Turning off the tap

choccielover

OMY - one more year 😁

k6chris

Notfarfromtheborder wrote: »

I keep going by the fact each month increases our position by £8k, £3k of this is what we would spend in drawdown, £5k current savings. OMY gives us nearly £100K extra security

I have the opposite 'problem'. A previous well paid job gave a DB pension that will pay out a modest, but bill-covering pension which I will be deploying this November, age 53 (the ERDF was recently reduced to a level that made early deployment a viable proposition). My current, much lower paying (and lower stress) job means that each month I am increasing my retirement fund by £450 (SIPP), £300 savings and £80 (DB, from 67) - just over £5,000 a year SIPP, £3,600 savings and £1,000 a year DB. Working until June next year ticks off my 35th year of NI contributions. I will also be paying the additional higher rate tax, caused by the deployed DB pension, into the SIPP.

In my case, working OMY adds a modest amount to the overall pension portfolio and reduces the number of years that it will need to fund, but clearly also reduces the number of years I will have full use and control of my time...and more specifically years where I am likely to be more healthy and active. DW, who is older than me, will hopefully be pulling the rip cord in the next 12 months and I think that, plus ticking off the final year of NI contributions for maximum SP is likely to be the compelling reason to act and pull mine.

I doubt I will ever be in a situation where I feel I have enough money to retire risk-free, despite the spreadsheet showing that we could maintain our current lifestyle right now. I have also been suprised by the peer pressure not to retire this early, either for (assumed) finacial reasons or that I will have nothing to do! I am also very suprised by my reaction, that after many years of preparing for being able to retire early and now having arrived at the point where I can, I am hesitating......odd! I realise this is probably the ultimate 'first-world problem' compared to those unfortunate enough to have a job they need or love, ripped away from them.

Great thread, keep it going.

Triumph13

Notfarfromtheborder wrote: »

This will be the one of the hardest decisions I will need to make over the next few years

Currently 48, a basic drawdown model tells me we could stop now, but it'll be tight, far too tight.

I keep going by the fact each month increases our position by £8k, £3k of this is what we would spend in drawdown, £5k current savings. OMY gives us nearly £100K extra security

As has been mentioned, jumping off and trying to hop back on the gravy train would be difficult for me, that said things aren't great at work for either of us. If it was coming into spring then either of us, or both of us may be jumping off, maybe a gap year (or six months) to rethink

We are in a similar position to this - could go now (without it being too tight) but each year with both of us working equates to about £90k of post-tax extra buffer by the time everything's gone in and out of pensions. I know this is a very nice problem to have, but there is definitely an element that the bigger the tap the harder it is to turn off when you know you can't turn it on again.

Triumph13

It's interesting that so many of the people replying have had retirement triggered by something external, such as a redundancy package, rather than just 'okay, that's enough money'. I wonder if that says something about the difficulty of making the decision on an 'enough money' basis alone?
We are planning mid 2019 based on cashflow triggers = DW hits 55 so her DC funds become accessible plus an endowment policy matures so we should have enough to live on from that until my DC's become accessible in 2021. As we'll still have kids at school for another 5 years we can't make any big lifestyle changes at that point so we don't have a Linton style sail-off-into-the-sunset pull.

Triumph13

ermine wrote: »

I retired early because I was getting sick of the performance management rigmarole

My employer is about to introduce a whole shiny new performance management process - the news of that sent me straight to the 'what if I retire now' spreadsheet and may well precipitate an earlier than planned departure.

ewaste

Retirement means different things for different people especially these days for those with a mixture of future income sources, rather than a non-capped index linked pension allowing someone to go cold turkey without much risk.

To me it means reaching a point where you could enjoy the same lifestyle and outgoings working a part-time minimum wage job that your not tied to and actually enjoy doing with the option that you can pack it in and change to something else whenever you want. While also secure in the knowledge that if you reduced your outgoings and made lifestyle changes you'd, probably, never need to work another day in your life.

