Six months to go...

longleggedhair

Lovely thread. Well done and good luck. Just a note to say the lgps do not rush in paying out pensions. When my mom retired three years ago they took 3 months to pay her pension and lump sum. While they did add interest because of the late payment mom would have been really stuffed if she hadn't had savings too fall back on!

Gers

longleggedhair wrote: »

Lovely thread. Well done and good luck. Just a note to say the lgps do not rush in paying out pensions. When my mom retired three years ago they took 3 months to pay her pension and lump sum. While they did add interest because of the late payment mom would have been really stuffed if she hadn't had savings too fall back on!

Well this had me worried for a little while, however my bank 'manager' rang today to tell me that the lump sum is coming in tomorrow- right on my 60th birthday. So well done Tyne and Wear Pension Fund.

Now... here comes the better times. Woohoo!

atush

Woohoo indeed! Well done.

Gers

A year on - had another birthday last week and now only got 15 more working days left to get through!

So, get my final salary on 31 March and have no plans to seek full time employment again. I may do some casual part-time work but that's it.

Money will be tighter but I will be so much happier. I've been in the cottage since April last year but staying in the big city for three/four nights a week because of work. Coming north to reach home has been a joy and it will be even more of one to be here 'properly'. Life is good.

Thanks for all the kind words and support you've given me until now, it's all been big decisions since September 2013 and now it's done.

:T

atush

so what great vacations have you done/are you going to do? How was your antipodean adventure? Where too next?

Helps the days are getting longer/lighter and spring is coming. i've got pheasants attacking my patio doors as they think they see another male lol. What will you do to fill your time?

Gers

atush wrote: »

so what great vacations have you done/are you going to do? How was your antipodean adventure? Where too next?

Helps the days are getting longer/lighter and spring is coming. i've got pheasants attacking my patio doors as they think they see another male lol. What will you do to fill your time?

Did Berlin, Bruge and Amsterdam. Decided to defer Australia as 1) I've been six times before and 2) I want to travel closer to home for a while. Got loads of lovely places in Scotland to get round and will use my free bus pass (aka national entitlement card) to do as much as possible.

Got two trips to London lined up. A visit to old friends in Newcastle. Two old colleagues coming to visit and four family members coming across from Berlin for a week. And that's just March/April.

Got some casual work invigilating school exams and a little bit of tutoriing basic IT skills, should keep the wine collection strong! I want to sit and watch the spring spring, the sea go in and out, the grass grow and the seasons change. Got 40 years of NI contributions waiting for me in 2019. Oooh, will go walking, test my cycling skills and jump off the rat race.

atush

I just had 3 days in london. Weather was cr*p but food was good lol

PM me is you want to know a good place to get a 2 course meal for as little as 7 quid lol

Triumph13

Glad to hear that everything is going so well.


That part time IT tutoring looks like an excellent excuse to pay self employed NI contributions of a couple of pounds odd a week after April 2016. If you can sneak in 3 years of contributions between the changeover to single tier and your State Pension age they should be worth about £660 pa on your state pension when it arrives - which should also help keep the wine cellar stocked!

Gers

Triumph13 wrote: »

Glad to hear that everything is going so well.


That part time IT tutoring looks like an excellent excuse to pay self employed NI contributions of a couple of pounds odd a week after April 2016. If you can sneak in 3 years of contributions between the changeover to single tier and your State Pension age they should be worth about £660 pa on your state pension when it arrives - which should also help keep the wine cellar stocked!

Thanks for this though can you explain more please? Why after April 2016 specifically?

I'm not sure that I can increase my SP for two reasons.
1. According to DWP I have already contributed more than the required payments
2. My superannuation payments include GMP

Happy to be wrong! :j

It's bad enough to have my pensionable age moved back more than five years even if I fully understand the reasons for it.

Gers

atush wrote: »

I just had 3 days in london. Weather was cr*p but food was good lol

PM me is you want to know a good place to get a 2 course meal for as little as 7 quid lol

Thanks! One trip is just an overnighter to see an exhibition at the RA, the other is a weekend to see family. Already got the train booked, the hotel rooms booked and tickets to a show booked.