Four working days to go before early retirement! How did you feel at this stage?

ManofLeisure_2

With respect to Status, I've always believed that 'we are all one cog in a wheel'. Who is to say that one job is more 'important' than another. As Thrugelmir rightly suggested, status is often self assumed So, as the door of work closed, the door of retirement opened. There were no regrets:)

Marine_life

ManofLeisure wrote: »

Who is to say that one job is more 'important' than another.

Its an interesting question as there are two concepts which are mixed up. One is how much a job pays and the other is how important it is. I would say that my job (which is essentially adding up numbers!) is much less important that a nurse or doctor who saves a life but pay is decided by the laws of supply and demand.

Status is in the minds of many and does not necessarily realte just to jobs, its about which school you went to, where you live and maybe even where you shop.

The key is whether you actually give a hoot (which I don't) but a lot of people do.

STAGEY

More like late retirement for me - mostly to do with £££ - I'll be 70 (quite a young one!) when I stop work next year and it was a huge stress to make that decision - but basic pensions and small annuities is quite an incentive to keep going and to enjoy all those things our peers do now. A lot of cloth will have to be cut and I just need to gear my emotions to that hence the long lead in time! But all assure me that it will be fine. Hope so.

homerhotspur

Mr_Prudent wrote: »

Hi. I retired/took voluntary redundancy four years ago after working for a large telecoms company for 36 years. I have not regretted one single day, as the pressure and bullying management style that was adopted in order to get us older (but knowledgeable) engineers to s*d off became intolerable for some.
I have lived off the redundancy and am now using my savings. By far my best investment is the Final salary pension that is growing with inflation very nicely.
While interest rates remain poor I will continue to spend my savings to live on. If rates rise significantly and inflation drops away then I may take the pension a few years early and invest the lump sum.
I still keep in touch with old work colleagues who tell me that things are even worse since I left which reaffirms my decision to leave. I also keep in touch with friends that have left catching up for a chat & a beer most weeks. Life is good, something I could not have imagined a few years back!
Good luck to all early retirees, you have just made one of the best decisions your likely to make.

I have often thought about this option. ie retire around 3 years early and live off savings to avoid the actuarily reduced pension and lump sum - approx 15% reduction for 3 years- but then I get bogged down in calcualutions and can't make my mind up. Obviously interest rates are a factor but the main thought for me is, if you take the reduced pension., say for example £10k instaed of 12k, you are still effectively getting £30k worth of extra pension which will only be clawed back over 15 years and at the same time keeping £30k worth of savings. I would be really interested to hear the counter arguments .

ManofLeisure_2

STAGEY wrote: »

More like late retirement for me - mostly to do with £££ - I'll be 70 (quite a young one!) when I stop work next year and it was a huge stress to make that decision - but basic pensions and small annuities is quite an incentive to keep going and to enjoy all those things our peers do now. A lot of cloth will have to be cut and I just need to gear my emotions to that hence the long lead in time! But all assure me that it will be fine. Hope so.

Best of Luck Stagey

Nellybee

I retired at 53 but deffered my pension after working shifts for the last 20 years most of them 12 hour days and 12 hour nights .Was originally gona get a part time job but gave up on that idea just living off my savings have income from them that covers most of the bills .I was sick of the place i worked more and more was put on you to do , you could not just do your job and go home it was as though they wanted to rule your life .I gave plenty notice i was leaving as the time approached i wondered if i had done the right thing i certainly did .My days are my own i go for walks potter about the garden , mend pcs and laptops as a hobby its the best thing i ever did .I never feel tired i auctually feel a total different person now im not on them crazy 12 hour shifts .:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Thrugelmir

homerhotspur wrote: »

I have often thought about this option. ie retire around 3 years early and live off savings to avoid the actuarily reduced pension and lump sum - approx 15% reduction for 3 years- but then I get bogged down in calcualutions and can't make my mind up. Obviously interest rates are a factor but the main thought for me is, if you take the reduced pension., say for example £10k instaed of 12k, you are still effectively getting £30k worth of extra pension which will only be clawed back over 15 years and at the same time keeping £30k worth of savings. I would be really interested to hear the counter arguments .

Human nature says to have ones cake now and eat it. In the example you quote (at a true 5% reduction) after 15 years the person taking their pension earlier would received £3,000 more in total over the time frame. Sounds great. Until you realise that the person commencing their pension later is now receiving some £2,700 per annum more in pension.

So projecting forward to 25 years and 22 years respectively the figures now look like.

Amount received £371,884 vs £400,420

Annual Pension £20,734 vs £24,393 (£3,659 more per annum or 17.6%).

With longer life expectancy think of it as a marathon not a sprint.

Thrugelmir

Marine_life wrote: »

I would say that my job (which is essentially adding up numbers!) is much less important that a nurse or doctor who saves a life but pay is decided by the laws of supply and demand.

As was said earlier everybody is a cog. Doctors and Nurses are part of the hospital machinery. That's all. As human beings everybody should be treated with the sane level of respect and humanity. In many ways this is what distinguished the organisations that the Companies that top the best to work for charts have achieved. Salford NHS is a shining example. Where all all managers had to reapply for their jobs and be interviewed by employees as part of the process.

BaileysOriginal

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Human nature says to have ones cake now and eat it. In the example you quote (at a true 5% reduction) after 15 years the person taking their pension earlier would received £3,000 more in total over the time frame. Sounds great. Until you realise that the person commencing their pension later is now receiving some £2,700 per annum more in pension.

So projecting forward to 25 years and 22 years respectively the figures now look like.

Amount received £371,884 vs £400,420

Annual Pension £20,734 vs £24,393 (£3,659 more per annum or 17.6%).

With longer life expectancy think of it as a marathon not a sprint.

Q for Thrugelmir please. In my scheme the pension pot is uprated by CPI each year. However once in payment it is uprated by RPI. There is a 4% reduction per year for taking it early. Thrugelmir, do you think this may change the balance in your example, and in my case it might be possible that it is actually better to take it early? 55 rather than 60 without reduction for me. This is final salary pot that was accrued by my 20+ years in industry before redundancy, and I can no longer contribute. This will still form the bulk of my pension. Thanks.

atush

It is the 26th. And a no show

I feel robbed.