Scottish teachers-advice welcome

globetraveller

Has anyone taken retirement at 55? What are the pros and cons? I would think about supply work but the pay makes it not worth all the stress involved. I haven't been well this last few years so I think i need to rethink my life. I do have rental property so this would help as I wouldnt have to pay the tax I do now. So really justl looking for tips and to hear different experiences. I have been teaching since I was 21 and had no breaks.went on to a four day week a couple of years back. I am 55 in 18 months time

jem16

globetraveller wrote: »

Has anyone taken retirement at 55? What are the pros and cons?

The pros are that you get to enjoy your life without working to a bell and more importantly can forget all about CfE! My friend took early retirement at age 56 and hasn't regretted it for a minute. She now spends her time going for 3 month holidays abroad in winter or golfing during the summer.

Cons are that you will lose approximately 25% of your pension and lump sum so work out the figures and see if you can make a go of it.

I'm planning on giving up one year early.

atush

And if you do decide to do it, see if you can live on that lower salary- esp if taking a 25% reduction. Saving it into a personal pension would boost it so you could use that money to live on for a period of time, the longer you can leave your TPS pension w/o taking it the bigger it will be.

Even delaying retirement for a year or 6 months will mean more money.

Do you know anyone who has done supply teaching? doing that plus savings would help. In my kids primary school I saw each retired teacher turn up soon after for a day or longer. So they must have liked it better than regular teaching.

globetraveller

Thanks both. I do like the actual teaching but fed up with working every weekend. I just don't think I'm fit now for it. It is certainly a good idea to start living now on what income I would have.

atush

And chat up any friends/ex colleagues who do supply teaching- you may find that less stressful

globetraveller

If only the short term rates weren't so bad! I don't think I should get the same as having a class commitment but it shouldn't be the rate it is.

jem16

globetraveller wrote: »

If only the short term rates weren't so bad! I don't think I should get the same as having a class commitment but it shouldn't be the rate it is.

Yes the short term rates are abysmal. They have improved very slightly with the recent pay increase but it's no wonder they are short of supply teachers. I wouldn't do supply teaching.

rpc

My mum is a bit older than you (so no actuarial reduction) and is retiring this year. Curriculum for Excellence being the primary factor!

A former teacher of mine is now leaving her PT post at a prestigious private school because she's got fed up of all the **** and she is moving to a specialist school so she can focus on the actual teaching.

What'll your pension be? Is that enough? If it isn't then you need to decide how to make up the shortfall.

You need to decide how much income you need in retirement. If you are at or above that number then you have some freedom. It can be very hard to get extra income later on in retirement.

globetraveller wrote: »

went on to a four day week a couple of years back.

globetraveller wrote: »

I do like the actual teaching but fed up with working every weekend.

Why are you on a four day week (at presumably 80% pay) if you also work weekend?

globetraveller

I think a lot of teachers have to work at weekends just to try to tread water. I do try to not work on the Monday though.
I am about to arrange a pension consultation to see what I will get. I do have a couple of rental properties which have been bought outright so in the future I could sell if I need to. I also have some land investments. One of which probably wont give me more than I paid; a second one will give me a good return. The third one is the one that I am really hopeful for and, all being well in the next few months should make a lot of money for me. That is what would help most with my retirement plans.
I'm right at the start of it all, so just trying to find out experiences from others.
CFE- I think has been the biggest stress as I really worry about the children going through it all just now.
Supply- I have a feeling they may have to up the rates shortly. With the increase in nursery time, more teachers have to be found and we are already at crisis point for staffing.

Triumph13

Thinking outside the box, if you don't have any dependents is there anything that you could do for one or two years that would generate enough to live on and let you defer the pension so it doesn't get reduced so much?

Could you go and teach somewhere else in the world for a year? A teacher from my boys' school has just gone to Africa to train other teachers.

Alternatively, how about being a beach bum for a couple of years in a really cheap country where you could live on the rental income from your properties?

If you rented out your main home as well whilst abroad there are plenty of nice places where you could have a good lifestyle and have some fun for a couple of years. Gon on, live up to your handle!

jem16

globetraveller wrote: »

I am about to arrange a pension consultation to see what I will get.

Should be reasonably easy to get the figures you need. Have you signed up for My Pension through the SPPA? They have a calculator where you can input various choices of retirement dates and it will give you a rough idea of what you will get.

Or failing that use your final salary, divide by 80 and then multiply by the number of years service that you will have at age 55. The multiply that by 0.794 which is the multiplier for an actuarially reduced pension at age 55.

Just remember though that the salary that will be used for calculation purposes will actually be higher than your final salary as it's the best 3 years out of the last 10.