Early-retirement wannabe

Nual

Long time lurker on this thread. I was made redundant almost 2 months ago and took early retirement at 60. So far it is wonderful! The last couple of years I was paying 1/2 salary to an AVC, and had only been focusing on saving hard for about 4 years, but I am fortunate in having a DB pension and plenty of capital and no mortgage.

Was panicked into applying for a part time job just as I finished, but when they offered me it I decided to turn it down and enjoy the slow lane. The summer is coming, I live in a beautiful part of the uk and being able to do what you want when you want is wonderful. I feel really fortunate.

Triumph13

Tee wrote: »

...we live royally now on £18pa...

Wow! That's even less than Mr Micawber's nineteen pounds nineteen and six!
(sorry, couldn't resist it)

edinburgher

Triumph13 wrote: »

Wow! That's even less than Mr Micawber's nineteen pounds nineteen and six!

Haha - I spotted that one but remained silent

Tee

Triumph13 wrote: »

Wow! That's even less than Mr Micawber's nineteen pounds nineteen and six!
(sorry, couldn't resist it)

Ha ha, that's £18K or £18,000. I'm good at making every pound work, but £18 won't last but a day or two, at a stretch, in London.

seven-day-weekend

atush wrote: »

You could also visit the doctor more often as you get older to find health issues before you drop dead of them? And get treatment?

Many men dont do this.

My friend who died of cancer had been visiting the Dr for two years and told he had sciatica, lumbago, , a hernia and stress. It was only discovered he had terminal cancer when he had a stroke caused by the brain tumour which killed him. So please do not make sweeping assumptions.

BarryBlue

melanzana wrote: »

Off to Basque Country in a couple of weeks. Somewhere I always wanted to go. Great flights and accomm. Will be moving around on buses and trains. Great way to see the place and meet the natives!

Whereabouts are you going? We have been several times and love the area. In fact, we were in Bilbao a couple of weeks ago, fabulous city. If you are there try and see the Vizcaya Zubis, the Transporter Bridge, it is an amazing structure.

We especially liked San Sebastian, where we stayed a few years ago. Great culture there and excellent food. We used the Basque train service a couple of times, the blue trains. We flew into Santander and out of Biarritz so did have to use the local transport.

Don't expect them to speak Spanish though, although most do understand it. Have a great time!

Goldiegirl

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

We had been planning to retire within the next five years when my husband was 60 in 2018 and I was 58. Out of interest we got quotes for my husband to retire this October when he is 58 (so 2-7 years early) and luckily because we have been overpaying into his pension (part DB and part DC) since the 80s we can afford for him to go earlier. I will continue to work as I only work part time (3 days a week) in a very enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere and my husbands job is much more stressful. We decided we would rather he go when he is fit and well rather than wait another 5 years for the sake of only around £3k per year.

We are on relatively average salaries (£45k and £12k) so it can be done if you save and prepare. I have been tracking our expenses over the last few years and we can retire on £18000 net but we are aiming for £24k per annum net to give us some wiggle room. The pension offered by my OHs company pension scheme will be around £20k gross per annum from October 2016 and a lump sum of around £140k. That will more than cover expenses even without considering my part time wages or our existing savings. Our philosophy has always been work has to be enjoyable and my OH is no longer happy with his company due to recent changes in structure and hours. Here is hoping we are making the right decision.

Our initial plan was to retire around spring 2016.

But in the early autumn of 2014, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, so it was a time to re-evaluate.

One of the things I could do to manage my illness was to avoid stress - and the only stress I had in my life was from my job.

We crunched the numbers and realised that it was feasible to stop working immediately.

As my husband worked for a small company, he wanted to give them 3 months notice, so they could find a replacement, so I decided to work the three months as well, so we could both finish work on the same day.

It wasn't an easy thing to do, to hand in my notice, but it has worked on so many levels. I have had no problems from my illness and the days rush by - I have no idea how we found time to work.

Tomorrow we are going to a matinee theatre show - lower price tickets for a weekday matinee and I've downloaded a 30% off voucher for our lunch - only available Sunday to Thursday.

It's a big step to take, but I doubt that you or your husband will regret it

Goldiegirl

edinburgher wrote: »

Are there any people on this thread who made it on average salaries (say £30k) and without defined benefit pensions? I ask as our pension pots seem to creep up and it can be a bit disheartening (currently contributing 14% of salary between us and employer).

Hi, Ed, I think you already know that I had a DB pension, but my husband was on a fairly average income (when he retired, his full time equivalent salary was around £35k) and used various personal pension plans, funded by him and his employers.

He's 8 and a half years older than me, and finished work nearly 18 months ago when he was 63. So, although it's earlier than state pension age, it's not really early retirement by the standards of this thread.

He's only drawn down one of his personal pensions - this particular pension had a guaranteed annuity rate, which was so much more than anything available these days, it seemed a no-brainer. Together my DB pension, our income level is fine for our needs, and his state pension is now only 6 months away.

BUT - if I hadn't had a DB pension and we'd both been the same age - I feel we'd have had to work a lot harder to be able to retire in our mid 50's. There would probably have been some compromises - less holidays during our working life, or less holidays now for example - or both working part time, rather than stopping work altogether.

But you are well placed, Ed - you do so much more than most people regarding future planning, and as time goes by, your mortgage becomes less onerous, and you are able to put more away for the future.

madeinireland_2

Hi,

I was planning on leaving a couple of years ago but some wonderful advice on this forum persuaded me to hang on a bit longer and take advantage of various pension uplifts and tax saving ideas to put me into a better financial position. Although my job at the time was stressful and still is to a point I have changed to work in a different area internally with much nicer people.

I am now in a position to retire at 55 with financial independence and now just waiting on the next redundancy scheme to be offered within the company as I couldn't really pass on the £70k leavers payment I would receive. I expect it to happen within the next 6 months.

Good luck all

Grabs39

Well I tend to read this section of the forum out of interest I'm at the other end than most of you. I'm 23 and have been working for 6 years. A couple of years ago I noticed that it's expected that I won't reach state pension age until about 70 (if such a thing exists then, if it does it could be means-tested). That's 47 years away. Yes, forty seven. No thanks!!

I've set a rough goal of 60. My strategy, although loose is/was to buy a house as early as possible to save on future rent. I did that last year, fortunately I live in the North East so bought a two-bed ex-council house in a not-very-nice area for £62,500. My mortgage is less than most peoples rent and will still pay it off in about 12 years at that rate, though I actually aim for more like 8. I then plan to use this place as a deposit (unless the stamp duty rules are changed) and buy a 4-bed semi or similar currently around 160,000 in a nicer area around here. Once that's paid for the money can pile into pensions/ISAs or whatever options there may be then.

I pay into works DC pensions, though it's not enough, I put in 3% and my employer matches it. This will go up in 2017 and any pay rises will go into AVCs. I'm at around £1200 now. I also have a SIPP with around £4600 in which I normally put money in now-and-then. I earn about 18-19k after overtime at my main job and about £1k a year through additional jobs.

My Fiancee has a really good DC scheme - much better than mine so she is almost better prepared than me without trying!

My main concern is that the goalposts will move. The state pension keeps going up, and it seems that the age at which pension can be drawn follows it. I also fear that investments won't perform or simply that I can't put enough away. But I suppose a risk is that I spend my life worrying about old age, and forget to live while I'm young!