especially when we are not as keen to travel far and wide due to age.

Is it just me that worries about planning for what to do after retirement, rather than what to do to get to retirement?

kimwp

LL_USS said:

It is interesting to work out your "NUMBER", and now as many of us have concluded, the number for retirement can be so different across individual cases. It can be surprising to see that we can live with quite a small amount.

I have looked at this for a while and feel my number should be fine. Yet these days i am pondering on another question - Do I really want to retire early or not (let's not talk about "whether it can be an option for me or not").

 

I have aimed to work till 65 - then today my colleague from India say they can retire fully at 58 back home, another friend in a country in East Asia says as female she will contribute enough to "national insurance" to retire at 50, and the "normal age" for women to retire there is 55.

We keep on working and working here in the UK and sometime forget how loooooong our worklife is, compared to other countries.

I like my work but it is quite busy. Continuing for 10 more years is good but suddenly I am thinking... for 20 more years... - can be a stretch. 

Yet, there is a BUT, when we retire what can we do outside of travelling and volunteering (including helping our children with their own children, perhaps)? For the majority of UK we don't have enough sunshine and night life to keep us happy retiring early, I suppose (I am missing the night life in Fira, Santorini - you don't feel it even when it was already midnight. Even London cannot provide that). Early years in retirement will still be exciting when it's new. But then what about after, especially when we are not as keen to travel far and wide due to age.

Is it just me that worries about planning for what to do after retirement, rather than what to do to get to retirement?

Not worried, but planning. I had a very good example in my gran, who has been retired as long as I remember - she was very sociable, volunteered with numerous groups and learned to play the piano and speak mandarin etc right up until dementia hit too hard. Little bit worried about when my mental faculties start to go, who will look after my finances, care etc as I don't have children, but that's probably 40 years away.

MarzipanCrumble

If I had enough (private) pension to retire early to live comfortably without needing extra income, I would look at what I was passionate about and follow the dream.

Or I would look at what I was curious about and explore more. 

Examples:  There was a 91 yr old who was about to start a degree who was on radio 4 today.  There is a 60 yr old I know who codes for gamers on Roll20.  There is a 73 yr old I know who sings as part of a choir visiting care homes - he is also a member of the Magic Circle.  There are a number of retirees I know who explore, say, local history and then do presentations to local clubs and retirement groups.  There are grannies who are TikTock sensations promoting local foods.

kempiejon

All you people saving your goals for after work are missing the chances along the way. I gave up work quite a few times between 19 and 45. In my 20s took myself and then partner in an old VW camper and toured Wales for a cold March and wet April before spending the following 9 months in sunny Ireland. In my 30s having bounced a around directionless in a few jobs I took some months off to try music and writing - at the end of that process with a part time job (having proved I couldn't scape a living with my creative talents) I went back to school and then with a certificate to University. As a science graduate I found work in live rock and roll and the production of events a few years of that and I wanted more regular hours and took a job in a venue for a few years from where I was made redundant. Which I took as an excuse to indulge myself again and had another couple of year off to smell the roses as they say. I was poor but fulfilled and only ever worked part time, odds and sods here and there as a handy man and gardener, bit of temping, a driving job and freelancing in live events. I honed my plan for early retirement went back full time in a local school and now, well lets see.

A number is OK but not really the sum of the plan, how much will be enough, when you have enough will you be bold enough to jack it all in and if you do what will you next? Yeah, you need money for food, fuel, shelter and a few other bits but I learnt as I was as happy on £100 per week as £1000 per week. In fact, well paid, hard work and long days never bought me much joy.

Let's say I have my number and FU money, planning has become less about finances, pensions and investments and now health, personal and intellectual stimulation and my social/family circle.

Sarahspangles

LL_USS said:

Do I really want to retire early or not

I’ve set a date. I’m telling people I will be semi-retired, and not ruling out short roles in future. That’s a viable option for me as I work on projects. It means if retirement doesn’t suit me I can go back to work.

Everyone suggests taking up voluntary work, but I’ve had voluntary roles for over 20 years and I may want to retire from those too. Certainly I want to go before I stop adding value.

I always assumed we’d have some caring responsibilities in retirement, but should have done the maths. Unless someone is a child of older parents, they’re likely to lose them by the time they’re in their early 60s. We don’t have grandchildren yet but even if I did I don’t think I’d be suited to being a full time childminder.

Those are the ‘excuses’ some people give for retirement. At the other end there are the hedonistic ‘more holidays’ set who don’t feel they need to justify their choice.

Mostly I just want to control my own time. As simple as that. I already know some of the things I want to do. In the main they are things I already do, given a free weekend, and it’s frustrating to have to put everything away and get back into work mode. 

kimwp

I want to retire so I can have a dog. I don't think it's fair to leave them on their own more than an occasional 2-3 hours and my job is officially office based. So I want to save enough funds to be able to not need to work.

Cobbler_tone

kimwp said:

I want to retire so I can have a dog. 

Love this!! Surely the best reason to want to retire. Best of luck getting there ASAP!

MallyGirl

You certainly need to factor the cost of dog ownership into your Number - mine is my most expensive 'hobby' by far!

LL_USS

So, we have a loooooooooooooong working life, and then still a looooong after-work life (touch wood). Okay, that seems to balance it out a bit. @kimwp you are absolutely right, it's not "worrying about" but "planning". I tend to be a worrier- which has benefited the family well as I can see now, but it has taken a toll on me. I don't mind labour work (not all office people like me say this). What I dislike the most about my work is actually the amount of time I have to spend on my computer. One certain perk of retirement is no more constant day in day out screen time. I can't wait.

@MarzipanCrumble I am quite lucky in the sense that I have done lots of what I would like to do, quite worthy life experience, living half my life in one country and half my life so far in another, exciting job (albeit not long) in the first and a stable and (mostly) enjoyable one in the second.... I will need to find a new dream to follow after retirement. It can start from small things, right?. A bad example, but I started zumba about a year ago, only once a week, I can see how good it is to connect music and movements, perhaps doing more when I have time is one thing to do. I don't know. I may still find it difficult not to have a substantial part of my day anchored and structured around a job. But I suppose it would just be nice when we have options to do or not to do something.

kimwp

MallyGirl said:

You certainly need to factor the cost of dog ownership into your Number - mine is my most expensive 'hobby' by far!

Definitely, I have a cat, down from two at the start of the year and over the last ten years they've cost probably £1000 a year with food, vet bills and destruction of the house (albeit £4k of that was feebs' vet bills at the start of the year). Worth every penny, she's sitting on my lap purring like a furry tractor.