This to me seems to be what a lot of people are doing in their 50's albeit I appreciated many are essentially forced into it with redundancy. One family friend has done everything from caring and driving a bus for the disabled to teaching coding classes and silver surfers while taking the odd free or low cost training course. They've told a few people exactly where to go and have generally enjoyed the best of both worlds.

crv1963

Triumph13 wrote: »

A question for all you early retirees and wannabe early retirees: The more I get into all this, the more I find that the psychological aspects are more interesting than the financial ones.
What are the thought processes that let you decide that the utility of the £y isn't enough to make up for the x days?

A very interesting thread- I work in a role where retirement at 55 is/ was the norm, changes over the past decade or so has moved this to SRA for many but some of us still can go at 55, I for one can retire next year (at 55) with full DB pension.


A recent spell of ill-health has meant a close examination of my retirement plans with my wife, we could scrape by on my DB from next year but to maintain lifestyle we have decided that I will work until 60/ 62 and my wife (who is a few years younger) until she is 57, saving most of my salary and about half of hers for 5 years once DB starts, so that we can fund the gap between when we finally stop work and SP starting.


We are not extravagant but neither are we willing to live a life of self imposed austerity for life! We have calculated that this way we can live comfortably on 2k pm (no mortgage by my age 58) and this will rise when SPs start so hopefully provide a further cushion against hugely rising costs.


As for filling time in- my time off this year due to ill health brought home several things to us- i) we can and do get along so wont annoy each other when thrust together constantly, ii) there's always plenty to do and volunteering appears to us a possible way to maintain social contacts, meaningful activity and some degree of routine we will explore this further as we approach retirement iii) plan to do things together- we're going to get a motorhome and tour with our dogs but each to their own our heaven may be someone else's hell! and iv) appreciate and enjoy what you have as no one knows when your number is up but plan for it being a long time away!


Former colleagues who have retired between 50 (earliest allowed to retire healthy) and 58 (to maximise pension) have to a man (and woman) said it's the best thing they have ever done and the trick seems to be have a purpose/ plan and those that enjoyed working life seem to make the most of retired life.


Good Luck to everyone,


CRV

crv1963

Triumph13 wrote: »

My employer is about to introduce a whole shiny new performance management process - the news of that sent me straight to the 'what if I retire now' spreadsheet and may well precipitate an earlier than planned departure.

A similar change in processes, regulation/ expectations and demands to ways of working have been and are significant drivers to our and our colleagues/ former colleagues retiring.


In our line of work a pervading attitude appears of being "this is not what I signed up/ trained to do 20, 30, 35 years ago" but my personal thoughts are things always have been in a state of flux and change is the only constant, it is when you think no I've had enough of this that the benefit of setting an end date becomes your target and you can take the plunge and say that's it I'm gone on such and such date!

AnotherJoe

Triumph13 wrote: »

My employer is about to introduce a whole shiny new performance management process - the news of that sent me straight to the 'what if I retire now' spreadsheet and may well precipitate an earlier than planned departure.

Once you are financially In a position to retire you can relax with regards to such processes, and maybe even regard them as an opportunity for them to make you redundant and take a chunk of cash from them. I certainly found that once I'd made my mind up, with about 6 months to go, that the stress went, because my employer had no hold over me.

P.s. FWIW to all those who say they wouldnt know how to fill the time , my experience (admittedly only 4 months in) and that of friends in the same position, is that I can't believe how busy I've been, I've been busier since I retired than before !

ewaste

crv1963 wrote: »

In our line of work a pervading attitude appears of being "this is not what I signed up/ trained to do 20, 30, 35 years ago but my personal thoughts are things always have been in a state of flux and change is the only constant, it is when you think no I've had enough of this that the benefit of setting an end date becomes your target and you can take the plunge and say that's it I'm gone on such and such date!

It's perhaps a bit ironic when they are likely to be in the same age group as those in positions of influence, share owners or are themselves those individuals.