Early-retirement wannabe

melanzana

@goldiegirl,

I'm sorry you are not feeling the best. When you finally leave work, you will be amazed how well you will feel, despite your illness. It's like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

I really wish you well. It's a great phase in life, and to be able to do it early, is such a bonus, one that I am so thankful for.

I made my mind up to go at a certain date, because of a package offered. Great.

Then they extended the date out for another year, same package..aaagh!

But I stuck to my guns and went on the original date. No point in delaying any longer, mind made up.

Sometimes over analysing your position can cause so much stress. If you look at your circumstances, and know you can afford to go...then GO!

I guarantee you will not regret it.

I was out for dinner tonight with two previously retired colleagues. I'm not blowing trumpets or anything (honest), but they both remarked on how relaxed and well I looked. That was lovely, and I absolutely feel it too.

Best of luck Goldie, and good health too. You will love it!

Marine_life

atush wrote: »

Why do you need to work it?

Are you being conscientious, or are you being forced to as you may have not retired early enough? I vote for conscientious.

Or is it punishment for not filling out your assessment lol

Well its more conscientious than anything else. As I mentioned we have tow months holiday which starts on 3 November and my birthday is 23 October. I had always assumed I would take my birthday and then go straight into vacation but now there are some meetings which could not be arranged before I go at any other time so I decided to agree.

Nobody at work yet knows of my plans so I'm being the good citizen :-)

Marine_life

Just arrived back from a weekend in Austria and received a pension statement in respect of an old (frozen) deferred benefit pension scheme. It really brought home how much difference there is between money purchase and defined benefit schemes.
The annuity that the cash in my pot (less than 100k) would buy is around 2,400 per annum with a preserved pension amount of around 11,600. Putting the numbers into an annuity calculator shows that in order to buy a pension with the same values (drawing at age 63, index linked, joint life with 50% reduction) would require cash of around 425,000 – a different of over 300,000. Unbelievable. And a little but scary.
I wonder whether now that the change in pension rules is coming whether we will see those with significant pension pots taking more risk with their money in an attempt to generate higher returns.
If that’s the case then now might just be the time to begin investing in equities.

kidmugsy

Marine_life wrote: »

I wonder whether now that the change in pension rules is coming whether we will see those with significant pension pots taking more risk with their money in an attempt to generate higher returns.

Nah, Lamborghinis, mate. Or hot-rod Zimmer frames.

mark55man

I agree. I have a DB that with my state pensions would give a comfortable but unglamorous retirement in a dozen years or so.


With my DC and SERPS pots, which I started to manage personally when my DB scheme closed I have been quite aggressive and so far that has paid off and will enrich my retirement. Indeed now I view this investment more as risking time not money (ie how early I can retire)

green_man

I wonder whether now that the change in pension rules is coming whether we will see those with significant pension pots taking more risk with their money in an attempt to generate higher returns.
If that’s the case then now might just be the time to begin investing in equities.

If nothing else it will encourage more people to remain invested with their pots rather than go for annuities, which you would think should have an overall positive net increase to the amount of money tied up in equities, which all things being equal you would think would be a bullish indicator?

Marine_life

I found this quite an interesting read (even though the article is a little old):

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/96369/a-sample-retirement-portfolio-for-moderate-investors.aspx

I think generally I agree with the approach although I might change the mix of investments slightly.

Does anyone know what the best source is for a simple comparison of relative yields and expense ratios?

green_man

Yeh I quite like the overall concept of that morningstar article..

As for the individual investments: Investco Perpetual Money Fund : looks like the returns are way less than 0.5% a year - are you really going to pay them 0.5% yearly commission to return this amount.

Also the Pot 2, not sure I'd be putting this amount in bonds at the moment - Hey but that's just me.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi all, just to give you a heads' up we may tweet this thread in the next week or so. If you find newbies joining in please do make them feel welcome!

Thank you

Linton

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Hi all, just to give you a heads' up we may tweet this thread in the next week or so. If you find newbies joining in please do make them feel welcome!

Thank you

Aaaargh!!!! So its goodbye to reasoned discussion! Two liners only.