early retirement

zagfles

SeekTruth wrote: »

The reason I've suggested that you may have some Additional Pension is to do with the way S2P (introduced 2002) works. As I understand it even Contracted Out employees, if they earn less than about £40,000, can gain some Additional Pension - although it may be very small.

Yes, though it's below about £30,000 where you can get S2P while in a contracted-out scheme.

People on low incomes can get a very significant amount of S2P even when in a contracted out scheme.

mazzy

So as I have always been a low earner I should get some extra then from 2002-2014 and my husband should too as we are both earning around £14,000 a year. My husband would be contracted in during this period and I would be contracted out.

atush

Have your OH consider working a year longer.

And both of you should stop smoking now. It isn't too late to improve your LE.

mazzy

Yes he did consider it but he has already had one knee replacement and the other one is dodgy too. He drives a forklift and is often unloading out in the cold and wet, this really affects his knees so he thinks he has done enough now. He has always had manual jobs, shotblaster, furnaceman, on a line making fridges and now factory worker, I think he deserves his retirement at 65. His dad died at 64 1/2 so never quite made it.

I know we should stop smoking to improve LE, its just not that easy, he has tried and failed with patches, I should have tried at the same time to give him more support. We don't spend a fortune on it, costs us about a fiver a week each as we buy rolling tobacco in Belgium, neither us us are heavy smokers so you would think it would be easier to give up but doesn't feel like that.