Retiring early

Litchielou

:jHello everyone, had a few threads but would like this new one as it will be a new way of life.

A bit about us, my DH is 58 I'm 56, we have 2 children DS 34 and DD32, 5 grandchildren GS1 is 12, GS2 is 8, GD1 is 10, GD2 is 9, GD3 is nearly 9. We also have 3 Extras 17, 15 and 9 ( not aloud to call them grandchildren as future SIL first wife gets annoyed). DS is married to our darling DIL, DD is separated but lives with future SIL. He has taken on the care of DDs 3 children as his own, better than their own dad.

My post is about retiring DH has been informed he will be made redundant at the end of February and after a long chat with each other I will be finishing work as well. (Decided to do it now as we both have lost friends before they get to our age and you only come this way once)
We are already debt free and have a lot of savings, we will be able to live of his monthly pension, the terms of him finishing he can get his personal pension, redundancy pay. OK his SP is 8 years away and mine is 10.

We don't live an extravagant life but would have enough money to still have a annual holiday usually Tenerife. Have day trips out, see more of our family ( if anyone has read my other thread this does not include Mother).

My husband plays a summer sport, so do a lot of traveling around the North of England so have got plenty of friends to catch up with.

Hope everyone will enjoy reading this thread.

5 weeks to we finish. xx

NewShadow

Sounds good, and why not if you can afford it :beer:

I assume you've had the usual financial planning conversations with regards if your OHs pension will have any unexpected 'clawbacks' due to taking it early and you've had a forecast for the impact on your pension of you not contributing any more?

I always get very 'grown up' when starting to think about pensions.

You wouldn't think it to listen to me most of the time

jackyann

The very best of luck to you both!
I think that in many ways it is easier to be careful with money when you have more time. I think our only 'extra' expense is heating the house during the day.
I plan meals and shopping very carefully. Our hobbies have always been making things, so that helps as well.
There are a lot of activities around us that are free / inexpensive. Some of our friends take advantage of offers as well: the National Trust, and one of our Wildlife Trusts give free membership in return for a certain number of volunteer hours.
Even things like your annual holiday can be planned around when cheap flights are available. It can also be good to go on to the Travelodge site at 'sale' time and book a couple of cheap nights somewhere you've nevr been before!

Litchielou

Newshadow yes all FA taken and will be in place for when we finish.
Jackyann some good ideas. We have already got a 2 travel together rail card.
And members of national trust as well.

To also give me some extra pocket money I already sell quite a lot on eBay. Joined some survey sites.
Love to read and love gardening which hopefully have more time for.xx

maryb

You may also be eligible in a couple of years for concessionary travel depending where you live. Some places still have local travel passes from 60

DH is only 18 months older than I am but because I am in that cohort of women who got hit with a double whammy when Osborne decided to raise pension age at the same time as accelerating equalising men and women's retirement ages, he has his full national bus pass already. I would have to wait until November 2019 if it weren't for Boris bringing back 60 plus Oyster cards

I use my card a LOT and it makes a difference in how much I get out and about. E.g. I tend to walk into town and get the bus back. It's too far to walk both ways. If I had to pay, it would probably mean I would take the car as I could park for the whole afternoon for the price of a bus fare. Whereas I go little and often and have no trouble getting in my 10000 steps each day

Litchielou

No Oyster cards near us and bus passes don't come in until we are 65.

This retirement has come after a lot of struggle and stress.
My DH has had MH issues for approx 5 years. And 25 years ago we were in debt on CC to the tune of £45,000 + our mortgage in those days no 0% cards. It took us 12 years to pay that off, we down sized 11 years ago still with a small mortgage. Payed that 6 years ago and since then saved and saved so we now hopefully going to benefit from those hard years.

Looking forward to our new way of life. xx

moneyistooshorttomention

The one cautionary note I'd introduce here is that many find the start of retirement brings "start up expenses" initially. Well I certainly did - though the "waters were muddied" by moving elsewhere to a different house/different part of the country.

But - I think some of those expenses would have happened anyway - with buying things to be better able to pursue hobbies/interests (in my case that meant extra cooking stuff/extra gardening stuff/etc).

Don't know if that would apply to you?

Fingers crossed for you anyway for a good retirement. I can understand your logic and agree re health problems many have. A book I am reading currently says that basically two-thirds of British people have one or more chronic illnesses by the time they get to 60 (and looking around at people - then I think that sounds accurate). I dread to think just how few are still healthy by the time they get to 70 then:eek:. Hence I believe it's best to get things "sorted" at a younger age if possible - house sorted out/any bucket list travelling done/etc - just in case...

culpepper

Oh this is an interesting discussion.
We aren't planning on doing it just yet but it's good to see how people manage it and the things we haven't thought of, for when the time comes.

Pollycat

Litchielou wrote: »

No Oyster cards near us and bus passes don't come in until we are 65.

Are you sure it's age 65?

In England, bus passes are now linked to state pension age and as you said in your first post you are 56, even if you're 57 today (i.e. born on 25 Jan 1960) your state pension and bus pass age will be due on 25 Jan 2026 - age 66 - unless your local area has special arrangements.

Have you requested a state pension forecast?

117pauline

We too may be in a similar situation. My OH had another A&E admission a couple of weeks ago and I have several chronic illnesses which restrict us.

Ideally we would like to spend time in Spain. We are going out there for two weeks in April to a new to us area - Costa Calida - and we can't wait.

Over the last couple of years we have bought less stuff but my OH is rather a hoarder so you wouldn't notice much difference!

It's going to be baby steps, 15 minute efforts, towards freedom

[Deleted User]

we did it too, my husband and I, he retired at 58 and me at the same time. We lived on savings, only taking out as much as we needed, knowing that pension would kick in two years later. We knew it was going to happen, so we lived carefully the year before. He started a small business as an architectural photographer, having previously won many prestigious competitions. He got quite a lot of work from past clients but being paid was problematic, many very slow payers. That kept him busy for the next few years, when we decided that it was not worth the effort, however he had very good hobbies, including two that got him out and about and I had my hobbies, so we were not joined at the hip. We took some nice holidays and later we moved house, to our final home

It was much easier when the pensions became active but by then he was showing signs of a chronic health problem, it didn`t stop him doing his beloved sport but it meant that I was not going to let him travel far from home, just in case. We had a great two years since his state pension started at 65, quiet and relaxed, we did not whizz around. Then he died, suddenly out when doing his sport. I had a policeman at the door. I rest easy knowing that he died doing something he loved and it was quick for him. All I want to say op, is go for it. None of us know what is around the corner