Only freedom will do

Greying_Pilgrim

edinburgher wrote: »

I do not think that we will be able to hold back the tide until DD is 18, but I will not be one of these parents who gives their child a tablet at 5 years old.

If I'm honest ed, I don't think we'll manage it either, but shoot for the moon and land in the stars and all that

And anyway, given the cyclical nature of things in life, perhaps, just perhaps the tide will turn just now and people will turn off trying to live their own lives as a 'streaming 24/7 reality show' we're all really not that important in the grand scheme of things anyway. Although to each other, we are the world My luddite stance may just gain zietgeist status yet! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Greying X

ps - soz to hijack your thread - just struck a chord is all.

edinburgher

I hope the tide will turn the other way, but I am not so sure, I feel that the current trend for endless self promotion has been brewing for a few decades at least? This is a gut feeling, I have only been alive for a few decades and I wasn't really paying attention for the first two :rotfl:

NorthernMonkey1

My pension plan value went up by £15k over the last few days. I know its all paper money, but it's quite scary how much the numbers can change by

edinburgher

I am spreadsheeting myself a wee ready reckoner based on 'Decision Rules and Maximum Initial Withdrawal Rates' as mentioned by jamesd. Suspect that someone's already did it, but I like to rebuild these things to make sure that I understand the logic :j

NorthernMonkey1

Assuming you did retire early, what is the earliest that you can draw down from a conventional pension. Is it 10 years before SP age, so 58 in my case?

edinburgher

Yes, that's correct

choccielover

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

choccielover - thank you so very much for writing ^ this. Me & DH feel exactly the same - to the extent that we're not bothered about the FB,T or chat apps either - although I am on Wh'app, but that's me that is on it, not my family; and I'm very much over the age of consent. But we too are fiercely protective of Baby Greying's image and 'life'. Unfortunately, we have a family member who just 'doesn't get it', and it has made an exisiting rift an unbreachable canyon, with their stance. What Baby Greying wants to do at 18 is their own affair, but for the moment, we're trying to be resolute and maintain their privacy.

It's so nice to here someone feels the same. We've received an incredible amount of flack from family members, and not much support from our peer group who are mostly childless by choice, or who's children are 'grown & flown' and who didn't have to contend with the extent of social media access when their children were small.

Again, thank you for saying it. You've made me feel more validated in our stance.

Greying X

Oh you are welcome greying.
I admit DD does had an iPad(my original one that's ancient) but it's loaded with educational games and she has extremely limited time on it. Our aversion to social profiling doesn't prevent me wanting her to be competently proficient with technology.

The photo thing is a worry, I have family members that are the same and they don't understand it either. I empathise with the widening gulf, I feel the same both for this and other life choices I have made (career vs family etc) but what do you do.....attempting to conform to their version of normal makes me so sad that I can't do it any more. I hurts to admit I'm happier away from it.

Sorry to hijack Eds, back to topic I'll review that ready reckoned you mentioned. I love a good spreadsheet building exercise :j

SuperSecretSquirrel

NorthernMonkey1 wrote: »

Assuming you did retire early, what is the earliest that you can draw down from a conventional pension. Is it 10 years before SP age, so 58 in my case?

edinburgher wrote: »

Yes, that's correct

My understanding is 55, with plans to anchor to state pension age in future, though no moves have been made to enact this change yet. The proposal suggested 10 years below SPA. With this being around 25 years away for you, ed, and I, it does make planning with any real certainty quite difficult. It seems the pension goalposts are always moving, and that will always be the case.

edinburgher

I misread the question - *I* am assuming that it will be 58 as it's surely only a matter of time before they make the link to state pension age law. SSS is correct as to the current legislation

NorthernMonkey1

I'd like to retire at 55, so I might need to make some plans around ISAs etc for the period between 55 and 58.

I'm only 37, but it's good to read about others who are 'crazy' enough to not work until the bitter end. I've only just upped my pension contributions from 20% (+10% from work) to 30+10%. Once the mortgage is gone, which will be a few years time, I'll be looking to push that even further to 50+% to enable early retirement.