<<<out of cheese error>>>

redofromstart

We still pinch ourselves, and wait for the letter that says it was a mistake.  By both companies!  I think I have said before but I wouldn't have even thought of checking if it hadnt been for @Cheery_Daff posting about early retirement reductions being less than she thought.  He might have got a lot more at 65, but he would have hated the next seven years.

moving_forward

At least it shows you are grateful and humble. 

redofromstart

I think the hard thing is that even between my generation and his (ten years) those type of pensions are gone for most of us, the happy days when 5% of your income bought you a safe retirement and we didn't realise quite what a benefit it was.  My children will be lucky to get 5% matched contribution pension, and I am certainly not the type of mother who opens them a LISA and splits the child benefit between the two of them. 

I think there are only the hard core (government) LGPS working on that DB employer risk basis that are still live to new joiners with c25% employer contribution, and six months of following HR policy for a council nearly killed me.  I'd rather be day to day happy, and put more of my salary into my DC employee risk pension.  

moving_forward

I prefer happiness over big piles of cash too 😁

Alchemilla

Good news about retirement.
Similar gap between DH and me.
I am trying to convince him to take phased retirement in September.

EssexHebridean

Prioritising happiness was what lead me to decide I didn't want a career, I wanted a job. I've never regretted it for a single second, although it has at times made life tricky as others - particularly many large companies categorically do NOT understand that attitude. 

moving_forward

EssexHebridean said:

Prioritising happiness was what lead me to decide I didn't want a career, I wanted a job. I've never regretted it for a single second, although it has at times made life tricky as others - particularly many large companies categorically do NOT understand that attitude. 

Smaller ones dont either EH. Mind you they want to pay you like a worker but prefer you to work like you have a vested interest in what's best for the company 😒

redofromstart

I am all for those who want to work rather than climb on others for progression.  Its the 'career' ones who don't want to work for it who annoy me, or the ones who think I will bother to compete and behave like idiots as a result.  Although bizarrely, by some random 42ness of life, I appear to have won the race against said people anyway. 

It is all relative.  Some years back I bumped into someone I was at school with, and she, who had shocked the world by getting pregnant at 16 and throwing her planned journalist career away, had had three kids with the same chap and was sorry for childless me who was at that point fairly highflying in a big corporate.  I bet she didn't have as many cats as I do though :-)

Still thinking about face cream offer.  Think I am being seduced by needless freebies so will again sleep on it, but I do really rate clinic with a q seven day face scrub.  

redofromstart

Alchemilla said:

Good news about retirement.
Similar gap between DH and me.
I am trying to convince him to take phased retirement in September.

I had to show Mr Redo a cash flow forecast with his fixed pensions, and my financial state if anything happened to him so he knew if my job goes, or he pops off that we/I would be ok before he was comfortable. If my job went we could still manage which was key for us both.   He knows I mostly like my job, and he hated his with a passion, and his work on the house will be better opportunity cost value than paying others to do it. 

moving_forward

Peace of mind is priceless.