The when thread

chiefie

The number thread has got an interesting new life.

But what about when people are going to retire (what age) and what'sthe motivation ?

How do you balance the when with the wait for more pension ?

My dh is older than me so that's my motivation for saving to go at 55 when she is 62 (she is starting to struggle with some of the physical demands of the job). I won't have as much money as I'd like and I could see me doing something part time but I'm saving hard to make it possible.

robin61

I am 55 (tomorrow). I would like to retire at age 56 or 57 at the latest.
Why ? Because of the corporate bull**** and the demands for more with less, looking over my shoulder wondering when I will next be asked to reapply for my own job. This has robbed me of the enthusiasm I once had.
I have put a lot of effort into financial planning over the last 4 years and pretty much know when I will have enough to generate the income we need.
I guess there will always be the temptation to work a bit longer and be a bit better off. I really want to leave with an early retirement package rather than just resign. So I guess that will pretty much decide exactly when. Although there will be a point where enough is enough even without a package but I hope it doesn't come to that.
Since I decided another year or two is all I need to work for I have felt less pressure knowing there is a line in the sand which is not too far away.
Plus you never know how long you have got and I want to have enough time to do the things I want to do while I am fit enough to do them.

saver861

Well if you are asking when to the exclusion of financial matters, then for the most part I think many want to leave because of loss of job satisfaction.

I enjoyed my job, and enjoyed working etc, but when the opportunity to take redundancy and early retirement came along, that outweighed the general satisfaction of working. I think also, for many, the job security aspect is every more perilous and along with the stresses of the job, many have the added stress of insecurity.

Circumstances will be different for everyone but I would hazard a guess that if you were to ask all those that have retired whether they done the right thing, the answers would be well into the 90% bracket.

That said, I think there is a danger that many put too much emphasis on the financial side of it and will carry on working to save up 'just a bit more'. Definitely there is a minimum financial requirement, but money has a finite value.

Snakey

The original plan, back in the late 90's, was to retire at 50. Then they changed the rules, and now it looks like I'll be at least 57 before I can access my pension pot.

With the promised increase in personal allowance, the changes to the State pension and the potential changes to pension contributions, I am now mulling the option of (instead of working flat-out towards a full retirement as soon as possible) dropping to a very part-time level of freelance at 50 or maybe even younger and keeping that going until I can access my private pot.

The idea would be to get the full benefit of the personal allowance for all years up to 57, pay enough NI to get my 35 State pension years, and potentially get a nice uplift on any pension contributions I might make (because I'd be a basic rate payer at most).

The downside is the risk - once I give up FTE I may not be able to walk back into it a few years later if the freelance doesn't work out. It's also going to be quite challenging to get there in time. I have a fairly large mortgage to pay off. I do/will have ISA savings to fall back on, but not enough to live in luxury for 7-10 years if I had no other source of income.

It's all very flexible at the moment. Right now I'm FTE plus building up a freelance empire on the side, stashing as much as I can in to pension, ISA and paying down the mortgage. (I don't think I am likely to regret any of those money-sinks, no matter what I decide to do in the end.)

Why do I want to give up full-time work as soon as I can? Ah, if you have to ask, then you wouldn't understand.

TheTracker

Somewhere between 50 and 55 (mid 40s now). I'd rather give my child a full time parent rather than a larger inheritance 30 years later.

Paul_Herring

Looking at 53 here (9-10 years hence.) Because I want to.

EdSwippet

chiefie wrote: »

But what about when people are going to retire (what age) and what's the motivation ?

Next month (age 55 and a tiny bit). Pension lifetime allowance reduction leads to approx £16k/year loss of remuneration from any future work.

chiefie wrote: »

How do you balance the when with the wait for more pension ?

Ooooh, tricky. Nobody knows how long their pension needs to last. Working just one more year builds the cushion, but is the cushion really needed? For my part, I've run every conceivable projection I can think of, including some pretty nasty financial scenarios, and so far have not found more than a single digit percentage point chance of failure. That will just have to do.

Although rather US-centric, if you haven't already seen it, firecalc is a fairly good way to give you at least an approximation of your chances of not running out of pension before you run out of life. Other similar projecting calculators are probably also available. Possibly some UK centric ones, though I don't know of any offhand.

bigfreddiel

I couldn't wait to retire, countdown lasted about three years. Six months in I was so bored I went back part time!

So make sure you have something to do when you leave work, otherwise you may regret it

fj

robin61

EdSwippet wrote: »

Although rather US-centric, if you haven't already seen it, firecalc is a fairly good way to give you at least an approximation of your chances of not running out of pension before you run out of life. Other similar projecting calculators are probably also available. Possibly some UK centric ones, though I don't know of any offhand.

Have you seen this ?


https://www.retireeasy.co.uk

I have found it very good.

chiefie

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Looking at 53 here (9-10 years hence.) Because I want to.

As good an answer as any :T thank you

chiefie

bigfreddiel wrote: »

I couldn't wait to retire, countdown lasted about three years. Six months in I was so bored I went back part time!

So make sure you have something to do when you leave work, otherwise you may regret it

fj

I very much suspect this will happen to me. I have 3 years and it feels like 33 years. You have inspired me to spend some time to look into other things for my future to keep me busy. Thanks