Everyday Ordinary Man Approaching Full Retirement at 59.

joansgirl

My "income" is only work pensions (2) and a widows pension from one of my husbands employers. I don't break even, nowhere near, but have absolutely no problem spending my nest egg

We both worked hard enough for it, we squirrelled money away at every opportunity for our old age and then he died at 51.

So, sod it, I'm gonna spend it!

I don't deny myself anything (within reason) but there again I'm not massively spendthrift. I don't want holidays or to go travelling, I just want to be able to do the work that needs doing on my house and to be fit enough to do it.

It's only now just beginning to sink in (3 months retired) when I do a particular job round the house that I no longer have to do that for anybody else, that always gives me a boost :rotfl:

I don't miss work in the slightest, don't miss the people or anything. I'm perfectly happy painting and decorating and doing DIY and the garden.

One draw back is......my mother in law is 84 and she is dropping hints a mile wide that she wants me to do her decorating :eek:

bugslet

pollypenny wrote: »

I haven’t noticed any particularly wealthy posters on the pensions thread

I retired at 60, as I’d be damned if I’d let the government take 5% of my contributions per year of early retirement!

I think it's possibly relative, there are people over there that 600-800k pots, so compared to many they are rich. Isn't the average pension pot around 30-35k?

I'm hoping to get mine to around 310k+ by April, which is not bad, but I'd be happier with 600 - retirement would be a doddle then!

Having 11 days off doesn't tell me if I'd be happy giving up work, I've been busy doing stuff I don't have time to do usually, but they are all things that once finished shouldn't need doing again. I'll see what happens in the next few months with work and then maybe make some decisions. Will still feel guilty at abandoning staff though.

Happy New Year to everyone!

missile

joansgirl wrote: »

...
One draw back is......my mother in law is 84 and she is dropping hints a mile wide that she wants me to do her decorating :eek:

You are obviously very good at DIY, can you help my son? He seems to think I have nothing better to do :rotfl:

crv1963

bugslet wrote: »

I think it's possibly relative, there are people over there that 600-800k pots, so compared to many they are rich. Isn't the average pension pot around 30-35k?

I'm hoping to get mine to around 310k+ by April, which is not bad, but I'd be happier with 600 - retirement would be a doddle then!

Having 11 days off doesn't tell me if I'd be happy giving up work, I've been busy doing stuff I don't have time to do usually, but they are all things that once finished shouldn't need doing again. I'll see what happens in the next few months with work and then maybe make some decisions. Will still feel guilty at abandoning staff though.

Happy New Year to everyone!

I had six months off following a heart attack (fully recovered now and back to work) which was a bit of a shock but gave me a sample of retired life. I learnt that I can fill my time very well and Mrs CRV and I get along absolutely great when thrust together full time!


The time off allowed us to research, work the finances out and plan for actual retirement with an almost solid target date. So we plan to retire from our current jobs by next Christmas- by then it will be 33 years of not knowing until almost the last minute what we're working over the festive period, if we can have the same holidays/ days off etc.


We plan to use my DB pension to underpin our retirement, work until I'm 59/61 to build up DC pensions (both of us), ISAs and of course try to age proof our home, getting major jobs sorted such as re-wiring, garden walls repaired and other essentials in a 1920s bungalow. The DB pension will give us a certain amount of freedom for a change of direction in our jobs/ careers.


I'd suggest bugslet that if your employer allows and you can afford it then maybe a 3-6 month career break/ sabbatical might be a good taster?

Katiehound

crv1963 wrote: »

I'd suggest bugslet that if your employer allows and you can afford it then maybe a 3-6 month career break/ sabbatical might be a good taster?

If I read it correctly Bugslet is the employer, hence her comments about leaving the staff in the lurch so to speak....

crv1963

Katiehound wrote: »

If I read it correctly Bugslet is the employer, hence her comments about leaving the staff in the lurch so to speak....

My apologies then, I missed that.

pollypenny

Oh, bugslet very definitely is the boss!

bugslet

crv1963 wrote: »

I had six months off following a heart attack (fully recovered now and back to work) which was a bit of a shock but gave me a sample of retired life. I learnt that I can fill my time very well and Mrs CRV and I get along absolutely great when thrust together full time!


The time off allowed us to research, work the finances out and plan for actual retirement with an almost solid target date. So we plan to retire from our current jobs by next Christmas- by then it will be 33 years of not knowing until almost the last minute what we're working over the festive period, if we can have the same holidays/ days off etc.


We plan to use my DB pension to underpin our retirement, work until I'm 59/61 to build up DC pensions (both of us), ISAs and of course try to age proof our home, getting major jobs sorted such as re-wiring, garden walls repaired and other essentials in a 1920s bungalow. The DB pension will give us a certain amount of freedom for a change of direction in our jobs/ careers.


I'd suggest bugslet that if your employer allows and you can afford it then maybe a 3-6 month career break/ sabbatical might be a good taster?

Good to hear that you made a full recovery crv and unwelcome ( and downright scary) as it was, it was obviously a chance you didn't waste.

I'm 54 this year, I could probably have retired at 52. I've got more than my pension pot that I can take tax free from the company at any point, plus when I do go, I get whatever is left of the company assets and what is on the books after tax.

The main reason for hanging on is that my main contract finishes in a few months. I know it'll be renewed, hopefully for three years which makes us saleable, I couldn't really sell it with only a year to go. If I were to sell, that would give a good few 100k more, worth waiting a couple of years for.;). Sale of business attracts tax at 10% I think - long time since I looked into it properly.

pollypenny wrote: »

Oh, bugslet very definitely is the boss!

Yep, that's me. Dead 'ard, mean, corporate......acutally mostly wussy and confused how I got to this point, I just wanted to drive a van really.:rotfl:

rosy

I've been reading this thread with interest and have found it really useful - thank you to all who have posted. OH and I are seriously considering stopping work this year but would need to use our savings to bridge the gap till we could access public sector DB pensions when we are 60 in three years time ( OH's would be reduced for early payment but we can cope with that). What does make me anxious is what if regulations change in the meantime and we couldn't access the pensions till much later? I would also be very reliant on the spouse's benefit from OH's pension if anything were to happen to him and it's a concern of mine that if there was a significant downturn in the economy that benefit would be withdrawn ( I know the chances of that must be really small but it does niggle away at me ). Plus the psychological aspect of not having any income and swapping from a lifetime of saving hard to seeing a lot of money going out of the savings account each month... we are pretty frugal but it would still be a substantial amount over three years. I know we could hang on in there and go at 60 but I am conscious we will never get this time back again, on paper we can comfortably afford it and I don't want to lose this opportunity because I'm being unnecessarily and unreasonably risk averse! We've been going round in circles tbh. I'd be really grateful if anyone who has been in this position could give some insight on how you dealt with these issues.

missile

rosy wrote: »

. I'd be really grateful if anyone who has been in this position could give some insight on how you dealt with these issues.

Been there done that. It is difficult to predict the future and I was fortunate that I was able to find employment when circumstances changed.