Early-retirement wannabe

AnotherJoe

gadgetmind wrote: »

Absolutely. I'm currently in my 40 sq m semi-underground layer surrounded by my computers, electronics, work benches, 3D printer, home-made CNC cutter, and much more.

Do you by any chance have a white fluffy cat and a piranha pool?

Terron

atush wrote: »

I can see my OH being bored. There is only so much golf to play etc. he would do nicely with a day or so a week to keep his hand in.

My dad started playing in seniors competitions after he retired and went to playing 3 days a week, to my mother's relief.

westv

westv wrote: »

Our total net income would actually increase by about 25% if I retired in a few weeks. Other half wants to work less days at some point so that would reduce the increase to about 10%.
The increase is quite large as we currently spend around 44% of our total net on pension savings, mortgage and expenses involved in my working away from home during the week

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Your income will increase? What are you waiting for then?

What is the plan re the mortgage, is it paid off by pension lump sum when you go? Makes sense for your OH to also look at reducing hours if he or she is still working.

What am I waiting for? More money obviously. :D

Mortgage will be paid off out of savings.

enthusiasticsaver

westv wrote: »

What am I waiting for? More money obviously. :D

Mortgage will be paid off out of savings.

That is what we found difficult. When do you get to the point where you have enough money to retire? We originally planned to both go at 60 but we both went 2 years earlier than that at 58 when we considered we had sufficient income to live comfortably and a large enough capital sum and investments to cover things like new cars, long haul holidays, new kitchen and bathroom, care costs maybe in the future.

Obviously a further 2 years of pension contributions and savings would have increased our pots and pensions but we have more than enough to do what we want to do. We have investments ticking away in the background just growing and our DB pensions alone seem to be enough to do holidays, home improvements, meals out etc etc. We haven't even touched either of our lump sums as we had no mortgage or debt.

We have a further pension due to pay out from an old employer in 2020 and then state pensions 4 and 6 years after that. As we have more than enough we thought we valued our time in retirement more than money so decided to go early.

kidmugsy

atush wrote: »

Otherwise he will pester me like he does now on days off.

Too much information, atush.

Triumph13

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I have also checked my state pension forecast and I am due to receive £141 per week due to being contracted out for many years. I can increase it to £159 per week but need a further 5 years contributions so need to look into whether that is worth it. I paid NI up until December 2017 so not sure if that will count as 1 of my 5 years as the forecast only takes contributions up to April 2017 into account. Anyone know this?.

If you earned £5,876 or more in the tax year then 2017/18 will count as one of your 5 years. The next 3 are hugely worth buying as even if paying tax each year gets you £190 a year post tax for life in return for a one off payment of about £750. The fifth year is definitely NOT worth paying. Full SP is £159.55. Four years contributions off that is £141.35. If your current quote was £141.00 then the 5th year's contributions would be buying you 35p a week pre tax!

enthusiasticsaver

Triumph13 wrote: »

If you earned £5,876 or more in the tax year then 2017/18 will count as one of your 5 years. The next 3 are hugely worth buying as even if paying tax each year gets you £190 a year post tax for life in return for a one off payment of about £750. The fifth year is definitely NOT worth paying. Full SP is £159.55. Four years contributions off that is £141.35. If your current quote was £141.00 then the 5th year's contributions would be buying you 35p a week pre tax!

I earned just shy of £9k in 2017/2018 as I retired at the end of the year from my part time job. I am now in receipt of an LGP. So it looks like 2017/2018 will be covered meaning I will be 4 years short. My forecast this morning said £141.15 (sorry I ignored the pence) and if I contribute for another 5 years before 2025 then I will receive £159.55 per week.

Do I pay the NI contributions yearly if I decide to go ahead and purchase the extra years or is it best to wait until the year before my state pension kicks in and pay the 3 additional years in one hit? Does that £750 move at all - ie get more expensive the closer to spa I get?

Sorry, I am a bit ignorant when it comes to state pension as naively I expected having 42 years of full contributions would entitle me to full pension but of course being contracted out has affected it plus me retiring 8 years early.

gadgetmind

You have another two (?) years during which you can get years by saying you're self employed and paying Class 2 NI.

Linton

The £750 is a fixed amount independent of your age. You can pay the current year's contribution monthly via DD if you wish - it may simplify cash flow.

enthusiasticsaver

gadgetmind wrote: »

You have another two (?) years during which you can get years by saying you're self employed and paying Class 2 NI.

That is a lot cheaper than paying £750 as only £2.85 per week but the gov.uk site says you have to be making profits of over £6,025. As I am not self employed and don't have any wish to be I am not sure how I would qualify for that.